Legal way to play CIV without the DVD?

[Speedo]

Nope. Laws still on the books though, that's all I'm sayin.

In NC it's illegal to back your car out of a parking space or your driveway without blowing the horn.
In Texas it's illegal to own more than 6 sex toys. Texas criminals are also required to notify their victims at least 24 hrs before the crime is commited.
In MA, all men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday, and snoring is prohibited unless in a bedroom with the windows closed and locked.
In Indiana, a man over the age of 18 may be arrested for statutory rape if the passenger in his car is not wearing her socks and shoes, and is under 17.
In Washington, it's illegal to be in public if you have a cold.
I could go on and on...

All laws on the books. All utterly rediculous. All completely unenforced.

 

[illram]

The CEO of Firaxis probably disagrees with you.

 

[Speedo]

The CEO of Firaxis probably disagrees with you.

I'll be sure to mail him a sympathy card.

 

[.Shane.]

CD crack = illegal in the US, for the hundredth time.

But not unethical, also for the 100th time.

Legal or not, its stupid and its not right. And, as has been pointed out, there's a defacto legality to it due to the lack of prosecution.

 

[illram]

Shane, I never said anything about ethics, in fact I said I find these rules to be bullsh*t several times. I'll be the first to admit I frequently disobey and circumvent copyright rules all the time. The question was: is it legal. The answer is: no.

Don't take out your frustrations on me people, I don't write these rules.


edit: I am kind of curious what you guys think a legitimate way would be for software companies to combat piracy.

 

[warpus]

edit: I am kind of curious what you guys think a legitimate way would be for software companies to combat piracy.

Don't annoy your paying customers with this 'need dvd in drive to play' crap would be a good start.

 

[illram]

Don't annoy your paying customers with this 'need dvd in drive to play' crap would be a good start.

Agreed. But is there a cheaper way for them to ensure only paying customers are playing? (I guess one could also legitimately argue they shouldn't even bother.) Or that people aren't sharing one disc amongst themselves? If they didn't have this protection, my brothers and I would only need one copy to play each other--that's $80 less for the company. It's such a cheap solution, from their POV it makes sense, as long as people aren't annoyed enough to stop buying it.

In the "old days" games made you answer random questions. Those were pretty annoying too. I remember playing Hardball on my Dad's 286 back in the day. It came with a carboard, circular "codec" that you had to align to certain numbers to discover the encrypted answer in order to play the game. MOO had something similar which was just as annoying.

 

[GoodGame]

Ethically I agree, however I don't think the "push the YES button" = "X" for your signature. Back in the day an "X" was valid for a signature if you were technically illiterate, IIRC. Digital signatures and a central clearing house would be needed, and probably the dreaded 'citizenship' id card to store the signature.

Personally, I recommend Direct2Drive. Starting up software from them is even less intrusive than Steam (no front-loader that auto loads on start-up). You get unlimited re-installations (as long as it's only one at a time). The only caveat is if you seriously reconfigure your computer, you will need to re-enter your serial number----which requires temporary one-time internet access.


EDIT: and definitely the old cheat sheet copy protection was quite annoying, even if technically it only required a copier / fax-modem to circumvent.

I think that the difference between digital agreements like an EULA, or the agreement you made when joining this forum, and written agreements is that written agreements are signed with ink, where as digital agreements are signed with a click of a button.

We should except that digital signatures of this sort are valid, as otherwise online retail would be illegal.

 

[kuukkeli]

Agreed. But is there a cheaper way for them to ensure only paying customers are playing?

So you actually believe that there are no illegal copies of games that require CD/DVD in drive while playing?

Any of that copy protection crap is just annoying the paying customers. Personally I'd buy more games if 1) I could be sure that they'll install only the game and 2) the money wasted on copy protections would be used to improve the games instead. The first thing I do with any game I buy is to find a working no-DVD crack.

 

[illram]

So you actually believe that there are no illegal copies of games that require CD/DVD in drive while playing?

Of course I don't. From a software companies perspective, they probably think these things decrease piracy. Maybe they do? I don't know. If there was a zero-hassle, totally risk-free and easy way for people to get free video games maybe they would more often? Maybe they think any barrier, even just making someone download a crack or an imgburning program, is a good thing. Think about it from a software companies perspective. After all, if it weren't for them we wouldn't be playing these games and having arguments on forums named after them.

There are plenty of other annoying things games do too, like restricted install limitations, (remember the Bioshock fiasco?) not functioning if they spot Daemon tools, etc. There was an issue with the first version of CoD4 not playing on systems that had Nero installed. Nero!

There has to be a happy medium, doesn't there? Some middle ground where people aren't annoyed, and developers can protect their product? I mean, people agree that developers have the right to protect their products, correct?

 

[Zelig]

I mean, people agree that developers have the right to protect their products, correct?

They also have a right to include rootkits and monitoring software that uses arbitrary amounts of computers' resources. Doesn't mean that they should.

 

[Speedo]

I am kind of curious what you guys think a legitimate way would be for software companies to combat piracy.

A CD check is plenty. Companies make the mistake of assuming that a pirated game is a lost sale, when in reality most people who pirate wouldn't have bought the game anyway. In fact, in many cases "piracy" has improved sales. There have been many games that I tried via a pirated version (because the demo was non-existant or complete crap) and then went on to buy, and I'm not alone in that regard.

 

[warpus]

Agreed. But is there a cheaper way for them to ensure only paying customers are playing? (I guess one could also legitimately argue they shouldn't even bother.) Or that people aren't sharing one disc amongst themselves? If they didn't have this protection, my brothers and I would only need one copy to play each other--that's $80 less for the company. It's such a cheap solution, from their POV it makes sense, as long as people aren't annoyed enough to stop buying it.

And what's preventing you from cheating and sharing one disc anyway?

 

[Maniacal]

And what's preventing you from cheating and sharing one disc anyway?

Punkbuster kicks you if someone on the same server has the same CDkey. At least in Call of Duty: United Offensive.

NoCD Cracks are very tempting as I only have 23 gigs left on my hard drive and the 9 images I made of games take up 20 gigs. I don't always play games for more than an hour before switching to a new game, and I just got tired of moving disks and cases around.

As well if they are going to make you use the disk, then for pete's sake include a proper case! PAPER SLEEVES ARE COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

 

[croxis]

I am kind of curious what you guys think a legitimate way would be for software companies to combat piracy.

Like mentioned the asumption that all pirated copies would have been bought isn't terribly valid. The MPAA and music equivalent operate under this policy as well.

Stardock is a game company that doesn't use any kind of cd check or key or installing or playing a game. The cd key is needed however to play online and to get patches.

 

[illram]

They also have a right to include rootkits and monitoring software that uses arbitrary amounts of computers' resources. Doesn't mean that they should.

Hence my question... do you have an answer? (I think a good argument can also be made that invasive software such as the the Sony rootkits are, in fact, a form of trespassing.)

Like mentioned the asumption that all pirated copies would have been bought isn't terribly valid.

I don't think anyone is making that assumption. Software companies view these things as decreasing piracy--not eliminating it--the same way music and movie companies see their dirty tricks as decreasing illegal downloading.

And what's preventing you from cheating and sharing one disc anyway?

A few things. 1) I didn't know how to do it, and my brothers and I didn't have much patience for figuring it out; 2) I was told certain games I own wouldn't work if they spotted stuff like Daemon tools or Alcohol on the PC; and 3) I also was told these things can cause problems playing online, which I like to do, and was the whole point for us. So, I guess I was one of the people scared away by seemingly minor barriers. Much to the delight of Firaxis shareholders.

edit: I guess I also just am not that bothered by paying for games, or the idea that if 3 people want to play something on 3 different PCs, 3 people should pay for it, or having the discs in the drive. Most of my stuff is on steam anyway.

 

[Maniacal]

I have had no problems with Daemon tools or Alcohol 52%. Most of my multiplayer games don't need the disk in the drive for multiplayer anyways (Call of Duty only needs it for singleplayer, and I have a number of VALVe games, Half-Life 2 mods, and I bought Red orchestra via steam, so no disks needed there).

 

[Maniacal]

Okay to amend my post, SecruROM won't let me run Medieval 2 Kingdoms from an image. I used to be able to run M2 from an image too, not anymore.

Jerks. I bought the game, let me play it without the disk in the drive you filthy waste of human beings. May SecruROM burn to the ground.