Who hates developers who put DRM into their games? I sure do, and now for my reasons.
No internet no play! (my internet sucks, so I have lived through it before)
You don’t own that anymore! We own all that you think you own! Next the world!
We shutdown the servers… Can’t play your SINGLEPLAYER game anymore. HA-HAHAHAAA-cough-cough-My heart!
We have the right to ban you from your game… even though you bought it… to bad.
And there are many other problems… Drm Sucks. EA… now they really suck.
Sorry, had to rant. Thank God for GOG games. Now I can play stalker again.
Well, you shouldn’t generalize all games that use DRM. I think systems like Steam where you just have to activate your product once are absolutely okay, while I heavily dislike the practices by SimCity, Diablo III etc.
Personally, I like Steam’s DRM more than the old way with CDs; I experience that a lot when I’m playing Anno 1701 (great game btw!) where you can’t play without the CD.
Yeah steam isn’t that bad. Offline mode is it’s only saving grace. I personally like the idea of steam, but do I really need to make an account to play my game I bought on cd? maybe for Multiplayer and expansions. Also yeah, I prefer playing without the cd too… But woudn’t it be better just to download or install from cd, … that’s it! nothing else.
If many people would bother to read the EULA they agree to when installing the game, they would find that everything on your list is signed away as you only purchased a license to play the game, which can be revoked. Unfortunately many just express through the installation without reading the document that essentially strips away all of the rights they think they have when it comes to the software they just purchased. I’ve come to terms with it a while ago. Not much we can do about it in all honesty. =)
Yeah, I’ve had to come to terms with it to. But most people I know buy the game crack it or download a crack. (I do not condone this activity!) Just a sad fact, that some overtly rich snobs want to ruin a good pastime. (I understand protecting you’re game but don’t turn into a police state!) Well I am learning to be a game designer. If I ever make one it will have none of that junk. (well, if I ever make one) I hope anyone who sees this decides not to do that too. Fun Fact: People break the EULA now more than ever. Because of DRM. Smart one guys… just so smart…
EULA’s have proven to be null and void in the court systems (in the USA and in S Korea at least), and that the law was above them. The law states that a product, purchased for the retail amount of said product, belongs to the consumer, not the software company. Of course, there is distribution / copying laws to prevent piracy, but yea.
You could, by law, sue a company that shuts down a game if you’ve paid full retail for it… but considering the costs of doing so, and the fact that you’re likely to get nothing from it as the company has probably filed for bankruptcy…
Remember, in North Korea, software companies have to issue refunds for purchased software if the software is unusable (in the USA, it is only if the box is not opened)… when Blizzard refused, the S Korea police got involved, and Blizzard started issuing refunds after a class action from the government.
Also, there was another class action suit when Blizzard wasn’t able to keep the servers up. Blizzard settled out of court with copies of the game for free (Internet cafe).
You can have all the EULA’s you want, however, you are still accountable to the law. If you’re game starts getting well known, and you are one of those .5%'ers that make a good game with international recognition, it will be a wise move to hire an international law firm to handle things like these.
To be honest I like steam. - Cloud library where you can keep most of games instead searching your house for one disc.
However, I like old school boxes. It always makes me happy to keep a product in own hands. That’s why when i buy some “exclusive game” Like WarCraft, Diablo, Tomb Raider or now GTA V [PC]. I always must have it in box.
What’s more about steam. I bought a phisical copy of Tomb Raider which have a steam key activation anyway. After 2 years when there was promotion “Tomb Raider Collection - 11 Games Included” the EULA says that when you double a product, that product will be overwrited to your library. So, in otherwords I was robbed from my original copy that I have spend 25 ponds.
If I had a 2 phisical copies without DRM, I rather could give one copy to a friend (for example). - That’s more logic, don’t you think? (I payed for them anyway).
I like the CD Projekt marketing idea. They said they will be selling Witcher 3 without any DRM. Not because they don’t afraid of piracy. They said that because, even if they make DRM. The game will be hacked in next 3 hours. They also said that, they also were a “pirates” in their past-life, and if they product will be worth of buying… people will buy it.
You got it Ghan! Steam is a great program for games. I like using the cloud between my laptop and pc. It also has great servers for online play. And CD Projekt I think owns GOG.com. Also, I personally remember when Silent Hunter V came out. They said no one could crack it… Two days later it was over. their servers went down! and people had to use the crack! Another nuisance is when I buy a game of Steam and it has third party DRM in it!
Not really, currently it can go either way and depends on the manner of access termination. There is no established precedent so far, and publishers are still pushing (successfully) to maintain their position that you only purchase a license to the software, as outlined in the agreement when installing and/or making an account associated with the product purchased. A EULA isn’t in contradiction with the law. The issue lies in the average consumers lack of interest in the document they agree to when purchasing a software product. But ignorance to the terms you agreed upon for a purchase does not preclude a publisher from being able to enact portions of the license agreement that may seem undesirable.
With regard to broken software, this is also accounted for in EULAs. Given the plethora of PC software and hardware combinations, a software provider simply can’t guarantee it will work flawlessly on each machine. You are entitled to a full refund within the allotted window (usually 30 days) but outside of that you are toothless when it comes to a lawsuit. Almost every piece of software has some version of these clauses in their license agreement.
I like CD Projekt RED as much as the next guy, but lets not forget they initially were pro DRM until it backfired on them publicly due to the revelation that it decreased performance, and their ruthless (albeit proper) crusade against pirates. =P
Even games without DRM suffer massive piracy rates if they’re any good. The Witcher 2 is a good example. The CEO of CDPR estimated that by the time they had sold 1M copies, at least 4.5M illegal copies had been downloaded. He believed that was optimistic estimate, and that the actual number was much higher.
It’s part of the reason so many companies are trying F2P models, which I personally don’t care for. Most F2P games are massive grinds. There’s some exceptions to that, but there’s enough that I’d just rather plunk down my $50 and be done with it.
You can try and sue a company for anything, doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think that you’d win, not in the US at least, multiple US district courts uphold EULAs all the time. Even the ones where you have to buy the product just to see it. You need to prove standing, can’t see you having it. Even if you did, I don’t see how you’re going to prove that you’re entitled to some form of relief. Their EULA is almost certainly going to be upheld and they never implied that they would provide online services for eternity.
