X-Plane CEO fails at public relations

[Caydr]

http://torrentfreak.com/drm-on-a-usb-dr ... 29-090901/

Short version:
X-Plane developer decides to finally listen to people who hate having to put the CD in the drive in order to run the flight sim. As an alternative, you may now buy a USB drive instead for the low, low cost of $30, which you must have inserted at any time you wish to run the simulator.

When a reporter points out that this is bypassed just as quickly and easily as any other form of DRM, and it merely adds $30 to the cost of the game for legitimate customers that have already paid for it, the CEO goes on a failspree.

~~~~

In my opinion, there is a place for LIGHT DRM in commercial applications/games/etc. By light, I mean the sort of thing Stardock does, or at an extreme, what Valve does, as long as it does not require an internet connection more than once.

Alternatively, some kind of very simple and noninvasive means to encourage people to buy the game rather than get a copy from their friends. Multiple users in one house is only reasonable IMHO, since it's hard gay for someone to need to buy two copies of a multiplayer game just so they can play multiplayer when friends come over. A multiplayer spawn install like OTA had would be ideal.

For instance you might limit the number of simultaneous multiplayer server connections with the same serial number to 4. This would eliminate the best feature of the game for pirates but not be a huge, unnecessary, ineffective pain in the ass for everyone. It wouldn't prevent cracked servers of course but I would imagine that these would become a haven for griefers.

[Andrej]

When you buy a game you get a license.
Having your theft friends or relatives play without purchasing extra licences is theft period.
When you do that everyone else gets to fund for the lost sales.
Unfortunately it is very costy and technically/legally difficuly for content creators to defend their moral copyright rights.
Instead they are forced to develop awesome solutions such as connecting to some server to activate a copy, which means that once
said server goes offline and you then buy a new computer or replace some of the old's hardware, your game is permamently fubar.

I hope you and likeminded feel proud for participating in killing the PC game industry. All it took was to buy games you were interested in playing.

In other words i am still emo because GPG made supcom demo & release not work with win2k even thought beta did then DoW2 shipping with intrusive DRM then Red Alert shipping with DRM then StarCraft2 confirmed for nolan. QQ

[Gota]

QQ more.Pirates for life!!
Free software or not software.

[SpliFF]

When you buy a game you get a license.
Having your theft friends or relatives play without purchasing extra licences is theft period.

While legally correct this is not how most people perceive their game "purchase". How would you feel if playing Chess required multiple chessboards, or you needed one swing set per child, or one dinner table per family member?

Regards of what the EULA says (which you can't read until you've bought the game) most people consider the purchased game as their property. Nobody likes to be told what they can or can't do with their "stuff". I don't see that changing just because the item ships with 1000 lines of illegible legalise. You're fighting peoples perceptions and the industries attempts at brainwashing have achieved little (if anything) to change this.

Just because the concept of "ownership" doesn't suit items that can be cheaply replicated is no reason to criminalise people who install the game they bought on several home PC's for the purpose of playing against friends. Is the ability to play a 4-player game really worth an additional $300? No, of course not! It's the industry's failure to recognize this that simply encourages piracy. You can't bully, condescend and price-gouge someone and then expect them to respect your rights.

Instead they are forced to develop awesome solutions such as connecting to some server to activate a copy, which means that once
said server goes offline and you then buy a new computer or replace some of the old's hardware, your game is permamently fubar.

Nobody is "forcing" anybody to do anything. If anything it is the publishers doing all the "forcing". Forcing unwanted software onto my computer for example.

I hope you and likeminded feel proud for participating in killing the PC game industry. All it took was to buy games you were interested in playing.

Developers don't need any help killing PC games. They (like Hollywood) have been struggling for many years now to produce titles are are actually worth the money they charge. The new fad of shipping incomplete software and patching it later is one thing. Another is the assumption that gamers are all 10 years old and need plots, gameplay and characters dumbed down to the lowest stereotypes. Far more damage than that has been caused by the parallel problems of hardware with shoddy drivers and unmentionable operating systems that artificially clog a 1/3rd of a systems resources.

In other words i am still emo because GPG made supcom demo & release not work with win2k even thought beta did

I think you'll find Microsoft's unwillingness to backport DirectX or support the OS in any way had more to do with this than GPG themselves.

Short answer: If you (realistically) want people to respect your rights you have to earn their respect. That means:

* Charge a fair price and make fair profits.
* Don't treat a customers' computer like it's your property.
* Don't ship incomplete or defective products.
* Don't prevent customers from making a backup of the disc. (Discs get scratched.)
* Don't treat customers like fools.
* Don't tell people what they are allowed to do in their own homes.
* Don't charge full price for a game and then put advertising all over it.
* Don't just rehash the same shit over and over again. Be original.
* Don't treat PC users like children, that's what consoles are for.
* Don't release early in the US and expect other countries to wait.
* Stop worrying about "thieves" and focus on your paying customers needs.
* Find ways to enhance the experience for paying customers (online multiplayer, priority download servers for extra content, good support, all access controlled by serial number)
* Don't engage in an arms race with pirates (their time and resources are FREE. You simply cannot win, ever).

History has shown this formula can work. People are much more likely to respect a company that respects its customers and produces entertaining titles. People are more likely to pay for brands they respect.

[Sabutai]

Every buyable software has been pirated.


Except World Machine 2...

[Auswaschbar]

* Charge a fair price and make fair profits.
* Don't treat a customers' computer like it's your property.
* Don't ship incomplete or defective products.
* Don't prevent customers from making a backup of the disc. (Discs get scratched.)
* Don't treat customers like fools.
* Don't tell people what they are allowed to do in their own homes.
* Don't charge full price for a game and then put advertising all over it.
* Don't just rehash the same shit over and over again. Be original.
* Don't treat PC users like children, that's what consoles are for.
* Don't release early in the US and expect other countries to wait.
* Stop worrying about "thieves" and focus on your paying customers needs.
* Find ways to enhance the experience for paying customers (online multiplayer, priority download servers for extra content, good support, all access controlled by serial number)
* Don't engage in an arms race with pirates (their time and resources are FREE. You simply cannot win, ever).

You certainly buy / play the wrong games...

[Regret]

When you buy a game you get a license.
Having your theft friends or relatives play without purchasing extra licences is theft period.
When you do that everyone else gets to fund for the lost sales.
Unfortunately it is very costy and technically/legally difficuly for content creators to defend their moral copyright rights.
Instead they are forced to develop awesome solutions such as connecting to some server to activate a copy, which means that once
said server goes offline and you then buy a new computer or replace some of the old's hardware, your game is permamently fubar.

I hope you and likeminded feel proud for participating in killing the PC game industry. All it took was to buy games you were interested in playing.

In other words i am still emo because GPG made supcom demo & release not work with win2k even thought beta did then DoW2 shipping with intrusive DRM then Red Alert shipping with DRM then StarCraft2 confirmed for nolan. QQ

You best be trolling. This the biggest bullshit I read in a long time.

[SpliFF]

You certainly buy / play the wrong games...

Perhaps, though I did spring for GTAIV and Empire Total War recently which, while technically impressive games, violate enough of the points above to make me regret my decision (and reconsider future purchases from these companies).

Most of my games collection is from the 90's before most of this shit really started. I'm moving my focus towards playing more games from this era and of course open-source alternatives like Spring (and indie games like Gish).

[SpliFF]

... a bunch of FUD ...

You best be trolling. This the biggest bullshit I read in a long time.

Agreed. It reads more like a press release than a real opinion.

[lurker]

supcom demo & release not work with win2k

How so? I ran the demo just fine on win2k, the only issue being that I had a Geforce 5 series card crippling me. But I didn't exactly go far in the demo or do a thorough test.

[Gota]

Every buyable software has been pirated.


Except World Machine 2...

Wrong.

[Andrej]

supcom demo & release not work with win2k

How so? I ran the demo just fine on win2k, the only issue being that I had a Geforce 5 series card crippling me. But I didn't exactly go far in the demo or do a thorough test.

Uuuuuh wat.
There might be some difference because i dont run windows update, just install service pack 4. (summer 2003 i dont really remember?)

Are you sure you were not running beta (which worked on 2k)?

What i got is:
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/3070/supcomerror.jpg
From MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx):

Support for getaddrinfo on older versions of Windows
The getaddrinfo function was added to the Ws2_32.dll on Windows XP and later.
To execute an application that uses this function on earlier versions of Windows, then you need to include the Ws2tcpip.h and Wspiapi.h files.

In other words: need to rebuild the application and mess with c include/compile hacks.
Some of supcoms dlls/exes import that function, luckily it is never used (no multiplayer in demo of course) so i just
hexedited the header to throw it out.

Found the fixed files zipped in some obscure 10 levels deep folder:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mgmkezmgmdm

If i remember correctly you also need some other dlls. (google for the XP versions)
Some guy from GPG forums posted a way to make sound work but his thread was already deleted before i saved the instructions so you need to run with the command line option that disables sound.

[PicassoCT]

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/ ... an_fre.php

Piratprohibition will end! LEGALIZE IT

[Caydr]

It's true that updates requiring an internet connection mean that if the company behind the game goes belly-up then the game itself is never playable again. Unfortunately this is just something I've come to accept as being a really shitty reality. I only buy games on Steam and occasionally Impulse, because I view these two as being the most stable.

Steam is never going down, it's a money printing machine. Valve could stop making games and just run Steam if they wanted to. Impulse isn't so stable but I respect what they're trying to do so I am willing to accept the risk involved.

Other digital distribution companies aren't worth the trouble IMHO and they should just die. Two or three big ones are enough competition to keep the prices reasonable.

D2D has been around a long time but they've changed hands a couple times IIRC. EA's service is a joke and if it went down tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised... they should just use Steam, but they think they're too big and important. Far as I'm concerned, I'll use another type of digital distribution that ends in Nova if I want to play an EA game, or else get it for a console. Hasn't come up though...

[SpliFF]

In regards to game companies going belly-up, it's a much bigger problem than I think most people realise. A large portion of enjoyable 1990's games fall into this category:

Short List:
3DO, Aclaim, Apogee, 3D Realms, Bullfrog, Broderbund, Cavedog, Data East, Dynamix, Ensemble Studios, Hasbro, Loki, Looking Glass ...

Long List:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:D ... _companies

Since EULAs are entirely about what the CUSTOMER must do there is no obligation for any games company to provide activation servers after a merger or collapse. Hell, there's no obligation for the company to provide an activation server at all, which raises the possibility of a company simply abandoning its old DRM crippled games with no recourse for legitimate users. I imagine this will lead to the creation of 'abandonware activation servers' with dubious legality and permanence.

on a side note:

I wonder what people will think when car companies start remotely disabling their older models. Perhaps the next generation of vehicles will simply be a 'license to activate vehicle subject to terms of the vehicle manual'. Naturally the use of after-market parts will be 'reverse-engineering', vehicles will be for 'personal use only' and the manufacturer will claim 'EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL AND CERTAIN OTHER DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPANY OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, FOR NEGLIGENCE, AND FOR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE VEHICLE, THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT OR OTHER SERVICES, INFORMATON, PARTS, AND RELATED CONTENT THROUGH THE VEHICLE OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE VEHICLE, OR OTHERWISE UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY PROVISION OF THIS EULA, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF THE FAULT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), MISREPRESENTATION, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF CONTRACT OR BREACH OF WARRANTY OF COMPANY OR ANY SUPPLIER, AND EVEN IF COMPANY OR ANY SUPPLIER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.'

In other words, when the car explodes due to shoddy fuel pumps that the manufacturer was aware of when they sold the vehicle you agree it's your fault.

[Sabutai]

Every buyable software has been pirated.


Except World Machine 2...

Wrong.

PROVE me wrong...

[Forboding Angel]

thepiratebay.org

[Sabutai]

Kindly show me where exactly it is to be found...

http://thepiratebay.org/search/%5C%22wo ... %22/0/99/0

[Argh]

Since EULAs are entirely about what the CUSTOMER must do there is no obligation for any games company to provide activation servers after a merger or collapse. Hell, there's no obligation for the company to provide an activation server at all, which raises the possibility of a company simply abandoning its old DRM crippled games with no recourse for legitimate users. I imagine this will lead to the creation of 'abandonware activation servers' with dubious legality and permanence.

That's largely because it was the development houses, not the publishers, that built and maintained these things, until Steam / Stardock / etc. came along. I suspect that these "umbrella" arrangements, where DRM is maintained by a third party that is much less likely to suddenly go poof, is the future model of the industry, whether or not that was an intended result. I don't think stuff like Starforce is the future, basically, because, if nothing else, it's shown us the Pit, in terms of customer annoyance and even protests, vs. sales.

IOW, I think that, from an industry perspective, things are actually looking better, both for legitimate consumers and for developers.

Why for developers? They'll see less long-term royalty lost, because you can actually get copies of your game, legit, years later, as opposed to the boom-and-bust sales cycles of brick and mortar. A lot of developers went bust, historically, that made games that were "sleeper hits"- games whose sales cycle was initially a dud, but whose long-term sales, as the public became more aware of how awesome the game was, and word-of-mouth spread, actually led to a profitable ROI in the end... if the games hadn't been shunted to the bargain-bin and written off as a loss by publishers. That was one of the many horrors of the brick-and-mortar model, and the only way out that actually benefits developers is to work on platforms that support that model, so I suspect that it'll move there inevitably, just because of the simple mechanics of self-interest (and survival, in a business sense).

I think that eventually, the developers and publishers will work out a better model, that reflects long-term revenue prospects for a given title, especially for games that aren't on consoles, and might well benefit from a longer view of their sustainability as a franchise. This has largely been a phenomenon within the indie scene, with the few big success stories there, but I think it can be applied to large-budget works trying to bring forth new IP as well.

[Gota]

@Forb
Try googling what you need plus the words Rapidshare or Megaupload.