| # | Name | Have you been driven to piracy because of DRM? | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | Cory Benfield | Until legitimate users get the same product the pirates get, piracy will always be attractive. DRM is fighting a losing battle, and it's time for someone to acknowledge that. Stardock have shown the industry the way: now the rest need to follow. |
| 2 | Bård Søraas Pettersen / Plectophera | I agree so much, while every type of DRM is intrusive in my opinion, this DRM you speak of is the real evil. It never hurts anyone but the legitimate customers, and frankly, pirates and crews enjoy DRM because it is a challenge. |
| 3 | Henry | Stop ruining the experience for those of us who are willing to pay for it |
| 4 | Paddy (Drug Crazed Dropkick) | Yes. The whole reason this exists is because DRM has driven me to piracy. | Get rid of DRM, and you get more game sales. You're hurting me more than the pirates |
| 5 | K | IT IS A PAIN IN THE ASS MY COMP RESTORED TWICE AND BIOSHOCK WOULDN'T WORK, WORLD FO WARCRAFT SENT ME A USED KEY AS WELL | |
| 6 | Imperial Creed | The fundamental problem with most DRM (and there are a few exceptions) is that it is, in principle, designed to stop, or at least inconvience, pirates. What it does, in that special little place I like to call reality, is inconvience paying customers. Pirates can circumvent DRM quickly and effeciently in most cases and it never causes them problems. Consumers are frequently plagued with problems caused by or linked to DRM software, some DRM creates serious privacy issues and on the whole DRM can serve as little more than an annoying barrier between the paying schmuck and the game. (I once had to delete a legitimate copy of Alcohol 120% before my legitimate copy of The Witcher would even think about running. Never mind that the errors it presented didn't do anything to help me solve the problem. I had to spend two days cruising support forums to find a less then straightforward solution, and I'm an experienced PC user.)
Steam and Stardock have gotten around this crippling flaw in DRM logic nicely by being a)clever and b)sensitive to the needs and desires of their customers. Stardock have some of the best after-sales support I've ever experienced and their frequent, free updates make paying for and owning a license key feel like a real benefit and not a liability. Plus they publish great games. Ditto with Valve and Steam - and on top of a legitimate copy of whatever game you purchased you get auto-patching, the ability to dl the games you own to another PC and access to some useful community features.
I've never pirated a game, but I've frequently dl'd no-cd cracks and such. Securom and its ilk are stupid, stupid hangovers from an age of PC gaming that is rapidly slipping into history. With the capability of modern PC hardware there is no good reason for me to have the disc in drive everytime I want to play other than for one of these stupid, stupid checks which only inconvience me, the person who paid money for this experience, and not the pirate who has a torrented ISO that avoids all those problems. In terms of quality of experience the pirate's is in many cases much better, and he gets it for free.
So yeah, I'd say fuck traditional DRM. I don't mind the likes of Steam, or Stardock, or that chap who made Armageddon Empires asking me to prove I'm legit because I only have to do it once, they don't make it a hassle and the benefits to being legit are clear, tangible and worthwhile.
/lecture over. Where do I sign? | |
| 7 | Anonymous | Not yet, but its getting very tempting. I would have bought Mass Effect but the limited install and online activation is appalling. I, the paying customer, shoudl not be being penalised. | |
| 8 | Jonathan | Yes | |
| 9 | Stephen Caffrey | no, though i can understand people who will buy a legal version of game then use a pirated copy | I dont condone piracy in any shape or form but when it comes to drm on the scale that securom use i'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils |
| 10 | Alistair Rolleston | no | |
| 11 | Tim D | Often tempted | |
| 12 | Sith | No, I have not, but it has driven me away from purchasing Mass Effect. | DRM is a useless tool. It will be cracked, it will be circulated, it will be downloaded. Just remove it, more sales for the developers and the same number of pirates. There's not really anything to lose, but the respect of thousands to gain. |
| 13 | Patrick Everard | Not as yet | Piracy cannot be deffended. However DRM has crossed the line. This does little to stop the pirates but effects legitimate people who just want to play. |
| 14 | Andrew Griffiths | Yes | |
| 15 | John Neicho | not personally but thats because i haven't played DRM games, if i had I would | If anything this despicable monstrosity promotes piracy, cheaper games with less protection is what we need |
| 16 | Paul Tinsley | No. But I would consider buying a DRM infected copy and then obtain a free pirated or cracked copy so that I may enjoy fair use and continue to re-install indefinitely. | Electronic Arts ("EA") is using DRM in "Mass Effect" to limit activations to 3, before the license is revoked. PC enthusiasts constantly tweak, re-install and upgrade their equipment. EA's DRM policy exploits this fact to reduce the shelf-life of a game and increase profits by blocking second-hand sales and / or future use of the game after equipment upgrades. This changes the "ownership" of the game to a "rental" style agreement. This fact should be made clear on product labeling so that consumers are not fooled into believing that they own the game. A limit of 3 activations to use a product is NOT ownership of that product. |
| 17 | Meowcat | Yes, DRM forced me to seek a solution which only existing in piracy. | DRM funnily enough does not actually affect pirates at all as the community is powerful and knowledgeable enough to know how to get around and crack it. The only people getting affected are the legit users and for what purpose? Making it about 5 minutes more work for warez teams to crack?
It just proves the fact that everyone out there giving products only wants one thing from you: MONEY. |
| 18 | Anonymous | Yes, the pirated versions allow me to play the game without the hassle. | I only purchase games without DRM these days because I want to own a game for life and not have to worry that it will stop working one day. |
| 19 | Josh | i have not | I wont buy another EA game if it has DRM. why? it doesnt help. DRM can be cracked if someone trys, and once its cracked people have the option of stealing the game knowing there is only a 1 in a million chance of being caught, or they can buy the game for 50 bucks and know that they are being treated like thieves. i hope EA dies if they dont remove DRM |
| 20 | Anonymous | Yes, Limewire I know its illegal but I have a zune ( I rip Cds) and everyone else has an Ipod | |
| 21 | bear arsed | not yet but ive considered it | DRMs are what is killing the Hardcopy PC game sales |
| 22 | Ron McCarty Jr | yes i have, | |