Commercial Development

[hobbyman II]

QUOTE
What is it about UT2007 that makes it so unplayable? Surely it doesn't keep verifying your connection while playing: that would just be stupid. Right?


roflmao, yes it would, yes it does, yes it is

and steam is even more annoying, forget your on-line when you start the game and it immediately goes into update mode, no opt out, no "update later", you get jack squat until the update completes, with my 3g connection being prone to drop out and long (4-5min) delays between bursts of packets, plus a normaly sub dialup connecion speed it can take a week for an update to download, and the annoying thing?... THE GAME IS WORKING FINE THANKS, I don`t WANT a sodding update, it doesn`t crash and I`m playing single player for crying out loud, F off and leave me alone, yes it said on the box it required internet, just like 100s of other games I play single player, I thought they just wanted to on-line verify an ID code on the cd or something, not insist I can do nothing unless I am careful to stay offline like some criminal skulking out of sight ,

for me online activation sucks, I can`t even download a hassle free hacked version with my connection being so slow, that sorta adds insult to injury :huh:

hobbyman

 

[PoisonedV]

Steam, no matter how good it is, has stepped over a threshhold that many are reluctant to cross. It feels like Steam will be a slippery slope...

Then don't use it. I disagree with Spore's DRM model, so I'm not buying it. I convinced a few others not to as well. When enough people agree, they'll change their policy, or won't reuse it in the future, at least. It's the economic version of voting.

that won't work. capitalism is not the idealistic consumer-run market the western world loves to make it out to be

 

[MarkoeZ]

Commercial software is perfectly possible. there will be enough non-tech ppl out there that simply cannot/will not crack/hack/search about the panda. And beside that there are loads of ppl like me that can find the software, but are more than willing to pay for good software, as mentioned before.

So go for it, i think it's commercially interesting as long as the initial software development cost is not too high.

 

[Wertigon]

Then don't use it. I disagree with Spore's DRM model, so I'm not buying it. I convinced a few others not to as well. When enough people agree, they'll change their policy, or won't reuse it in the future, at least. It's the economic version of voting.

that won't work. capitalism is not the idealistic consumer-run market the western world loves to make it out to be


Indeed. Boycotting something never works, atleast not on a consumer level. So what if I don't buy it? For everyone thinking like me there will be a hundred that don't, find the Steam protection features bearable, and just get on with playing their games. Also, doing it for "just that game" isn't a valid excuse, since either you have an account, or you don't. And if you do, you are supporting the service. Simple as that.

 

[VRAndy]

Steam, no matter how good it is, has stepped over a threshhold that many are reluctant to cross. It feels like Steam will be a slippery slope...

Then don't use it. I disagree with Spore's DRM model, so I'm not buying it. I convinced a few others not to as well. When enough people agree, they'll change their policy, or won't reuse it in the future, at least. It's the economic version of voting.

That'll teach them!

The problem with 'issue' boycotts is that an individual consumer can only care and stay reliably informed about a relatively small number of issues.

Zillions of people will buy spore. Not because they don't care about issues, but because they're not informed about this particular one. They may know off the top of their heads which brands of Tuna use the most reliably dolphin-safe nets, though. Or which brands of underwear are made by sweatshop labor. Do you?

All you've done is convince a few of your friends not to purchase an (arguably) good game.

If you want to change the world you need something with teeth. A law is the obvious example, but industry-wide guidelines, or expensive educational marketing campaigns sometimes help too.

that won't work. capitalism is not the idealistic consumer-run market the western world loves to make it out to be
Quiet! The Libertarians will hear you! h34r:

 

[Phawx]

DRM is a tough problem. Online based DRM seems to make the most sense to me. Only because I am ALWAYS connected. I would say that, how the world is going and we are getting to an always/anywhere connected lifestyle, this would be the better DRM. Because than you could have it on as many devices as you want.

I would prefer zero DRM though, plus I think having a game that has zero DRM goes a long way with 'trusting' the customer. DRM, afterall, only hurts the customer. Also, there are quite a few people that would elect to purchase your game because of their belief in DRM free data.

It's too bad socialism can't work just yet, maybe when robots are doing everything else for us that we don't really want to do, but should. Cooking, cleaning, building, maintenance. Right now, the best system for us is capitalism, evolution demands survival of the fittest.

When we can create the AI and energy source to have functional robots as care-givers than we can all be leeches. Than the only thing worth producing will be creativity.

Our economy, if it exists, will be very different in 100 years. Which is ANOTHER reason to NOT have DRM.

 

[cb88]

when robots are smart enough to run everything .... SKYNET!!!

drm is just silly .... if people want the game and they like it they will pay for it nuff said

 

[WizardStan]

All you've done is convince a few of your friends not to purchase an (arguably) good game.

It only breaks down because someone thinks "oh, but that means I can't play game X"
I don't care. There are hundreds of games that are without argument good that are free of DRM, or contain something that I consider sensible. With so many games, there is no loss to me if I don't play one, ever. I'd like to think my actions make a difference, but if they don't, there's really no skin off my nose. I don't have time to play the games I've got now.
And that's all the argument that I present. If you don't like the DRM scheme, don't buy into the service. At all. There are many, many other games that will fill in the void that that one left behind, I assure you.

 

[VRAndy]

And that's all the argument that I present. If you don't like the DRM scheme, don't buy into the service. At all. There are many, many other games that will fill in the void that that one left behind, I assure you.

Oh, belive me. DRM does make me a lot less likely to buy a game. At least, a PC game.

Consoles all have built-in hardware DRM, :-( and PC gaming is ... well, not dieing, but not as strong as it once was.

My point was simply don't believe you're making a any difference boycotting mass market consumer goods.

 

[gp32rich]

y'know - I'm sure there's an option in steam to not automatically download updates. I got bored of it updating TFC twice a week.<_<

And I've played HL2 single player without an internet connection (Yeah, after needing it to register)

 

[belthos]

Online drm 'might' be tolerable if it was a one time activation.

I routinely use and buy software that requires me to activate online and "Allows deactivation online" so that I can deactivate a system and move MY software to another laptop etc and reactivate.

What I would never tolerate on a portable handheld device is drm that requires constant online connection to function. Since I operate on the road constantly and my internet is generally a pair of 3g devices which are bandwidth metered monthly and don't work everywhere I go.

The other serious problem with any kind of drm server is that eventually the company will turn it off in years to come leaving me with nothing of value at that point.

As a general rule of thumb I will always pass on any software with drm unless it fills a very useful work related purpose and no other non-drm software is available.

On a final note I will say this.
DRM annoys honest customers and will cause quite a few to just ignore you to avoid the hassle and the perception of them as your adversary.
DRM does nothing at all to pirates, they will always be able to bypass any drm that the machine is capable of running by itself, the only way you will ever create a drm'd software product that isn't broken by pirates is if the product is viewed as so lame that no one even wants to steal it.

Belthos

The first thing I do after purchasing any game with drm,requires a cd/dvd etc is immediately go find the crack on the internet so I can bypass the protection and then i just toss the purchased box in the closet with the rest of my software.