Chris Remo, in an op-ed on Penny Arcade, takes on the righteous indignation heaped on publishers — notably EA — over the use of DRM. The anger over DRM might be principled bitching, but the point is it's still bitching. Writes Remo:
Though it's not a popular view, in my mind a lot of gamers are overreacting—look how many people buy music through iTunes, whose DRM mechanics are hardly lenient. That's not meant to be a judgment of right or wrong, it's just an observation that may illustrate the gulf between a certain gamer segment and the larger audience that seems to be continually more frightened away by non-casual PC gaming; I would submit their flight isn't based on activation limits.
I lurk on Reddit lots, and DRM has joined police brutality, atheism and astronomy photos as surefire front page material with predictable, wholly tendentious reactions. The level of outrage, and the demands made of industry actors, often far exceed the actual injury — but it usually does when you're talking about abstract matters like who owns what and what rights a consumer has. That's not to excuse shifty or intellectually dishonest behavior by publishers trying to slide in DRM restrictions without being transparent about it. At least Valve pointed out that Crysis Warhead, has it. But really, Remo says:
I can't help but feel a lot of the vocal protestors are simply getting caught up in the righteous fury of the moment. It looks like we're at five activations per game now, up from three; that's unlimited installs on each of five PCs, as I understand it, and a deauthorization tool is coming. Realistically, how much more do you need? Obviously, it's not as good as "infinity installs (plus one)" but can't we just come to terms with the fact that no amount of internet petitioning or Amazon guerrilla warfare is going to take the activation limit out of the realms of the finite?
Agreed. When every DRM matter is treated with the same level of fury, it makes it hard to pick out which case really is egregious or abusive beyond the pale. The Origin of the CD-Keys, Part Two {Penny Arcade]