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What is the point of CD keys?

D

Dudd

Platinum Member
I got all the parts to my new computer, XP 2500 and a Radeon 9800, and wanted to check out MOH:AA again because I had to tone down the graphics on my old computer. Not a big deal. I had the cds lying around in a big cd wallet, and went to install. Bam, asks for the key. I couldn't find the cd, so I had to poke around google looking for a key, dealing with the inevitable porno pop-ups and autodialers, just to be able to install a piece of software that I paid for. Yet, how the hell does a cd key stop people from pirating? If you make a copy for a friend, you can easily give them the key, and if you download it from the net, there will be a key generator included. All it does is piss off people who legally bought the game. I even had the case from the expansion pack lying around, but it wouldn't take that one. It just bugs me how asinine gaming companies can be.
 
Doesn't really have a point for offline games, but for online games it makes sense: one cd key on at one time.
 
In addition to ^... if the security is implemented correctly (ie. phoning home via the Internet) then it'll work. Of course piraters are one-step ahead with the decrypting key generators. Like most things, it's meant as a hindrance... a deterrent. Nothing is 100% fool-proof... for long.
 
Makers of software realized that one day there would be this guy named Dudd who posts on ATOT. Well they wanted to piss off this said Dudd specifically, so they implemented the CD keys, to piss him and only him off.

-Ed
 
No, a brilliant idea would be one that did what you just said.

This doesn't. It makes it slightly more difficult for pirates, not very difficult at all to those who pirate all their software. It does prevent some casual piracy, and sells a few new copies of games to people who threw away their box and only later realized they needed the number during a reinstall.

I wish someone would start doing a USB dongle and start a trend to be done with CD checks and key numbers. Hell offer both versions, I'll pay more for the product to avoid the hassle.
 
Yes, another downfall. "this key has been banned" Great, someone used a keygen that happened to hit your key or a "friend" decided it'd be ok to jot down your key and use it himself (and 10,000 of his closest friends on a crack site). Both of which again would be cured with a dongle.
 
whats a dongle? huh? some kind of usb key?

but it wont last... there will always be someone out there that will get around it.
 
Its really hard to use a keygen to get a key that will work online. To get the game to run, all you need is a key that will pass the check. But to play it online, you have to get a key that they actually put on one of the boxes. They keep databases of which keys have actually been produced for the retail games, so unless you have one of those keys, no online for you.

Of course it tends to really piss people off that get their keys hijacked.

What REALLY pisses me off is when you buy a game, install it entirely to your HD, and you STILL need to put the cd in to pass the check. Such a damn pain to dig for the cd sometimes and the check takes like at least 30 seconds most of the time. BF1942 is the absolute WORST, it actually checks for the CD between every map load.
 
Dongle example.
Is there a way around it? Yeah, sure, buy a blank dongle, crack a 1024 character (if we're not typing it make it nice and long) encrypted key, burn it to the dongle, voila. Or have some piece of software to emulate it.

MEANWHILE, legitimate users like Dudd and BD2003 and the rest of you and I won't be chasing after jewel cases or game boxes to find keys, won't be swapping cds to play games. There's no penalty to legitimate customers this way. Make it a pass through dongle and people won't even lose a USB port.
 
Originally posted by: McCarthy
Dongle example.
Is there a way around it? Yeah, sure, buy a blank dongle, crack a 1024 character (if we're not typing it make it nice and long) encrypted key, burn it to the dongle, voila. Or have some piece of software to emulate it.

MEANWHILE, legitimate users like Dudd and BD2003 and the rest of you and I won't be chasing after jewel cases or game boxes to find keys, won't be swapping cds to play games. There's no penalty to legitimate customers this way. Make it a pass through dongle and people won't even lose a USB port.
Click to expand...

Would that require that you change the dongle for each game? Because that would be a pain in the arse, IMO. 😕
 
Why would it be any more of a pain in the ass than changing CDs? Worst case it's the same as now (assuming you have front USB which is about standard). If it's a pass through design you'd put it in place, plug your mouse back in and forget you ever did it. That's the way old serial and parallel port dongles have worked for 20 years, don't know of any reason why a USB one couldn't be pass through.
 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Its really hard to use a keygen to get a key that will work online. To get the game to run, all you need is a key that will pass the check. But to play it online, you have to get a key that they actually put on one of the boxes. They keep databases of which keys have actually been produced for the retail games, so unless you have one of those keys, no online for you.

Of course it tends to really piss people off that get their keys hijacked.

What REALLY pisses me off is when you buy a game, install it entirely to your HD, and you STILL need to put the cd in to pass the check. Such a damn pain to dig for the cd sometimes and the check takes like at least 30 seconds most of the time. BF1942 is the absolute WORST, it actually checks for the CD between every map load.
Click to expand...

Agreed, CD-Keys are one best ways for any game company to stop warez. They arent as near as powerfull as the RIAA/MPAA. Of course its going to piss you off when you cant find your jewel but they main way game devlopers are going to make money is game sales. Keygen's dont work near even 1% of the time online. Even though some do, it is extremely rude considering you could have stolen ones cd key. I am pissed as everyone else as that I have to put in my game disc everytime I want to play.
 
There is no key generator out there that actually generates a key (that I've ever seen --and I've seen quite a few). All it does is regurgitate a key that was stolen from the players that hit a server that is copying the keys to make the keygen. So when you "generate" a key, you're using someone else's valid online play CD key.
 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Its really hard to use a keygen to get a key that will work online. To get the game to run, all you need is a key that will pass the check. But to play it online, you have to get a key that they actually put on one of the boxes. They keep databases of which keys have actually been produced for the retail games, so unless you have one of those keys, no online for you.

Of course it tends to really piss people off that get their keys hijacked.

What REALLY pisses me off is when you buy a game, install it entirely to your HD, and you STILL need to put the cd in to pass the check. Such a damn pain to dig for the cd sometimes and the check takes like at least 30 seconds most of the time. BF1942 is the absolute WORST, it actually checks for the CD between every map load.
Click to expand...

Well, .EXE cracks are out there that remove the bit checks for the CD in the drive. Not sure whether you can classify this under "reverse engineering" the game, but you're not really doing anything else wrong (other than possibly that) like changing the way the game is played to get an advantage or stealing anything or breaking copyright laws, etc. Eh... I don't care. I just use the CDs anyway anymore. 🙂
 
Having to put in a dongle for each game is by far the absolute worst idea Ive ever heard. Now Im sure not only will I have to have the CD in the drive, but a damn dongle too, that I have to switch for each game? Not to mention Im sure they cost a lot more than the CDs to manufacture, so they will have an excuse to raise prices, and Im sure itll get cracked just as easy as anything else.

I dont mind CD keys, I know well enough to keep them safe. I would mind if I had to input the CD key each time before I play the game, which is the equivalent of having the find the CD taken to the next level. I can understand a CD check the first time you load up the game. I dont understand why you have to put it in every single time, thats just a waste of time. The average PC gamer is smart enough to know that once its loaded on your HD, theres no reason to have the CD present. And yes, I am well aware of CD cracks, but many of those prevent you from getting online for certain games, which defeats the entire purpose of it.
 
For online games you definitely have to use CD Key to make a unique identification # for your person. Like on counter-strike... you are identified by a won id address... this address is directly related to your cd key.
 
Originally posted by: Mallow
For online games you definitely have to use CD Key to make a unique identification # for your person. Like on counter-strike... you are identified by a won id address... this address is directly related to your cd key.
Click to expand...

Read. The. Thread.
 
if there weren't so many pirates, there wouldn't be so much copy protection😛 sh*tty solutions for a sh*tty world🙂
 
and you have no idea how bad it used to be. games used to ask you to look up a word in a paragraph on a certain page of the manual to start the game each time. assumption being its a real pain to photocopy the manual. sometimes they had cardboard wheel decoders, or those see through color decoders etc to make photocopying impossible too.
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and you have no idea how bad it used to be. games used to ask you to look up a word in a paragraph on a certain page of the manual to start the game each time. assumption being its a real pain to photocopy the manual. sometimes they had cardboard wheel decoders, or those see through color decoders etc to make photocopying impossible too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I DO know what that was like. Grr... I hated that. And if you lost the book or decoder wheel? You were fvcked!
 
I'm sure you've heard worse ideas...

No, the point would be to replace both the CD key and CD check. Think about it, why's there a CD check? Because without it you could buy a game, give it out to friends, they all install it. All use the same key. Long as you don't play on the same servers there's no key overlap. So the game manufacturers check to make sure you have the original CD as well. With a piece of hardware installed there'd be no reason for a CD check.

"I can understand a CD check the first time you load up the game. I dont understand why you have to put it in every single time, thats just a waste of time. The average PC gamer is smart enough to know that once its loaded on your HD, theres no reason to have the CD present."

If I understood you right....the reason is above, to verify you still have the original CD. Because the key can be copied by anyone with a pen and matchbook. If you're in a dorm you could buy one game for the entire floor and just use the CD to start the game, so BF1942 checks more often than other games. Doubt that's common, but hey it's possible. Two machines per house is common, though I thought '42 let you start off either CD so they're kinda contradicting themselves there. Or is it a single CD game, I forget now.

Will it drive prices up? Really shouldn't, but yeah I'm a realist, publishers will probably raise prices 5 bucks at first for a dongle protected game, even though their cost will be pennies. It'd be like a USB Keychain drive with 1k of memory. But say 5 bucks, I only run two games, that's 10 bucks. 10 bucks I'd gladly spend to avoid having to chase two cds around. Not long ago I almost missed a league event once because my CD drive died and I couldn't pass the CD check, had to go rip a drive out of an old machine and throw it in just to get past that. I would have paid ten bucks that night.

I guess I don't see the problem aside from the cost issue, which really shouldn't be an issue. Not like you'd have to plug/unplug this thing each time. Plug it in, forget about it. If you have 80 games then I could see saying "yeah, but only if it's a pass through" so you don't tie up a USB port for each game, but aside from that I don't get the opposition. Not just you, every time I mention it people oppose the idea.

Preferably I'd like to see something akin to the fuse panel in a car added to a computer, panel with 50 open spaces. Buy your program, take out your key dongle, plug it in, done. For any game or software. Remove it and people can't run the game or application. But that'd be a later generation idea. As is I guess people like typing CD keys and swapping CDs too much to even consider a first generation.
 
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