[Osiris]

How would you feel about a game that needs an active Internet connection to verify the serial number ? How about a game that would have to do that every ten days after installation to make sure the serial number was genuine ? How about a game that would stop working after another ten days if the serial number was not verified online? The latest Securom protection will be used in several of the upcoming games by publisher Electronic Arts including the games Mass Effect and Spore.
Technical Producer Derek French replied to a user thread on the Mass Effect Forum about the copy protection and activation the game would be using. I have several objections to this kind of protection although I understand that game makers and publishers want to make sure that they earn money from their games while keeping piracy to a minimum.
Users who do not have a permanent Internet connection will not be able to enjoy the game. The game has to be activated after installation giving the user nine days after installation to do so. It will stop working if it is not activated by then. A game will stop working if it cannot perform a check every ten days. If that does not happen the game will not run until the check has been made.
Am I the only one thinking about DRM and services that have been taken from the net ? It happened before, just recently to customers of the MSN Music store. What happens if EA decides to turn off the servers that check the activation. Will they be able to provide the check ten years after the game has been released ? What if the EA server is down or the Internet connection of the user ? He won’t be able to play the game until then if he is over the ten day period.
Let us take a look at the users who grab a copy of the game from P2P networks. Will they even realize the game has such a protection ? I bet they won’t. They install the game, copy a crack over and are done and can play the game for as long as they want without fearing that the game will be unplayable because of activation issues.
This is the exact reason why DRM fails. It is punishing the wrong people. Honest buyers are punished by it, not the ones who copy the game without paying for it. It’s like those stupid anti piracy trailers that can be skipped when loading a retail DVD. What’s your take on this issue ?

EA to use newest Securom in upcoming games

[Waphlez]

As long as it does not involve installing software other than the game itself onto my computer, it doesn't bother me since I'm always connected to the internet. IMO, in the end, everyone will benefit, inluding the "honest buyers". Piracy is a nasty rain cloud over PC gaming, one of the reasons developers are leaning more to consoles, which compared to PC piracy, has very small piracy. More anti-pirate protection, the stronger PC gaming will become.

I admit that I pirate games fairly often, but wouldn't mind to see the end of it.

[yosa]

This will prompt cd crackers with a chalenge, besides this negates any legal backup, I imagine they will register when needed to dispute it, or as the courts see fit.how does that work, at the inception of the idea, the documentation the finish, and is that the product incorperated with the ? ...

[veedubfreak]

EA. single handedly killing pc gaming.

[marblez]

This remind me of that speech Lt. Gordon gave at the end of Batman. The cops get semi-auto, the villains get full auto. Cops get kevlar, villains get armor piercing rounds. This isn't going to stop pirates. Maybe it'll discourage some of the less dedicated pirates who won't be able to follow whatever method comes up to get around, but there is no way this'll stop piracy. Plus, it'll discourage honest buyers from legally buying. Nobody wants that hassle. EA strikes again.

[Akubane]

it's enough to stop me from buying it. thats a headache. internet here is almost 100$ a month and things get tight. makes me nauseus

[backup287]

well lets see... this inconvience will increase the popularity of pirating will it not?

[Trotter]

It's not really that big of a deal if you think about it. Most online games perform a handshake when you log on to play online anyway... this is just a check of the serial outside of game play.

[backup287]

yes but this is also for single player games is it not?

[lancec2c30]

Sometimes my internet connection just doesn't work. So this IS a big deal for me.