How about that UBIsoft DRM?, Fishing for a rare find. Options

[Karoline]

So, I'm sure everyone has heard about the new DRM that UBIsoft is putting out on Assassin's Creed 2. There have been several comics about it.

Here they talk about the 'benefits' of their new system and how it is for the sake of the customer as well as being able to stop piracy.

So, that had me wondering very strongly if any of their potential customers actually saw it this way. I've read through alot of stuff, and not once did I see anyone say 'Gee, that's great, I'm sure glad that UBIsoft is providing all those great features with AC2' and I'm not even sure I ever saw 'Well, that really sucks, but I guess I'll suck it up and buy the game anyway'

So, thus the reason for this little poll. Just curious what a potentially different group of people think about all this. Feel free to discuss your selections, but don't just rag on UBIsoft, plenty of that already.

[Tanegar]

I once saw somebody make a point that I still think is one of the smartest observations I've seen about software piracy: the people who pirate software wouldn't buy it regardless of whether it had DRM or what kind. They don't pirate to save money, or to make any kind of socioeconomic/political point. They pirate because they can.

I don't know how big a problem piracy really is. I am reasonably convinced, though, that developing more and more extreme forms of DRM is not going to significantly reduce it and, hackers being the challenge junkies that they are, stands a real chance at increasing piracy.

[hobgoblin]

the hard core pirates probably do it out of some combo of "became i can", "gotta get them all" and being a cheap bastard.

i suspect most casual "pirates" are teens with limited funds or adults with similar economic issues. These are people that try to stay in the social loop, but have limited funds to do so. By social loop i refer to being able to talk about the latest movies, music and games thats been released with big ad campaigns and lots of pundit opinions.

[Heath Robinson]

Obligatory other option: I rarely play games any more. I don't hate Ubisoft, I simply have no desire to play these games. Any of them, no matter who made them.

[nezumi]

I once saw somebody make a point that I still think is one of the smartest observations I've seen about software piracy: the people who pirate software wouldn't buy it regardless of whether it had DRM or what kind. They don't pirate to save money, or to make any kind of socioeconomic/political point. They pirate because they can.

I've actually gotten pirated copies of software I already own just to sidestep DRM issues, or to downgrade to a previous version, or because the disc got scratched all to heck, but the user agreement says I've purchased the rights to install the software on one PC, but never specified the medium from which I get it.

[hyzmarca]

You know, the people who are hurt the worst by DRM are the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. This DRM is just Ubiosoft's way of covertly supporting Al-Qaeda.

[hobgoblin]

I've actually gotten pirated copies of software I already own just to sidestep DRM issues, or to downgrade to a previous version, or because the disc got scratched all to heck, but the user agreement says I've purchased the rights to install the software on one PC, but never specified the medium from which I get it.

i recall reading a article in a gaming magazine actually suggesting people should get a cracked .exe for elder scrolls: morrowind, as it would potentially boost the speed of the game by 30%. Looking back, that may well have been a watershed moment.

[Karoline]

i recall reading a article in a gaming magazine actually suggesting people should get a cracked .exe for elder scrolls: morrowind, as it would potentially boost the speed of the game by 30%. Looking back, that may well have been a watershed moment.

I remember that. I bought morrowind for my PC (After trying it out on a rented XBox) and noticed it ran kinda slow, then cracked it and it ran faster. I believe there was a C&C game that had the same issue. My store bought copy ran slower than my friend's pirated copy, so I ended up cracking my own game so it would run faster.

And like Nezumi I've pirated some of my own games just because I've lost/scratched the disk, or because the game is something I haven't played in years and has been stored in the attic from which nothing is ever retrieved.

Oh, and the occasional game that is so old that you can't really find it to buy anywhere.

[Backgammon]

My opinion:

A) Ubisoft games are not especially good anyway, so who cares
B) PC gaming is dead, so who cares.

[Tanegar]

PC gaming is dead, so who cares.

That's quite a bold assertion, there.

[nezumi]

Indeed. I play nothing but PC games. I finished up Fallout recently, you may have heard of it.

[StealthSigma]

I'm assuming the DRM is only for the PC version.

DRM is one of the main reasons I target PS3 over PC. It's just simpler to do things on the consoles compared to PC.

[Critias]

This won't affect me too much as I tend not to PC game terribly often. I'm not a hardcore gamer anyways (I recently made my first ever preorder, in fact, with Red Dead Redemption), but what gaming I do tends to be on my 360 rather than my PC. Maybe it's because I spend so much time writing, working on school, writing some more, then idly checking forums, all on my desktop...but when I want to hit buttons and smash faces, it tends to be on a console instead, with a very few exceptions.

AC-2 is the only Ubisoft game I can even think of off the top of my head, and if/when I ever buy it, it's going to be for the 360. That said? I'm against annoyances and intrusions, as a general rule. A DRM checking up on you like this is, in my book, an annoyance and an intrusion. I can understand that a company wants to make money, but the last thing I want to do is go pay good money for an annoyance and an intrusion, for me to be punished -- however mildly -- for someone else's piracy.

[Karoline]

That's quite a bold assertion, there.

Agreed. I almost exclusively game PC, though I admittedly tend to not play the more cutting edge games (Bioshock 2 on release day being a rather notable exception recently). I'm happy playing simple things like dwarfort.

[Backgammon]

All new major games are developped on console, for console. There's still plenty of people playing on PC, but commercially, it is dwindling and now considered really a secondary, make a few extra buck market. Developer have always hated PCs, and now they are increasingly able to ignore this market. The exception being obviously the MMG - for now. You can bet your ass they are looking at how to move that to consoles too. Hence, PC gaming is dead, from a mainstream perspective. In a debate about DRM rights and shit, the mainstream perspective is all that matters.

[Wounded Ronin]

Fuck it. This DRM means that I'm not going to buy AC2. That doesn't mean I'm going to pirate it, I don't do that. It means that I will be content not to play. My hope is that enough people feel the same way that it hurts sales.

It's part of the reason I never got Windows Vista. Because I don't want corporations to think of my PC as their property, their corporate entertainment center, and that I'm a stupid consumer who has no idea how software and hardware works. If I were stupid and didn't have any technical knowledge and couldn't tinker to make things work I'd have got a console.

It's just like how ever since the Napster debacle, I stopped buying music CDs. I don't pirate, either. But I don't want to support the music industry at all, because of what they did to Napster.

Anyway, there is years of content and abandonware for PC. I'm just as happy playing a classic game from 1989 on DOS emulation as I am with a new release. I've got years worth of software all stacked up so I don't ever "need" to buy a product with obnoxious DRM.

At the same time, though, I can't be completely upset at Ubisoft, because I realize there are a lot of little shits out there who will pirate even if they could afford to buy the software. If someone could have afforded to shell out 20-50 bucks for the software, and support the development of more games, but chooses not to for some self-serving reason, I have a problem with that.

[Tanegar]

There is/will be a console version of Empire: Total War? Or Dawn of War II? Or Supreme Commander 2? Or Civilization V?

Please don't overgeneralize.

[Backgammon]

Look, PC is a residual market. Period. It should be abundantly clear by Ubisoft's DRM handling, for example, that they don't give a flying fuck about losing PC gamers for their games.

[StealthSigma]

All new major games are developped on console, for console. There's still plenty of people playing on PC, but commercially, it is dwindling and now considered really a secondary, make a few extra buck market. Developer have always hated PCs, and now they are increasingly able to ignore this market. The exception being obviously the MMG - for now. You can bet your ass they are looking at how to move that to consoles too. Hence, PC gaming is dead, from a mainstream perspective. In a debate about DRM rights and shit, the mainstream perspective is all that matters.

There is no how. It has been done and done successfully. Final Fantasy XI is the first MMO that I can think of that was done well on the console. Plus the console and PC players were playing together instead within their own community.

[Sengir]

Ubi say there are three advantages to their online services. The first: you don't need a disc. The second: that you can install the game on as many PCs as you like, as many times as you like. And the third: the automatic uploading of savegames to Ubisoft's servers.

A couple of years ago this was simply taken for granted, now they sell it to us as a feature...

[hobgoblin]

There is/will be a console version of Empire: Total War? Or Dawn of War II? Or Supreme Commander 2? Or Civilization V?

Please don't overgeneralize.

it could be. While these games makes a keyboard and mouse a requirement, at least the PS3 have support for usb (or bluetooth) keyboard and mouse. The one problem is that it do not ship with it by default, and so the game companies fear that the sales numbers would be limited if the game cant be played by what the console ships with out of the box.

even "better", some companies are now making special controllers that recreate the mouse as a special "gamepad".

i really do wonder what would happen if sony or microsoft did a official game that came in a box complete with a keyboard and mouse.

[ker'ion]

I chose "other" on purchasing the game because to even do so, I'd have to go buy a computer that could actually handle the game.
Then I'd buy the game and get a DRM crack.
They can keep their #@$^%&^* paws off of my property, as it's mine when I buy it from them.

Oh, and as for everyone claiming that consoles will replace the PC:
The primary reason for this is that the companies want the PC to be completely removed from the gaming community because an old computer can still run some new games if you upgrade it properly, but an old game console can't play the new games and you have to pay to fully replace it.
Upgrading is cheaper for the customer and doesn't get as much profit for the companies, so they have to get rid of it.

The only way to pull this off would be to make peripherals for the consoles and cut the PCs off from the video games completely to make it where no one wants to buy a PC and they will all use disposable computing hardware for maximum profit.

Who cares if the end user is completely satisfied with their purchase, that's just something to hype up the next model.
And you'll buy it if you want to keep up your video game fix.
You'll buy it. Or else.

[Karoline]

Who cares if the end user is completely satisfied with their purchase, that's just something to hype up the next model.
And you'll buy it if you want to keep up your video game fix.
You'll buy it. Or else.

I've found myself buying steadily fewer and fewer video games over the years. I also find myself less and less interested in the consoles and such. When PS3 and XBox360 first came out I thought "Wow, it would be cool to have those, but I don't have that kind of extra cash." and now I just don't even consider them at all. I'm not sure if it is because I'm secretly worried they'll be replaced soon, or because I just don't care enough about the games they have to want to fork over several hundred for the console and then an extra $60 for each game I want to play.

Personally a game doesn't even seem to (usually) enter my radar as a consideration if it is over about $20. Oh well, whatever. If the PC market for games is really dying (Which I'm not so convinced that it is) then I guess I'll just get along with my library of older games, and maybe pick up the occasional 'new' game once it goes on sale for half price.

[TBRMInsanity]

I have seen situations where DRM is helpful (example Steam where the DRM is used to tie your games to your account so you can transfer your games and saves to a new computer), but I feel that if companies like Ubisoft, EA, Sony, etc continue to create restrictive DRM that hurts players (and arguably doesn't touch pirates but in fact validate their existence) you will soon see the PC market tank like the music industry.

You want to know the best way to stop piracy (or at least minimize it to the point that it doesn't effect your bottom line), sell your software at the "why not" price. It has been proven time and time again on Steam that when you drop the price of your software from the "why should I buy this" price to the "why should I not buy this" price, your profits (not sales, but actual dollars in your pockets) increase over 800%. It is the same reason why iTunes is so popular and why songs that cost $0.99 sell like hotcakes while songs that cost $2.99 don't. In the next generation you will see consumers that will shun physical media (mainly to avoid product keys, DRM, and other registration annoyances) for a strictly digital download (as long as they can transfer their games from computer to computer). I would go as far as to say that this generation would even pay a subscription fee if it meant they could get what ever games they wanted, whenever they wanted it, on what ever computer they have available to them (with all their saved games, and achievements).

[Stahlseele]

Nobody without Broadband can reliably play their games anymore with this.
People with mobile Internet-Connections won't be able to play reliably too.
Heck, even DSL/Cable goes out from time to time.
DSL usually disconnects at least once every 24 Hours.
Wireless LAN is even worse with micro disconnects.