DRM Tolerance

No DRM and CD-Key, but,
not openware for businesses initial run of the game they produce, or CD Check (CD in drive, the majority of CD games)

I buy a PC game. I install it on my computer, and sometimes a 2nd computer at my home as well.
I have a LAN at home, so, LAN multiplayer support is a must.

I think back to Starcraft + Broodwar, and installing them to permit the occasional friend to play on the 2nd computer with me, vs. some number of AI opponents.
I didn't mind putting the CD key in, just time consuming.

In cases like Masters of Orion 2, where, we had to copy the game to the hard drive, then install it, to not have to use the CD was great.
This style works best for me.

No option above matches this specifically. The poll is closed anyway, so, irrelevant.

Disk Check is useless, you can get a cracked .exe file which by passes a disk check, and you can get a key generator to allow an install easily. Theyll probably exists hours after a game is released. Also what happen's when you damage or lose your CD or key, it happens.

Securerom is poison.

No DRM is pointless for the developer, so they will choose one of the DRM choices no matter what your opinions on them are, so the fact all consumers would prefer no DRM is irrelevant

Registration limits are evil, preventing you from playing all together if you need to install more times than limited, meaning eventually if you need to re-install windows or change PC's too many times you will basically no longer have the game even though its sitting in your hand. Totally Ridiclious.

One-time Registration, depending on what exactly is meant by this I could give a few different DRM types that need registration online that are nothing a like. But all have one thing in common, they will limit the ability to re-install or play on a different computer/IP, meaning re-sale ability is gone. Again another disadvtange.

The best DRM stated so far is a login type DRM, though that said, thier are login DRM's that don't need you to install a third party like steam, i.e CNC4 simply requires you to login when starting the game to your CNC4 game account you have to register, no extra software is forced on you, 2k/frixasis, could have utilised this instead of Steam, but they didnt decide to use Steam because of sensible DRM it was for the advantages Steamworks give to them and to us all.

Oh come on man, this thread just got buried and you bring it back up?

Senethro said:

Oh come on man, this thread just got buried and you bring it back up?

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Didn't notice it was a month old, I wouldnt call it buried if it was still on the first page lol. I click near enough all topics with a moderatly interesting title which have "new posts" Sometimes I look down further than normal if nothing interesting keeps my attention, if this point has been discussed to the point where it should be burried then it should be asked to be locked, I thought I had a valid point so brought it up.

This topic is still relevant, and bringing it up is far better than creating another thread about it. It's just a fact of the internet that whenever a thread that's more than about a month old gets a new post someone has to call "necro" on it.

agnarok, I think you dismiss disk check too quickly. Yes it doesn't do a lot to stop the large scale piracy by savvy users who live in the internet age, but it does do something to reduce casual piracy. As much as people express their disgust at piracy, many people would still happily do it for just one person like a friend or family member. So it does have a point, but it has problems.

PieceOfMind said:

agnarok, I think you dismiss disk check too quickly. Yes it doesn't do a lot to stop the large scale piracy by savvy users who live in the internet age, but it does do something to reduce casual piracy. As much as people express their disgust at piracy, many people would still happily do it for just one person like a friend or family member. So it does have a point, but it has problems.

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Quite honestly, I don't think a disc check does much to prevent piracy. It stops people lending the disc to each other, if they don't know how to find and mount a virtual image of a disc, but casual PC gamers are a fairly rare breed now and most pirates aren't borrowing the game from their friends (because they have none ). For anyone who knows their way around a computer, circumventing a disc check only takes a few seconds.

Donkeyman said:

Quite honestly, I don't think a disc check does much to prevent piracy. It stops people lending the disc to each other, if they don't know how to find and mount a virtual image of a disc, but casual PC gamers are a fairly rare breed now and most pirates aren't borrowing the game from their friends (because they have none ). For anyone who knows their way around a computer, circumventing a disc check only takes a few seconds.

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I think you over estimate the capabilities of the average computer user. It's probably true that people posting on this forum mostly come from the group of people who know how to mount disc images and so forth. But anyway, I don't think much more can be discussed about this without me crossing the forum guidelines on piracy discussions.

Very true Piece on both accounts, that someone always hates thread revivers, I say viva le resistance!

And also that CD-check isn't totally inefficient. I mean its better than no DRM, there are plenty of Computer users who can barely turn the PC on, my Mother for example, I ended up shouting at her this morning because she couldnt figure out how to copy a few files onto a USB drive. I haven't had any sleep in 30 hours and I don't like to be distrubed by someone not knowing how to copy and paste and open a E drive. My point, some users simply wouldnt be able to by-pass a Disk Check, but I recon the majority of Civ Fans have some computing knowledge. Atleast us hard core long term fans. We would be able to by-pass or find a way past any drm. Not going to pick on CD-check here, a capable user can avoid DRM's alltogether with some know how.

While CD check does have some DRM capability, I do believe it would give the lowest casual piracy preventions compared to other DRM.

I say bring back the old Railroad Tycoon 2 Style Manual DRM, just for kicks. Which Train is this, Consult Manual. Gain Access to full mode if correct or demo mode if incorrect.

12agnar0k said:

Very true Piece on both accounts, that someone always hates thread revivers, I say viva le resistance!

And also that CD-check isn't totally inefficient. I mean its better than no DRM, there are plenty of Computer users who can barely turn the PC on, my Mother for example, I ended up shouting at her this morning because she couldnt figure out how to copy a few files onto a USB drive. I haven't had any sleep in 30 hours and I don't like to be distrubed by someone not knowing how to copy and paste and open a E drive. My point, some users simply wouldnt be able to by-pass a Disk Check, but I recon the majority of Civ Fans have some computing knowledge. Atleast us hard core long term fans. We would be able to by-pass or find a way past any drm. Not going to pick on CD-check here, a capable user can avoid DRM's alltogether with some know how.

While CD check does have some DRM capability, I do believe it would give the lowest casual piracy preventions compared to other DRM.

I say bring back the old Railroad Tycoon 2 Style Manual DRM, just for kicks. Which Train is this, Consult Manual. Gain Access to full mode if correct or demo mode if incorrect.

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Being excluded from the game for losing the manual is really pushing it...

Also if you shout at your mother for asking a very reasonable question - for a computer noob anyway - is not cool. Just saying.

Meh, I had been up for 30 hours, yeah I didnt like the DRM so much after I lost my RailroadtycoonII manual.

12agnar0k said:

....I say bring back the old Railroad Tycoon 2 Style Manual DRM, just for kicks. Which Train is this, Consult Manual. Gain Access to full mode if correct or demo mode if incorrect.

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It was the original Railroad Tycoon, not RRT2, that uses a manual in its DRM. RRT2 uses a disk check for its DRM.

fine railroad tycoon then