DRM Ponderances

[owsf2000]

With all the shit hitting the fan over Spore lately (which was predicted to happen months in advance - iirc it was originally going to have the same phone home scheme as bioshock originally.) I found myself wondering why I hate DRM on the PC far far far more than I hate it on consoles, which are all DRMed as well in their own console specific way.

I suppose the answer would be that it the DRM used on the consoles doesn't prevent or make it a pain to use the game on the console it's designed for. Although I would like to see that weakened a bit further as well. If they start selling console games that have X activations, require me to hook up a modem so the game can phone home, or if something is done so that content gets locked to a specific console. (Oh wait. The downloads stuff does that now doesn't it? :p) then I'll probably truly be ducking out of the console market in the future. (This gen is very iffy as it is. There's a chance I might purchase one or two of the consoles when the prices are down under 200 bucks, assuming games I want are still available, but like I said - that's iffy.)

DRM on the computer is all about making the game NOT work on the system it's designed to. DRM on the consoles is more about preventing copies and preventing homebrewing. (I dislike the preventing homebrewing part, which ends up needing the system to run copies of the homebrews.)

Bah. This entry probably doesn't make much sense. I'm in a rush to go to work, blah blah blah. I'll try to think it over when I have more time and see if I can piece together a more thought out explanation after work.

Comments

[kitten-faust.livejournal.com]

Another important point: DRM on consoles only effects the game that uses it. DRM on computers can effect everything on that computer.

[kane-magus.livejournal.com]

The high concept of copy protection is sound, in my opinion. People who pirate software for the hell of it are douchebags, for the most part, and should be fed through a wood-chipper.

However, the implementation of the copy protection these days is what's complete and total ass, will likely continue to be complete and total ass for the foreseeable future, and is what ends up making the developers and/or publishers also look like douchebags themselves, who also deserve the wood-chipper. It almost almost gives the pirates a bit of legitimacy, since they are, in a sense, just fixing a broken game, after all, in this case. But then, that's counterbalanced by the fact that they're playing the game for absolutely free, and the devs of the game aren't getting their due revenue (minus whatever part of that revenue should be fed through a wood-chipper for their use of SecuROM). If the asshats weren't doing the pirating in the first place, the publishers wouldn't have had to try to go to such diabolical extremes to try to combat it.

Nobody is in the right here, in this case. EA is guilty for using the liquid shit that is SecuROM, and the pirates are guilty for giving them an excuse to do it. But at the end of the day, EA steadfastly refusing to stop doing retarded shit like this is going to hurt them far more than piracy of their games ever will.

I just kind of wish I had the willpower to stand up and really say fuck you to EA (and actually mean it, by not buying the game, rather than just ranting about it in an LJ post that almost nobody will read)... but... I wanted to play Spore, and have been waiting to play Spore for years now, and by god, come hell or high water, I will play Spore. As long as the damned disc doesn't explode in my DVD drive, I guess I'll just swallow the liquid shit and do little more than complain futilely about it. Enough people failing like this, though, is sadly what gives EA the idea that they can continue to get away with shit like this, and for that, I have to say I'm sorry. I agree with you completely in theory, but it just wasn't enough to keep me from infecting my computer with assware. So far (and like before when I had The Sims and other such SecuROM-riddled games on my computer pre-format) it hasn't caused me any problems, as far as I can tell, and I hope it remains that way, but the fact that it's there at all just pisses me off (but not enough to not play the game).

Well, anyway, if you'll excuse me, I... am... going to go play Spore now. >_>