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Gamers upset over Mass Effect DRM
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 18 June, 2008
Last month, we reported that the blockbuster PC game Mass Effect was set to have rolling DRM, the form of DRM unflatteringly known as "phoning home" as every 10 days the game would connect to Bioware's servers and re-activate itself. After the report surfaced around the Internet though, the backlash was too much for the company and they decided to remove the DRM from the game.
As was ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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Member
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20. June 2008 @ 00:10 |
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So if your like me, as I tend to reformat my computer way too often, around every 3 months... I'd be screwed quite quickly...
Long live Valve's Steam!!!
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susieqbbb
Suspended permanently
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20. June 2008 @ 00:15 |
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funny i would rather not purchase the game if it is going to do this garbage.
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POEE
Newbie
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20. June 2008 @ 02:36 |
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Quote:
gciv and sins of a solar empire has sold well and are drmless
Quote:
they want to devastate the 2nd hand market
Actually, GalCiv2 and Sins aren't any better for the resale market than Mass Effect PC. Even though GalCiv2, etc, have no DRM on the disc, the game must be activated online and it will only activate through your Stardock account. This means you can make as many copies of the game as you like, and install it as often as you like, but you must still activate it through your specific Stardock account, so you cannot re-sell a Stardock game unless you don't mind giving away your account along with it (and then you will lose access to everything you have purchased under that account, not just the one game).
Of course, this is still far preferable to Mass Effect on the PC limiting you to 3 installs per purchase. That is unbelievably draconian. I tinker with my PCs a lot, upgrading components frequently, and I typically build a completely new one every year or so. I still enjoy playing many of my old games on whatever my current gaming rig is -- I mean some really old ones like Deus Ex, RtCW, BG2, GTA3, SoF2, as well as slightly more recent ones like Far Cry, KotOR, VtM:Bloodlines, Painkiller, FEAR, etc. I guess EA doesn't want me to be able to play Mass Effect for years like I do many other titles. I like new games, but that doesn't mean I stop liking all the older ones.
I bought Mass Effect for PC when it was released, and I didn't know about the DRM. I would not have purchased it had I known that I was only buying a license for 3 installations. Even if I never lend it to anyone else, and only install it for my own use on one PC at a time, I can see I will run out of installations in fairly short order. Then I guess I will have no other option but to obtain it in a more friendly form when I get to that point. And I won't feel the slightest bit guilty about it either, since I've already paid for the game.
This is bad. I'm one of those annoying people that has always paid for the games I play, and I especially go out of my way to support the best developers, of which Bioware is certainly one. I don't want to see PC gaming fade away because everyone is stealing instead of buying. But now EA has figured out something so customer-hostile that it will make me go searching for alternative methods of acquisition... Smooth move...
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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20. June 2008 @ 03:09 |
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You don't need the net to install or play the retail dvd.
if online activation was required that would bunk their no DRM claim.
You can register the game to your account and get updates faster but tis not required.
Digi distro games are still stupid IMO high price+no resale or transfer ability, I am sorry offer me a game thats in data only for half price of retail and I might buy in..on wait I can get it cheaper used *rolls eyes* stupid companies trying to take advantage of the witless sheep and then sue them for grasing in other fields because they can't over charge them ><
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POEE
Newbie
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22. June 2008 @ 00:44 |
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Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
You don't need the net to install or play the retail dvd.
if online activation was required that would bunk their no DRM claim.
You can register the game to your account and get updates faster but tis not required.
See this link from Stardock:
http://forums.stardock.com/122873/page/4
You are right, you don't need to register the product, but then you are stuck with version 1.0 that came on the disc. It is not about getting updates faster, but getting them at all. (And GalCiv2 v1.0 is riddled with bugs, including broken quests and crashes, but these are nicely fixed IF you are registered and update the game.)
My point was about the resale market. Stardock EULA specifically forbids the resale of their games, period. Mass Effect for PC has no such restriction in the EULA, but it has a practical restriction against resale do to the 3-installs-per-purchase DRM. Personally, I prefer Stardock's no-DRM-but-no-resale method over any kind of installation restriction since a single buyer can reasonably expect to install a favorite game more than once over the course of time, even if he or she is the only one that will ever play the game. Mass Effect for PC DRM will punish law-abiding customers with a limit of 3 installs -- a limit that can be overcome only by acquiring the game illegally. That will certainly encourage piracy, not prevent it. It is bad enough when you can find warez so easily, but it's just stupid to make people feel justified in using them.
Stardock is on the right path to figuring out a customer-friendly way to sell PC games while striving to keep PC-centric gaming alive (which the widespread theft of PC titles compared to console titles is making increasingly difficult from the developer's and publisher's point of view.)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. June 2008 @ 01:00 |
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POEE
ack a wall'o'text *hides*
:P
Sorry for the coming zippy speak
1.only new spanking patches have to be registered for
as you can see below getting a patch is rather easy.
http://www.gamershell.com/download_26522.shtml
http://www.gamershell.com/pc/sins_of_a_solar_empire/
2.EULAs are nice but not "real" contracts until proven otherwise in court and frankly with the recent CD/DVD promotion and autodesk used good rulings they can not make software illicit after it gets into the 2nd hand market they can try and block but they can never prevent resale.
2.Heres hope EA sees the lgiht and turns off install limits 2K/Bioshock just turned off their tokens...
4.EULA aside stardock is going in the right direction.
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vudoo
Member
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9. July 2008 @ 20:13 |
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I'm a visually impaired user and use a program called Zoomtext 9.1 with speech. It too has DRM. You can only install it on 3 computers. However I had to raformat my Vista laptop twice and I installed it on my desk top as well. Now after that I can't install it anymore. Luckily I got a hold of a nice female at AI Squared and told her of my problem. She re activated my program for me. However what happens if AI Squared goes out of business or their license server goes down? I looked for a crack just to give me peace of mind and their is none to date. I'm hoping that at least the web ware Izoom stays active for the time when Zoomtext is no more.
DRM is not fair at all and only pisses off the customer.
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POEE
Newbie
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9. July 2008 @ 23:53 |
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Originally posted by vudoo:
DRM is not fair at all and only pisses off the customer.
QFT
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Member
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22. July 2008 @ 17:05 |
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Well, at least with the "Finalize" crack, this version of DRM is effectively dead. Only a matter of time until they come up with another one, though.
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