Bryon Daly wrote: > The reality is that the draconian DRM really doesn't stop piracy at > all. A > cracked version was already available on the torrents the day before > the > game was on the store shelves. The pirates, of course, have that > version > and are never troubled by the DRM system. Only the actual paying > customers > who bought the game have to deal with the hassle and restrictions. So > what > the DRM is actually doing (and EA has more or less admitted this) is > stomping the resale/trade-in market - pretty much the equivalent of > if record companies tried to prevent you being able to sell your music > CD's > to a used record store or to donate them to a library.
I agree that DRM ultimately tends to frustrate and hurt consumers more than pirates. On a side note however, I've been arguing that killing the current trade-in market (albeit preferably via DDNs rather than draconian DRM) will benefit gaming in the long run because the only remaining game-targeted retailer (GameStop) has degenerated into not much more than a pawn shop. You can't count on GameStop today to have a new copy of a game any more than 2 months old, much less 2 years, and because of that you can barely count on other retailers to have anything more in stock. GameStop has started to focus their stock of new games on games that are more likely to come back (be resold), and thus has perpetuated and exacerbated a "mainstream accessible contemporary hits only" mentality in gaming. Has anyone ever seen a bookstore that had a used bookstore in the back and modified what it stocked up front based upon how many copies it had of the same book in used form in the back? It's absolutely bizarre... > As far as I understand it, the Steam versions of the install-limited > games > have the same limits, plus the Steam DRM on top of it. At least, > that's how > it was with Bioshock on Steam. And I think Crysis Warhead is, also. > If > they remove that, I'd probably go that route also. I had not heard that, but I'll look into that if I decide to buy Crysis through Steam. (I bought Bioshock on the 360.) > I like Stardock Central/Impulse and I've even come to appreciate Steam. > They also have the effect of preventing trade/resale, but at least they > offer the alternative benefits of not needing to preserve your game > disks > and some CD key printed on the back of a manual or CD sleeve, etc. And > they > don't presume to tell you how many times you can install the software > you > bought. I ended up a Steam member well before most people were forced onto the system (Half-Life 2) thanks to a late Half-Life 1 + Blue Shift + Opposing Force purchase that included a "join our Steam beta and never lose a CD key again" promotion of sorts. I have all of the HL1 games in my Steam account and I've carried my Steam account through a succession of 3 or so computer systems over what I guess has been nearly a decade and have even used my account as a guest on others' computers to play a Half-Life game or whatever. There is absolutely something to be said for always having the latest updates and having someone host an always available backup from a DDN... I have no problem using a DDN and at this point basically prefer it. I still think that the DDNs could provide more features, though. I like Gas-Powered/Stardock's Gamer's Bill of Rights and think it is certainly a start, but there are other things that would be nice to see. For instance, I think the DDNs could promote healthy sorts of resale/trade-in. Right now, I can let my brother play my Steam games by letting him borrow my login information (at my own risk, admittedly), but it would be nice if I could simply from Steam "Loan these games to Steam friend x" or "Give these games to Steam friend y". Adding in simple arbitration for game trades could be cool and it would be simple from there to create an after-market for game trading and even use that to put extra money into the pockets of the DEVELOPERS, rather than, say, the GameStop Pawn Shop empire. > > > > often nowadays the same games with weird on disc DRM can be found in > a > > digital distribution network with better DRM. > > > I wish this were more often true. For example, I'm still waiting to > see > Mass Effect as a download without the install limit crap. Mass Effect probably wouldn't have had as bad DRM if it weren't for EA buying Bioware/Pandemic. Score one more for nearly a monoculture in publishing and EA's weird love affair with DRM right now. I got Mass Effect for the 360. At the moment I'm favoring 360 purchases over PC purchases, for a variety of reasons, including not having to worry about DRM. -- --Max Battcher-- http://worldmaker.net _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
