Please give Me a valid reason

[IceWolf]

I'm not a computer savy person ,I had to phone tech people for help just to game the game running, BUT there is one thing that bugs me and that is having to use my game Cd to play.What happens if I scar my disk or lose it ? I like putting the masters away for safe keeping and I never like running my Cd hardware more than necessary .
I know I'm going to hear that it prevents pirating ! well that's just never gonna happen , there's always some smart cookie out there that lives to break codes
Maybe I'm one of those rare guys that buys what he plays but I am gonna look for a NO CD hack just to save my CD and my CD hardware

Moderator Action: Keep in mind that we are strictly against no CD cracks.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Clearly this is not the right forum, and not the right place to demand this.

 

[Junuxx]

Generally, if you send a damaged cd to the distributor they'll send you a new one.

 

[Civrules]

Moderator Action: Moved to main C&C Forum.

 

[maxpublic]

Generally, if you send a damaged cd to the distributor they'll send you a new one.

Only if it comes damaged in the box, and only if you can prove it, and you have to pay for shipping and handling - and assuming they don't blame it on the store, and tell you to take it back. To a store which 99 times out of 100 will *never* replace a game if you've cracked the seal on it, no matter what the damage.

I don't see the point of anti-piracy measures, either. The schemes are cracked almost immediately, meaning that they're only an annoyance to paying customers. The honest guys like us get screwed, while the pirates aren't slowed down at all.

Someday a company will catch a clue and just cut the nonsense so we can burn backups without hassle or running into the 'invalid cd' message. Right now, though, it seems that the folks running the distribution dog-and-pony show are a pack of control freaks and morons who're convinced that their idiotic schemes are somehow slowing down piracy - not giving a damn what affect it has on their actual paying customers. Or perhaps thinking that the difficulty of getting a replacement cd will actually result in increased sales, since we'll throw up our hands in frustration and go buy a second copy if the first is damaged.

More likely, though, they'll go the Valve route and force anyone who wants to play their game to make the choice between passing it up or subscribing to some bull**** modeled on Steam. At which point I think I'll just give up gaming altogether.

Max

 

[Haarbal]

you can also create an .iso or .mdf file with a burning program and mount this file in a virtual dvd-player
but it is possible that is won't work like this and you have to download a program that knocks out your normal cd/dvd-players (or unwire them i think)
but there is always the possibility that this won't work, depending on the protection system

 

[Wyz_sub10]

Things wear out over time. No software manufacturer owes their costumer a lifetime guarantee on discs - few manufacturers of anything offer this.

You need to use your CD to play it. The onus is on you to take care or your CDs, DVDs, cars, clothes, toasters, etc. to keep them from being ruined. Over the case of many years, if it gets worn through the course of use, that's that.

 

[Kael]

The MTBF on a CD Drive is 50,000 - 100,000 hours for the basic ones. I play Civ4 as much as anyone but I don't think the spin time during a load is really asking to much for the copyright owners right to protect his property.

And yes, the security doesn't make it impossible. Just like locking your door doesnt really keep anyone from breaking into your house or car. It just helps. Sometimes it is as much as we can reasonably do.

Until we live in a perfect world we will have to deal with annoying protection schemes in multiple areas of our lives. Get used to it, and keep locking your doors.

 

[Junuxx]

The MTBF on a CD Drive is 50,000 - 100,000 hours for the basic ones. I play Civ4 as much as anyone but I don't think the spin time during a load is really asking to much for the copyright owners right to protect his property.

And yes, the security doesn't make it impossible. Just like locking your door doesnt really keep anyone from breaking into your house or car. It just helps. Sometimes it is as much as we can reasonably do.

Until we live in a perfect world we will have to deal with annoying protection schemes in multiple areas of our lives. Get used to it, and keep locking your doors.

I think ordinary copy protection can better be compared to locking the front door, but keeping the windows and the back door wide open...

 

[DSChapin]

In fact, since it only inconveniences paying customers, it's like requiring complex automatic locks on all doors of new houses, but using easily-breakable glass for the windows.

 

[ComradeRed]

Things wear out over time. No software manufacturer owes their costumer a lifetime guarantee on discs - few manufacturers of anything offer this.

You need to use your CD to play it. The onus is on you to take care or your CDs, DVDs, cars, clothes, toasters, etc. to keep them from being ruined. Over the case of many years, if it gets worn through the course of use, that's that

Actually, there is conflicting legislation in place. First, you have the right to make up a backup copy of any media that you buy, for personal use only. Second, you have the Digital Millenium Copyright Act which says that attempting to bypass any copy protection is illegal. The two have come up against each other in court, and my best guess is it's a mix of high-priced corporate lawyers and technology uneducated judges that caused the DMCA to take precedence.

But, when you are purchasing the game, you are purchasing the rights to have a copy of the game at any given time in theory as well. In preventing people who bought a legal copy from backing it up, and requiring a CD to play, you're really just being an idiot. If people aren't going to buy it when they can pirate it, they probably still aren't going to buy it if you somehow are able to prevent them from pirating it.

Unfortunately, if I do find out how to copy it or find a no CD hack, I'm pretty sure I can't quite legally tell people about it thanks to the DMCA, and so I'd only tell it to people I know very well. So good luck finding out.... and to whoever came up with copy protection, I hope you burn. In fact, when I get around to figuring all these XML files out, I may have copy protection as a wonder that somehow hurts things.

 

[Seven05]

But, when you are purchasing the game, you are purchasing the rights to have a copy of the game at any given time in theory as well.

Technically you're not buying the software, you're purchasing a license to use the software under specific circumstances. This is how they keep winning attempts to force them into allowing you to make a legal "backup" copy. The license is important because it is significantly different than a copyright. They copyright their materials to protect them from you redistributing it but making a "backup" copy is irrelevant because of the license agreement. This is a horribly complicated loophole (here in the US anyway) and license agreements are easily twisted as needed. They are more like contracts than copyrights but since you are given a physical product in exchnage for your money rather than a service it is easily misunderstood. It's really a poor system for the consumer, in the six years I spent developing database applications I had to deal with numerous examples of the difference between a licensing software and selling software.

Videogames are funny though, even "big, bad Microsoft" will let you install most of their Office Suites on two computers as long as you own both of them. You can even back them up too.

As for ethics, I seriously doubt that most of the people that scream about not being able to make a "backup" copy are at all concerned with a "backup." With all of the gaming I've done since the mid 80's I've never needed a "backup" and I've only had a small handful (two that I can remember) disks fail from use, both were CDs and both were easily repaired with a CD scratch remover. And this is me, with a wife that doesn't understand much about computers (or how to maintain them) and a 9yr old daughter that is anything but gentle with CDs and DVDs.

The fun part is when the people obsessed with "backups" come back a week later and tell you how they had to re-format their PC and lost all of their work because they didn't make a backup.

 

[IceWolf]

very interesting comments from everyone and thanks for replying.
I am still of the opinion that a game should not need it's CD to play

thanks again