This article got me thinking about DRM as it applies to games. Copy protection and activation are nothing new to the computer gaming scene. Nearly all modern computer games released on CD’s or DVD’s require a copy of the game disc be in the drive before you can play, regardless of wether this is actually necessary for the game to run. Deus Ex: Invisible War comes to mind, specifically because I’ve never been able to get the game to work properly without a no-cd patch to remove the CD check when the game launches.
One of the things that annoys me—and a lot of other people—about DRM is that while it obviously looks good to someone on paper, in practice the only people it inconveniences are those of us that have legitimately purchased the content. A perfect example of this is Microsofts recent announcement that the MSN Music Store will be closing down. Once the service is shut down, users who purchased content from the store will be locked in to the last computers they had activated before the closure.
In other words, any content users purchased will still be usable as long as they never change their computer.
Back to games: the article I linked to explains that both Mass Effect and Spore will use a verification system that requires the games to “check in” once every ten days and make sure their activation keys haven’t been validated. Which is great, if the servers used for verification never go offline. As soon as the servers go offline the games will become unusable (give or take ten days).
A validation scheme like this might make sense for something like World of Warcraft or Team Fortress 2, games which require and are played primarily over the Internet. But Mass Effect? A single-player game that doesn’t require the Internet at all? That seems kind of ridiculous. I’d be more than a little confused if I had to validate my copy of American McGee’s Alice every ten days.
Most DRM schemes don’t make a whole lot of sense anyways. I’m not aware of any form copy protection that hasn’t been defeated, and CD keys abound even for non-technical users. I once had to run one down for Rise of Nations because I forgot the CD sleeve at home and was performing a reinstall at WMU an hour away, which took all of five minutes. Sites like The Pirate Bay make it horribly easy to get a hold of anything you might be looking for, game or otherwise, stripped of DRM or with relatively simple instructions detailing how to get up and running without jumping through hoops.
Not all DRM is extremely annoying. Doom 3 is a good example: it uses a standard activation key scheme. Once installed and activated, though, you don’t even need the disc in the computer to play. Steam is another great example. I know some people have had issues in the past, but the service itself has been nothing but a great experience for me; I only wish more third-part games could be registered and downloaded via Steam. An even better example of success without DRM would be Sins of a Solar Empire, which has no copy protection or activation. The only restrictions placed on the game are for updates, which require a CD Key to get.
In the end, I’d hope that more companies follow Stardock’s example with SoaSE and provide games that don’t annoy legitimate customers, or give services like Steam a chance. Periodic validation as described in the article sounds a little too zealous, and will probably be stripped or defated before either game is released.