UK-based independent game developer Cliffski, formerly at Lionhead, and best known for his slightly twisted life sims such as Democracy and Rock Legends, has been discussing the thorny issue of copy protection on his weblog.

Clffski explains: "I don't live in a box, i know about warez, and I know when my games get posted. Sadly, I need to do something to prevent the rampant casual piracy that is becoming the norm in PC gaming."

So, he sighs: "Democracy 2 will need to be validated on-line. It should be very quick, and very painless, and there's no spyware or rootkits or other nonsense... I wish I didn't have to take time away from game development to do that crap, but as usual in life 1% of people are screwing it up for the other 99%."

So, yikes - if even small independent PC developers are feeling like they have to include some kind of piracy protection, what's the future of PC gaming looking like? Or has Cliffski missed the point?

Copy Protection [Cliffski's Mumblings]