Battlefront.com DRM

[Zulu1966]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0oEw0IMLXI

[Grim.Reaper]

Coincidentally, this showed up on grogheads today...

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=9480.0

2nd post.  SC also uses the BFC DRM system.

Which makes sense since it is a BFC distributed game....

[DoctorQuest]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0oEw0IMLXI

Speaking of not making any sense..... :o

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

 ;D

Goofin off.

[Nefaro]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

Of course!  Because such DRM is just fine as-is, right?  Couldn't ask for anything else?

I don't think he should've even had to wait for permission to re-install his game.  At all.

[DoctorQuest]

;D

Goofin off.

Whew! You had me worried there Mr. B. :)

[Con]

DRM is a pain but its like taxes.  You go into it knowing you are going to squeal like a pig just like when you buy a two year cell phone contracts, get married, pay full airfares for kids, $95/day pass to Disney world when half the rides are out of commission, $10 hotdogs at Fenway etc. (insert your own WTF am I paying for this experience in here) 

The reason companies do this is because they can and as long as consumers keep buying it at that rate under these conditions they are right.

It doesnt matter what WE the consumer think unless we vote with our wallets.  Battlefront believes that this is a viable (note not the only or best answer) to protecting their digital IP and that is their capitalistic right to impose their solution on us.

I have bought their games had the few minor problems (like 90% of the people have had) and had it always solved satisfactorily and promptly by Battlefront.  The market needs of the many outweigh the righteous anger of the few.  At this point if I get burned by DRM it wont be because I was not aware that it couldn't happen its because I made a decision that it was probably unlikely to happen to me.

Con

[Zulu1966]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

Of course!  Because such DRM is just fine as-is, right?  Couldn't ask for anything else?

I don't think he should've even had to wait for permission to re-install his game.  At all.

Well - if he bothered to read the licence agreement when he bought the game then yes - I would have trouble understanding what he was bitching about - because you would understand its not actually his game.
Now, you may not like the licence agreement - and if you don't, you don't have to buy the game.
Buying from them knowing that and then bitching about it is like buying a car and then complaining to the manufacturer you have to put petrol in it.
We are adults and therefore can reasonably be expected to make considered choices - and its battlefronts game and hard work - so they can add whatever DRM they see fit as far as I am concerned.

Leaving all the free will aside - most everyone complaining here about it are complaining are complaining about things that might happen - and most don't even own a game - and if you actually read anything about people who have had a problem with the DRM - all have nothing but praise for the speed and efficacy it was dealt with.

[Zulu1966]

.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

Of course!  Because such DRM is just fine as-is, right?  Couldn't ask for anything else?

I don't think he should've even had to wait for permission to re-install his game.  At all.

Well - if he bothered to read the licence agreement when he bought the game then yes - I would have trouble understanding what he was bitching about - because you would understand its not actually his game.
Now, you may not like the licence agreement - and if you don't, you don't have to buy the game.
Buying from them knowing that and then bitching about it is like buying a car and then complaining to the manufacturer you have to put petrol in it.
We are adults and therefore can reasonably be expected to make considered choices - and its battlefronts game and hard work - so they can add whatever DRM they see fit as far as I am concerned.

Leaving all the free will aside - most everyone complaining here about it are complaining are complaining about things that might happen - and most don't even own a game - and if you actually read anything about people who have had a problem with the DRM - all have nothing but praise for the speed and efficacy it was dealt with.

Tell me of one store or website that lets you read the license agreement before purchase.

[DoctorQuest]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

Of course!  Because such DRM is just fine as-is, right?  Couldn't ask for anything else?

I don't think he should've even had to wait for permission to re-install his game.  At all.

Well - if he bothered to read the licence agreement when he bought the game then yes - I would have trouble understanding what he was bitching about - because you would understand its not actually his game.
Now, you may not like the licence agreement - and if you don't, you don't have to buy the game.
Buying from them knowing that and then bitching about it is like buying a car and then complaining to the manufacturer you have to put petrol in it.
We are adults and therefore can reasonably be expected to make considered choices - and its battlefronts game and hard work - so they can add whatever DRM they see fit as far as I am concerned.

Leaving all the free will aside - most everyone complaining here about it are complaining are complaining about things that might happen - and most don't even own a game - and if you actually read anything about people who have had a problem with the DRM - all have nothing but praise for the speed and efficacy it was dealt with.

Long story short. I bought a game requiring internet activation. The company went belly up. I can no longer play a game I am legally licensed to use.

There are plenty of DRM free games out there. Why am I going to bother with it?

[SgtRock]

"Tell me of one store or website that lets you read the license agreement before purchase."

That's reminds me of Microsoft when they use to sell their software in big boxes in stores, the license agreement was in the box but you agreeded to the license agreement by just opening the box. ???

[Boggit]

Never really understood all this DRM aversion.

Its there ... that's their decision. The game costs 50 bucks - which I could lose in the street one day and forget I had the next - and yet people deny themselves what in my opinion is the best wargame ever produced because of some fear of what may happen - which in ten years playing their games - and dealing with the DRM - never has to me.

Just doesn't make any sense.

Of course!  Because such DRM is just fine as-is, right?  Couldn't ask for anything else?

I don't think he should've even had to wait for permission to re-install his game.  At all.

Well - if he bothered to read the licence agreement when he bought the game then yes - I would have trouble understanding what he was bitching about - because you would understand its not actually his game.
Now, you may not like the licence agreement - and if you don't, you don't have to buy the game.
Buying from them knowing that and then bitching about it is like buying a car and then complaining to the manufacturer you have to put petrol in it.
We are adults and therefore can reasonably be expected to make considered choices - and its battlefronts game and hard work - so they can add whatever DRM they see fit as far as I am concerned.

Leaving all the free will aside - most everyone complaining here about it are complaining are complaining about things that might happen - and most don't even own a game - and if you actually read anything about people who have had a problem with the DRM - all have nothing but praise for the speed and efficacy it was dealt with.

Long story short. I bought a game requiring internet activation. The company went belly up. I can no longer play a game I am legally licensed to use.

There are plenty of DRM free games out there. Why am I going to bother with it?

You make a very good point, which is one reason why I'm with you for hating DRM which can screw up games you have paid for (licenced use that is ;)).

But I have asked myself, what if that did happen, would companies like JTS, or Battlefront really want to see their legitimate customers screwed over as a result? I don't see it happening that way. When I mentioned this a long time ago to Rich Hamilton during the HPS/JTS split, he suggested that if the worst happened there were several people around who would be able to post an update/patch for legitimate users to circumvent any problems with DRM. I haven't asked Battlefront, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would do something similar. In my experience the people running both companies value their customers. I really doubt that in the event of bankrupty they are the sort of people who would leave legit customers deeply in the sh1t regarding the DRM put there ostensibly to protect their business. (I say ostensibly since I'm not at all convinced of DRM's ability to protect against pirates cracking games, but don't get me started on that....... ::))

That said the two companies I mention are small and Indie. They are both a lot more personal with their games, and the customer base. I don't necessarily see one of the large, corporate studios giving a flying f*?k about their customers, but I think these guys really do, and would do whatever they could in the circumstances to help the community. I think that's one huge difference between the Indie's and the Corporates.

[RyanE]

It always depends how they go out of business.  If they voluntarily shut down, I would imagine most developers would kill the DRM through a patch.  If they shut down through the court systems and seek bankruptcy protection or acquisition, they most likely would not be legally allowed to kill the DRM.  The DRM controlled software would most likely be viewed as a potential asset by the courts and creditors.