This must be a victory for Publishers against Pirates!

Following recent discussions about how people have managed to crack Mass Effect I decided to research a little more.

It appears that Pirates downloading this game have ended up with nothing more than a two hour demo of the game. When they get to the 'Galaxy Map' the game crashes. Now the conspiracy theorist in my head says that Bioware have possibly done the most outstanding piece of coding within their game to make this happen. Looking on some (unscrupulous) sites I have read people commenting on how they are giving up and are going to just BUY the game (proof that people DO pirate games they'd normally buy)!

I feel this is a victory not just for publishers but for us as games players. Pirating (in the main) is just adding fuel to the fire for developers to go else where.

It's a glitch in the cracks, for a game that's been on the scene for 2 days. I'm pretty sure they'll fix the crack....It took a LONG time to crack one of the splinter cell games, but somebody eventually got it after a number of months.

They don't just try once and give up. I'm still of the opinion that the Valve business model is the best thing you can do against pirates - offer something BETTER for those who pay.

Unfortuantely it' only a matter of time, it'll get cracked eventually, no mater how good programming is. I'll pick it up when it comes out on Friday

I was wondering if this was something intentionally done, probably not though. I read on the ME forum that some guy found a way to bypass the galaxy map by changing some settings. Then some other guy stated that it worked, only to have a really hard time trying to find a way to exit the normandy, and save his games, he then went on to say that bypassing the galaxy map may have triggered him not being able to get back into the ship. I would LMAO if they made it so everytime someone was able to bypass a certain part of the game another problem would come up. I know people will still try to fully crack the game and most likely succeed, but who knows, maybe it will make more people buy the game.

Following recent discussions about how people have managed to crack Mass Effect I decided to research a little more.

It appears that Pirates downloading this game have ended up with nothing more than a two hour demo of the game. When they get to the 'Galaxy Map' the game crashes. Now the conspiracy theorist in my head says that Bioware have possibly done the most outstanding piece of coding within their game to make this happen. Looking on some (unscrupulous) sites I have read people commenting on how they are giving up and are going to just BUY the game (proof that people DO pirate games they'd normally buy)!

I feel this is a victory not just for publishers but for us as games players. Pirating (in the main) is just adding fuel to the fire for developers to go else where.

Tyrone77

It's only been a day or so, the crack engine was created in only 2 hours - not bad, plus - the marque' hackers havn't released thier copies yet. When they do - the underground is gonna go crazy ;-) P.S. a lot of folks would'nt really know about free - stuff on the net if it were'nt for a lot of Forums like these. :)

The majority of people that make excuses have very weak arguments for piracy. For example the people that sound off about the 3 limit download thing is unfair must not really understand how easy it is to just go above 3. By talking about it and educating people with our opinions it may just make some people realise piracy is bad for everyone.

Thats the thing though, only a handful of people are pirating ME because SecuRom. Most of the people pirating are those that never intended to buy the game in the first place, or using SecuRom as an excuse.

Plus, the 3 activation limit isn't the main thing, a lot of people just dont want a program like SecuRom installed on their computers.

My issue is that people are hypocrites. Everyone is guilty one way or another of piracy. Just this page alone for example, aquiring a photograph that was created by someone else and then pasting it on our accounts as our own. Plagerism.Xtraflo

But you know there are different shades of wrong. I don't really care about people that use other people's photos. In fact with a bit of thought I don't care too much about other forms of Piracy such as downloading really old games or Russians downloading a game because it wont be released for months. But amoungst all these shades there are literally thousands of people, that in my eyes, are in the darkest of darkest places. These are the people that have no excuse and are trying to hide their motives in the lighter shades.

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]My issue is that people are hypocrites. Everyone is guilty one way or another of piracy. Just this page alone for example, aquiring a photograph that was created by someone else and then pasting it on our accounts as our own. Plagerism.Tyrone77

But you know there are different shades of wrong. I don't really care about people that use other people's photos. In fact with a bit of thought I don't care too much about other forms of Piracy such as downloading really old games or Russians downloading a game because it wont be released for months. But amoungst all these shades there are literally thousands of people, that in my eyes, are in the darkest of darkest places. These are the people that have no excuse and are trying to hide their motives in the lighter shades.

lol, yeah ok.

But there are ... aren't there?

lol, yeah ok.

But there are ... aren't there?

Tyrone77

that's why there are different shades of punishment.

So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.A1B2C3CAL

Unfortuantely it' only a matter of time, it'll get cracked eventually, no mater how good programming is. I'll pick it up when it comes out on Friday

jtim6007

My issue is that people are hypocrites. Everyone is guilty one way or another of piracy. Just this page alone for example, aquiring a photograph that was created by someone else and then pasting it on our accounts as our own. Plagerism.Xtraflo

Is the photographer losing money over it?

So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.A1B2C3CAL

I'm guessing you're from America... (check your sig) yep.

I've come to realise from the study of Business Law and generally talking to people from America that this 'Absolutism' view of Right is right / Wrong is wrong generally tends to be an American ethos. Please don't read that as an insult, because it most deffinately is not and I know I'm sterotyping. There will be plenty of others from other background that have this ethos too, I'm sure.

I personally think there are different levels of Piracy. I'm also positive that Publishers are aware of this too. Their main concern is to focus on stopping the most relevant form of piracy that effects their sales the most.

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]My issue is that people are hypocrites. Everyone is guilty one way or another of piracy. Just this page alone for example, aquiring a photograph that was created by someone else and then pasting it on our accounts as our own. Plagerism.Cranler

Is the photographer losing money over it?

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]My issue is that people are hypocrites. Everyone is guilty one way or another of piracy. Just this page alone for example, aquiring a photograph that was created by someone else and then pasting it on our accounts as our own. Plagerism.Cranler

Is the photographer losing money over it?

There we go, yeah the most they loose is thier credit.

So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.A1B2C3CAL

That is a ridiculously naive statement.

[QUOTE="A1B2C3CAL"]So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.ElectricNZ

That is a ridiculously naive statement.

not so sure that it is, at least legally speaking. most legal systems are built around that concept. usually, crimes (or what each legal system considers crimes) that are less severe are punished less severely and more severe crimes are punished more severely. but a crime is a crime, no matter what it may be.

ok, i only know american law (and not that well, to be honest), but the american legal system was adopted from british common law (and then modified), and i'd imagine most legal systems (in western europe and australia) bear some resemblance.

Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.Xtraflo

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

its because of drm that there are so many pirate's after the far-cry incident turned so many people towards hacking and cracking. I wonder how many more turned towards consolesrisc-vs-cisc

What Far Cry incident?

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.fireandcloud

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

[QUOTE="fireandcloud"]

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.Xtraflo

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

i'm sorry, but my (american) legal education tells me there is a difference. a huge difference, in fact.

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"][QUOTE="fireandcloud"]

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.fireandcloud

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

i'm sorry, but my (american) legal education tells me there is a difference. a huge difference, in fact.

[QUOTE="ElectricNZ"]

[QUOTE="A1B2C3CAL"]So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.fireandcloud

That is a ridiculously naive statement.

not so sure that it is, at least legally speaking. most legal systems are built around that concept. usually, crimes (or what each legal system considers crimes) that are less severe are punished less severely and more severe crimes are punished more severely. but a crime is a crime, no matter what it may be.

ok, i only know american law (and not that well, to be honest), but the american legal system was adopted from british common law (and then modified), and i'd imagine most legal systems (in western europe and australia) bear some resemblance.

Saying right is right and wrong is wrong, is very very naive. Nothing in the real world is truly black and white.

The ironic thing is, people are being fined by the RIAA, so heavily it would be less severe to steal a car.

[QUOTE="fireandcloud"][QUOTE="Xtraflo"][QUOTE="fireandcloud"]

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.Xtraflo

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

i'm sorry, but my (american) legal education tells me there is a difference. a huge difference, in fact.

well, the legal terms for crime and violation are what matters, at least in this discussion. look up a legal dictionary for both terms, and you'll understand.

In America, as I understand it (at least in the business world) is that there tries to be a law for practically everything in the attempt to get rid of shades of grey.

But in the U.K we focus a little bit more upon Case Law (correct me if I'm wrong as I could easily be). This is a much more case by case approach to different crimes and takes into account more than just the act of the crime itself.

The reason why I feel this is applicable to Piracy is that we need to understand why people are doing what they do before we can actually solve the problem. Simply tarnishing everyone or thing with the same brush doesn't in my opinion help us understand a situation.

Even if they cracked it ( and they will ) the 1 or 2 or 3 months that it will take them to crack the game even that is a victory for publishers. adamosmaki

What makes you think it will take a month?

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"][QUOTE="fireandcloud"][QUOTE="Xtraflo"][QUOTE="fireandcloud"]

[QUOTE="Xtraflo"]Yes, I agree - a speeding ticket is not quite like stealing a car.fireandcloud

well, a speeding ticket is a traffic violation, not a crime.

i'm sorry, but my (american) legal education tells me there is a difference. a huge difference, in fact.

well, the legal terms for crime and violation are what matters, at least in this discussion. look up a legal dictionary for both terms, and you'll understand.

[QUOTE="fireandcloud"][QUOTE="ElectricNZ"]

[QUOTE="A1B2C3CAL"]So a person that steals software gets off easier than a person that steals lets say a car. Right is right and wrong is wrong.ElectricNZ

That is a ridiculously naive statement.

not so sure that it is, at least legally speaking. most legal systems are built around that concept. usually, crimes (or what each legal system considers crimes) that are less severe are punished less severely and more severe crimes are punished more severely. but a crime is a crime, no matter what it may be.

ok, i only know american law (and not that well, to be honest), but the american legal system was adopted from british common law (and then modified), and i'd imagine most legal systems (in western europe and australia) bear some resemblance.

Saying right is right and wrong is wrong, is very very naive. Nothing in the real world is truly black and white.

The ironic thing is, people are being fined by the RIAA, so heavily it would be less severe to steal a car.

in moral terms, sure. but not in legal terms.

i'd have to look up what stealing a car (considered a grand theft in all states) carries in terms of punishment (but i'm sure it includes a hefty fine + imprisonment), which i don't care to do, but i will say that some forms of electronic theft are considered more severe a crime than stealing a car.

Okay - but for the sake of right is right and wrong is wrong / someone jacking a car and cracking a game code is a bit wavery on how the two should be judged. That is the whole point in the first place.Xtraflo

that's why legal systems differ country to country (in america, they differ state to state), because each country has its own sensibilities. all in all, a law is a matter of public policy: whatever the public at large feels about an act (that is legally criminal), that'll probably end up being the law.

if we're talking in terms of morals, then it's something philosophers can tackle, and even then there's no one school of philosophy that's more right than another.

In America, as I understand it (at least in the business world) is that there tries to be a law for practically everything in the attempt to get rid of shades of grey.

But in the U.K we focus a little bit more upon Case Law (correct me if I'm wrong as I could easily be). This is a much more case by case approach to different crimes and takes into account more than just the act of the crime itself.

The reason why I feel this is applicable to Piracy is that we need to understand why people are doing what they do before we can actually solve the problem. Simply tarnishing everyone or thing with the same brush doesn't in my opinion help us understand a situation.

Tyrone77

I don't think I know anybody that would say they think that American Law is better than the Law in UK. My sister is in Law school and she's currently looking at case studies of Criminal Law, she's always bantering about how F'd up the law can be. I'm a psychology student myself currently studying the criminal mind, it really gets to me when people just "tarnish everyone or thing with the same brush" as you said.

The self-righteous "moral high road" posters, in reality can be less of a contributor to society than people they deem as low (the pirates).

[QUOTE="Tyrone77"]

In America, as I understand it (at least in the business world) is that there tries to be a law for practically everything in the attempt to get rid of shades of grey.

But in the U.K we focus a little bit more upon Case Law (correct me if I'm wrong as I could easily be). This is a much more case by case approach to different crimes and takes into account more than just the act of the crime itself.

The reason why I feel this is applicable to Piracy is that we need to understand why people are doing what they do before we can actually solve the problem. Simply tarnishing everyone or thing with the same brush doesn't in my opinion help us understand a situation.

ElectricNZ

I don't think I know anybody that would say they think that American Law is better than the Law in UK. My sister is in Law school and she's currently looking at case studies of Criminal Law, she's always bantering about how F'd up the law can be. I'm a psychology student myself currently studying the criminal mind, it really gets to me when people just "tarnish everyone or thing with the same brush" as you said.

The self-righteous "moral high road" posters, in reality can be less of a contributor to society than people they deem as low (the pirates).

hmm... interesting (what both of you wrote).

i won't defend american law (and i certainly don't think it's better than british law), but i will say that the opposite is also true - british law isn't better than the american law either; it's just a matter of what system each country feels works better to serve its people.

and that gibe about the moral high road posters - you seem to be one of them, to be honest, for damning them and saying that they contribute less than pirates.

I am not damning them I used the word "can" instead of "are", what I meant to say was, such posters have a possibility to contribute less. I'm not judging them.

I openly admit I've pirated a lot, I'm definately not innocent there, but I always buy games that I really like.

I am not damning them I used the word "can" instead of "are", what I meant to say was, such posters have a possibility to contribute less. I'm not judging them.

I openly admit I've pirated a lot, I'm definately not innocent there, but I always buy games that I really like.

ElectricNZ

sorry - didn't read it carefully. but i bet you wouldn't be so offended by the moral high road posters if you didn't pirate games.

just to clarify, i'm basically saying that you have your own morals, and you do judge others (maybe not as staunchly as the moral high road posters but you still do) that don't share it.

I think that the bottom line is - there's really no way to excuse pirating as a permittable act, but there are far worse things in world. As far as game developers losing money-I can't feel sorry for the millionaires at the top not able to get that extra house in Monte Carlo. If these companies were just a bit less greedy, games could come down in price considerably?Xtraflo

i think most pirates view games as something they can get for free and get away with it, so even if new releases were, say, $30 instead of $50, they'd continue to pirate games. i mean, songs these days only cost a dollar, but people are still pirating songs.

[QUOTE="ElectricNZ"]

I am not damning them I used the word "can" instead of "are", what I meant to say was, such posters have a possibility to contribute less. I'm not judging them.

I openly admit I've pirated a lot, I'm definately not innocent there, but I always buy games that I really like.

fireandcloud

sorry - didn't read it carefully. but i bet you wouldn't be so offended by the moral high road posters if you didn't pirate games.

I'm not really sure if I would be or not. I've always had compassion towards people considered to be "scrum" of society, you know the type; serial killers, rapists, terrorists.

I'm not crazy, my study into psychology has taught me a very important thing. You know the age old psycology/philosphy question of "Nature vs. Nurture"? You know, whether your genetic makeup or your surroundings, education, friends make you who you are?

It doesn't matter whether one has more influence than the other in this case, as we can not choose either. We cannot choose who gave birth to us, we cannot choose where we grow up. Basically, nobody in this world has a choice in how they were brought up, people argue that "but once they are old enough, they should be able to make good decisions and have a conscience", well do we all really get that chance? Once a person is born, they have no choices to make, they are already made. Even as they progress through school an adulthood, they may appear to have "free will" and make decisions, but each and every one of these decisions are determined by their previous experience in life which they had no choice of.

Basically, the judge sentencing the criminal a life sentence because of the murder he committed, even though the judge considers a man a "monster", yes the very same judge would do the same act if he was put in the same life, and situation.

I am so sick of lucky people, middle-classed, recieving good education (but not quite good enough), making the the "right" decisions in life, and looking down upon others because they commit crimes.

And... I am taking this too far so I will stop.