A thought on the DRM-issue

[aimeeandbeatles]

Likewise, if I try a game and do not like it, I will not buy it.

But do you still play it?

I swear I saw this somewhere before. But basically the developer said, Go ahead, download the game. But if you register it you get nice bonuses. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

[illram]

What I want is not necessarily what I will do. I am in that category -- if I pirate a game and like it, I will buy it. Likewise, if I try a game and do not like it, I will not buy it.

What about a demo? For music, you can listen to stuff for free online all over the place. For games, most games on the PC have demos available for free.

 

[Maniacal]

But do you still play it?

I swear I saw this somewhere before. But basically the developer said, Go ahead, download the game. But if you register it you get nice bonuses. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Paradox does this with their games, you have to enter the CD key into your forum account to access their tech support and a couple of other subforums for that game.

What about a demo? For music, you can listen to stuff for free online all over the place. For games, most games on the PC have demos available for free.

Many, but not all. It doesn't help that sometimes they don't release demos until the game is released or even afterwards.

I see no need to pirate games, I either play them at someone else's house/computer, see it played, get it recommended to me, and/or buy it for less than $15.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

What about a demo? For music, you can listen to stuff for free online all over the place. For games, most games on the PC have demos available for free.

1. They are becoming a minority.
2. Game demos are not representative of the game -- they are representative of what the developer thought was representative of the game. Plus they sometimes may run differently than the actual game. I prefer to get a feel for the actual game vs the demo.

I would also like to add that I do not do the whole pirating demo thing very often anymore. In fact, over the last year, I cant even recall 5 instances of it. I have a large backlog of games -- so much so that by the time Im ready for a new game, I know very well from reviews and community reception which one I want.

 

[cardgame]

Game demos are almost always awful demos, for the reasons pointed out by Genocidicbunny.

 

[innonimatu]

At best, DRM is unnoticable to the user, and results in extra game content and support due to increase developer revenue.

It is theoretically impossible to create a DRM system which is unnoticeable by users. Dy definition. Restrictions will always be noticed.

What? A whole lot of DRM measures have nothing to do with preventing the reselling of games. The used PC games market is tiny compared to the piracy market, in any case.

I don't see how that could be, considering that the "piracy" market doesn't exist (it's not a market). You really think people's overall budget for games could skyrocket to turn every "pirated" copy into a sale? That, should "piracy" or all kinds be ended overnight, people would just dedicate a much higher fraction of their disposable income to buying all the digital junk which they collect now? Hell, that they even could do it?

 

[Zelig]

It is theoretically impossible to create a DRM system which is unnoticeable by users. Dy definition. Restrictions will always be noticed.

Counter-example: I have not noticed the DRM system in my Steam games.

Conclusion: Your claim was proven false, by counter-example.

You really think people's overall budget for games could skyrocket to turn every "pirated" copy into a sale?

Nope, but I think people's budget for games are smaller because of piracy, and I've already proven it in this thread.

 

[tycoonist]

Nobody has yet answered my OP question.

Why don't devs release a DRC-free game after a couple of months?

 

[cardgame]

Laziness or ineptitude would be my guess.

Or the fact that it's not really... profitable... to re-release a game? IDK.


In any case, X3 Gold Edition came DRM-free. It said so on the box, which was one reason I bought it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Nobody has yet answered my OP question.

Why don't devs release a DRC-free game after a couple of months?

Because DRM never really stops being useless for the purpose they use it for. It will still discourage casual piracy and second-hand sales.

 

[innonimatu]

Counter-example: I have not noticed the DRM system in my Steam games.

Conclusion: Your claim was proven false, by counter-example.

So you absolutely never noticed that you had to install Steam, that you have to login with a user name and password, and that you lose access to the game if your Internet connection is unexpectedly unavailable? You are seriously claiming you never noticed these actions which you must perform?

 

[Zelig]

So you absolutely never noticed that you had to install Steam, that you have to login with a user name and password, and that you lose access to the game if your Internet connection is unexpectedly unavailable? You are seriously claiming you never noticed these actions which you must perform?

This is necessary for any online purchase system, it's not related to the Steam DRM.

And no, I've never noticed needing to logon or problems with internet connection, Steam saves my logon info, and I never use my computer without an internet connection.

 

[Maniacal]

So you absolutely never noticed that you had to install Steam, that you have to login with a user name and password,

Not really, it takes like a few seconds. Never been an issue.

and that you lose access to the game if your Internet connection is unexpectedly unavailable?

No, because that isn't Steam. Steam works perfectly fine if you lose your connection to the internet while logged in and I have logged in without an internet connection dozens of times with no problem. Sure for a few people sometimes it messes up, but that happens with EVERY software program. Some games will work perfectly well for everyone, than Joe Bloke will try to play it and it crashes constantly.

 

[illram]

I'll just echo others comments that Steam is an example of workable DRM. Not very intrusive and a lot of value added, as others pointed out.