The Piracy Issue.

Do you think that it would help the issue if there was some way to rent PC games? I know this has probably been mentioned before, I just wanted some other peoples opinions. For me I buy every game (console or PC) that I will play online, but rent console games that I just play through once. Same goes for PC games which I would pirate unless there was an option to rent.

Opinions?

Do you think that it would help the issue if there was some way to rent PC games? I know this has probably been mentioned before, I just wanted some other peoples opinions. For me I buy every game (console or PC) that I will play online, but rent console games that I just play through once. Same goes for PC games which I would pirate unless there was an option to rent.

Opinions?

ATL_Steve

No

1. Rent Games

2. Copy Files on CD

3. Return Rented CD 30 mins later, may have some kind of rebate.

4. Burn Copied Files

5. Share Copied Files on the Net

6. PIRACY!

Greatest solution ever, FREE GAMES with advertisement or commercial for the developers/producers. They may put ads anyware they like, may it be fullscreen using loading screen or in game ads like billboards, soda cans, shops(Mc Donalds) .

You can't pirate free games.

It's kinda like saying if you rent out cars then people will stop stealing them.

But wait, they already do that and grad theft auto(no pun intended) still happens everyday.

Plus you can't actually copy a car and redistribute it.

1. Rent Games

2. Copy Files on CD

3. Return Rented CD 30 mins later, may have some kind of rebate.

4. Burn Copied Files

5. Share Copied Files on the Net

6. PIRACY!

Yorro

Most backup games don't just work without some means to bypass the copy protection. This is where the cracking groups come in. All come down the same thing.

Greatest solution ever, FREE GAMES with advertisement or commercial for the developers/producers. They may put ads anyware they like, may it be fullscreen using loading screen or in game ads like billboards, soda cans, shops(Mc Donalds) .

You can't pirate free games.

Yorro

Huh? You're not making much sense.

1. Stop making useless threads like this.

Step 2. Dont give a crap cause you dont make the game you just play it so why do you care.

The problem with preventing piracy is that in order to make it as close as possible to being impossible to pirate a game they would have to make it extremely inconvenient for the legit customers. Some forms of copy protection and how they work are already current examples of this.

The only really plausible option i have heard discussed over the years is a form of encoded hardware like a USB keychain on the user end. Sure someone, somewhere would eventually crack the keychain and make fakes ones out of pen drives but it WOULD make it more inconvenient to do so.

I think rentals would win over a lot of pirates, actually. A lot of people who pirate games do it because they don't think the game is worth buying, or they download in lieu of a demo.

But it wouldn't help with most pirates, and it would be functionally useless for multiplayer because of the way CD keys work.

The PC is in a bad place for piracy, due to its fundamental architecture. A console is always manufactored with built-in anti-piracy measures. If the disk doesn't 100% conform (it's pirated), then the console won't play it. PCs could do a similar thing, but due to the open nature of PCs, either hardware developers won't, or realize that even this type of chip/drive/whatever would eventually get bypassed.

Consoles also have punishment capabilities with their online service. If you modify your console, the company can deny your online access to their online service (no patches, demos, multiplayer, online co-ope, etc.). PCs can't do this, because (again) they're online services are open.

1. Stop making useless threads like this.

Step 2. Dont give a crap cause you dont make the game you just play it so why do you care.

Helbrec

Developers won't make Games that can't sell bigtime(gets pirated), PCs lose fairly amount of games specially exclusives. In the end the consumers(that care!) will have to play exclusives on consoles or dumbdown multiplats.

The problem with preventing piracy is that in order to make it as close as possible to being impossible to pirate a game they would have to make it extremely inconvenient for the legit customers. Some forms of copy protection and how they work are already current examples of this.

The only really plausible option i have heard discussed over the years is a form of encoded hardware like a USB keychain on the user end. Sure someone, somewhere would eventually crack the keychain and make fakes ones out of pen drives but it WOULD make it more inconvenient to do so.

Alter_Echo

1. Kinda what they did with Halo 2, that game was very hard to crack, but it also did cost frustraition for the custumers.

2. Good idea but that would just raise cost of manufacturing the games, plus as you stated there would still be a way around it.