SOW - with new DRM model by UBI ?

[MikkOwl]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

Actually, it was a terrible analogy, though ya get used to that sort of thing

Heh heh. I thought it was good, because he was only talking about smart business as far as selling copies went. The supermarket is much like the game developers in the sense that by having unguarded easily accessible collections of good scattered about, people in there can easily grab them. And some of it gets lost. They could do it in other ways to minimize theft, but they don't, because they earn more profit in the open way.

but there is something which is quite, quite misunderstand there as well, I think... a purchaser, in reality only buys a license to run the game/ sim. The inner workings/ code. etc. etc belongs to the author/ developer/ publisher.

Almost everyone that buys a game, considers it to be buying a product - it is theirs. Maybe not to reverse engineer and re-sell parts of the code for their own profit. But the unlimited use of it, and the ability to sell their copy of it to others. Technically you are absolutely right - there's all those 'you must agree' things popping up in order to be able to install it.

With copyright crimes... there is a hint in there... there are losers. They would be royalties, ownership, sales profit, etc.

Maybe yes, maybe no. It is a potential loss, and I think there are people who definitely would buy it if they could not copy it elsewhere, if they could justify the expenditure, if they wanted it badly enough, if they had the money, if they liked the company enough, if there was not something else they would rather spend the money on, if they were willing to risk buying something that might be very shitty, and perhaps without being able to sell their copy. Knowing who would have done what in what circumstance is impossible, and is only speculation.

A copied work does not destroy the original, and a copy in itself is not considered a "rival good" legally, and as such, not lost income. Unless, of course, someone is literally selling unauthorized copies at large quantities, and passing it off as as the official, original product/seller etc.. Like trying to sell imitation apparell with the label of the original company to people.

Could you give some more detail on your hesitation at having to be online to perform an uninstall? (similar to online activation but for removal from the system... the uninstaller throws up a code for removal verification)

(Code as in you just have to enter a code to uninstall it that is on the case/manual/disc, or actually be online and connect to some server? It does not matter much though, as my specific objections are similar for both cases).

I am concerned about the potential problems it would cause if my install become non-functional due to any reason (hardware failiure the most common, but also me messing about with tweaks in my XP Home Edition, or by modding the game). This meaning that the install could dissappear off my drive (the drive itself could have died), or that some files are missing that do not permit the uninstaller to function, or internet to function in corellation. I then see the really significant pissed off expression I would have at the prospect of having a game I bought and not be able to install it, because it was not uninstalled, without messing around with begging for them to 'authorize' me to install my game on my hardware.

I'm also just not accepting the idea that the copy does not belong to me and that I would not be able to sell it to someone else. I'm not very firm with this principle though.. For example, I use Steam, and I bought several games there, including IL-2 1946. Steam does not require me to have neither a DVD in a drive nor to be online, which is as it should. But of course, I cannot sell the games to others. I have never once sold a game to anyone in my life though so it's probably why I'm letting it slide. But principally I want to be able to. :p

I am fine with some DRM/functionality limitation. But only in non-invasive ways and in ways that do not limit my freedom with 'my copy' beyond a minimum of hassle. I have 100mbit internet fiber optic connection which flies at 12 megabytes per second, yet it, as well as my router, just is not stable enough.

There was a court case down here in Australia featuring the movie and music houses versus ISP's. The issue was forcing ISP's to monitor and flick illegal downloaders. The plaintifs hired private investigators to join up to bittorrent, etc, and log IP addresses. The IP addresses were forwarded to the target ISP (IInet, which is the smaller of the big provider) at a volume of 3,000 per week/ over a few weeks and their refusal to honour their own ToS forced the legal action (the refusal was based on the sheer volume of complaint). The case went in favour of the ISP but is in appeal.... two weeks after that, a local got busted uploading the new super mario bros game, a week before release... his out of court settlement to nintendo was a ridiculous amount of money - AUD$1.5 million. The Federal Government here is battling to have installed a China type site/ keyword blocking service through the ISP's.

Scary stuff. The EU and Sweden (my home) is experiencing similar things. The movie/record industry and some of the game industry are lobbying like MAD in all the local governments and in the EU headquarters. They build networks and manage to even, in a couple of cases, appoint corrupted judges to judge in critical cases regarding copyright infringement interpretation (The pirate bay trial).

Over 90% of the Swedish population (and we have a representative democracy system - or so we thought) is completely against the idea of copyright extending to include copying media/software for private, non-commercial use. Yet the laws that are being altered represent the interests only of the industry special interest group.

The governments are also very keen on surveilance and wire-tapping + storing all communication through ISP's and mobile phone companies of EVERY citizen in the whole country irellevant of being suspected of a crime or not, which is being implemented too. I think the two are related. Need infrastructure to carry out either of them, and they are both mutually supportive of each others' cause, so..