by Kristin Salvatore

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/do-the-right...5433366083

It may not flash its naughty bits every time it exits an automobile, but the PC still generates at least one good scandal a month. The latest brouhaha: EA’s initial plan to employ draconian digital rights management measures on Mass Effect and SPORE. The original plan called for online authentication during installation, and then again every 10 days for the duration of the games’ life on your PC. Following fan outcry, that’s been reduced to just the initial authentication, but a three-install maximum still stands.

I don’t think anyone will dispute the problems with this system: What if the servers go down, now or in the future? What if I get new computers and want to install the game on them? Why are the people who actually buy the game being saddled with any restrictions, especially given the well-accepted fact that no DRM solution has ever actually worked? Whether it takes them a minute or a day or a week, when pirates—actually, let’s not give them that Disney-fied moniker, let’s call them what they really are, which is thieves—when thieves decide they want to bust through even the toughest DRM, they’ll do it.

There’s a theory that well-made games are natural anti-piracy devices—that if a game is “good enough,” people will buy it—or, in turn, if there’s suspicion it won’t be “good enough,” then people will steal it in the name of hedging their bets against spending $50 on a poorly made product. Naturally, many developers—including Crytek’s Cevat Yerli— don’t agree. As BioWare’s Ray Muzyka told me in an interview a few weeks ago, it’s a matter of trust: gamers trusting a developer to make a game worth purchasing, and developers trusting gamers to purchase a product that people have spent years working on.

It seems to me that there’s an issue of responsibility on everyone’s part, and few parties want to step up and take theirs. No responsible person would make the case for stealing a new car because they weren’t sure they’d like it, and no responsible automobile maker would cut important engineering corners because they had a deadline to make. Otherwise, arrests and convictions and lawsuits and recalls happen.

Is that what it will take for the PC gaming community—everyone in the PC gaming community—to step up and do what’s right? Are we an RIAA-esque legal mess in the making? I’m beginning to wonder why the basics—don’t steal, don’t lie, do good work—seem to so easily slip a lot of minds in this community.

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So what say you? Do you steal your games? Do you think that piracy is contributing to the overall image of PC gaming, thereby undermining public faith in the product? Or is it harmless and the production companies are just whining because of the loss in profit?

What these companies don't seem to understand, is that by THEM using this form of DRM, the pirates will still work around it, so this only accually affects there real customers,

So in turn why should people fork out for a cripled product. with limited capabilities.
there are allways going to be those looking for something for nothing, and that will never change. But to inconvenience their real customers with draconian measures just pushes more people down the copied DRM free game route. These solutions cause there own problems.

With the size of Hard drives these days there is not one reason for the disk to be in the drive while you play. DRM aside,

EA, DRM has proven not to work and only cause more piracy. haven't you learnt that yet

The PC gaming industry is just a bunch of whiners.
Its not like PC is the only console with piracy.

After recently buying Bioshock I looked up some controversy about the subject of its removal of some of its DRM. A 2K games Rep told the public they chose to remove the DRM because of the public outcry.
He also went on to say how he thinks DRM should work, and how it currently works.

I can't remember the quote correctly so I'll just paraphrase.

*ahem*

"DRM will never stop hackers from creating illegal copies of games, the point of DRM is to slow them down. No DRM has never stopped piracy, but it has slowed down the hackers speed at which they can create a working copy of the game. Before, DRM only stalled them for a few days, then weeks, and now months. DRM is our hope that potential consumers will buy the game rather then wait for a hacker's copy to pirate. (We all know only a marginal amount of "Pirates" are hackers) Once a hacked version is released, publisher's should remove DRM as its purpose would be fulfilled."


Well, I don't know exactly how these publisher's are thinking. But as a consumer, I'd rather wait until the DRM is removed before getting this "restricted" copy of the game. And by then the game would be cheaper cause I've waited so long...
And even if the game's been hacked in a month, it could be a year or more before the DRM is removed, if ever.

Honestly, a hacked version of the game is worth more money then the retail version.

Luckily I haven't had to work with any of this **** since I haven't bought a retail game in over a year (My last purchase was "The Orange Box") From then on I've only bought from Steam. At least they have their games working correctly. Though I miss having the pretty cases.

I've just pre-ordered Fallout 3... hopefully I haven't pulled myself into this **** again.

I hate it that I have to find game cracks to play games as they should be played

pirated stuff scares me