DRM

Rob:

 

Here are Blizzard themselves on the subject and as it related to the release of Starcraft 2:

 

"Fighting PC game piracy with restrictive copy protection is "a losing battle", Blizzard has said.  In recent months some publishers have begun using digital rights management (DRM) that requires players have an active internet connection at all times.  Ubisoft's new DRM system forces PCs to be connected to the internet in order for games to work - even single-player games.

Earlier this year gamers reacted angrily to the strict DRM used by Ubisoft in the PC version of Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5. Attacks on verification servers made it impossible for some gamers to play their new purchases."

 

And:

 

"That's a battle that we have a chance in. If you start talking about DRM and different technologies to try to manage it, it's really a losing battle for us, because the community is always so much larger, 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, is much larger than our development teams."

 

"We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."

 

This is why I'm saying the argument against DRM is lost.  The creators themselves are turning away from it or have turned away from it.  You can find posts like this from Steam, Origin, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Activision, and so many others.

 

You're probably thinking "Why does this guy care?"  Fair question.

 

I own legitimate, paid for versions of all of the Diablo, Assassin's Creed, Spinter Cell, Ghost Recon, COD, etc games, as well as others not mentioned on this list that are DRM'd by Steam.  Steam is horrible, and this is why:

 

I have an originally bought-by-me DVD of Assassin's Creed II purchased at GameStop.  Not a used copy, brand new on the day it released.  It is, or more accurately, was registered to me on Steam.  Recently, a glitch in Steam's hardware or software caused my DRM info to become corrupted on the Steam server.  Suddenly, my copy was no good.  I repeatedly emailed the Steam customer support team and after 5 weeks, received a "take a picture of the disk in the package and a picture of the registration number and we can fix this after you send us the pictures."  A strange but not unacceptable response.  It's been a year and 23 emails later since I took the pics and sent to them.  I can't use the disk, I can't register the game, and there hasn't been a peep out of Steam.  Meanwhile, the game registration now says "this copy is in use by another user and is not usable by you".  Well, it didn't get pirated as far as I know, so now what?  Steam is silent.

 

Second, Steam updates on my computer at every start-up.  System resources are being used by Steam even when I'm not playing or using their game or software.  Anywhere from 12-40Mb on my system.  Resources that could be used by something else.

 

Third, PunkBuster.  I don't play online.  PunkBuster is another Steam app that prevents cheating while playing online.  I've seen it use up to 80Mb and it doesn't even affect what I'm doing.  Both are running on my system right now and I'm not playing anything.  System resource hogs. 

 

There has to be a better way than always-on DRM.  And now, Rob, I leave this subject in your hands. 

 

Best,

 

Kevin

Per Tom's demands   ... a new thread.

You're issue with Steam and Assassin's Creed II may or may not be a Steam issue, could be a publisher's issue since they provide the activation codes.  I am a little confused why you would buy an Assassin's Creed II DVD when it's available for download at Steam?  I'm not sure how your DVD would be connected to Steam - do you need the DVD in the drive to play Assassin's Creed II?  Whenever I've received full titles (not demos) via hardware purchases (usually video cards), I just get a card that has an activation code and I download the title from Steam using that activation code.  I've never had a single problem with any Steam titles - I have 39 of them.

You can tell Steam to not load at startup via their Settings | Interface tab, uncheck "Run Steam when my computer starts".  Good idea for you to review your Steam settings as there are many options you might want to use/investigate to suit your needs.

You don't have to run PunkBuster, especially if you have no titles that require it ... again, check your settings.

What Activision/Blizzard publically say vs. what they actively do aren't necessarily the same, they're hiding behind technical accuracy.

But part of the problem is mis-understanding what "Always On" really means ... like I suggested in my earlier post.  "Always On" can be checked once at a login (which Blizzard does for both StarCraft and Diablo III) screen every time you start the game.  The act of "Login" is effectively DRM ... since you have to do it every time you start the game, and an internet connection is required. Once that connection happens, all kinds of information about your PC can be recorded (IP address, tracert, time and day, concurrent login, etc. etc.) to help them determine legitimate activity.  Blizzard's public statement obviously wants to avoid the term "Always On" as it seems to provide a level of fear in end users?  But given that 45-55% of games are illegal stolen copies you can see why it benefits those doing the theft to encourage this "fear" in DRM. 

What it really boils down to is those people not wanting to pay for something and in doing so, expect those honest people to cover that lost revenue.  Since DRM titles can have a revenue recovery rate of 10-25% that's probably about how much more (theft revenue is added it the products retail price) a non-DRM title sells for ... in other words, the cost of theft/piracy is added to the cost of the product by 10-25%.  Trust me when I say the IDC data isn't false or misleading ... getting IDC data costs money BTW, so it's not just some ad-hoc interviews, it's real world data. 

The publisher/developer avoid the stigma associate with DRM by increasing the product price and no one is the wiser for it.  This isn't a new concept, just as cost of "returns" are factored into retail products, theft is also factored in ... sadly it's a predictable value.  The losers are the honest consumers because they are the ones covering the costs.  Personally, I'd much rather see a DRM active product that costs me 10-25% less, I think most honest consumers would also.  But given the rate of theft/piracy, the honest consumer is actually in the minority.  So the battle for DRM really isn't at the developer/publisher level, it's at the consumer level.

For the most part DRM is invisible to the end user so the complaints aimed at DRM can only come from those that don't have an internet connection (of which provisions can be made) or from thieves.  Given that 45-55% of software is stolen, you can see that there is going to be a majority of very vocal "users" against DRM.  A few years back people would openly post on forums that they steal software and even help other's steal software -- it was a "cool" thing to do.  That has changed and more responsible web sites started to crack done on the public display of theft so it's gone "underground" but is still very much a problem. 

The DRM battle is about protecting and supporting the honest consumer.  In these economic times the honest consumer is thinking twice and not spending as much. 

Rob