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games and DRM
2013-Mar-09, Saturday 09:48 amI think, maybe, that enough gamers like me have stopped buying "secure" games and started buying "unsecure" games that publishers will finally wake up to the fact that they've alienated their own customer base. If game publishers learn this lesson, then maybe the music and film industry would follow suit. Or maybe I'm just succumbing to too much optimism?
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is security placed on a program in an effort to prevent copying or other unsanctioned use. It sounds good in theory, except that it always introduces a hurdle that even legitimate buyers must jump. It leaves paying customers feeling like criminals. I finally reached the point a few years ago that DRM is essentially a red flag that prevents me from purchasing a game. It's the reason that I didn't buy Diablo 3 or Sim City 5. And, boy, did I dodge the bullet on that one.
Gamers have been complaining for years, but the big distributors keep insisting on adding DRM to game programs anyway. Look at what's happening now, though. Game developers are bypassing distributors to access their fan base directly to ask for funding. I contributed (too much) money to the fundraising campaign for a space combat game called Star Citizen, and it broke crowdfunding records. It continues to gain money, and it's over US$8 million now. The developer promised that the game would be DRM-free. People responded by giving boatloads of cash. Similarly, Torment promised to be DRM-free, and it met its crowdfunding goal within hours. It's already at US$2 million, and it still has a month of fundraising to go.
Distributors, are you listening? We have money and we'll give it to you, but we don't want your DRM!
One soft-DRM method involves making a game an "online" program instead of just a "pc" program. You have to be connected to their servers to play at all. That method can be okay, since it gives you lots of company to interact with during your adventures. The problem, though, is that some companies use it only as DRM instead of as a useful gameplay element. Witness the new game Neverwinter. Previous versions of this title have been pc-only, but this one is online. I made the mistake of buying my way into the beta test program by getting their founder's pack, and I'm already experiencing buyer's remorse. It was clearly designed for a console instead of a pc. Arrow keys do not work at all for movement by default. Clicking on items will not let you interact in the virtual world. Something is wrong with the client program, too, because the framerate jitters even while pivoting on a point. It doesn't quite give me a headache, but it definitely is an unpleasant experience. Its faults cannot be blamed on DRM directly, but I think it's another sign of game companies writing programs for the wrong audience. Neverwinter never needed to be a strictly controlled online experience.
I really should stick with buying all of my game entertainment only from Good Old Games. They promise that all of their products are DRM free. Over the years, I've been slowly acquiring titles from them for games that I still had original disks sitting on my bookshelf. GOG has games available from all the way back to the 1980s with Zork. Here is the list of my favorite pc games. I still play them. All of them are available from GOG:
If I win the lottery (although I'd have to buy a ticket first), programming my own game is one of the many projects that I want to pursue. Yes, it would be DRM-free so people could copy it and run it whenever they wanted. I might even make it free and just ask for donations instead of a sale price.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is security placed on a program in an effort to prevent copying or other unsanctioned use. It sounds good in theory, except that it always introduces a hurdle that even legitimate buyers must jump. It leaves paying customers feeling like criminals. I finally reached the point a few years ago that DRM is essentially a red flag that prevents me from purchasing a game. It's the reason that I didn't buy Diablo 3 or Sim City 5. And, boy, did I dodge the bullet on that one.
Gamers have been complaining for years, but the big distributors keep insisting on adding DRM to game programs anyway. Look at what's happening now, though. Game developers are bypassing distributors to access their fan base directly to ask for funding. I contributed (too much) money to the fundraising campaign for a space combat game called Star Citizen, and it broke crowdfunding records. It continues to gain money, and it's over US$8 million now. The developer promised that the game would be DRM-free. People responded by giving boatloads of cash. Similarly, Torment promised to be DRM-free, and it met its crowdfunding goal within hours. It's already at US$2 million, and it still has a month of fundraising to go.
Distributors, are you listening? We have money and we'll give it to you, but we don't want your DRM!
One soft-DRM method involves making a game an "online" program instead of just a "pc" program. You have to be connected to their servers to play at all. That method can be okay, since it gives you lots of company to interact with during your adventures. The problem, though, is that some companies use it only as DRM instead of as a useful gameplay element. Witness the new game Neverwinter. Previous versions of this title have been pc-only, but this one is online. I made the mistake of buying my way into the beta test program by getting their founder's pack, and I'm already experiencing buyer's remorse. It was clearly designed for a console instead of a pc. Arrow keys do not work at all for movement by default. Clicking on items will not let you interact in the virtual world. Something is wrong with the client program, too, because the framerate jitters even while pivoting on a point. It doesn't quite give me a headache, but it definitely is an unpleasant experience. Its faults cannot be blamed on DRM directly, but I think it's another sign of game companies writing programs for the wrong audience. Neverwinter never needed to be a strictly controlled online experience.
I really should stick with buying all of my game entertainment only from Good Old Games. They promise that all of their products are DRM free. Over the years, I've been slowly acquiring titles from them for games that I still had original disks sitting on my bookshelf. GOG has games available from all the way back to the 1980s with Zork. Here is the list of my favorite pc games. I still play them. All of them are available from GOG:
If I win the lottery (although I'd have to buy a ticket first), programming my own game is one of the many projects that I want to pursue. Yes, it would be DRM-free so people could copy it and run it whenever they wanted. I might even make it free and just ask for donations instead of a sale price.