EA's DRM, arrogance may cause gamers to skip good titles

[lxskllr]

Steam's the best of the modern DRM schemes, and it's working for me now. I'm just not completely comfortable with as a long term solution. I also resent needing net access for SP games. It wasn't that long ago that I was on 56k. I'd probably still be using dialup if Verizon hadn't jerked me around on a repair issue.

 

[Xavier434]

I will be skipping those titles as well. They won't be seeing a dime from me for a while. There are plenty of other fantastic games for me to choose from which will entertain me just as much without that shitty DRM. Resentment alone will not be what wins this fight. Competition will as well.

 

[Cellulose]

Originally posted by: videogames101

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: videogames101


Internet isn't a req to play sp?

lol


try stalker, for example?

I don't understand what you're saying...

I'm saying, I could launch steam without my ethernet cable plugged in and play a singleplayer game.

Not true, I really dislike Steam because half the time I can't play without being connected (it just gives me some Steam error).

 

[imported_protoz]

I'm not buying an EA game with the install limitations even if the games are coming to console. It sucks because I really want to play Dead Space and Mirror's Edge but I refuse to support that sort of DRM.

 

[rivan]

I followed Spore from that first video two+ years ago. I watched the DRM thing heat up.

I picked it up while at Target for something else when I saw it on the shelf. It sat, shrink-wrapped in my house for two weeks. Then, I decided I wanted to vote with my wallet and return it.

 

[Aikouka]

It's interesting how he chose to talk about locks and such when all they do is keep the good out and the bad will just find a way in regardless. It's the same with DRM.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Craig234
I'd like to see gamers suggest a business solution to address the high rates of piracy.

I support their doing what they need to protect the industry so that good games continue to be made; I'm open to 'better' solutions.

If all they can say is 'wah wah DRM' and not offer any solution, then they are advocating what will result in a lot fewer good games being made for the PC.

It'll be one more reason to shift to the inferior (IMO) console platforms.

The way I see around it is to actually enforce copyright laws, and catch and severely punish those that break them. If you know that there are major consequences for the wrongs you are doing, and that you are likely to be caught, you are far less likely to do them. Just like there is nothing stopping people from killing their next door neighbor and stealing everything he owns, but it doesn't happen very often because there are heavy consequences for doing so.

 

[PingSpike]

EA makes good titles now? I thought they just bought your favorite game developer and shut them down.

 

[irishScott]

My laptop (and only computer) probably won't be able to run any of those games anyway. The most advanced games it can run right now is CoH and STALKER, and that's on medium settings.

Also, if you want to vote with your wallet but still want the game, buy it on ebay from someone who didn't.

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: Cellulose

Originally posted by: videogames101

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: videogames101


Internet isn't a req to play sp?

lol


try stalker, for example?

I don't understand what you're saying...

I'm saying, I could launch steam without my ethernet cable plugged in and play a singleplayer game.

Not true, I really dislike Steam because half the time I can't play without being connected (it just gives me some Steam error).

That, and some Steam games (ie: CoH) require you to be online to play within the game. Which is fine for me. If I'm not hooked up to the web then I'm probably too busy/not in a good position to play anything beyond pacman/tetris

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I'm just not completely comfortable with as a long term solution. I also resent needing net access for SP games.

the exact reason I bought nothing from valve until the orange box. At that price the $ per game was low enough that I was willing to take the risk. Until then it was their sales loss.

 

[evident]

i haven't purchased an EA game since COD4

 

[BenSkywalker]

What's sad about this situation is that EA has some wonderful games coming out: Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Warhammer Online.

Don't often get to point out that Ars needs a fact checker, but obviously they do (Edit- realized my point wasn't clear at all hear- Warhammer is a MMO- MMOs don't use DRM for very obvious reasons).

Steam isn't the best long term solution, nor a great one, not even close to a good one honestly. A good chunk of Steam games won't work unless you are connected(yeah, offline mode- nice on the games it works on when it works), and it still has the same general problem that DRM holds for a lot of people- what happens if Valve dies? To compound this problem- they are still giving gamers the same DRM virii that they would get from the B&M version of the same game. Steam serves one purpose and one purpose only- to make Gabe Newell money, as much as he can get. Checking out some of the games on Steam now they are running $10 more then I can buy them for in a B&M- with box and manual and having to be shipped. Gabe is making a lot of money from Steam, and he clearly will do anything in his power to seperate you from your money as his primary goal. He does nothing at all to actually benefit you in any way. He clearly fully supports Draconian DRM, as long as he gets his kickback. If you happen to like his money making scheme, that's cool- but it has nothing to with DRM at all, is just has to do with Gabe pocketing money over retailers and that is it. That is the entire driving force behind Steam.

As an honest way of dealing with piracy- enforce it no differently then you would shop lifting(which in the US can carry up to life in prison sentence depending on where you live and how many offenses you have against you).

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

What's sad about this situation is that EA has some wonderful games coming out: Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Warhammer Online.

Don't often get to point out that Ars needs a fact checker, but obviously they do (Edit- realized my point wasn't clear at all hear- Warhammer is a MMO- MMOs don't use DRM for very obvious reasons).

Steam isn't the best long term solution, nor a great one, not even close to a good one honestly. A good chunk of Steam games won't work unless you are connected(yeah, offline mode- nice on the games it works on when it works), and it still has the same general problem that DRM holds for a lot of people- what happens if Valve dies? To compound this problem- they are still giving gamers the same DRM virii that they would get from the B&M version of the same game. Steam serves one purpose and one purpose only- to make Gabe Newell money, as much as he can get. Checking out some of the games on Steam now they are running $10 more then I can buy them for in a B&M- with box and manual and having to be shipped. Gabe is making a lot of money from Steam, and he clearly will do anything in his power to seperate you from your money as his primary goal. He does nothing at all to actually benefit you in any way. He clearly fully supports Draconian DRM, as long as he gets his kickback. If you happen to like his money making scheme, that's cool- but it has nothing to with DRM at all, is just has to do with Gabe pocketing money over retailers and that is it. That is the entire driving force behind Steam.

As an honest way of dealing with piracy- enforce it no differently then you would shop lifting(which in the US can carry up to life in prison sentence depending on where you live and how many offenses you have against you).

Wrong, steam takes DRM and puts it completely out my sight. It's so easy, it doesn't even feel like DRM. That should be our goal. DRM is here to stay, and all we can hope for is a system which at the same time makes it easier to buy and play games. I'd rather buy a game on steam then anywhere else, because I can install it from anywhere with a net connection.


DRM which isn't noticable by the end user is the best DRM.

For those with a constant internet connection, steam is that DRM system, one that works to maintain sales AND also provides users with extra services, joining games via friends list FTW.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: Oakenfold

Originally posted by: Frodolives
Wow, what an arrogant jerk! So publishers at the corporate level are ignorant about their market, and the consumer loses.

The majority of the market doesn't understand. It's your job to advocate to the masses why DRM is bad. But I agree with you, the people running the show have not figured out WTH is going on. :thumbsup:

When a company does figure it out, they better capitalize the hell out of it.

Aka Stardock.


EA hasn't produced a good game in a while, Crysis and Crysis Wars are completely meh, and while they're so eager to go after the mainstream, they're losing their niche market, which is far more reliable, so whatever to them.

 

[mindcycle]

It appears that Stardock may start working on a non-intrusive DRM scheme. Something that the publishers afraid of the "no DRM at all solution" can get behind. Good news i'd say.

http://www.edge-online.com/fea...ight-security-solution

 

[AlexWade]

EA is the son of Satan. Madden NFL was second-rate compared to NFL 2Kx. When EA bought the exclusive rights for NFL player names, I decided immediately to boycott EA Sports. But I was thinking about Spore until I read about the DRM. Then I decided to boycott EA until they treat the consumer like people and not like criminals. No DRM will stop piracy. Yet these clueless execs keep pushing it and pushing it like it is the holy grail. Because of the sorry selection of games and DRM, consumers boycott and stop buying the product. And what does EA, the RIAA, and the MPAA do? Do they blame themselves for treating the consumers like dirt? Of course not. In their eyes, they are infallible. Therefore, if sales are down, it must be piracy because they are perfect.

The thing I hate the most is CD checks.

The ideal thing to do is ban DRM. But since I don't have enough money to bribe Congress, we will be treated like criminals forever.

 

[Czar]

My take

I only buy mainstream games through Steam, nothing else. I feel like I'm too old to go out and buy games in stores and frankly that distribution scheme is dying anyhow.

Every once in a while a good games comes out that I want to play, the game is the distributed first through stores and I watch the news and sometimes beg on the official forums that they release the game on Steam. Sometimes that happens and lately it has been happening just by default more often than before.

Where that fails big time is that the developers put the same stupid DRM with the rootkit, with the install limitations and so on on the Steam version!

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: CP5670
A basic CD check does that equally well, which games had 10 years ago. Anyone who can bypass that can also get around the worst Securom implementations just as easily.

Which is harder? DVD or CD > rip to ISO Image > Burn image to DVD or CD

or

"Getting around" other security measures?

I'd say the latter is more difficult, harder to figure out (especially for a common user), more likely to get you in trouble, and impossible to do unless you know how to hack those things (much less likely than knowing where to find a crack).

As much as I love DVD/CD checks, I can understand why things like DRM are put in place.

 

[microAmp]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

Checking out some of the games on Steam now they are running $10 more then I can buy them for in a B&M- with box and manual and having to be shipped. Gabe is making a lot of money from Steam, and he clearly will do anything in his power to seperate you from your money as his primary goal.

Yup, one reason I try not to buy games through Steam, the prices are typically higher than retail versions. Wonder what happened to all the people a few years ago touting prices will be cheaper on Steam because no one has to make disc, manuals, boxes, shelf space, etc.

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: CP5670
A basic CD check does that equally well, which games had 10 years ago. Anyone who can bypass that can also get around the worst Securom implementations just as easily.

Which is harder? DVD or CD > rip to ISO Image > Burn image to DVD or CD

or

"Getting around" other security measures?

I'd say the latter is more difficult, harder to figure out (especially for a common user), more likely to get you in trouble, and impossible to do unless you know how to hack those things (much less likely than knowing where to find a crack).

The latter is by far easier and quicker. There are a couple of fairly mainstream sites that carry cracks and anyone who knows how to use Google can find them in a few minutes. All you need to do is extract it to the game directory and overwrite the original bugged exe.

 

[mindcycle]

Wow, this is unbelievable..

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/6800.page

 

[mindcycle]

..and this is pretty hilarious.. lol

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1526/securom2gu8.png

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: mindcycle
..and this is pretty hilarious.. lol

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1526/securom2gu8.png

:laugh:

 

[Harabec]

Originally posted by: mindcycle
Wow, this is unbelievable..

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/6800.page

Wow...I think "holy shit" covers that.

gamecopyworld ftw.

(I play WoW and will never buy EA products due to another reason anyway)