I was just visiting the official GalCiv2 site and found out there is no copy protection (http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=104297) in Galactic Civilizations II. I am shocked. :eek: In these days game publishers are trying all sorts of copy protection programs possible. For example, in the upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic V, UbiSoft is going to use StarForce, despite the many complains/protest in their HoMM forums.

It's great that Stardock is taking a whole new approach to the issue (and I hope they sell lots of copies so other game publishers would follow). :)

One of the impetus's for that is that players of strategy games, particularly turn based strategy games, don't tend to be as likely to go around pirating things.

And I've lost way too many CDs over the years and strategy games tend to be the types of games that we keep around for a long time.

Our "copy protection" are the free updates. Reward people for buying the game.

I absolutely love this idea and judging by the main forums and from the OO forums the hardcore gamers really appreciate this. We all love new goodies and I hope Stardock is rewarded by a HUGE fanbase. And judging from the early returns it seems like you are. Great job.

Copy protection does nothing more than frustrate the ones that buy the game. If someone wants to bypass the protection he can easily do so no matter what.That said i think that everyone should follow Stardock's lead on this one.

The lack of copy protection does not seem to be hurting sales since they were the biggest selling software at Walmart last week. Maybe the conventional wisdom is totally wrong.

You can even throw your CD away and still play the game years from now.

I feel sorry for HoMM users.

Gary Grigsby's World at War did it the same way. You couldn't download a patch unless you were registered with a valid ##. And it needed a few patches too ;)
Also with multi-player in GGWaW you needed to have the same (patched) version to play, which makes pirates very lonely people... lol!

There is always a way to crack a game, no matter how many copy protection measures you take. Stardocks approach is a really unique and effective way of securing sales without annoying their customers.

^^^ Hear hear. It'll be sad to have to pass over HoMM5, but I refuse to buy a game with crap ass Starforce protection.

We can only hope more publishers wake up after the critical and soon-to-be commercial success of a game with NO copy protection. :)

Stardock didn't use copy protection with GalCiv 1 either. Honestly, every game is hacked no matter the copy protection and the game companies just don't get it. Stardock has it right.

I am also a Heroes fan, but still not quite sure if I will drop Heroes V due to Starforce. I will wait and check the forums for quite a while after release to see how many ppl are complaining about problems with starforce (and bugs ofcourse)

My need for Heroes is diminishing as I play both Civ IV and GalCiv II :)

instead of paying for copy protection to be developed and installed, they just market possible pirates with nice treatment if they decide to buy. Good move as everybody agrees.
However not everybody is lucky enough to be able to afford for game today.

However not everybody is lucky enough to be able to afford for game today.

While I agree that copy protection is bad, this is a poor justification for depriving Brad and company their money while getting the benefit of their long hours work.

I also love the no copy protection hassles. It really is such a joy to not have to have the cd in the drive when playing a game. Especially for my laptop which has a detachable cd drive which is a real pain to set up. Thanks Stardock :)

I like it when companies assume that their customers are decent people, and not a bunch of thieves that you have to take money from before letting the game rot in obsolescence :)

Have you read what StarForce did to Stardock?

http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741

Here is an excerpt:

We realize that some people or companies might feel threatened at any evidence that implies that draconian DRM schemes or CD copy protection may not make that big of a difference in sales.

For example, we were quite disturbed to discover that the company that makes Starforce provided a working URL to a list of pirated GalCiv II torrents. I'm not sure whether what they did was illegal or not, but it's troubling nevertheless and was totally unnecessary.

I read that earlier on Slashdot.

It's interesting that Stardock got torrent sites to delist the game from search results. Take2 probably should have asked them to delist Civ4 too (if they haven't already).

Check this out:
It seems that some people are "bothered" because of the lack of copy protection!?! http://www.digg.com/gaming/Company_WANTS_its_game_pirated_

Naturally, the devs had to respond accordingly to that ridiculous article:
http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741#826390

It's actually pretty funny to see these kind of articles! A good laugh is always welcome!

I guess Starforce wanted their users to go to other sites so they will cut down on "Does this game have Starforce protection?" threads.

I find the idea excellent. -cough- Microsoft take heed-cough-.

I find the idea excellent. -cough- Microsoft take heed-cough-.

unlikely. This is an intresting. No protection and it's the doing extremly well? Thats something I never thought I would see.

I find the idea excellent. -cough- Microsoft take heed-cough-.

Microsoft products aren't copy protected either. :rolleyes:

One of the impetus's for that is that players of strategy games, particularly turn based strategy games, don't tend to be as likely to go around pirating things.

And I've lost way too many CDs over the years and strategy games tend to be the types of games that we keep around for a long time.

Our "copy protection" are the free updates. Reward people for buying the game.

That is completely right. I have bought more than one copy of Civilization III, Neverwinter Nights, Diablo II, etc. because I lost my copy or lost my installation code. I would have probably been justified downloading a copy but instead I just hit up ebay ($4 games from Thailand lol). It's good to see that developers actually take this into account. Altho, it still doesn't do any good if someone is dumb enough to delete the game from their old, 5 gb hd :rolleyes:

The big reason I bought this game was to support Stardock. I liked the lack of copyright protection that was invasive and had a habit of making my DVD-RW vanish from my system.

My wife saw me playing it, watched over my shoulder for about 10 minutes.

Now I have to buy 2 copies. :(

Finally a company that treats its customers with respect rather than suspicion.

I was just visiting the official GalCiv2 site and found out there is no copy protection (http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=104297) in Galactic Civilizations II. I am shocked. :eek: In these days game publishers are trying all sorts of copy protection programs possible. For example, in the upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic V, UbiSoft is going to use StarForce, despite the many complains/protest in their HoMM forums.

It's great that Stardock is taking a whole new approach to the issue (and I hope they sell lots of copies so other game publishers would follow). :)

Don't take this as condoning piracy, just some food for thought. :)

I don't at all, but I know a few people from lanning who pirate many of their games. Talking to one guy, I bought GalCiv 2 and he heard about it from me and so downloaded his illegally. :P

I was talking to him the other day and he said the two games he'd feel best paying for are Oblivion, because it's such a high-quality production, and GalCiv 2. I asked him why GalCiv 2 and he said that "As far as I'm concerned, guilt is a way more effective copy protection than SafeDisc."

Also, he said that he probably wouldn't have been interested in buying it (he says he's going to) if it weren't for the metaverse feature that he wants to get into, since it's such a great game. AFAIK he has ordered his copy from EB, but ironically, I don't think he would be buying a copy if it weren't for his illegally downloading it and then deciding he wanted a serial because it's a great game and he wants to participate in the metaverse.

In conclusion, I think the serial / metaverse system is a very clever way to encourage people to pay for the game. Games I have and am playing right now are Oblivion, this, Civ4, and Battlefield 2 among some other freeware and if I had to choose, I enjoy this more than Civ4 (barely, of course, Civ4 is a great game). This has probably been my best-value game purchase of the year.