<![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian' - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian' - Kotaku Comments]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I had this on my list of games to buy, but now its going the way of bioshock i`ll spend my money elsewhere.
Kinda ironic that the very thing they use to protect a game makes people not buy it but go pirate it instead.I know some who do this for that reason.

UFO

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Someone here posted a comment to the effect that "Piracy is going to ruin the PC gaming industry and what else could game companies do, its the pirates who caused this." This is utter and complete nonsense, the facts simply do not support either of those conclusions and here is why: Fact #1 PC and movie piracy has existed and been common since the '90s and Broadband piracy has been around for a decade. And for all that time Hollywood and the big names in the gaming industry have been whining about how it is "the #1 threat to the industry as we know it blah blah blah" yet PC gaming AND Hollywood are still hugely profitable. Corps like SONY/EA are making plenty of dough.or they would have abandoned PC gaming years ago. Fact #2 PC Copy protection hinders pirates NOT AT ALL....PERIOD. Pirate crackers are some of the best on earth and can easily break any protection a corporate suit can create. Mass Effect, like every other copy protected game ever made, will be cracked and available within 24 to 48 hrs of release and the only people who will be inconvenienced in the slightest by the SecuROM DRM b.s. is the legitimate purchaser of the goods, because pirates will as always be using a version in which the protection is defeated or completely removed. The SecuROM nonsense is even worse! It has and will continue to actually actively cause the average legitimate user to SUPPORT piracy at least indirectly in order to get a crack that makes the game run smoothly and without the downright shady malware and privacy issues activation type protections bring with them. Fact #3 The people in the gaming industry KNOW the protection doesn't work. Paying 1st to prevent drive-offs at gas stations DOES hinder or stop the action its designed to protect against while Copy protection does not and thats the difference between them. I would have less beef if the annoyance was due to something that actually WORKED. Fact #4 the pirates did NOT "do this" as claimed by an earlier poster. There are less invasive and annoying schemes that are equally ineffective. Bioware did NOT chose SecuROM because it works or will stop piracy. It wont and they know it. It was chosen for one reason and one reason ONLY. Bioware/EA is owned by SONY. SONY owns SecuRom as well which allows them to save money by using inhouse protection and also promote there own product by artificially inflating its market share at the expense of customer satisfaction. This was a poorly thought out cost-cutting move likely ordered by SONY/EA PERIOD. Anyone who tries to characterize it as an altruistically motivated piracy thwarting attempt that people should just "swallow without complaint" or "blame the pirates for" is either uninformed or blind.

JamalPhoenix

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I already hate CD-based protections, so anything worse it totally out for me. Even with CD-based protections (and a original game), I am using cracks just to run it without the CD (again, HDD space is cheap for either a CD image or a crack), so I am just one tiny step away from just downloading a game instead of buying it.

Steam is about fine with me since the game only needs to be activated once (or should I say registered), but having to activate it everytime I reinstall is a no-no, since there will definitely be limits that will cause problems and you won't trust EA who had pulled their games once it no longer earns $$$ to pull their activation servers. (See Westwood servers pulled even if there are players playing it)
[learnaboutdrm.blogspot.com]

JaLooNz

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> what about 5 - 10 years in the future when the ea servers are down?

Giantsonic

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I hate EA. Just because of this Big Brother bullcrap I'm going to download the game anyway. I was considering buying but screw that.

The moment it's cracked...

Rubiximus

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Krumm:
Comment on Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian' null

YervantGalunga

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Bad EA! BAD EA! Look at them, they know eaht they did!

scruffy, the janitor

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I will buy this game legally and all buts I will crack it cos' I has no internet connection. Shame on u EA.

scruffy, the janitor

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Let's bring a little note of rationality: if you are not willing to pay for a game with such pseudo-protection measures, then don't buy it. You are not forced to play the game and you shouldn't feel so.
The game will be as good two years from now, when a patch might be available to remove this shit. If you buy it then EA will have to see the update-sale relationship, even if they don't admit its existence. And they won't make much money from a 10€ game found in a bin, anyway, so the punishment is still there.

EloraHRanma

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> lots of people her e screaming "dont buy this game"

jeez, if youre an avid PC gamer your just harming yourself. Also its not THAT bad when you think about it. Activate after an expiry period of 10 days is not bad. ALl you need is internet, and im sure you guys all have one otherwise you will not be talking here.

Im getting the game, all i can say is KUDOS to them for trying another method to curb out these pirates who will eventually kill PC gaming.

Hopefully you guys buy the game if youre interested in it and not shy away just because of this new DRM. At least they dont need you to stick it up the DVD drive everytime you wanna play.

Keep on supporting PC platform since I dont enjoy my FPS and RPGs on my consoles. We dont want PC gaming to become a casualty. (Well partly because UT3 which had a fanbase of PC gamers turned its back on us and i am so devastated and it sucked because they tried making it revolve around consoles but the thing is that aint true for COD4 :D)

Leepox

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I fail to see how these security tools are any better then a rootkit.

Know MSN's music store? The one that just died and left all of it's DRM customer's music high and dry and empty?

Whats to keep this from the same fate? Suddenly you decide to turn off this notification access because it's too expensive. There is a server outage and I can't connect to your systems and no game time for me. Or better yet, I try to install the game on a new IP and you cry foul i.e. like bioshock did.

It has come to this, the game I paid for I no longer own, I am simply renting from you EA.

My alternative? I use a Piracy method. I don't have the rootkit know as SECRom on my system. I don't need an internet connection thanks to some hacker's patch. I don't need for you to know when I'm playing and if I am still playing this game. I am 'gasp' getting a better experience then the retail copy.

Stop treating your customers like criminals. Assuming all of us will pirate your game. Maybe then PC sales will improve.

huginn

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> If a game sell sonly 200.000 copies and 1 million people downloaded thats because it`s probably not a very good game.

Look at GTA IV, the game was in torrent sites a week before release, and it`s selling millions of copies.

You must remember that at least 80% of people who get pirated copies of games wouldn`t buy it if they have to.

I live in a 3rd world country, if it weren` t for piracy I wouldn` t be a gamer. A game here usually costs almost twice the same game costs in the united states.

Remember we don` t get translations nor anything like that, just exactly the same software, and we oftenluy need to play on internatinal servers that don`t work very good with all the distance.

Think about it for a moment, 150 dollars for a game in a country where most of the population is paid less then 300 per a mounth of work. Do you think it`s fair?

romulobr

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> How dare they! Do they have any idea how many people with high end computers don't have any form of internet? A lot!

Gigith

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @coffeeguy: That's pretty much the problem. Right on the money.

I tend to do the same. The first thing I do whenever I purchase a game is to find the crack if it either has bizarre DRM or requires the CD to play.

@mightyg: I'm guessing they're betting on most consumers not noticing. Then again, this works better when the net only discovers the draconian DRM once someone has the retail copy.

Grive

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> They treated me like a criminal...and that is what I became!

*pirates*

...Wait, I already had the 360 version. Oh well.

SuperMaxZero

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> this will probably hurt their game sales. having to reregister every 10 days? are they crazy?

mightyg

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @baberg:
I too crack all my games after I buy them, been doing that since Unreal Tournament when I f'ed my disk up real good. While its to bad these things are getting pirated, EA and 2k aren't even trying to find a workable solution, like Valve, and are essentially creating pirates. Begin rant: First its a crack so you don't have to load a cd, then a torrent of a game to try it which inevitably leads to: why buy an overpriced/half finished game at launch when its not going to get patched for 3 months anyway, and finally, why buy at all, when you have to crack it anyway to run on your rig...aaaaarrghh!


tasty%20crabcakes.">coffeeguy

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> "You have successfully cancelled items from your order..."

Left reason with Amazon that "I will not purchase nor tolerate future purchases of any game (PC or console) that requires permission from vendor to access at daily/weekly intervals. The dist/vendors (EA and BioWare) aren't reimbursing me for my "required" internet access (on a singleplayer game). Failure to disclose this prior to said pre-order concerns me.

DLC is n/a.

SigmundTheSeaMonster

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> i can't help but blame this on the collapse of the previous media format bubble. with an unwieldy filesize, fast drive read speeds, and intelligent caching, games could remain on their physical disc and that would be the whole drm.

then by the time it's feasible to copy the disc at home, nobody cares.

DaoKaioshin

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Cancelled my pre-order from Amazon. Thanks for the heads up.

I am not a (software) pirate. Why should be treated like one!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @dsmx: Wasn't crysis overwhelmingly pirated? From the patch download stats that were talked about, it would've sold well over platinum if everyone who owned it patched it.

DaoKaioshin

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Id say it takes a day before people find a way around this much like it took people less then a day to find there way around Bioshocks protection.

Sad thing is all this does it make the lives of people who actually buy the game harder.

personz

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @eblack: That's a quick way to rationalize saving a cool $50.

Grive

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Funny. I wasn't actually planning on getting the PC version of Mass Effect since I'va already completed the 360 version quite a few times. Now though, I think I will have to download it and make shure to seed so that others can do the same.

Mircath

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> See, this doesn't prevent piracy at all. What it does it affect people like me, who want and love to buy games...but have no tolerance for bullshit.

Game companies: I have money, I want to give it to you, in return, I want you to give me a product that isn't inferior to a version I can download online. Is that so much to ask?

These and any other games with this kind of protection (anything that authenticates through Steam, for example) I'm going to pirate. I'm not going to pay anything for them, and I'm not going to feel any guilt at all. If the companies had wanted me to pay money for their game, they would have made the for-pay experience superior to the "downloading for free" experience. Is it stealing? Sure it is, but I'm not a letter-of-the-law kind of guy. Call it vigilante consumer justice - I want them to know that they're making less money because of their ludicrous attempts to curb the imaginary threat of piracy.

That's really all there is to it.

eblack

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I guess they will never learn...
They still believe that its copy protection, what sells games :/

Well, i was planning to pick up a copy and check all that "alien rape deal" ^_^' for myself, but now i'll pass.

neojam

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Well EA has lost a sale from me.

Cabal17

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Sullyville: Erm, that's not a "male" way of thinking. It's called a "rational" way of thinking.

Under this scheme, EA pretty much could deactivate the servers at any point, intentionally or not (power outage!). Maybe when Mass Effect 2 hits, who knows. I can bet you the EULA will specify there will be no penalties to EA or Bioware for doing this.

We all have to rely on others for daily functioning (at the very least, you have to rely on your neighbors not deciding to murder you), but whenever you're required to rely on someone you don't really have any immediate influence over for something that isn't necessary or even beneficial to you, it's only rational to be irked by it.

Grive

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I didn't pick this up for 360 cause I knew the PC version would be better but with this I will just forego the game altogether.

slapBOXmaster

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Wait... wasn't nagware a way for software developers to annoy you into paying for it? Now it's an added bonus for buying it! I think I'll just pirate it, keep the scary SecuROM off my computer (one half step above Sony's old XCP, really), and not be annoyed constantly.

Games are (were) useful for getting away from all the nagging, right?

Gosh, EA, you are forcing me to pirate your game. How does that feel?

rector

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> This is a very difficult thing because people don't like to be DEPENDENT on an external thing in order to play with their games.

I think this is a particularly MALE way of being, to generalize. Men tend to like to be independent, and so this sort of copy protection OFFENDS men's sensibilities, because then they have to RELY on EA's servers never going down, and that frightens us.

So having a PIRATED version, that will always work, even if there's no internet, no server on the other end, comforts us.

Which is why piracy will never die, and why PC gaming might.

Sullyville

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Cpt_Bongwater: Oh, so you understand why they have to use absolutely ridiculous means with potential of robbing the customer to protect their product? That's odd...
Because I don't understand it.
Rootkits aren't the solution to piracy. Whoever thinks that is blindly ignorant.

Arttemis

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Every ten days? If Spore suffers through that they just lost a sale.

Anto103

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> much as I hate copy protection I can understand why they're doing it...go take a look at Piratebay and you'll see what I mean. 'sides they'll have a crack for it soon anyway...

Cpt_Bongwater

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> So they are going to institute a serious inconvenience that the people who steal the game don't have to put up with? That's ironic.

mariospants

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Yeah, no money from me. I try to keep a DRM free PC.

Hey developers... DRM screws up your PC, haven't you heard?

DRM, don't want it... no thanks.

Release it DRM free and you can have my money.

axiomatic

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Well they just lost a customer with me.

Thanatos-

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> wow. I am really glad I stopped trying to be a PC Gamer a few years ago. This shit is getting ri-god-damn-diculous.

Gray665

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Mr.DuckSauce: Yes, like any game worth copying.

It's no secret that the security measures don't exist to protect the game through it's lifetime. The idea is to try and fend them off through as most as possible of the all-important first month.

Of course, most copy protection schemes don't make it to release day, but that has never stopped monkeys from adding them to perfectly good games.

As for the copy protection... whoa, that sucks. Seriously. It might not be all that inconvenient for most people, truth to be told (unless you're a rabid consumerist privacy paranoid), but still sucks. Not to mention, I gather it will be 15 minutes until it's cracked.

Grive

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Pre-order cancelled. I'm pirating it now.

Eldragon

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> After reading about 80 or so comments to this news, I support 2K's decision.

No wonder why more & more PC devs are moving to consoles.

LosDaddie

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Yay... SecureRom is classified as a Rootkit, is a totally hideous thing to have on a computer, but I don't care. I hope a future patch of the game remove the crap (there will be lots of patch, because BioWare always release games with lots of bugs ). but I doubt it.

Theres also the option of download a warez copy, and don't open the game box. Unopened game box can be really valuable in the future for collectors. And the Warez copy will be free of that crap.

Tei

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality: Actually, I didn't play Half-Life 2 until way later, when I did so in a friend's computer who had bought it. I hate Steam as much as all this crap, but at least Steam is usually cheaper, gives me something in exchange for connecting to their servers (I can buy more games). But requiring a connection to play is something I will never accept for single-multiplayer.

@all those saying we were going to pirate it in the first place: I own Stalker, Crysis, ProStreet (damn, EA), all Myst games, Fahrenheit, XIII... I don't have: DreamFall, BioShock, Armed Assault (and I love FlashPoint)... See a pattern there?
I buy games when I consider them any good and the publisher does not annoy me. I am even considering buying Sins of a Solar Empire because of their no-protection policy and the game being good enough for 40€.

@all those saying piracy is a PC only problem: have you heard of PS2 chips? Free-loaders? Take a look at any torrent site; there are four downloadable PS2 games for each PC one. And PS2 is still making money. Please, don't close your eyes to reality.

EloraHRanma

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Screw that. Will not pay for inferior user experience.

L_K_M

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @etho: I honestly don't know what you're doing wrong, but I can play all of my singleplayer Steam games even on holidays and unplugged from teh intarwebz. Bioshock, CoD4, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. etc. They all work just fine.

I'm a big fan of digital distribution and I think Steam executes it perfectly. EA Link/Downloader on the other hand is a huge pile of dung. I bought Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath to it only to find out that:
1) It's limited to a two-year license.
2) My country isn't eligible for the promised RA3 beta, something they forgot to mention anywhere on their website.
3) It has a limited number of install. Meaning, one license per machine, which is complete bullshit.

I'm typing this from my laptop and I just so happened to have both games installed here. Imagine my surprise when I tried to run Kane's Wrath the other day while connected to my university's WLAN only to find out that I get a stupid error message saying I can't have more than one install per license and thus I can only play Kane's Wrath at home.

That's how they thank me for supporting their sales? The solution?

I downloaded a crack for it and it's now working. Ironic that to play an original copy I have to resort to methods used by piracy. This kind of shit is what's killing PC gaming. If I like a game I'll buy it, but if buying it pulls this sort of crap on me you can sure as hell bet they're making me stop supporting them and just do what everyone else does - pirate it from the start.




Sneakiest

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> EA 0 - Piracy 2

Thanks, EA. After waiting for Spore 3 whole years you have made sure I won't enjoy the game.
Not only I despise this supposed protection, but I also mistrust your will to keep the registration servers running for more than 2.5 years, as is your usual policy. And you will probably not issue an update removing the need to register to play once your servers are taken down. I've had enough of your crap.

Need proof?
I haven't played (nor bought) BioShock yet, not even pirated. I'm still waiting for the update and installer we were promised would avoid SecuROM installation. I prefer playing System Shock I/II, with all the trouble of getting them to work in Win/Linux.

And, taking into account this same SecuROM scheme was used in BioShock, it will take way less to find working cracks. Not even the 3 weeks it took for BioShock.

Congratulations for a work well done.

EloraHRanma

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I think the whole idea of copy protection is silly anyway. I mean pirates aren't going to think "Oh no, they've got copy protection, looks like I'll have to buy the game legitimately." While people who would buy the game legitmately would be put off by such draconian measures and pirate it.

Kerfuffle23

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Note to self: Do not buy this game.

Gofthick

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I personally have been waiting for the PC port of this game since it came out. But because of all this anti-piracy crap I am not going to buy it. This does not mean that I will be pirating it, I'm just not buying it because I do not support such futile procedures to stop pirates and will in the end harm customers like myself. I was going to purchase Bioshock but was turned away due to the same reason I did not buy it. I'm one of the people that were hurt by such measures, and I personally do not think that this is the way to stop piracy.

DarkNoah

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Libo: If you buy the game, then 'crack' it (no idea how that works), you are therefore condoning EA's practices and encouraging them to use those practices in the future.

I have bought (legally) every Bioware game from Baldur's Gate, through Neverwinter Nights (+ expansions), KOTOR and up to Jade Empire. Mass Effect may be their first game that I either give a miss or acquire through alternative means.

mcderek3000

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @VishusBurn:
I think being in Europe makes me free from these stupid anti-user American laws :D

Why dont they just give up and release it on STEAM? Securom only makes me want to be a criminal!

KroKan

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @etho: yeah... cept steam is widely regarded as a pile of crap "STEAMing pile of crap."

Dao2SKP

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Might be better to go and get the 360 version instead.

TeaBean

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I have this on the 360 and was thinking of getting it on pc as well but after reading this I just download.

fearcom74

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I remember back in the olden days, software and movie pirates got a lesser experience from their activities.

Now with the dawn of more advanced copy protection, legitimate users are getting the shitty deal whilst the pirates get a less compromised experience, and don't even PAY for it.

akwinters

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @VishusBurn:
"Fuck-ed- up, eh?"

@etho: @orangedude: @4Degrees:
As an avid Try-Before-I-Buy pirate, I have to say that Steam's authentication method is minimally invasive. You simply activate it to your account once and then you are free to go into offline mode with it. Also you can download and play any game that is activated for your account on any PC you want.

The only annoyance I have with steam is that the physical copies for steam games on store shelves are a little misleading. It's not actually a physical copy; it's a licence for a digital download.
Case in point; go try to sell gamestop your used copy of HL2.

VishusBurn

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Wow this could be the fist game I pirate. Thanks EA!

GODofWARasator

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Congratulations BioWare! You just guranteed I will buy NEITHER of Mass Effect or Spore! =D

Overlord44

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Libo: "Just buy the game and download a crack, simple as that."

Exactly. No need to go ripping people off. Just wait for the .exe crack. I do that with all my pc games. Well, the ones I don't get off Steam. Just don't like keeping the disk in the drive.

Muckley

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> There'll still be a cracked exe available for it, probably within hours of the game's release.

Kafeen

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @orangedude:

I agree with you there. After I moved, I lacked internet for a week, and I couldn't play any of my Steam games. That's not cool at all. It seems like essentially the same as what's being done here, except PC gamers love to get wet over Steam and Valve, so they get a free pass for all the bullshit they pull.

etho

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> The pirates are out in force tonight, I didn't know it was okay to pirate a game just because they are using a protection method on their game. Just buy the game and download a crack, simple as that. Unless you just wanted a poor excuse to not pay money for a game.

Libo

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @KroKan:
Sorry, but people with money control are legal system. In 1998 it became illegal to bypass any devices intended to control access to copyrighted digital material. It's called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. [en.wikipedia.org]

So even though you purchased the game, you are technically a criminal for bypassing the CD authentication.

Fuck up, eh?

VishusBurn

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> on a second note and as many have pointed out it's funny how people who complain about this are totally ok with steam for their single player games that requires an online activation every time you play.. at least this is 1/10 as bad and besides you get a hard copy that you own instead of renting it for an indefinite time.

8feettallmidget

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Wait, how come no one complains that you need to connect to Steam before you can play even single-player Steam games?

Where's the outrage there?

orangedude

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> was going to buy this but now i'll just borrow my friend's 360 instead (better graphics than my crappy pc anyway)

8feettallmidget

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Yep. I was actually planning to buy this game. I will now be downloading it from my favorite torrent site with the cracked .exe

desterion

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @4Degrees: Yeah, but they don't make you reenter CD Keys every time you try to play Portal now do they?

fumar

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Well, I am not someone who normally pirates games but this is beyond invasive DRM. I guess I can save myself $100 by not purchasing Mass Effect and Spore and instead torrenting them. Thanks EA for making this tough decision for me!

fumar

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Well don't steam-games get validated every time you start them? What's the big deal?

4Degrees

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Oh well, I just have to crack if then. Now, if I have to crack it to run it, am I still willing to pay for it? Think things through next time EA/Bioware. This measure is not even a speedbump for crackers, they enjoy this stuff, but it sure as hell annoys paying customers, especially people like me who are rather sensitive about what kind of extra bloatware crap installs to their computers.

ara

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I use cracked .exe s for all my ORIGINAL games anyway. Why bother authentication every week when using cracked .exe s are totaly LEGAL?

KroKan

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> This is the first official sign of Bioware's decline and the influence EA is having over it. We will not be getting a Mass Effect that is completely user-friendly annoyance free. Both the sequels will have problems as well im willing to bet

Blacktrim

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @baberg: Just cuz he spouts some group names doesn't mean anything. Anyone can leech torrents off TPB. :P

Anyway, I won't be buying this. Even though I've heard great reviews from friends... fuck it. I am REALLY TIRED of copy protection.

Support games and developers that just LET YOU PLAY THE GAME. Only purchase games with the harsh copy protection if you REALLY WANT the game... even then...

amatecha

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Telling us whether or not your going to pirate games or not, or have or have not pirated games in the past doesn't matter. Your just another nameless Joe on the internet. Especially those of you who say you've purchased games but didnt want to open them and so downloaded them instead. Who cares, and why should we believe you.

fatalerrorV

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> "SecuROM does not require the Mass Effect DVD to be in the drive in order to play..." Yeah! That's progress! Right, people?

People? Hello?

boopadoo

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Devil's Advocate here, but game pirates kinda have no-one but themselves to blame here. TOrrent sites are flooded with cracks and ISOs and all that gobbledy-gook I couldn't give two shits about.

It's a simple matter of the companies trying to turn popular opinion against those who provide pirated copies, and those who use them. I always find it amusing that when something like this occurs, people always bitch about the evil company and their policies; but never once complain about how these policies are merely a reaction by the company to try and protect their investment.

Timber317

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> And people said EA buying Bioware wouldn't make a difference.

OK, no one said that. Only EA and Bioware did. They're both liers.

Shinryoma

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> They're basically just telling everyone it's more convenient to pirate the game than own a legit copy.

Kadmos

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality:

No that's complete bullshit. Stuff like securom is just a load of crap. It will be cracked, and probably very quickly.

Which leaves 2 parties, the pirates which are just have shit tons of fun and the people who actually payed for it and are getting shit for it.

There is no reason any company should do this and it only harms the people it actually. You know I'm fine with copyright protection, can be the bitchiest copyright protections ever like starforce.

Why? Because it's only a bitch for the people who pirated the game but it's just as easy as having the cd in the drive for people who actually bought it.

Stuff like securom SUPPORTS piracy because of the hassle it is too legitly buy the game versus the hassle free version (i.e. pirated version)

Dao2SKP

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I'm not paying $50 for a virus. Continue on killing PC gaming EA.

Yahto

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I'm gonna ahead and thank EA for making my decision of instead including this game in my collection I'm gonna go ahead and download it.

Dao2SKP

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> This is all really just the first PC exclusive content: you make your first Paragon/Renegade decision before you start a character!

Seriously though, if you're so concerned just buy it and then crack it. You get your convenience, they get their money, no sleep lost.

UltraMagnus

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Arttemis: You're missing my point. I hate DRM as much as the next guy, but that still doesn't give me the *right* to pirate the game.

If you do steal the game, don't do so under false moral pretenses. Just admit you want something for free and have no qualms about it.

Taking the "high road" would be actually not buying the game *or* downloading it. If you bootleg it you become the reason EA used copy-protection in the first place.

cybereality

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I normally keep this low key since piracy discussion is often against board rules, but the morally self-righteous crowd has hit a nerve.

I routinely download commercial games to try them out, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I am far from alone, and I would not say that all of the people who now claim they will download it were going to do so in the first place. Most of the games I buy I already have in a no-catches eternally playable format, which is often more than I get when I buy the full version of a PC game, but I like to support the development of good software. This has even led me to contradict my "OMG this is a bad place to take gaming, I don't want to pay for this!" ideals for a few titles when I wanted to overlook my hate for the publisher and make sure something reached the poor developers. I've come to regret most of the recent ones anyway because of the user rights restriction packages that bind them.

I don't like every game under the sun - if anything I've become more demanding as I've seen what is possible and what mistakes are avoidable in game design. Buying a game, taking it home, then seeing if you like it is a great way to lose $60 in a hurry. Reviews are opinion pieces just as with a movie, but more so. And so it may not be legal, but if there is no demo for a game, I will try it out anyway because I'm not dumb or technically inexperienced enough to buy it unseen and hope for the best. If it's good, I get the commercial release for my collection. If not, it's not as if I keep playing it; I have much better stuff to play and too much of it! (and I mean purchased games!)

A title that depends on an online authentication server for routine operation is prone to outages as well as limited lifespan. To take things further, it would pretty much have to track and log the times and addresses from which I played the game. No, that doesn't matter for a particular application aside from marketing; they also have no right to look over my shoulder and keep tabs on how I play their game and like hell I will support it much less allow it to run unhindered on my PC.

So call me a pirate - I guess technically it's true. But don't even suggest I freeload and don't avidly buy them all the time as well. The only ones I download, like, and don't buy are either out of print and unavailable, or locked up in some scummy DRM that limits the playable lifespan of the game unneccesarily, needlessly tracks my activities, or compromises my PC's security in any way. This one nails at least two out of three dealbreakers, so they failed. Like I said before, the reaction to piracy is killing PC gaming. Piracy on consoles is trivially easy, rampant, and even convenient, yet the industry booms.

fuchikoma

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Wow, and to think people got bothered by steam in the beginning, now what will happen after seeing this in action?

Reetesh

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Cracked in 2 days tops.

Artdeux

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> If you're really pissed, cancel your preorder and buy Sins of a Solar Empire.

You get a better game for less money, and you support DRM-free gaming that doesn't phone home.

oboreruhito

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Game publishers know that SecurROM or any other piracy prevention method will not be 100%.

To borrow a retail analogy, there's three kinds of customers:

A) The kind that will not steal from you.
B) The kind that will steal from you, given a opportunity.
C) The kind that will always try to steal from you.

Comparatively, B) is much larger than C), which leads to the conclusion that a large portion of retail theft is preventable. EA/Bioware are probably motivated by a similar argument. They are mainly targeting B) with their anti piracy measures.

ludwigk

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> As I always say... Piracy won't kill PC games sales, "copy protection" is already doing that.
Calling home every few days? That's spyware behavior no matter how they try to pretend it's not.

Rockman-X

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> As much as I want Spore and would have NO problem handing over my hard earned money for it, I'll probably end up downloading a cracked version simply to avoid this horrible protection.

Pretty fucking silly that copy protection is actually forcing some people to steal the damn thing. Maybe we're not a majority but it's still pretty sad.

SeedyROM

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Here's the deal. People that pirate pc games (and there are a lot) aren't stopped by copy protection.

People that want to pirate console games (fewer but still a lot) also aren't stopped by the fact it's a console game. Ask anyone who has a hacked [insert any console]. All console games are available zero-day on any torrent.

Everyone else... wouldn't bother to pirate anyway since they don't know how (the great unwashed masses -- the majority of your market) or are just willing to buy (the hardcore gamers with jobs that like boxes).

So, that just means the publisher spends millions on copy protection that doesn't stop the pirates nor adds to his bottom line.

I never understood that business decision. It smacks of retard.

Stardock, on the other hand, has zero copy protection and is a solvent company that makes $ just fine selling games.

Some big head in some company needs to get some clue.

nimbus1

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Muhahahaha! :') Is that a joke? They better be putting a warning on the games box that a internet connection is required just like on Valve games... right now it looks like EA is gonna screw a lot of people by this...

good joke :)

Shad0X

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Wow, I'm just went from very disappointed that I hadn't waited for the PC version to come out to extremely excited I bought the Xbox version out of impulse.

Serro

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Piracy > any form of protection.

Games should focus more on online features like scoreboards, achievments, FREE DLC submitted by users etc to keep users to have a account for their game, while it is still possible to crack the single player, the game without the online component would just suck.

Piracy doesnt exactly takes away customers. Out of the people who pirate the game, only a small group would have brought the game if it wasnt available on torrentz.

People who truly appreciate the game would still buy the game.

Razorwind

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @UnnDunn:
Cease your blasphemy. I never want to hear anyone say Microsoft should buy Valve or Steam because they will just shit it up. I have no faith in Microsoft or EA to do anything customer friendly so lets not fix what isn't broken with Valve and Steam.

Valhawk

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @DARTH_TIGRIS:
The problem with your analysis is that you assume that every pirate would be a paying customer and that is just not the case. Most people who pirate games would not pay for them even if a pirated copy was not available.

Also, we need to cross post this over at the Consumerist, it may be to late to save Mass Effect but I think with some carefully deployed EECBs we can save Spore from this SecureRom mess.

Valhawk

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Brackynews:5) I am not connected to the internet at all times.

I bet you're lying.

rezo

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Quickly to the Consumerist, it may be to late to save Mass Effect but we can still save Spore with some carefully targeted EECBs.

Valhawk

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Cool, at least they are doing something to fight piracy. It may be the most annoying thing but with a little experience they will learn... I want to say "Bravo EA!", but the games here in my country have super high prices (103$) for a games. So I have to be a pirate, sorry :)

Doupi

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Quality is rewarded with loyalty. Shareware worked. Games with no copy protection sell. Games with no monthly fee sell. Blu-ray movies and games sell, even though you can usually buy the same thing produced on DVDs. iTunes Plus tracks sell. Movie tickets sell.

And through all this, who sees the anti-piracy warning and suffers the usability penalty? The legitimate paying customers. Legality isn't the reason PC game rentals died, it's this crap. The PC game publishers are as fucked in the head as the RIAA. Stop with the Kool-Aid already, and get back to decoder wheels and manual word-hunts. Context is king.

I declare a Sensible PC Gamers' Manifesto:
1) Make your game worth playing, and I shall support your ability to make more games worth playing.

2) I deserve to know if your game will run *well* on my system. If you can't be bothered to release a demo, I will try it out by my own means.

3) People who download your game for free, 0-day, aren't going to give you their money on principle, or they're too young to have money. It's *not* a cash loss, stop counting it.

4) People who "pirate" by selling your stolen game to other cheap, clueless people are scumbags and should be flung into the sun.

5) I am not connected to the internet at all times. You are not my mother and I should not require your permission to play each time.

Brackynews

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I was going to buy this game, I was really looking forward to it as I don't have a 360, but a respectable PC rig. However I will NOT purchase this game. I will pirate it. I will not give my money to companies that think this is the answer to piracy, it's the PROBLEM with piracy.

I buy PC games, but ONLY from Steam. It's crap like this that sways me that way. Hopefully our money will speak and this shit will stop.

pirahna1

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @parasite_evil: Hate to pop your balloon there, but there is no way in hell that Sins of a Solar Empire has sold millions of copies. Just sayin'

SgtElias

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @icelight: so there's no validity to complaints about being unable to play it on an offline laptop, or fear of server trouble (much less years down the line when you're still entitled to enjoy your purchase) or any of that, then?

Youve got a lot of people on this post who still want to purchase it legit, but then crack it, and that sounds pretty fair to me.

TheIrishNinja

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @everybody that responded to my earlier comment(s):

I don't game on PC's. I'm a console gamer. So this honestly doesn't effect me at all. Yet.

But I was just trying to remind everyone that was ripping EA, Bioware and Sony for this should realize that the next step beyond this is to just not release games at all for the PC to avoid the largest piracy market and let PC gaming die. I personally don't care if PC gaming dies, as I said I'm a console gamer. But its obvious that the lot of you do care. If you care, then attack piracy, not the publishers. Because they'll get to a point where they'll just take their games somewhere they won't have to deal with this extent of piracy at all.

DARTH_TIGRIS

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I agree with Interstate78 and JayTapp. The real problem will be in 2 or 3 or 5 years or whenever EA decides that you should be done playing this game and shuts down the authentication server. Then someday you say "hey, I liked Mass Effect, I think I'll play it again" - and you can't... They should at least let you play if you have the disk inserted, 10 day limit be damned.

PhysicalEd

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @icelight:
Exactly. If you read page, you'd know that that you don't need to enter a thing. The re-authentication will be done automatically when you start up the game, nothing is required of the player. I'd say you dun even need 10 seconds.

I'm still getting the game. Seriously, who doesn't have an internet connection nowadays? And would you really play the game when you are off on vacation?

Plushie

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @mcool93:
looool

Crysis and UT3 were engine-upgrades. Sure Crysis had a different story, but honestly, it sucked.

Mass effect has a good story, and isn't a franchise rehash. That is why it will sell better. The piracy protection will only harm those figures, I *assure* you.

MeateaW

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @mcool93:

I really wish that I was you, and could post such utter bollocks without the slightest whiff of irony.

Would you like to buy a telly off me?

It's really good and stuff, it mows the lawn and everything, but despite the fact that you bought it with your hard-earned cash, I'm going to come around every two weeks to make sure that you haven't got anyone else watching it with you?

Gash
x

p.s. If you happen to be out, or the electricity is down, I'm going to smash your television set with a hammer, and probably rape your entire family for shi's and giggles.

Do you still want to buy that really nice telly off of me?

remedial_gash

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> what they should do, even though it is slighty annoying, but not this annoying and retarded is a system kinda like activating credit cards. You get a number inside the manual, call a number give the number, and they give you a key that unlocks the game permenantly. Problem solved. It won't end cracking, but it isn't as stupid as securom.

Oldboy26

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I'm sure it's been said in comments already, but this will be cracked and distributed within hours of release, if not before it's even released to the general public. All they are doing is screwing over their customers.

KirbyMorph

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I bet this will get a working crack that will nullify the entire thing within a couple of days before release.

The Idea behind something stupid like this amazes me, great way to treat customers like thieving bastards!

Just like the music and movies, PC Gaming is shooting it self in the foot. If some one does not want to pay for they will find a way, on the other hand these kinds of attempts to prevent privacy are probably doing more harm then good as there will be a ton of backlash for a single player game to require going online every 10 days to "check" if its stolen.

chaosmage89

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @Darknight630: You have to be crazy to fly.

@Darknight630: I do; anyone monitoring the pirates won't be able to attribute it to someone who was turned off by copy protection. They'll just assume it's another chaeap pirate.

@dsmx: Um, what do you think is causing this CP? Kittens with runny noses?

Jonn

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @AdamWest: You always have a choice. Buy it, don't buy it, or pirate it. SecuROM isn't forcing you to pirate.

skankingfool

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality:
"What exactly do you think Steam is doing when it says "connecting... verifying account..."??? Guess what, its connecting to the internet and verifying game licenses on your PC"

It is, but if I have no internet connection, OR if I select "offline mode"
Wanna know what happens?

I can still play my game!

Oh, even better, if I go to my friends house and install my steam there, I can login and play there too!

If you read about bioshock you'd know you could install it a FINITE number of times (thats Finite, not INfinite) which means after you installed it (3? 5?) times, you had to UNINSTALL it somewhere; before you could install it elsewhere.

If your PC died, BAM right there, you can only install it 2 more times forevermore. You could *never* recover that lost installation.

Add to that checking every 10 days wether you can play it or not; and thats a bucket of hurt I don't want thanks!

MeateaW

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality: Steam only requires a verification when you first buy/install the game. Afterwards, you're free to play offline.

QualityJeverage

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I don't see what the big deal is.
Piracy is killing the PC Gaming, all compaines are trying to do is come up with better ways to combat it.

I will be buying iy

bknight

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I wasn't all that interested in Mass Effect, but this just makes the choice that much easier for me not to buy it. I really hope Spore will forego this same authentication system.
It's a horrible catch-22 for PC developers: either use anti-piracy which will turn off customers or don't and pray that people will buy the game.
They should just sell it on Steam and avoid both problems.

skankingfool

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I can't be bothered with anymore securom problems, I already have the 360 version so I've just canceled my PC pre-order.

Cyborgmatt

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I have nothing against copy protection. What I have against SecuROM is that their software tends to MESS UP the software it's trying to protect. Bioshock had authentication issues at launch, as did Neverwinter Nights 2. -_- They release glitchy copy protection that I utterly loathe.

Krackatoa

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality:
What about someone like me? I stopped playing PC games because of stuff like this. It has now become needlessly difficult for me to play games on the PC. The DRM reduces the value of my product. It is why I now play console games where I am more than willing to pay sixty dollars a game? Why? Because I can just put the disc in and I'll be playing right away.

I've invested a lot of money in my games but that doesn't mean I am willing to dish out money to companies that are offering me lower and lower value on my product.

And I don't always have access to the internet everywhere I go and sometimes I go places I have no internet for more than ten days at a time. I shouldn't be stopped from playing a product I bought because of that.

Deus Ex Machina

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Good job to EA on this one. To revive PC gaming, we have to stop piracy first. Remember those embarrassing Crysis and UT3 sales? Hopefully, Mass Effect will fare better.

mcool93

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @cybereality: That is a completely ridiculous stance.
I have purchased more PC games than what's good for me, including multiple copies of some games (DAoC, Diablo 2, Half-Life, Battlefield 1942, and those are just the ones I have sitting next to my computer).

It's the companies who have no place taking away the consumers' rights in implementing a system that can render our own purchased software useless in certain circumstances. There is no defending this.

Do you honestly think this system can be the only way to prevent piracy?
Obviously it's not seeing as how it's swayed many people from purchasing it and having to put up with this fascist design.
Steam is becoming more and more appealing.

And to answer your question, I was definitely going to purchase this game. I have no problem whatsoever purchasing games I enjoy.
Now I'll either wait until a crack comes out to download, effectively breaking a "digital lock" and commit a felony on a purchased version... or get the entire package online.

Arttemis

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I considered buying this game for pc, despite owning the 360 version, but the inclusion of this crippleware gives me no choice but to pirate it. Screw you SecuROM!@$

AdamWest

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Download and play the cracked version.

It's a Win Win situation! (you get to play it; and companies that use securom lose sales leaving money for the game dev/publishes that *like* their customers).

It's not like copy protection *stops* people from copying it .. well, unless you are one of those people trying to copy it for your mate - but in that case, you bought it already so they are just punishing the *purchasers* of the game, not the real pirates that they are targeting (downloaders).

MeateaW

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> I don't see how this is a huge deal (apart from the presence of SecuROM.)

Online authentication is the only effective method of preventing dedicated piracy, but a one-time authentication isn't enough, because pirates will simply perform the one-time auth, study what it did and replicate it. No, there has to be constant checking.

But once again, the problem isn't the methodology, it's the implementation. If you're going to do something like this, it has to be done with the constant thought of minimizing the impact to legit customers.

The thing that baffles me is this: we already have a proven model for doing online-auth DRM without impacting legit customers. It's called Steam. Yet companies like EA continue to drop the ball on this by going with outfits like SecuROM.

I can understand why they do it; it's the same reason they refused to support Xbox Live in the early days... they don't want a competing company controlling access to their customers.

But that understanding doesn't make them appear any less stupid.

Honestly, what really needs to happen is the PCGA needs to support Steam (or come up with some sort of alternative) that allows all companies to sell directly to customers, while maintaining the ease of use and security features that Steam offers.

Microsoft, as the developers of Windows, are perhaps uniquely positioned to make that happen. They've done similar things in other markets before (WM-DRM). But Valve has already beaten them to it, so maybe they should simply buy Valve and build Steam into Windows or something.

In any case, hokey, draconian, half-baked systems like SecuROM need to die horrible deaths.

UnnDunn

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Also, when in 2-3 years EA shut dows the server...good luck playing the game you paid for.

JayTapp

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @DARTH_TIGRIS:

No, and I would liken this more to asking customers at a gas station to pay after pumping every half gallon of gas, and no prepaying.

OrionnoirO

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Seriously, why are companies using this type of draconian copy protection instead of say, an online account where you can register your CD-key ala Steam. I have no problem with connecting to the internet every often, but I should have the right to install/uninstall the game as many times as I want, instead of this limited install BS. And it's worth noting that more heavily pirated software, eg Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, costs much more than PC games and none came with these ridiculous "need CD to operate" or limited installations business.

astrixzero

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @DARTH_TIGRIS: you know, i dont actually disagree with you that the pirates are the ones who caused this, but spare a thought for the gamer hee. the honest one who doesnt steal games, and instead has to jump through hoops every 10 days just to keep playing a game he legally purchased. You really dont think that thats excessive? so yeha, fuck the thieves, its their fault this is happening, but ea could at least make it a monthly thing so that i am slightly less inconvenienced for being a non-scumfuck. And hearing that spore is going to have this is a REAL downer.

ryanfrost

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @baberg: hehe yep there are here since what foreever?

I don't trust a keygen/crack until it got a UI and a pseudo midi electro tune playing while I hit generate!!!

:D

JayTapp

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> All you whiners are a bunch of dirty rotten pirates in the closet. Come on now, its people like you are that killing PC gaming.

The thing that really gets me, is no one seems to bat an eyelash at platforms like Steam which do basically the same thing. Have you played HL2, Portal or TF2 on the PC? What exactly do you think Steam is doing when it says "connecting... verifying account..."??? Guess what, its connecting to the internet and verifying game licenses on your PC. And if you don't have an internet connection on your PC, well, playing Mass Effect should be the least of your concern.

To those people saying they just *now* decided to bootleg the game, I submit this theory: You were always going to steal the game, but now you mistakenly think you have some justification. Two wrongs don't make a right, and its foolish to harbor some sort of vendetta against a publisher of a game you haven't even paid for.

I couldn't care less if you guys steal the game or not. I can understand if you're living in your mom's basement and don't have a job, $50 might seem like a lot of money. But stop trying to make it out like its your god-given right no download bootleg software just because companies put forth an effort to protect their investment. As a game developer its really sad to see how many people here don't support the industry.

To be honest, I'll admit I used to bootleg games when I was younger. Back in the day before broadband and cheap burners I used to order discs straight from Hong Kong. But the thing I realized was that the games weren't fun anymore. Sure I had hundreds of games, but I would never want to play anything in particular. I find its a lot more satisfying when you pay money for a game. I the reason I stopped pirating games wasn't because of some evangelical moral compass, its simply more fun to pay.

cybereality

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> @lordofsword: Yes because pirates get it INSTANTLY, with no use of annoying cloaking tools, mounting tools, or even downloading! It just appears on their computer!!

Katorok

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> This is the reason piracy is so widespread. Pirates will get around this on day one, or even before that if the games are leaked. Those that pay for the game have to put up with all this and are the ones treated as the criminals, how can people be so stupid as to think these measures will actually work when every single method they come up with is bypassed? Piracy will always be there and they can't do anything about it, so why even bother with copy-protection when all it does is harm legitimate customers and drive others to download the game that otherwise would've paid for it?

I was put off Spore enough by all the delays, 3 years or however long it's been now, I doubt I'll buy the game at all now (or acquire it by other means either).

lordofsword

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> There is absolutely no way I will pay for this product that strips my own rights away. Absolutely nothing can justify being locked out of the software I purchase and own, regardless of circumstances.

If I'm traveling, which I do somewhat frequently, and I have no access to the internet, my game will be completely inaccessible seeing as how I only use my laptop when I'm not at home (more than 5-10 days).
And only three activations allowed? That's preposterous. There have been times when I'd do that in one day just to mess around with HDD images.

Yet another liberty stripped away from consumers by businesses.

Arttemis

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Don't worry folks! I predict EA will will soon have the option to remove this "feature" for the low, low price of $9.99!

Tiber

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Ha, the SecuRom on Bioshock lasted like 3 seconds, the day after it was torrented some guys from norway released the patch to override all this crap.

I don´t support piracy but all this every 10 days security nonsense really annoys me, there are better ways to protect your software.

Dsnake

]]> <![CDATA[Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian']]> Damnit. I have horrible internet and wifi. I was goin