Discussion of Anti-Piracy

The harder the copy protection is, the less likely I am to buy the game. Piracy mostly hurts bad games, as people can see if the games are worth it or not I don't trust reviews, and not all games releases a demo... but then I don't trust demos either (they always promise much more than what the game has to offer, or make some crappy feature sound awesome) If I can't test the full version, then I wont buy it The best protection against piracy is to make a good gameADG_

So in your opinion it's valid to download anything that turned out to be bad in the end? You are aware of that every new developer on the market has to start somewhere in order to establish a budget to actually be able to make any good games at all? They will not be able do that with a low budget, and piracy makes it even harder. Yet, I see so many people complain about there are too few good games out there. Sure, some developers that can afford to make great games are just being cheap, like EA or Ubi, but there are those newly established ones that don't have the same attitude like they do. They just want to make entertaining games, and make a living. Piracy prevents them from doing just that. And if you do have economic issues and blame it on that, why do you steal games, but not food I wonder? Why do you play games at all if you have it that tough financially? You should be working, or at least getting an education.

Anyway, back to topic. In order to completely destroy piracy, there should be included tools with operating systems that renders popular torrent-programs un-usable. Like, if you crack the function, it'll only get renewed with a hidden update that you cannot block. Sure, some won't like hidden updates to be installed and call it a privacy intrusion, but you are aware that Microsoft does keep track of what we're doing with programs like Outlook and MSN that we use daily? Yet, noone seems to get bothered about that.

I've not really got any problems with companies protecting their products, I see it as a necessary evil. I do mind however when it makes loading times longer and causes system problems.

Bottom line is, pirates hurt the game industry. Period.

baal46

You are aware of that every new developer on the market has to start somewhere in order to establish a budget to actually be able to make any good games at all?

Guggu

mind you when developers start "Leaving the key under the pot plant" by making antipiracy removal patches (eg: Relic with Dawn of War v1.50). It makes you scratch your head with a puzzled look on your face at first. NoCD patches from the guys who made the game... I ain't gonna knock that!

btw Starforce is a right royal bugger!

So many posts on the same arguments.

Let's face it, most people (of working age) have at some point in their lives bought or at the very least used an illegally obtained product. This includes but is not limited to buying a dvd player / car radio (or whatever) in the local pub / car boot sale, etc', recording music off the radio, taping a film from TV & lending it to a mate (only for your own home use, remember!), pirate dvds/ cds &, of course pirated games.

Well, it's so cheap to buy a new, guaranteeddvd player / cd player / etc' (except for a few special brands/ models) that it's hardly worth buying a dodgy one.

tapes are more or less obsolete, so that's that.

It now remains to stop the film, music & game industry piracy. But wait, what if they took the same approach? If the game, for example, cost $20 or $30, new, with manual, online cd key etc', wouldn't more people buy it instead of using a copy withno support, possible virus probs', no online play, having to search for updated cracks / serials?

Well, I think that they would be surprised how many more copies they would sell. Ok, they'd make a lot less profit per copy sold but if they sold (guessing at figures here) 50% more, surely they wouldn't be far off the same profit margins. Then take into account the (possible) $millions that it costs to protect these games using 3rd party protection. And of course, what about the time taken in applying this extra programming delaying new releases further!

As far as the console thing is concerned, yes pc piracy is more common. It's easier for a start. But if developers stopped pc games & only made console ones you can guarantee that the piracy on consoles would soar. Let's face it, most people know a place that can "arrange" for their console to work with copied discs. The main thing that stops people is prolly the loss of guarantee on the console rather than any conscientious decision against pirating.

People will argue against this way of thinking but I haven't seen a more viable, practical way of reducing piracy in my life. I'm 40 now, gaming as much now as I was on my Mattel Intellivision. Did you know that piracy was alive & kicking in the days of the Atari xl's? It was rife in the days of the Amiga & Atari ST. Here we are, more than 20 years later with amazing jumps in technology & we still got the same argument going on!

Stop spouting about hurt sales, soaring studio costs, blah blah & make the games available to a bigger audience while at the same time making it hardly worth pirating!

I'm not pro or against anti-piracy, because I can understand the perspective of both groups. However, I can say that programs like, SecureRom (I think that's the name of it), used in games like BioShock are just annoying as they come.

I hate popping in the DVD to play a game, I really, really do, it's annoying, outdated, and mundande, so I usually download a crack so that I can avoid having to constantly put the DVD in. Not to mention the PC game boxes are horrible for constantly putting in and taking out games, you literally have to yank them out. Right now I've got my copy of Crysis on some CD case, because I'm afraid of putting it back to its original casing and bending it as I yank it out.

This may sound stupid, but what I'm getting at is that, instead of searching for a practical solution to their problems, such as what Valve did, companiesgo and create elaborate programs that make it difficult on the PC gamers to enjoy themselves.

Your never going to get rid piracy until it's possible from a hardware perspective,software can always be tempered with,however hardware,well ok hardware can be tempered with too but it's alot harder to do,thus lowering piracy rates dramatically.Maybe microsoft and intel/amd can work on something for windows 7...blacktorn

[QUOTE="blacktorn"]Your never going to get rid piracy until it's possible from a hardware perspective,software can always be tempered with,however hardware,well ok hardware can be tempered with too but it's alot harder to do,thus lowering piracy rates dramatically.Maybe microsoft and intel/amd can work on something for windows 7...Thinker_145

Well it's upto Microsoft really,if they want hardware specific anti-piracy for windows 7 to run,or at least certain aspests of windows 7 (directx 11 games ect),then everyone else will have to play along...

Just to answer a coupe of valid points...

[QUOTE="baal46"]

Bottom line is, pirates hurt the game industry. Period.

ADG_

Yeah I somewhat agree, in that I think older games should be available to the public. Abandonware and older games in a series do help sell newer games. I like what Ubisoft did in releasing Far Cry and Prince of Persia: SoT for free. I wish more game companies would follow their lead.

I'm not pro or against anti-piracy, because I can understand the perspective of both groups. However, I can say that programs like, SecureRom (I think that's the name of it), used in games like BioShock are just annoying as they come.

I hate popping in the DVD to play a game, I really, really do, it's annoying, outdated, and mundande, so I usually download a crack so that I can avoid having to constantly put the DVD in. Not to mention the PC game boxes are horrible for constantly putting in and taking out games, you literally have to yank them out. Right now I've got my copy of Crysis on some CD case, because I'm afraid of putting it back to its original casing and bending it as I yank it out. elbow2k

I have no problem at all with no-cd cracks for games you purchase, I do that all the time. It's your game, you should be able to crack it, alter it, or do whatever you wish with your property.

I also absolutely HATE certain copy protection systems, like SecureRom, but especially STARFORCE. I always rip those kinds of copyprotection out as soon as I install.

I actually bought Bioshock through STEAM, which is a very nice and hassle-free way to prevent piracy, without inconveniencing the consumer too much. No DVD to keep track of, no SecureRom to deal with, if I ever want to reinstall it takes about an hour to download.