Battlefront.com DRM

[RyanE]

The only mention of weeks is they said they "planned" on releasing it a week or so after the upgrade.  The upgrade was over a month ago.  And it sounds like a fix is not in sight.

At some point, the ROI on paying for the DRM software, having to implement it, maintaining the support structure to deal with it, having to retool the modules periodically for it, and the grief to customers must come up on the negative side for that type of DRM.

[Huw the Poo]

Missing our on CM:RT (or BN or FI for that matter) because of, in my experience, unfounded concerns re: DRM strikes me as regrettable.

I'll have to disagree there.  Taking a stance against draconian, obstructive, counter-productive DRM policies is laudable in my opinion, not regrettable (especially for the sake of one video game).

Of course, that was before everyone accepted Steam into their lives...

[mirth]

Steam makes DRM palatable by seducing us with some insanely cheap deals. Resistance is futile.

[Cyrano]

Mirth beat me to it, there's really no fight left.

I understand that each of us has our own tolerance for DRM and, even within that, will find particular types of DRM more noxious than others.  As I just said elsewhere, I find the PBEM++ far worse than anything BFC ever dreamt and I've been able to play RT on my main PC which is, sadly, more than I can say for John Tiller's Modern War, but that's another story.

I've no desire to aggravate good folks hereabout by re-engaging on this time after time, but, for those who might visit this thread for the first time, I just wanted to make it known that there are a great many, myself included, that have not had and do not have any problems with the BFC DRM and that do think that missing out on a game of this quality for that reason is, indeed, regrettable.

Best,

Jim
"CYrano"
:/7)

[bayonetbrant]

*touches wood*

careful - this is a family site!

[Grim.Reaper]

The only mention of weeks is they said they "planned" on releasing it a week or so after the upgrade.  The upgrade was over a month ago.  And it sounds like a fix is not in sight.

At some point, the ROI on paying for the DRM software, having to implement it, maintaining the support structure to deal with it, having to retool the modules periodically for it, and the grief to customers must come up on the negative side for that type of DRM.

Yes, BF admitted that a partial reason for the delay is the DRM, but the rest of their statement states the original reason for the delay was the building bug..it seems that has been overlooked here and focus only squarely put on the DRM.  As I have said before, their DRM is not my favorite and wish they had something else, but they are not going to change so seems like a merry-go-round to continue bringing it up.

[RyanE]

The merry go round might have some impact.  They did change the DRM vendor and somewhat the strategy between CMSF and CMBN.  There were a multitude of issues with the CMSF DRM and it was becoming very complex to patch and update.  It was complex just uninstalling the right way, let alone reinstalling.

[RyanE]

The only mention of weeks is they said they "planned" on releasing it a week or so after the upgrade.  The upgrade was over a month ago.  And it sounds like a fix is not in sight.

At some point, the ROI on paying for the DRM software, having to implement it, maintaining the support structure to deal with it, having to retool the modules periodically for it, and the grief to customers must come up on the negative side for that type of DRM.

Yes, BF admitted that a partial reason for the delay is the DRM, but the rest of their statement states the original reason for the delay was the building bug..it seems that has been overlooked here and focus only squarely put on the DRM.  As I have said before, their DRM is not my favorite and wish they had something else, but they are not going to change so seems like a merry-go-round to continue bringing it up.

The building bug was fixed when 3.0 came out I think mid-August.  After that it was DRM-related.

[mirth]

I have stayed away from the latest CM games (I own everything through Shockforce Marines) in part due to the DRM and in part because Steve has often comes across as an abrasive d-bag to customers, imho. These things do make a difference with potential customers.

Am I missing out on some great wargames? I don't doubt it. Do I lack for great wargames to play? Not in the least. The only real power I have as a customer is to vote with my dollars.

Like I said, Steam is fairly easy to take because the games are often absurdly cheap and for the most part Steam just works. If I'm going to pay the full $40-50 bucks for a game, I don't want ANY hassled with the DRM.

[Huw the Poo]

There's something in the back of my mind that's trying to remind me of another reason I've never bought any Battlefront games.  Something to do with paying for patches maybe?  Or am I barking up the wrong tree completely?

[Nefaro]

There's something in the back of my mind that's trying to remind me of another reason I've never bought any Battlefront games.  Something to do with paying for patches maybe?  Or am I barking up the wrong tree completely?

I've started some past flame wars by bringing up such methods with the CM series. 

All started when they had the audacity to make me buy the last CMSF patch because I had the physical DVD version (the Digital version got the upgrade free).  It was a symbolic $1 and it would have the added advantage of "upgrading" me to their digital registration DRM.  Something I didn't want in the first place (hence why I had picked up the DVD). 

Second time I picked up the CMBN+Commonwealth bundle only to learn a month later that the future editions were gonna be full-priced standalones, instead of modular add-ons, and that I'd have to purchase future patches instead.  Meh.  What a mess.

I got more than enough good games to keep me busy, and with less hassle.  Fortunately I'm not one of those people who are anchored to playing WW2 all the time.  :P

[jomni]

These things make sense to those who play nothing but CM. But for those who have other games to play, they think BF is nuts. 

As I said before, no need to go on and argue who's right or wrong. 

[Michael Dorosh]

CMRT is out and maybe there will be something better to talk about now.

For games with problematic DRM, the conversation inevitably comes back around to the DRM. No matter how good the game may be.

I an opening up the topic again because I thought this post ties directly to this discussion and is a good follow up.

I saw Steve posted on BFC that the big hold up on CMRT is the DRM.  They are having issues with it.  Again my point is that I have no issues with DRM, but use one that works.  They have had some pretty steady issues with DRM since the CMRT was released.  This is now an issue the effects every CM user.  It has gone from an isolated incident here and there to delaying a much needed patch for months.  I still come back to whether anyone at BFC really thinks its worth it.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1553895&postcount=18

What is the "building bug" he is talking about?

[Elvis]

CMRT is out and maybe there will be something better to talk about now.

For games with problematic DRM, the conversation inevitably comes back around to the DRM. No matter how good the game may be.

I an opening up the topic again because I thought this post ties directly to this discussion and is a good follow up.

I saw Steve posted on BFC that the big hold up on CMRT is the DRM.  They are having issues with it.  Again my point is that I have no issues with DRM, but use one that works.  They have had some pretty steady issues with DRM since the CMRT was released.  This is now an issue the effects every CM user.  It has gone from an isolated incident here and there to delaying a much needed patch for months.  I still come back to whether anyone at BFC really thinks its worth it.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1553895&postcount=18

What is the "building bug" he is talking about?

Some people with a very specific video card and computer configuration have a problem where units will not enter single level modular buildings.
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=114405

[Redwolf]

Steam makes DRM palatable by seducing us with some insanely cheap deals. Resistance is futile.

Personally I like Steam's DRM (always online, not tied to specific computers) a lot better than that mess that the BFC DRM is.  I understand that there is a large part of the CM player base that wants offline capability.  But the right split would have been to use always online with a feature to register certain offline enabled installations, under pretty much the same conditions as they are right now.

Steam (always online) doesn't require intrusive software (that always gets CM identified as malware), I can play on any computer I want, I can try my luck running it in wine (a lot of windows games now do, except that BFC's DRM specifically forbids doing that) and the game vendors doesn't have to hack anything up, it doesn't delay game releases or patches.

If others want offline, too, then release that as a special solution for them instead of harassing everybody with unusual and cruel (blunt) naive old-style DRM. This isn't 1994 anymore.