Thank you Matrix, for no DRM

[vaalen]

I recently had to wipe my system and reinstall windows.The tech guy advised me not to reinstall any game with SECUROM. I was astonished to find out just how many games had this DRM.

I now have a SECUROM free computer. The computer works like a dream. It is much faster, the graphics are much better, crashes and slowdowns are almost non existent. It is like having a new computer.

And I can put every Matrix game I own on that computer, without fear of it being trashed by any DRM.

I am so grateful to Matrix for not using DRM. We all should be. Matrix is a great company!

And if you want to call me a Matrix fanboy, well, I am proud to be one.

[JudgeDredd]

[&o]

[06 Maestro]

Hear, Hear!

Here is to them keeping it that way-prost!

[Zakhal]

Removing securing improved your graphics? What operating system do you have?

I dont know if Im lucky (or difference in hardware?) but Ive played many securom games from this list and never had problems: http://forum.daemon-tools.cc/gamedb.php?letter=all

The only thing I would not count on is windows xp. Its ten years old operating system so anything could go wrong. Im scared everytime I boot it up. I have used mainly vista64 and windows7 for the last two years and only problem Ive had is one faulty windows update that blue screened my vista.

[vaalen]

I do have windows XP professional.

[Obsolete]

Well, two companies I will never purchase from again, are EA & Ubi.  Come to think of it, the only two EA published games that I remember really liking were:

A.  SeaWolf
B. American MgGee's Twisted Alice

[Greybriar]

ORIGINAL: vaalen

Thank you Matrix, for no DRM

+1

No StarForce! No SecuROM! No Steam required!

[Prince of Eckmühl]

Let me invite everyone to put up or shut up, on this one, at least as regards Matrix Games. If you want them to go on publishing DRM-free games, YOU are going to have to BUY as many as you can possibly play. They can't stay in business otherwise. And no more grousing about the prices please! If the games are worth investing your time in, they're also worth forty or sixty or eighty-dollars.

[warspite1]

Could someone enlighten me as to:

- What is a DRM
- Why are (most?) people rabidly anti companies that use DRM?

Thank-you

[JudgeDredd]

DRM = Digital Rights Management I think. It's to do with developers/publishers protecting their digital products. It ranges from something simple like Matrix Games requiring a key to input, to other more draconian measures like limited installs, activation and deactivation and, imo, the king of the hill - STARFORCE.

People are anti-DRM because it means legitimate customers having to jump through hoops to play a game they've purchased.

In nearly all cases, it causes more harm for the legitimate purchaser than it does for the "pirate" cracking the game. as an example, Silent Hunter V. It's DRM requires a constant internet connection. Legitimate purchasers of said game have experienced issues with the server the game has to contact. On the other hand, it's widely accepted that the game has been "cracked" (DRM removed) and "pirates" are playing the game trouble free.

In another example, Silent Hunter IV had some DRM (Fade??) which messed with the graphics and some calculations in the game. However, legitimate purchasers were experiencing these graphical issues and I think 9from memory) the DRM was not activating properly, hence suggesting everyone had a "pirate" version. There was some name calling at the time...to people who had legitimately bought the game. (from what I remember)

Those are two examples and whilst they may not be 100% accurate (my memory is not like it used to be), the examples showcase the issues being forced onto legitimate purchasers of games. Meanwhile, "pirates" pretty much get a DRM free, problem free gaming experience!!

[uncc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

in a nutshell:

Matrixgame's version of DRM is the use of a serial number you enter when you intall one of their games/updates.

Ubisoft's latest version of DRM is you must have an internet connection (to verify ownership of a legal copy of the game) to play their latest games. Lose the connection, the game stops.

[JudgeDredd]

There is one other point to note. Companies are always banging on about 1 "pirated" copy of a game = a lost sale. That simply is not the case. There is a common belief that many people who pirate a game would not buy it anyway and simply download it because it's there.

I think it's probably fairly accurate to say that the DRM companies themselves tout the "1 pirated = 1 lost sale" formula...

Whether it's true or not, the point for most people is this...these companies are punishing legitimate purchasers of software in order to save (apparently) relatively few legitimate sales. Add to that that games are cracked within hours of release (often before release) and you can see how the ordinary Joe who put up their hard earned £35 for a game can be pissed because something has screwed with his system and that something is the DRM (normally/sometimes). Even if it hasn't screwed with the system...there's the long load times, dropping of internet connection, forgetting/unable to deactivate in order to reinstall and reactivate blah, blah, blah...the list of headaches for legitimate customers goes on and on.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

DRM = Digital Rights Management I think. It's to do with developers/publishers protecting their digital products. It ranges from something simple like Matrix Games requiring a key to input, to other more draconian measures like limited installs, activation and deactivation and, imo, the king of the hill - STARFORCE.

People are anti-DRM because it means legitimate customers having to jump through hoops to play a game they've purchased.

In nearly all cases, it causes more harm for the legitimate purchaser than it does for the "pirate" cracking the game. as an example, Silent Hunter V. It's DRM requires a constant internet connection. Legitimate purchasers of said game have experienced issues with the server the game has to contact. On the other hand, it's widely accepted that the game has been "cracked" (DRM removed) and "pirates" are playing the game trouble free.

In another example, Silent Hunter IV had some DRM (Fade??) which messed with the graphics and some calculations in the game. However, legitimate purchasers were experiencing these graphical issues and I think 9from memory) the DRM was not activating properly, hence suggesting everyone had a "pirate" version. There was some name calling at the time...to people who had legitimately bought the game. (from what I remember)

Those are two examples and whilst they may not be 100% accurate (my memory is not like it used to be), the examples showcase the issues being forced onto legitimate purchasers of games. Meanwhile, "pirates" pretty much get a DRM free, problem free gaming experience!!

Warspite1

Thank-you JudgeDredd, so I guess Steam is an example of a DRM? Perhaps I should learn to read the small print...

Without wishing to tempt fate, I have had no issues with Steam (although I have only played a few games so far and all of these are in off-line mode).

[GrumpyMel]

DRM = Digital Rights Management

It refers to software embbeded in commercial programs that controls/limits access to those programs.
Theoreticaly it's supposed to help stop people from pirating software.

In practice it has little effect on pirates...as these days most pirating is done by proffesionals who quickly strip out any any DRM controls embedded in the programs and release pirated versions that will play DRM free.

It does, however, often cause numerous problems for legitimate users of the software (with DRM embedded) as it can: SLOW Down thier Computers by chewing up resources; cause crashes; interfere with the operation of other software programs; cause disk corruption; prevent people from using software they have legitimately purchased (due to false positives or resources like verification servers being unavailable); prevent people from reinstalling software they have purchased.

Essentialy it makes the commercial versions (with DRM) vastly inferior to the illegal ones (DRM) in terms of usability.

Now there are many different types of DRM and some are much more intrusive/problematic then others. I've seen some that were so bad/buggy that some users actualy had to download pirated versions of software they had legitimately purchased in order to get the software to play on their computers.

I would also like to add my appreciation for Matrix for sparing it's customers having to deal with the headaches caused by intrusive DRM programs. Your company will ALWAYS have my support as long as you do this.

About the only thing I've seen a Matrix Game ever require you to do was to put in a seriel number in order to play...and this was always simple, reasonable and headache free.

So thanks again Matrix Games!

[Zakhal]

ORIGINAL: uncc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

in a nutshell:

Matrixgame's version of DRM is the use of a serial number you enter when you intall one of their games/updates.

The reason why matrix DRM works is because their updates are usually left uncracked so pirates are forced to play unpatched games which is big disadvantige because matrix patches are often big with features.

The matrix DRM would not work with AAA games though that cost millions to make.

ORIGINAL: GrumpyMel
In practice it has little effect on pirates...as these days most pirating is done by proffesionals who quickly strip out any any DRM controls embedded in the programs and release pirated versions that will play DRM free.

PC game DRM is only meant to work for week or two at best. Most sales of every big PC game is done during that period. So if they are able to slow down the release of warez version for atleast few days they are allready winning.

The current record for uncracked game is held by Starforce:

When StarForce 3.0 was released, it initially provided extremely strong protection - the StarForce 3.0-protected game Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was uncracked for 424 days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce#Security

Software DRM has its limits. The real meat is with hardware DRM. PS3 is currently holding that record. Noone pirates ps3 games.

[Obsolete]

I think it's probably fairly accurate to say that the DRM companies themselves tout the "1 pirated = 1 lost sale" formula...

Piracy seems to correlate with sales in a (positive light).  I also don't agree for one second that each pirated copy = 1 lost sale.  Piracy itself spreads advertisement, and many of these torrenters do in fact purchase the box after the fact (assuming they enjoyed it).


As for Ubisoft blaming their servers going offline due to hackers (again), I am not so sure I'd trust that story either.  It is possible it's legit, but again, I wouldn't trust Ubi as far as I could throw them.  I remember one of their execs mentioned that people were "going to love" their version of DRM (this before the actual release).

But weather they were lying or not about the hackers shutting down their servers, the fact remains... you can not trust their authentication servers to not screw you over again.  Or for now long next time. 

I do remember Einstein mentioning about the stupidity of human thinking has no limits.... that seems quite true especially in the digital age.

[Ashtur]

Honestly... whether the Ubi problems were Hackers or more benign system side issues, that's immaterial. The simple fact is that those problems directly kept legitimate customers from playing the games while the servers were down.

It doesn't make difference if it was external malice, or internal incompetence.... either way, the legitimate customer is the loser.

I'm not an anti-DRM fanatic, but I grow weary of the assaults on the legitimate consumers. It's why I've never taken a shot at Distant Guns, and why I won't get SHV. I have more games than I have time anyway, and why should I reward companies for attacking me?

[Widell]

warspite1 - I would not compare Steam with what Starforce and UBI is doing as Steam is also changing the distribution and to some extent the business model, i.e they provide something while not requiring constant internet connection, limiting # of installs etc. There are some violently anti-Steam members of these forums, so I expect nothing but a long list of comments describing how evil and bad Steam is, so keep in mind I am only commenting from my own experience with them which has been positive after about 10 games and 3 computer changes.

Still, Matrix is IMHO a better solution as once I have the file(s) downloaded I can store them away for future use without having Matrix or a 3rd party involved which I kind of like. Matrix is also a much more personal company while Steam is very distant from its users. Heck, I feel like I would recognize Eric and the others if I bumped into them somewhere in the world! Still, Steam works for me as well, and I don't feel bad about using them, rather the opposite!

[JudgeDredd]

I'm not entirely sure Steam is a method of DRM. I can play my Steam games offline...so there is no need to be connected afaik.

[Greybriar]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

I'm not entirely sure Steam is a method of DRM. I can play my Steam games offline...so there is no need to be connected afaik.

Wrong. Steam requires an Internet connection (broadband recommended).