I get so tired of all this hysteria regarding DRM systems whatever they are called...
I just don't understand why people get so upset? Software has been protected by different versions of copy protection systems since the C64 days. Remember the tedious work of finding weird codes in those manuals? As it is now the online solution is the one that will prevail. Just face it. Everyone that are in the target group for buying games are connected now They have spent enough cash on a rig to be able to play the game and computers like that are in 97% of the cases connected to the Internet. The ones not connected are the ones travelling in the lap of their owner and that is a minor problem. People on 28k modems are not in the target group, and they have not been for 10 years.
I just installed Battlefield: Bad Company 2 yesterday and after the installation I got the question:
Do you want a DVD check when starting the game or online autentication that removes the need for having the disc in the computer?
I suppose you can guess what I choose? The alternative that makes it easiest for me as a paying customer. I just love that I don't to find a disc to play ROF.
There is only ONE developer of high budget sub simulators right now and their publisher decides to go with and online DRM system. What happens? Half of the so called "community" says they will not buy the game (like they refused to buy the excellent SH3 due to Star Force whining). It's fortunate that they are only a couple of hundred people so their crying will have no effect. The "men on the street" will hopefully buy the game so the whiners can get SH 6 in the end. Guess what? Whoever publishes it will sure have an online protection too. As will all other games in a few years. Start looking for your old board games while the rest of us enjoys the removed need to find those discs to be able to play.
Sure - as a customer I would love to have a game with no protection systems at all. But as it is now the companies are fleeing the PC market due to piracy. The invention of a fool proof DRM system (and that will require online authentication in some way) could actually be the solution that brings on a new renaissance of PC gaming where enough copies are sold to support nice markets like the flight simulator market...
/Mazex
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