Blizzard: Fighting Piracy with DRM 'A Losing Battle'

[mindcycle]

StarCraft II is still on track for its July 27 release on PC, but unlike some other developers, Blizzard isn't planning on gumming up the works with any draconian digital rights management software--it's taking a different approach.

In fact, according to a recent interview Videogamer.com conducted with StarCraft II producer and Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce, fighting pirates with DRM is a "losing battle." Pearce states that it's due to the disparity in size between development teams "and the number of people out there that want to try to counteract that technology, whether it's because they want to pirate the game or just because it's a curiosity for them."

Pearce says that Blizzard is focused on other ways to discourage piracy that are antithetical to recent DRM initiatives from companies like Ubisoft, and the problems they can create for paying customers. "The best approach from our perspective is to make sure that you've got a full-featured platform that people want to play on, where their friends are, where the community is," he explained.

That's not to say that StarCraft II will be free of protection. Players will still need to register an account with Battle.net and use a one-off activation code to play. Once their copy is activated, players won't need to be connected to the internet to play the single-player campaign, though Blizzard is also banking on the hope that the the connection to friends, achievements, and multiplayer offered by an improved Battle.net service will compel potential pirates to make a purchase instead. On a related note, it's already known that LAN support won't be included in StarCraft II due to piracy and other concerns, much to the chagrin of some hardcore fans of the series.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64015

 

[Molondo]

I love the game, i just don't like the "have to be online to play singleplayer" Single player for me is a fall back plan when my net goes out =/

 

[simonizor]

Blizzard seems to be one of the few companies that gets it. They realize that people will pay for quality games. They don't need no stinkin' DRM to discourage people from stealing their crappy games because they don't make crappy games that people would steal to begin with.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Well according to the article it does say that you have to be online to activate it the first time but then to play single player you don't need to be connected to the internet.

I love the game, i just don't like the "have to be online to play singleplayer" Single player for me is a fall back plan when my net goes out =/

 

[Molondo]

yea i just read that again, read it wrong.

 

[HalfCrazy]

Given enough time pirates will be able to crack it. I do hate to say it but its only the truth on the matter.

 

[Aikouka]

Blizzard is fairly accurate in their statements. You can go far to create some elaborate system to lock out non-paying customers, but how does this affect the people that do pay for your game? Remember the days when you could simply install a game and play it without having to worry about a disc and such? Yeah, those were pretty much the days without the widespread use of the Internet .

It is possible to create an environment where DRM works, but it requires the entire system to be designed around this. Unfortunately for developers (and somewhat fortunate for us), computers are not designed to be locked down units in such a manner.

I don't mind having to register the game once online... I don't really sell my games anyway .

 

[Modular]

Even though they are a little late to the game (this type of platform is exactly what Steam does), it's good to see that they are choosing to go this route. My hope is that more and more companies adopt a Steam-like platform and give you the option to burn a physical backup of your media as well (like Steam).

Online activation isn't an issue for 99% of people out there. Sure there will be some people who don't have access to the net to activate a game online, but the developer could always allow them to call in and activate that way with a special key or something along those lines.

 

[shortylickens]

Blizzard seems to be one of the few companies that gets it. They realize that people will pay for quality games. They don't need no stinkin' DRM to discourage people from stealing their crappy games because they don't make crappy games that people would steal to begin with.

This.

 

[triggerpappy]

When you put DRM in it only makes it tougher on your paying customers. The people that download games illegally ironically will never ever play that retail version. They will have the better cracked version.

If you make a great multiplayer system with authentication ala battle.net then people will buy your game in droves. Stardock, Valve and Blizzard know how to do it right. I wish more did.

 

[CurseTheSky]

<3 Blizzard.

Blizzard, Valve, and a small handful of others are the only ones that are REALLY keeping PC gaming alive today. Without them, we'd be spoon fed nothing but the same, boring, DRM-infested eye candy year after year.

 

[FragKrag]

As much as I love Blizzard for doing this, when they 'entice' users to buy the game, they are trying to use Battle.net 2.0, but as of now, Battle.net 2.0 seems to be a complete wreck, so it's fairly far (imo) from the platform that everybody wants to use.

I mean from what they announced, in the final game there are no plans for chat channels, and players are not allowed to join different servers...

 

[Wardawg1001]

As much as I love Blizzard for doing this, when they 'entice' users to buy the game, they are trying to use Battle.net 2.0, but as of now, Battle.net 2.0 seems to be a complete wreck, so it's fairly far (imo) from the platform that everybody wants to use.

I mean from what they announced, in the final game there are no plans for chat channels, and players are not allowed to join different servers...

There are plans for chat channels and for people to be able to change servers (regions). Neither may be implemented when SC2 releases, or both, it is not known at this time. Battle.net 2.0 is a platform though, not a game, and thus it will develop outside of the games themselves (though for obvious reasons, certain major features need to be working before SC2 is released, and other features may be timed to release on or around the same time as other games/expansions). Personally, I won't be using Battle.net 2.0 until Diablo 3 is released so I may be a little less concerned than other people about what features they develop first, since its not likely to release until mid to late 2011.

 

[FragKrag]

I thought the same thing yesterday actually. Turns out I was wrong, and there really is no plan for chat or server changing :/

Source:
http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview

Q: There are many Europeans that have loads of American friends, and have a problem finding matches with Americans. I know you've already promised to bridge this divide...

[Bob Colayco: That's not the case.]

No, it'll be structured very similarly to World of Warcraft, where you've got the European region and players matched against the other players within their region.

[BC: We haven't promised anything like that. That's something we'll look into, but I just wanted to jump in and clarify that.]

Q: But you're not excluding the possibility &#8211; you're just saying there are no current plans for it?

There are no current plans for it, and if you're a European player and you've got friends that are in another region that you want to be able to connect with, we definitely want to support that. It might mean that you have to access it through the US client, but those facilities will definitely be available in terms of, if you want the US client, go to the US website, download the US client.

Q: So I can use my same account?

No.

Q: So I need to buy two clients, that's what you're saying?

Yeah.

for server changing and

Q: Another thing I thought you'd promised was chat rooms within Battle.net...

Nope. No plans for specific chat rooms at this time. You'll be able to open up chats direct with your friends, and when we add clans and groups there'll be chats for your clans and groups, but no specific plans for chat rooms right now. Do you really want chat rooms?

Q: Loads of people within the community are wanting Looking For Group chat rooms, and that sort of thing.

Well, if we've done our job right in terms of the matchmaking service, then hopefully they won't feel like they'll need it for that service.

 

[Maximilian]

<3 Blizzard

 

[JJChicken]

I thought the same thing yesterday actually. Turns out I was wrong, and there really is no plan for chat or server changing :/

Source:
http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview


for server changing and

If this is true, then it is really fucked up. Playing friends around the world and having chat channels were essential features. Maybe I'll just stick to W3 and SC.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I still play LANs almost every day with my housemates in SC:BW. No Lan might mean no purchases from us. Out internet is dirt slow, so LAN is our only option for 4+ players.

 

[JJChicken]

Good thread for those interested: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128014

 

[Wardawg1001]

I thought the same thing yesterday actually. Turns out I was wrong, and there really is no plan for chat or server changing :/

Source:
http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview


for server changing and

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25171927052&postId=251691319148&sid=3000#15

Post today on the D3 forums about some of these similar concerns (#2 and #5 specifically). Bashiok (the poster) is a community leader for both D3 and SC2. However, the answers he has given may be more geared towards D3 than SC2, I'm not sure. Battle.net 2.0 may actually have different features for the two games, who can say?

 

[JJChicken]

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25171927052&postId=251691319148&sid=3000#15

Post today on the D3 forums about some of these similar concerns (#2 and #5 specifically). Bashiok (the poster) is a community leader for both D3 and SC2. However, the answers he has given may be more geared towards D3 than SC2, I'm not sure. Battle.net 2.0 may actually have different features for the two games, who can say?

hahah one of the posters there "Clan-Iraq" is also a troll on the PlayDota.com forums. I guess the internet is a very tight community. Remember when casiotech got banned from GameSpot (as well as AT)?

 

[Maximilian]

I thought the same thing yesterday actually. Turns out I was wrong, and there really is no plan for chat or server changing :/

Source:
http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/270/blizzards-frank-pearce-interview


for server changing and

Ok i just read that... that kinda sucks, there were no gateways or anything with the original starcraft but they put them in later in a patch. No chat at all just sucks hard though, i think they will patch it in if enough fans demand it, blizz arent perfect but they do listen to their fans generally.

 

[FragKrag]

oh man, clan-iraq was one of my buddies way back when I posted on the Blizzard Warcraft 3 Forums

Yeah, I actually got the news from TeamLiquid.net

 

[Wardawg1001]

hahah one of the posters there "Clan-Iraq" is also a troll on the PlayDota.com forums. I guess the internet is a very tight community. Remember when casiotech got banned from GameSpot (as well as AT)?

I don't read them but apparently he likes to troll the SC2 forums too, which is part of why you see him and Bashiok exchanging some veiled insults.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Ok i just read that... that kinda sucks, there were no gateways or anything with the original starcraft but they put them in later in a patch. No chat at all just sucks hard though, i think they will patch it in if enough fans demand it, blizz arent perfect but they do listen to their fans generally.

Personally I'm going to take Bashiok's word on this (from the link in my post earlier in this thread) that they do have plans for both chat rooms (though maybe not public ones that everyone gets thrown into automatically like D2 had) and server switching. I won't be surprised if neither make it into the SC2 launch, though I expect at least chat rooms will be available before the D3 launch. If they do make it so you have to buy multiple copies of a game that are tied to the different regions, then I will lose a lot of respect for Blizzard.

 

[SunnyD]

Blizzard seems to be one of the few companies that gets it. They realize that people will pay for quality games. They don't need no stinkin' DRM to discourage people from stealing their crappy games because they don't make crappy games that people would steal to begin with.

Unfortunately, blizzard most definitely doesn't get it. There's still DRM in the form of Battle.net and no LAN-play. They still get you where it counts.