I have never been a person who gets overexcited about issues in the gaming world. The last few years PC gamers have been screaming about Digital Rights Management or DRM. I have not been one to weigh in on message boards or boycott games due to insane DRM standards. Hell I own both Assassins Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction. I have stayed away from these arguments and never been one to overreact to what companies were trying to do to protect their investments.
As digital entertainment has become larger and more visually demanding industry the amount of money required to make and market these games has become astronomical. Marketing budgets alone sometimes reach the 20 to 30 million dollar mark. Most of these large gaming publishers are publicly traded corporations which mean that they have an obligation to their shareholders to protect their immensely large investment. Understanding this about EA, Ubisoft and Activision to name a few, puts into perspective why DRM exists. This is a BUSINESS and people are readily and easily stealing their product. A company has the rights to protect their investment and the product that they have put energy, time and large amounts of money in.
I get it, I understand why it exists, and for the most part I won’t even argue the logic behind why it is needed. I have never had a bad experience with any DRM. I have always been able to play the games I own when I want and where I want. I purchase a lot of games and enjoy supporting publishers and developer. It only takes one time to be burned however to never forget. CRYSIS FREAKING WARHEAD you popped my DRM hating cherry.
Activation limits have to be the worst idea ever thought of in a strategy meeting regarding DRM. How does this stop anyone from stealing your game? Disk checks, key activation, hell even Ubisoft’s bullshit always connected DRM I can handle but now you are telling me EA that I cannot install and play a game that I physically have purchased. I own it and I can’t play it? So how and why would you think that this would stop me from going on Pirate Bay and downloading a crack and ISO of your game? Most of the time I wouldn’t care about activation limits, I believe that Bad Company 2 has a ten install activation limit but only if you want to have online activation and no disk check. There is also an easy License removal process with BC2 when you un-install or format. Crysis Warhead offered no such system, and I had only five installs of the game. Four of which most were lost during formats and new computer builds. Now I have one left…one freaking install…and now if I want to play I have to remove the license from my laptop and apply it to my desktop and vice versa.
To EA:
Please, for the love of God remove activation limits. This isn’t DRM; it’s an annoyance to people who buy your games, the people who hack your game burn through that crap in 10 minutes. I understand you warn me about this garbage in your long winded lawyer speak license agreement but please just be honest with me. Tell me during the install; provide an easy way for me to get my licenses back. I love Crytek games; Far Cry is top 10 for me. SO PLEASE provide a more user friendly experience for your soon to be released Crysis 2. I won’t sit here and bullshit like I’m going to boycott your game because of this, I want to play it and I want to support the guys at Crytek. But you, EA I implore you, be responsible, use steams VAC or simply remove license limits. They don’t work and they suck.
From: New DRM Hater- Zansky