Ways To Fight/prevent Pandora Games Piracy

[truekaiser]

I brought up those consoles as examples on how they tried to combat piracy, not to talk about how many people knew one that had one or finding good games for the systems. I had a bad feeling there would be console bashing just even mentioning those consoles. This topic is quite off-topic now.

One time internet check to see if the game is vaild (with a cd-key system) and then leave it at that, should be good enough. Not intrusive, and secure enough so the average person can't play it if they don't have a legal cd key.

no console bashing would be like this. "the dreamcast sucked, the ps2 rules". it's a well known fact that the dreamcast did not have the proper thrid party support to get big titles, i know games like crazy taxi were good. a few decent or good first party games are not enough to make a console stay.

 

[jpenguin]

Well, I thought the Pandora was supposed to be OPEN. If a developer really wants protection, let their software be shareware and require a SN. Or they can make their software free

 

[BenTolputt]

Right... how many people advocating the annihilation of DRM are actually developers? With all due respect to most people, talking about DRM on these forums seems a little... weird, given that it's based around devices with emulation of old-school arcade machines (i.e. ROM's) as a main draw. Just what percentage of MAME users do people believe actually have the rights to use/copy the ROM's they are playing?

Seriously... you might as well have asked about this on a cracks/warez server.

Simply put, DRM on "blockbuster" titles is indeed a waste of time. There are groups dedicated to cracking these games as quickly as possible (it's a reputation/competition thing with them). On the other hand, they tend only to crack things that will promote the 'leet hacker skillz', and so indie games are generally left alone until they become so popular as to make it worth the time to crack.

On that basis, it is worthwhile putting together an non-intrusive DRM (of which Steam appears to be one of the better ones in terms of how it manages rights) for indie games is likely to work well for casual style game-play. I have found most people I have talked to "personally" about DRM being a deal-breaker (i.e. "I will never buy something with DRM") tend not to buy games anyway. They are mostly children (who have parents buy their games) and/or download/crack games they want without paying for it anyway. This is personal experience, but that's what I'll work with.

I am a game developer (indie) and there will be DRM on my games. Oh, and don't bother ranting about how you'll never buy my stuff. The game I'm currently polishing is not something I can see visitors of this forum playing anyway (it's too "cute and cuddly").

 

[truekaiser]

On that basis, it is worthwhile putting together an non-intrusive DRM (of which Steam appears to be one of the better ones in terms of how it manages rights) for indie games is likely to work well for casual style game-play. I have found most people I have talked to "personally" about DRM being a deal-breaker (i.e. "I will never buy something with DRM") tend not to buy games anyway. They are mostly children (who have parents buy their games) and/or download/crack games they want without paying for it anyway. This is personal experience, but that's what I'll work with.

wow.. how immature. you just lost a potential customer, i oppose drm and i am Hardly a kid. i work full time and i have little time nor patience to deal with the crap people like you want to force on us because your greedy and make the game just for money and not for the fun of it or for the enjoyment of others.

 

[Pseudonym]

As I understand it, DRM is meant to prevent people from using a game without paying for it, right? if so, then to me, it seems convenience is a factor in piracy.

To most people, it's more convenient to wait a while for a pirated version of a game rather than pay an unreasonable price for a game that you'll play for a couple of weeks.

On the other hand, If you have a $2 game, then people consider it a "risk free" game compared to the normal $30-50 games you see at retail stores.

Anyway, anti-piracy techniques don't matter. Either way, if you made a good game, chances are it'll be pirated. If it's a bad game, your not going to be successful with it.

Thus, I conclude that price is a key point. In my opinion, DRM is pointless and just a way to torture customers. It's a way of attacking everyone to make sure you catch the pirates.

 

[keaft]

ignore

 

[jpenguin]

On that basis, it is worthwhile putting together an non-intrusive DRM (of which Steam appears to be one of the better ones in terms of how it manages rights) for indie games is likely to work well for casual style game-play. I have found most people I have talked to "personally" about DRM being a deal-breaker (i.e. "I will never buy something with DRM") tend not to buy games anyway. They are mostly children (who have parents buy their games) and/or download/crack games they want without paying for it anyway. This is personal experience, but that's what I'll work with.

I am a game developer (indie) and there will be DRM on my games. Oh, and don't bother ranting about how you'll never buy my stuff. The game I'm currently polishing is not something I can see visitors of this forum playing anyway (it's too "cute and cuddly").

As long as you don't become another MS, DRM is O.K. with me. Make it easy, and a one time proces.

Use a strategy like iTunes has; require Internet activation the first time, store the machines MAC address in a database for that SN, and only let a certain number of machines us that SN

Also, if you keep your prices reasonable, it will cut down on pirating.

 

[audovoice]

andora1:

 

[kin]

lol ain't anti piracy a reason to charge/make extra money?

 

[Chip]

The Pandora is an open platform, and that means it is open for whatever software programmers want to put on it. Anybody who is willing to spend the time to make a game or application from scratch is certainly entitled to charge whatever they think they deserve for their software. If they want to attempt to curb piracy with copy protection / DRM, that is also their prerogative.

As we do not and will not make any requirements one way or the other regarding copy protection schemes, this thread does not serve any real purpose. We are not going to require or outlaw DRM. The matter is entirely up to the individual devs, who are not likely to be swayed by rants like these. Since this is quickly devolving into another piracy argument, I'm closing this thread now.