Speaking up against our would be soviet overlords.
Published on January 21, 2010 By taltamir In PC Gaming

DRM as a whole is not meant to stop piracy; no form of DRM has ever been effective in stopping piracy, nor has any of it ever been designed in a way that could be effective in stopping piracy. DRM is nothing but a trick to force customers to purchase the same product again and again; which several big DRM advocates (such as the CEO of sony BGM) have publicly declared as their ultimate goal. DRM pushers also came on records as saying that libraries are nothing but massive scale piracy by the government and should thus be shut down. It is no surprise that the library of congress (and many others) have been complaining about their inability to archive works with DRM as libraries are another of the real intended targets of DRM.

Software companies like to pretend that their product is both intellectual property which they license, as well as a physical product which they sell you at the same time. Furthermore, they pretend that somehow the two are combined so that the consumer gets the responsibilities of both and the benefit of neither while they get the benefits of both and the responsibilities of neither.

When you sell a DVD you are transferring a physical product, one that was manufactured, transported, purchased, and has to be disposed of (at taxpayer expense) when trashed. And has to be repurchased if damaged. Just like a car. This is taking the "physical object" approach.

Digital distribution does not do that. Digital distribution treats it as 100% IP that is licensed to you. You have one lifetime license to use a game/song/movie/program/etc. A license that does not need to be repurchased if your CD is scratched, degrades from age, or otherwise damaged. Therefore you are getting the benefits (you can make copies, transfer devices, and get a duplicate of the data at no cost) and drawbacks (you may not resell it) of the IP licensing method. Which is fair and reasonable; you must remember that in the license approach, you should not have an inherent right to resell an item.

If you wanted the model in which you the consumer could resell the DVD than you have to agree to a model where DVDs can not be duplicated under any circumstances, that the DVD has to be in the drive to run the game. And that if the DVD breaks then you are obligated to buy a new one at full price, even if you already purchased the game/software. This is a ridiculous notion since a DVD is worth under 10 cents, but the software on it is worth at least 50$. It isn't a car, it is a method of transferring the software, which is pure information.

Most unauthorized copying (called piracy by DRM advocates) exists to reclaim the benfits of either the license or the physical property method, but many users forget that if you reclaim both at once than you are going from protecting your rights as a customer and into the realm of thievery (which, ironically, is what the content owners do to you when they claim the rights of both and the responsibilities of neither).

I am very happy with license type digital distribution. Now in a system that no longer tries to exploit me and steal from me (which is exactly what software companies do when they pretend that their product is two different things at once) I am quite satisfied with purchasing software again. This is why services such as impulse are so much better than buying a DVD at the store.


Comments (Page 5)
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on Feb 23, 2010

ZehDon



Quoting Nesrie,
reply 58
Impulse IS a form of DRM taltamir...
Technically, in the strictest sense, this is true however in terms of Copy Prevention - which is Taltamir's meaning - Impulse itself isn't.

Well in terms of copying often imperfect vanilla versions of games, sure Stardock games don't do that (not sure about all GOO games though). DRM isn't just copying protevtion though, it's also Access Control and in this case, access to patches. Now if Stardock pushed out fixes/patches outside of Impulse freely and did something like additional content inside Impulse (extra maps, extra demigods... extras), then I would lean more towards the not DRM side. Still have the forced proprietary server crap though which puts them in line with EA, EA being the one that just yanked servers for a game barely over a year old (PC).

on Feb 23, 2010

Nesrie

 Still have the forced proprietary server crap though which puts them in line with EA, EA being the one that just yanked servers for a game barely over a year old (PC).

 

Which game?

on Feb 23, 2010

bluebogle



Quoting Nesrie,
reply 61

 Still have the forced proprietary server crap though which puts them in line with EA, EA being the one that just yanked servers for a game barely over a year old (PC).


 

Which game?

Lord of the Rings Conquest, release 2009 already had its server's pulled. Fortunately, I avoided that game after all the terrible reviews though I still play Battle for Middle Earth II (also forced prop. server).

on Feb 23, 2010

with impulse you can back up a fully patched game into a zip file (which you are free to store on any media you want) and later use impulse to install it even if the servers are down.

with impulse you can uninstall impulse and the game will still run without any problems.

Impulse is not "in the same realm as EA", not even close. Impulse is less obtrusive than steam which is far far far less obtrusive than EA's crap.

on Feb 23, 2010

taltamir
with impulse you can back up a fully patched game into a zip file (which you are free to store on any media you want) and later use impulse to install it even if the servers are down.

with impulse you can uninstall impulse and the game will still run without any problems.

Impulse is not "in the same realm as EA", not even close. Impulse is less obtrusive than steam which is far far far less obtrusive than EA's crap.

You're taking that statement out of context. I am referring to proprietary servers being in the realm realm of EA. Not the overall package.

You are still using Impulse to say that Impulse is not DRM. If you have to use Impulse to complete a game, as in fix what shouldn't have been broken in the first place, aka acquire a patch, its still access control and therefore a form of DRM.

on Feb 24, 2010

its still access control and therefore a form of DRM.

Which is something even Brad never really denied. Don't have the time to find the thread, but actually he explicitely stated that it IS a form of DRM. In the smallest. least intrusive and most convenient form possible though, which I tend to agree to.

 

I can perfectly relate to people who object to forms of DRM which force you to be constantly online to be able to play because I feel the same way. Heck, I even went ballistic when, in the early days of it, Stardock Central forced you to have an I-Net connection on your rig to download patches for Galciv2 while it was perfectly okay to dl them somewhere else and port the zip file over to your rig before.

But having to prove that you have a valid copy of the game just to get access to patches and upgrades is perfectly okay IMO.

Do not forget that so called "patches" are not always released for the sole purpose of bugfixing. More often they're supposed to improve your game experience.

on Feb 24, 2010

Nesrie
...You are still using Impulse to say that Impulse is not DRM. If you have to use Impulse to complete a game, as in fix what shouldn't have been broken in the first place, aka acquire a patch, its still access control and therefore a form of DRM...

Well, of course its a form of Digital Rights Management - no one can argue against it - you have to log into your Account to access updates and patches for your Game. That's the entire purpose of Impulse. The difference between Impulse and, say, the File Planet website - where you need to log into your Account to download patches and updates to your games - is that Impulse is a Client based program that provides updates only to games and programs you have purchased through Impulse. I see nothing wrong with this as Impulse is only required to update the game/program and not to run it.

on Feb 24, 2010

I much prefer digital distribution over the old buy-it-on-CD retail method.  It's just so much more convenient.  As discussed already, there is a trade off, but I think it's worth it. 

The DRM situation for digital distribution can be a real problem and it's a total case of buyer beware, i.e. Assassins Creed II.  It goes too far when it requires you to log in and/or be logged in to play or has activation limits.  That's just cruel and unusual punishment.

Impulse and it's native DRM scheme (GOO) I find quite tolerable.  However, there aren't a lot of games on Impulse that use GOO.  Most of the big 3rd party games use their own DRM scheme.  I recently bought Mass Effect 2 on Impulse and it uses EA's own online authentication system.  I really didn't like that it installs two applications soley to support its DRM (Adobe AIR and EA Authentication Manager).  However, it only requires me to log in once to authenticate there are no activation limits as far as I know.  It's right on the edge of what I'm willing to put up with. 

I only hope enough consumers care about the situation that publishers feel the pain when they release games with over-the-top DRM.  It's really annoying the way I have to scrutinize every game purchase to make sure I'm not going to get screwed.

on Feb 24, 2010

taltamir
colins, implulse is not a form of DRM. the games (even patched to latest version) work fine with it uninstalled. and it is never run except to download games and patch them. it is a convenient tool if you have many stardock games.

 

Okay. Just to clarify for those who didn't follow this thread. I never said Brad or anyone at Stardock claimed Impulse was not a form of DRM. The quote above is what I am referring to.

When comparing Stardock to EA, I was strictly referring to the fact that they, Stardock, plans to force all players, even those on dedicated servers, to have to save Elemental games on their servers, their proprietary servers which means, like all the other propreitary servers, Stardock can choose to not support them anymore and ruin that part of the game, or in the case that they no longer exist, not be there to support it.

Now do I have complaints about Impulse... sure I do, but I still use it. I also use Steam which is worst. Ubisoft can take their scheme and shove it. Do I think Stardock is going to pull an EA and yank servers out from under players just over a year after release... no I don't. The point is they could and that bothers me. I actually like using online services that keep myself and my group from screwing with routers all day long. My point-of-view is strictly on longer term basis (although a year and 2 months is not long-term in the cast of LOTR Conquest) in that I would prefer completely seperate dedicated servers and/or Direct IP options so that the company can't turn around and say hey, it was a hard decision, really it was, but we don't want to pay to support these servers anymore.

on Feb 25, 2010

Stardock, plans to force all players, even those on dedicated servers, to have to save Elemental games on their servers, their proprietary servers which means, like all the other propreitary servers, Stardock can choose to not support them anymore and ruin that part of the game, or in the case that they no longer exist, not be there to support it.

I'm not very happy about that part either. But as far as I know SD I'd bet they will see to it that we don't suffer too much from it and offer a patch in time before they shut down the server(s). If they won't however they'd have to fear the players' wrath which would be a considerable one.

on Feb 25, 2010

Where have you seen that Elemental will require you to save your game online?

on Feb 25, 2010

It's in here somewhere. IIRC it was Brad who stated that savegames will reside exclusively on SD's server(s).

on Feb 25, 2010

Star Adder
It's in here somewhere. IIRC it was Brad who stated that savegames will reside exclusively on SD's server(s).

Which actually makes Stardock more like Ubisoft than EA, except Ubisoft is applying their crap to singleplayer modes as well. I believe this little scheme of Stardock's is multiplayer only. Still a crappy move in my book.

on Feb 25, 2010

I'm not very happy about that part either. But as far as I know SD I'd bet they will see to it that we don't suffer too much from it and offer a patch in time before they shut down the server(s). If they won't however they'd have to fear the players' wrath which would be a considerable one.

That doesn't make any sense. it would be impotent wrath because they would be going out of business for that to happen.

that being said. they don't need to change anything. Impulse already has an option to backup your games for an offline install. This means that if stardock goes out of business today and you have backed up your games, you can continue to use them even without the servers.

on Feb 25, 2010

taltamir

I'm not very happy about that part either. But as far as I know SD I'd bet they will see to it that we don't suffer too much from it and offer a patch in time before they shut down the server(s). If they won't however they'd have to fear the players' wrath which would be a considerable one.


That doesn't make any sense. it would be impotent wrath because they would be going out of business for that to happen.

that being said. they don't need to change anything. Impulse already has an option to backup your games for an offline install. This means that if stardock goes out of business today and you have backed up your games, you can continue to use them even without the servers.

Impulse and the dedicated server requirement we are talking about with Elemental, are not the same thing. An Offline mode will not fix a thing for an online multiplayer game that allows dedicated servers but forces you to save on proprietary servers. It simply won't work when there is no place to save to.

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