Bethesda Is Tired Of Spending Money Supporting Software Pirates

[mindcycle]

Last week, ?Fallout 3?product manager Pete Hines told me that some development studios now calculate that up to half of their customer support calls involve dealing with people who have pirated copies of the game.

Yet, he goes on to say this..

There will be no ?Spore?-like digital rights management (DRM) in ?Fallout 3.? There wasn?t in ?The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? and Bethesda has seen no reason to make sweeping changes to their approach with ?Fallout 3.?

?It?s pretty mild,? said Hines of the DRM. ?Much like ?Oblivion,? we want there to be some level of protection there so people aren?t just randomly pirating games and passing it around, but we?re very sensitive to the end-user experience, particularly for the person who has bought a legitimate copy and not doing something that is too intrusive, invasive. You bought your game, you put it in your PC, you start playing it.?

Hines is sympathetic to the complaints of legitimate gamers. That?s why there isn?t anything particularly intrusive in Bethesda?s PC products.

Which is the reason i'm behind Bethesda 100%. They realize that adding invasive DRM does nothing to stop pirates and only frustrates legit customers. Cheers to that!

The rest of the article can be found here. http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com...da-deals-with-pirates/

 

[nakedfrog]

What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

 

[Red Storm]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

Obviously, a jackass who happens to be a pirate.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

I think calling in for support takes it to a new level.

 

[MarcVenice]

Jackass the one legged pirate ?

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

I think calling in for support takes it to a new level.

Haha yeah, it is ridiculously stupid to do that.. but apparently that's what people are doing.

An easy solution would be to ask for their product key before they get support. I don't understand why no one does that. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to verify since most cd keys are generated from a master encryption key. Just have the support guy verify it against that and if it checks out give them support, if not then they offer them the chance to get a license. I don't know.. something like that.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The type that feels they're sticking it to the man when pirating.

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

wrong, i would ask other users for help, but i would never do that , that to me, is ACTUAL stealing , its tangible

 

[Maximilian]

Good to see bethesda see's the folly of EA's ways.

I imagine the tech support calling pirates got given the CD from their friend and dont know any better.

 

[Seggybop]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Good to see bethesda see's the folly of EA's ways.

I imagine the tech support calling pirates got given the CD from their friend and dont know any better.

Can it really be considered piracy if someone else gives you their copy of the game?

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Seggybop

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Good to see bethesda see's the folly of EA's ways.

I imagine the tech support calling pirates got given the CD from their friend and dont know any better.

Can it really be considered piracy if someone else gives you their copy of the game?

No i mean they copy their CD and give the copy to their friend.

 

[shortylickens]

Its sorta like the guy who called the cops to report a bag of stolen weed.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: LumbergTech

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

wrong, i would ask other users for help, but i would never do that , that to me, is ACTUAL stealing , its tangible

That is stealing but pirating isnt? What the fuck kind of logic is that.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: Seggybop

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Good to see bethesda see's the folly of EA's ways.

I imagine the tech support calling pirates got given the CD from their friend and dont know any better.

Can it really be considered piracy if someone else gives you their copy of the game?

If its the actual physical copy, and the transfered it to you 100%(ie: they no longer use it).

If they make a copy of the game they give own and give it to you. Yes that is piracy. You don't own the game, you own the rights to use the intellecuatl property(the game).

 

[quadomatic]

Thank you Bethesda. I'm glad I won't have to worry about DRM when I buy Fallout 3.

Now if only Fallout 3 was on Steam...any word on a digital distribution versions?

 

[Canai]

Cool, maybe I'll actually pick up Fallout 3 now.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: Wreckem

Originally posted by: LumbergTech

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

wrong, i would ask other users for help, but i would never do that , that to me, is ACTUAL stealing , its tangible

That is stealing but pirating isnt? What the fuck kind of logic is that.

Copying a game is a copyright violation, not theft. How much actual harm is debatable, and hard to put a figure on.

Getting tech support you didn't pay for is theft of services, and the costs can be clearly calculated.

 

[wanderer27]

I wasn't really too interested in Fallout 3, but now I might buy it just to help support Bethesda.

I'm still a bit leary of their game engine though after what happened with Oblivion . . . .

 

[Balt]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind of people that are too dumb to follow the instructions in an .NFO file.

 

[Frodolives]

They stated this a while back, and it's good to hear.

 

[Liet]

Awww, Bethesda is sad about people stealing their product and abusing it?

Well, I'm sad about them stealing the Fallout IP and raping it. So there. *grumble grumble*

Peter Jackson can go to hell, too, that revolting butcher.

 

[Frodolives]

Just for the record, Bethesda "stole" that IP from Interplay for $5.75 million.

 

[Red Storm]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: Wreckem

Originally posted by: LumbergTech

Originally posted by: Red Storm

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What kind of jackass pirates a game and then calls in for support?

The kind that pirates games to begin with.

wrong, i would ask other users for help, but i would never do that , that to me, is ACTUAL stealing , its tangible

That is stealing but pirating isnt? What the fuck kind of logic is that.

Copying a game is a copyright violation, not theft. How much actual harm is debatable, and hard to put a figure on.

Getting tech support you didn't pay for is theft of services, and the costs can be clearly calculated.

Pirating a game is theft. The game costs $50, and if someone uses other means to obtain it for free, that's stealing.

 

[TheVrolok]

I find it really hard to believe that 50% of support calls are from people who pirated the game. One of the arguments against DRM is that it's pointless anyway since pirating is so easy and foolproof, obviously it's not if 50% of all the customer support lines are being tied up with pirates.