Battlefront.com DRM

[Tuna]

I just want to know why the no longer have a deactivate program.. You shouldn't have to be at their mercy when upgrading hardware. Again, their tech support responds really quickly. But if it's one of those times, the wife is out.. I've just upgraded my hardware and in the mood to check it out.. I shouldn't even have to wait a day.. They should have the deactivate program in the program group.. even Scourge with their one machine at a time pain in the as with Gettysburg, let you deactivate (Thank God they went to Matrix and are now DRM free).

[Michael Dorosh]

I just want to know why the no longer have a deactivate program.. You shouldn't have to be at their mercy when upgrading hardware. Again, their tech support responds really quickly. But if it's one of those times, the wife is out.. I've just upgraded my hardware and in the mood to check it out.. I shouldn't even have to wait a day.. They should have the deactivate program in the program group.. even Scourge with their one machine at a time pain in the as with Gettysburg, let you deactivate (Thank God they went to Matrix and are now DRM free).

I finally took the plunge on the Italian campaign games after swearing I wouldn't. Then I bravely blundered onto the website and ordered the Mac version instead of the Windows. The tech support was good about it. I didn't expect 24-hour operators standing by, but for someone who brought about his own misfortune by not reading the website properly, I was treated quite well. They switched my download for the correct one without any fuss. I believe I had to wait for the next business day. But as someone who grew up before the information age and can still remember when stores were closed on Sunday out of respect for the Sabbath, it was not a huge imposition. BFC does have a very efficient tech support line. All one needs in return is a bit of patience.

[mirth]

Clearly someone from Battlefront has hacked Michael's account. :P

[DoctorQuest]

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.

Again. Why should I even bother? There is no game on the market that is worth this hassle. This is not an OS or something I NEED. This is playtime. I have little enough of that as it is. I am not going to waste it on any form of DRM.

[mirth]

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.

Again. Why should I even bother? There is no game on the market that is worth this hassle. This is not an OS or something I NEED. This is playtime. I have little enough of that as it is. I am not going to waste it on any form of DRM.

+1

[Arctic Blast]

And the merry go 'round continues to spin interminably, with everyone tossing out the same tired arguments because THIS TIME it'll WORK and the Internetz will be won.

These discussions are so fruitful.

[mirth]

Never ending, circular arguments are what make the interwebs run.

[Asid]

I originally made the thread to discuss real world experience with BF DRM and not about DRM in general. I did not intend for this to go any other way but i suppose it is inevitable.

Regards

[mirth]

This has been remarkably on-topic and civil for a DRM thread.

[Zulu1966]

I originally made the thread to discuss real world experience with BF DRM and not about DRM in general. I did not intend for this to go any other way but i suppose it is inevitable.

Regards

Which was kind of my point - the real world experience is just fine - and should in no way stop you from buying their games. Of course if you want to listen to the imagined horror stories of others then don't buy the game or of course if you want to deny yourself the experience because of some deeply held principle around DRM (which I personally find a strange thing to hold a deeply held principal about) - then don't buy the game. All I can say is that you might walk under a bus tomorrow and you will be unable to play the game just as much as if BF went out of business and they didn't release a patch.

Despite what someone said earlier - even if you are the most anti DRM person around - this IS the one game worth dropping your objection for.

[Zulu1966]

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.

Again. Why should I even bother? There is no game on the market that is worth this hassle. This is not an OS or something I NEED. This is playtime. I have little enough of that as it is. I am not going to waste it on any form of DRM.

And that - in my view - is precisely where you are wrong.

Point one - I have all their games - and there is no hassle. Despite peoples attempt to portray their DRM system as a never ending hell of constant problems - that's just not the case - however many times they try to say it is.

Point two - Even if you hate it for whatever reason - this game is worth it (though "worth it" is still a completely bogus description)

[mirth]

Sure, sure. This thread and similar threads elsewhere exist because of the hassle-free DRM. Your opinion of worth is just that, an opinion. Spend your dollars however you want and the rest of us will reserve the right to do likewise.

[Michael Dorosh]

Despite what someone said earlier - even if you are the most anti DRM person around - this IS the one game worth dropping your objection for.

These kinds of silly statements do nothing to advance the discussion. You can buy any game ever made one day and if the company goes out of business the next and you are unable to access your game the day after, you have wasted your money.

Everything is subjective, so telling someone what they should like is also equally pointless.

More to the point, I think, would be a company's track record of releasing information to the public. It may be worth noting that when Combat Mission: Campaigns was declared a no-go, BFC released the source code to the fan base. The point being that if the company was contemplating an end to their business for whatever reason, there is always a chance that they would eliminate the DRM requirement before doing so. I don't know how likely it is, but I've seen it discussed in the past. At any rate, there is nothing to suggest it would never happen, and the CM:C source code release may be a positive sign. I believe there have been discussions on that theme at BFC in the past though as someone who has had no problems with their DRM, I never really paid attention.

[RyanE]

I originally made the thread to discuss real world experience with BF DRM and not about DRM in general. I did not intend for this to go any other way but i suppose it is inevitable.

Regards

Which was kind of my point - the real world experience is just fine - and should in no way stop you from buying their games. Of course if you want to listen to the imagined horror stories of others then don't buy the game or of course if you want to deny yourself the experience because of some deeply held principle around DRM (which I personally find a strange thing to hold a deeply held principal about) - then don't buy the game. All I can say is that you might walk under a bus tomorrow and you will be unable to play the game just as much as if BF went out of business and they didn't release a patch.

Despite what someone said earlier - even if you are the most anti DRM person around - this IS the one game worth dropping your objection for.

My posts are not imagined.  I still like CM and play it, but the OP asked about experiences with BFC DRM.  It only takes a quick look at the BFC tech forum to see that some people do have issues.  It's not huge, but it is there.  I also have the emails to prove it.

[Boggit]

Clearly someone from Battlefront has hacked Michael's account. :P

Then the same must have happened with mine. ;) I pretty much agree with Michael, and Zulu1966, based on my own experience with Battlefront. I haven't found them being difficult at all, quite the opposite. When I've had a problem they've sorted it and pretty quickly too.