Weak rant on yet another reason why I dont feel bad about pirating.

[RadiclDreamer]

Ok, weak rant, but heres the deal.

I purchased Plants Vs. Zombies for my 4 year old son. I've bought it for the 360, the DS and both the mac and PC versions (hes obsessed with it) Well, recently I upgraded his machine to OS 10.7 Lion and it no longer works without an upgrade so I head to the site to download. Once there it gives me the option to download the latest version which I do and proceed to install. Now it comes up as a trial (original was retail purchase and had no CD key) and it asks for an order number which I dont have since it was retail.

Fast forward a week of dealing with popcap and they say they will send me a *free* replacement which is just the digital download version of what I already have, but the patched version that is supposed to work with 10.7. I take the key they send and it tries its little phone home routine which opens a browser and from there I am supposed to click a register button and be on my way... wrong! It fails over and over. Try their help section regarding that, page dead. Try a few more links to try to self support it, fail.

Now I have a really upset kid because his game wont work and am again waiting on popcap to respond (usually takes a few days).

Developers, its crap like this that makes paying customers want to just give up and go to torrent site XYZ. I pay for the game and you make it much harder than if i had just gone and downloaded it illegally. I would have saved myself $20 and a whole lot of hassle.

Your phone home routines only hurt your paying customers, the pirates break that crap in 10 minutes and anyone who wants it can download it.

Please make it easier for me to be a legit customer!

 

[Bateluer]

Please make it easier for me to be a legit customer!

Amen.

Its why I went from purchasing a dozen new games a year, to only 1 or 2. The other part being the subpar quality of the shovelware these days.

 

[lxskllr]

Humble Indie Bundle 3 is out. Vote with your wallet, and support indie development, Linux gaming, no DRM, and finally charity.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Humble Indie Bundle 3 is out. Vote with your wallet, and support indie development, Linux gaming, no DRM, and finally charity.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Ive bought all three, the games are pretty good but I mostly do it to support Childs Play. Its the only Charity where I feel confident that my money is actually put where it belongs.

 

[SandEagle]

stealing is stealing. do not look for excuses to justify it.

i'm sure your experience is one out of millions. i.e., extremely rare. call customer support again.

 

[mmntech]

This is exactly why I gave up PC gaming a few years back. Unfortunately, it's now creeping onto consoles as well.

 

[Spikesoldier]

weak rant is actually pretty good.

bummer you get no support even though youve bought the game like 10x.

9/10

 

[silverpig]

stealing is stealing. do not look for excuses to justify it.

i'm sure your experience is one out of millions. i.e., extremely rare. call customer support again.

He didn't steal it. He paid for it several times.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

stealing is stealing. do not look for excuses to justify it.

i'm sure your experience is one out of millions. i.e., extremely rare. call customer support again.

I didnt steal, I bought the game, several times, for several systems. Get off your high horse and read the post.

I did forget to mention in the original post that I also bought it for iphone. No issues with them until now.

My thought is, if you wanna DRM fine, you wanna make it stupid and phone home, thats fine also. But the second you make that decision you need to make available instant access to support to fix the problem OR give some sort of grace period on licensing if you want to take your sweet time responding to customer issues. Otherwise Im being sold/licensed something that I can only use when you feel like it.

 

[Locut0s]

 

[Gibsons]

He didn't steal it. He paid for it several times.

Yeah, this. He's not looking for an excuse to pirate.

That said, PvZ is a lot of fun. (and yes, I bought my copy)

 

[RadiclDreamer]

 

[Fingolfin269]

Hah that's awesome

 

[SandEagle]

:thumbsup:

i need to start reading more than just the title

 

[RadiclDreamer]

:thumbsup:

i need to start reading more than just the title

Yup, and I hope this makes you think twice the next time you see someone complain about purchasing a game and having DRM problems. Not everyone who whines and moans about it and claims they've bought it are lying. Sometimes they truly have purchased it and their beef is legit.

 

[lxskllr]

The only virus I ever got was due to downloading what I thought was a cracked version of Bioshock. I can't remember the details, but it wouldn't work after reinstalling the game, or maybe just picking up after a long break. In any case, the fuckin' game I paid for wouldn't work, and I couldn't get anyone to fix it IMMEDIATELY. I was in a blind rage, and downloaded a bullshit crack, and got a virus. It should have been obvious, but I wasn't thinking clearly.

Shit pisses me off. I haven't pirated a game since a friend gave me the original Doom, and Wolf3D(ID more than made their money back, since that got me hooked on both franchises) on floppies, and I don't appreciate jumping through hoops to run the software I purchased. That's a big reason I primarily run Linux now. The artificial restrictions placed on software aren't worth the hassle. Of course, I'll likely get the next Bioshock. As much as the DRM pisses me off, I'm a big fan of the series :^/

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Yup, and I hope this makes you think twice the next time you see someone complain about purchasing a game and having DRM problems. Not everyone who whines and moans about it and claims they've bought it are lying. Sometimes they truly have purchased it and their beef is legit.

This, this, this.

 

[Locut0s]

The only virus I ever got was due to downloading what I thought was a cracked version of Bioshock. I can't remember the details, but it wouldn't work after reinstalling the game, or maybe just picking up after a long break. In any case, the fuckin' game I paid for wouldn't work, and I couldn't get anyone to fix it IMMEDIATELY. I was in a blind rage, and downloaded a bullshit crack, and got a virus. It should have been obvious, but I wasn't thinking clearly.

Shit pisses me off. I haven't pirated a game since a friend gave me the original Doom, and Wolf3D(ID more than made their money back, since that got me hooked on both franchises) on floppies, and I don't appreciate jumping through hoops to run the software I purchased. That's a big reason I primarily run Linux now. The artificial restrictions placed on software aren't worth the hassle. Of course, I'll likely get the next Bioshock. As much as the DRM pisses me off, I'm a big fan of the series :^/

Virus' actually aren't an issue most of the time. Back when I did pirate stuff a lot, in my teens and early 20s mostly, I never had any problem with viruses. I knew where to download stuff from for the most part (Usenet, IRC forums, torrents and the like had very few viruses). I also ran a good virus scanner and scanned everything I downloaded thoroughly. I no longer pirate stuff cause I don't see the point, freeware is generally just as good and I do actually want to support the programmers for the software that I do end up buying, mostly games.

Some amount of DRM is okay with me but I really do think companies shoot themselves in the foot with overly complex DRM schemes. For example I am NOT a fan of having to have a persistent Internet connection to play a game. Ubisoft did this with assassins creed II and Blizzard will do it with Diablo III If you loose your Internet connection you will be booted out of the game even if you are playing single player!! This kind of thing just makes people MORE likely to seek out a pirated copy.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Amen.

Also that money you pay is not going to the ones who actually worked hard to make your programs, movies, music etc. No, maybe 0.1% of it is. The rest is all going to the big CEOs sitting behind desks drinking coffee all day.

 

[slayer202]

I'm confused. Why would you feel bad downloading a copy if you bought it legally already? Downloading it without buying is completely different. The company's lack of help makes you want to just download without buying it? :/

and I don't see why the game stopped working in the first place. couldn't just put in the cd and install? eh, whatever, I don't give a shit

 

[Red Squirrel]

stealing is stealing. do not look for excuses to justify it.

i'm sure your experience is one out of millions. i.e., extremely rare. call customer support again.

It's not stealing, it's making a copy, or from a legal point, copyright infringement. Stealing is taking something away.

If someone stole my car, I'd be mad because I don't have a car anymore. If someone somehow found a way to duplicate it and made themselves a copy of it while leaving mine 100% intact, I could not really care less, except for the fact that their copy might have my license and other personal ID in it, but that's another story.

Companies don't lose money due to piracy, they just make less. You can't lose something you never had. When they see their profits go down (still in the billions) then if they want to make more, it's up to them to look at alternative ways of making money. Maybe they can make it easier to get legally, maybe they can change their model, etc. It's up to the mega corporations to adapt.

Sadly the law does not see it this way and will try to protect the mega corporations instead.

I'm not a big fan of China because of lot of the stuff they do (skinning and cooking animals alive, slavery, etc) but one thing they DO have right is their copyright system. They have none. Copyright, patents, and all that bull crap is nothing but a barrier that stops information from flowing.

 

[lxskllr]

For example I am NOT a fan of having to have a persistent Internet connection to play a game. Ubisoft did this with assassins creed II and Blizzard will do it with Diablo III If you loose your Internet connection you will be booted out of the game even if you are playing single player!! This kind of thing just makes people MORE likely to seek out a pirated copy.

If Bioshock3 does that, I likely won't buy the game. I /may/ consider buying it, and then running a cracked copy, but that's a little more work than I want for my fun time. It'll suck for them. So far they're 2:2 for me buying deluxe editions.

I've gotten away from gaming, but there are a few games I follow. Bioshock, Unreal(I may be done with them after the last fiasco), Wolfenstein, Doom, and Half Life is about it. Otherwise I play Extreme Tux Racer, and stuff like that :^D I also like the Humble bundles. I've only gotten the first one so far. I don't have the spare cash for games atm, and while it's a pay what you want setup, what I have to pay for the games would be an insult. They're worth more than what I have to spend.

 

[Locut0s]

If Bioshock3 does that, I likely won't buy the game. I /may/ consider buying it, and then running a cracked copy, but that's a little more work than I want for my fun time. It'll suck for them. So far they're 2:2 for me buying deluxe editions.

I've gotten away from gaming, but there are a few games I follow. Bioshock, Unreal(I may be done with them after the last fiasco), Wolfenstein, Doom, and Half Life is about it. Otherwise I play Extreme Tux Racer, and stuff like that :^D I also like the Humble bundles. I've only gotten the first one so far. I don't have the spare cash for games atm, and while it's a pay what you want setup, what I have to pay for the games would be an insult. They're worth more than what I have to spend.

I used to consider myself a PC gamer but in recent years it's all been console gaming for me, with a few exceptions here and there. I'm using the heck out of my DS (and now my 3DS), and all of my recent purchases have been (3)DS titles. I still want to get back to PC gaming and there are a few titles I'm eyeing closely like Diablo III, but the news of the persistent internet connection really bothers me Not that I don't have a persistent connection, I do, but it's such a fucking annoying thing to have to put up with, and feels like agreeing to install BigBrother.exe along with the game just so I can play it.

 

[Spikesoldier]

i think if you had the steam version, you could play on both pc and mac?

 

[Ns1]

Thank the pirates for this hassle in the first place