Illegal copy of watchtower Megacampaing found!!!

[AbsntMndedProf]

Unfortunately, the old saying, 'Locks were invented to keep honest menb [and women] honest.', holds true in cyberspace just as in the real world.

Hopefully there will always be enough people who can resist pirated versions of software such that companies such as Matrix aren't bled dry through piracy.


Eric Maietta

[Unknown_Enemy]

I would not mind registering my copy, but only if I am sure my personnal data will stay locked in matrix games.

I would quite mad if something like that
http://www.theinquirer.net/22020207.htm
happen to my data.

[Capt Chris]

This is a great topic. Software piracy is a real problem faced across the industry. I think posting about a pirated copy of MC here is like preaching to the choir. I think this group appreciates and respects the time and effort put into the MC development and would therefore not partake in using this "free" software.

I recently purchased Return to Castle Wolfenstein which has a pretty cool protection feature, but it only makes a difference for online players. When you logon to the game server, the game registers itself with the server using a unique CD key. If anyone with the same CD key tries to logon to the same server, it pops up a message that you are using an invalid CD key and kicks you out of the game. Reading through the forums it looks like a LOT of people tried to copy this game and share their CD keys. This doesn't protect single player mode, but the game's best features are by far the online play.

It's really tough to protect any software product from piracy. It is even tougher to do so without invading someone's privacy. Ask Micro$oft about that one.

[Hauptmann6]

Originally posted by Bing:

Let's see - is there something on the legal CD the pirates might not have copied? Something that if a newbie asks for we would know he's playing from a stolen copy of the MC?

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I really doubt it, it isn't anything more than putting a CD into one drive and the blank in another and hitting teh copy button. It's not like you actualy move files or even look at them. Just raw data...

[Bing]

Originally posted by Hauptmann6:


I really doubt it, it isn't anything more than putting a CD into one drive and the blank in another and hitting teh copy button. It's not like you actualy move files or even look at them. Just raw data...

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The music industry came up with some kind of copy protection scheme to discourage piracy. IIRC the scheme disables the file after a few days unless it is unlocked, which sounds like a variation of the one the OFP developers use.

Registration need not involve personal information - certainly not any more than Matrix already has. And most anyone can get from a Net search engine. Face it, if a person wants personal data you have posted any time, anywhere on the Net, they are determined and even halfway talented in this area, they are going to get it. The real targets are commercial firms.

I've been scammed via pure credit card fraud which had nothing to do with the Internet. And I was flipped twice for long distance phone service, without mny permission, until I found out you can tell the phone company to put a lock on your long distance service - and they have to comply with your request.

Bing

[skryking]

the only problem with trying to do it the way the music industry is trying to protect disks is that they are creating a format that fudges the data on the disk just enough that a pc cdrom drive won't be able to read it...thus preventing copying.. this would present a problem with software titles trying to do this.

[Bing]

So it looks like the way the OFP developers or the way Auran is trying to go would be the options for game publishers.

But as someone said, I wonder how much of the illegal market is in the kind of games we play - the really popular Quake games and all I can see the monetary loss.

Bing

[scimitar]

Personnally I don't use illegal copies for different reasons:

1) To buy an original is to encourage the author(authors) of the software to ameliorate the soft with patches, new versions, etc.

2) Some people are buying illegal copies only to own a big quantity of softs. But do they have time to spend to play all softs? If you buy 10 illegal copies to play regularly with only one, I think it's better to buy only an original one... and to have all the docs, the support of the author(s), etc...

3) consequently of 2) above: if a soft is interresting me, I try to obtain some documentation on it (reviews in magazines; downloadable demos, ...) to see if that soft is really a good one. If so, I'll buy it. If not, then OK I'll forget it. But I want to limit the quantity of softs I'll buy, because I don't have time enough to play with 50 softs!
In fact, I only own 10-12 games softs. Some of them are very old ones (Empire Deluxe - yes, I still play PBEM with that oldie!).
As Megacampaigns are very interrestive and enjoyable, I've bought all three (one directly from Matrix; one via Roland Rahn's group order; the last one via Duchet, UK). As Combat Leader is interresting me, I'll buy it (probably via Duchet). And I think CL will be the only soft I'll buy in 2002.

4) For the softs I'm hesitating to buy or not (not really convinced but...) then the best is to wait a little bit: after 6-9 months, the game is frequently sold at bargain price...

5) To buy an illegal copy gives also the risk to find a virus on the cd...

[HerrGeneral]

This is a test reply.

Rod

[Bing]

Anudder test reply.

Bing

[Greg McCarty]

Originally posted by Mojo

Originally posted by Wild Bill:
...I appreciate very much all of you that spent your hard earned dollars on the game. It means a lot to all of us and keeps Matrix alive...WB

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Loyalty and respect earn the same in return. A fact many have forgotten. You've got mine Bill. [/B]

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Piracy is sickening -but inevitable. I dont indulge in it. Most
software is reasonably priced anyway. So I did the only thing
I could do to combat this nonsense -I ordered a copy of
the Guadalcanal CD. OohRah!

[Fabio Prado]

It is a shame. SPWAW is a FREE game! Megacampaigns are for SPWAW gamers to get an enhanced wargaming experience while playing their (our) favorite wargame AND (last but not least) to support our favorite wargame company. I know we have to live with it, but knowing that there is somebody selling illegal copies of SPWAW makes me sick.
I know it is a moral issue (besides being a criminal one), and I am strongly against piracy in any level, but we are not talking of Micro$oft here. We are talking of a bunch of very courageous, idealistic, hard-working, kind fellows I have been working with in some way or another since the beginning of the SPWAW project. They worked harder than most gaming companies just to give us a FREE game! They listened to our opinions (and still do), worked miracles out of an early 90's game engine and turned it into an amazing wargame - for FREE!
They don't deserve this. As soon as the order page is up again, I'm going to buy an extra copy of a Megacampaign.

Fab

[Waylander]

I've read some interesting posts here on the piracy issue. Incidentally the mega-camps are available here in Thailand for around 2-3 bucks as well . Maybe if the US of A stopped giving most favoured nation status to China then a little something would get done about this, In Asia a huge amount of Piracy comes out of China, The simple fact here is that it is fairly difficult to get genuine software without a long search, unless you buy online from overseas. Along with everyone else here, I support matrix because i have been playing SP since version 1 and they are giving me what i want.
Keep up the great work Guys, I bought them all

reagrds
Waylander

[Greg McCarty]

Originally posted by Waylander
I've read some interesting posts here on the piracy issue. Incidentally the mega-camps are available here in Thailand for around 2-3 bucks as well . Maybe if the US of A stopped giving most favoured nation status to China then a little something would get done about this, In Asia a huge amount of Piracy comes out of China, The simple fact here is that it is fairly difficult to get genuine software without a long search, unless you buy online from overseas. Along with everyone else here, I support matrix because i have been playing SP since version 1 and they are giving me what i want.
Keep up the great work Guys, I bought them all

reagrds
Waylander

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Yeah, but you know, I don't even know if its controllable in that
part of the world with any methods. I remember over thirty years
ago when I was in Taipei while in the navy, and even then with virtually no trade with China, even the Taiwan markets were awash with pirated records and other popular media that obviously originated in the US and England. And although the piracy is everywhere, I've read that the concept of intellectual
property has been particularly difficult for Chinese culture to
grasp for some reason. I don't know whether its because of the long history of socialism there has eradicated any memory of
this idea, or if it's a cultural phenomenon. But its like, if you can't feel it, eat it, wear it, or wield it like a tool, its free and up for grabs. Ya gotta wonder how an author of anything from a book to a program could possibly have any incentive to create over there. You could easily find a years labor selling for 2 Yuan
in a street shop a week after publication. Another problem is that while the Chinese central government has made numerous agreements on paper to abide by international trade laws, the
government is not the monolith it appears to be in terms of control over provincial governments or their willingness to
acknowledge such agreements. Its a nasty little secret few in
the national government would be willing to concede. I think the way western governments have accustomed themselves to look at it is by viewing this revenue loss as an acceptable "tax"
which must be paid to get access to that "ocean" of a potential
market over there. Of course, its not right, or helpful to companies like Matrix because anything on "media" is particularly vulnerable. But I don't know how anyone is going to get a handle on it soon.

[Waylander]

Good point there Greg, I remember working out of Keelung in the early 80"s. At the time the company I worked for was a subsiduary of Texas Insts, we could walk ashore and buy TI databooks( which had ful details of microprocessors and scripting languages fr them) for 1-2 bucks, these things would cost you about 90-100 pounds in the Uk, the only difference was a page in Chinese at the start. I also agree that the central Govt finds it hard to control provincial output especially when it is controlled by major figures, However, it is a country and it wants to trade, hurt it enough and they will find a way to "accomodate" us pesky Gwai-lo

regards
Waylander

[Bernie]

Just a couple of ideas that popped into my head as I was reading this thread on software piracy.

First, as long as large corporations located offshore can make a profit from piracy under a government that turns a blind eye to their actions we will always have piracy. I'm not sure what we can do about that, other than economic and trade sanctions.

Secondly, there are a number of ways I can think of to discourage "casual" piracy (ie: "You got the new game? Kewl! Burn me a copy?") Most computer systems these days have a working life (before almost total obsolesence) of about two to three years. Usually the old computer is given away, upgraded, or just trashed and a new one purchased. What that means is usually an upgrade from say a CD ROM to a CR-RW or a DVD. The next step is going to be towards DVD-R and DVD-RW, then to a form of solid state storage such as Flash Card drives. For now, I propose that new games be released on CD-R discs with an area set aside for some personal information. Make it a requirement that the CD must be in the drive to play the game and then we do something a little sneaky... As part of the load process the game checks for two things... First it checks that area we set aside for personal info and looks to see if anything is written there. If not (as in the case of a new install) it then attempts to burn into that space a copy of the serial# of the operating system the computer is running under and the name of the user that system belongs to (from the registry). If the user has a CD-R or CD-RW drive the space gets written to, if not it remains blank. Now, also as part of the load process we have the game compare that info with the info from the computer it's being run on. If it's blank, or if it matches, the game runs, if it doesn't match the game aborts. What we've effectivly done is made it almost impossible for someone to copy the disc and still have it usable on another computer. The very first time that disc is run in a machine WITH THE CAPABILITY TO COPY IT, it becomes forever tied ONLY to that machine. Yes, there will be problems with people upgrading their computer or operating system and their legitimate original not working any longer, but the manufacturer can then offer to swap the non-working copy with a new copy that will work, provided the person registered the copy to start with.

Let's examine a few scenarios this might bring about:

Bob buys game XYZ but has only a CD ROM, not a burner. Dan drops by and "borrows" the disc to copy on his home machine. When he returns the disc it suddenly no longer works because the info Dan's machine burned onto the disc when it copied it does not match Bob's info. Dan's copy works only on Dan's machine, Bob will never get it to work again. In effect Bob gave ownership of the game to Dan.

Let's go further and say that Bob tries to return the CD to XYZ Software for a replacement saying he "upgraded operating systems" and needs a new copy. XYZ examines the info burned onto the disc and sees that the name there does not match Bob at all. The company sends Bob a nice letter stating that the disc cannot be replaced because it has been illegally copied.

The software company can even put a warning about this policy in the game and in the game documentation that would cover them, legally, from any claims.

BTW, I call this process "BWB Lock" and it is trademarked and copyrighted. However, if Matrix would like to use this process, I'd be more than willing to license it to them for a very small token fee, just drop me an e-mail for details. I also have other trademarked and copyrighted ideas for other storage mediums if anyone is interested, all avilible for very small token fees.

[Greg McCarty]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie
Just a couple of ideas that popped into my head as I was reading this thread on software piracy....

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Bernie:


Hmmm... What you describe sounds rather similar to the process Micosoft is currently using to protect XP. I hope it works out in the long run. Such a system, if successful might solve the problem without being obnoxious to the legitimate owner.

[Mike C]

I want a two way street. I want consumers to stop ripping off the producers and I want the producers to stop ripping off the consumers.

Let's face it, we've seen producers ship some pretty bad software and charge alot of money for it with no refunds. The same core of people that make up consumers, make up producers. And all of them will take something for nothing if it's presented to them.

That's a fact.

[jsaurman]

Be aware that if you see what looks like a pirated mega campaign "Lost Victories" or "Desert Fox" on Grokster, Morpheus, or Kazaa, and the file size is somewhere between 100K and 200K, then what you are actually seeing is a FAKE. It is a dialer for some online casino site, and fools you into thinking it is something else. I have not seen any pirated mega campaigns, and from what I have read in the forums, the mega campaigns cannot be independently posted as the are integrated into the core MECH.EXE file. Someone correct me if I am wrong!

JIM