If UBI's DRM scheme is unacceptable...

[TUSA/TX-Gunslinger]

I'll just be extremely thankful to have the content.

I could care less about the DRM scheme. Hopefully it's robust and completely protects the content.

These DRM posts are so old and archaic. No one of any significance listens to them.

We all need the content protected as much as possible. From my perpective as a user - it's in my own best interest to keep the development dollars going to the creator and to keep the simulation intact from tampering.

S!

Gunny

[ElAurens]

Spot on Gunny.

See you over the Channel sir.

S!

[KaHzModAn]

Because, the word "activation" says once you done it, your game is "activated"
And unless you desactivate it by uninstalling it, it stays "activated" !!

what is wrong with you guys ? have you ever heard of a game that activates itself on each launch ?
it's not called activation in this case but authentication/login in...

activation means you register an account with a CD key or something of the like...

Plus that guy from german ubi forum said it was a one time connection required !

[Sven]

Originally Posted by KaHzModAn

Because, the word "activation" says once you done it, your game is "activated"
And unless you desactivate it by uninstalling it, it stays "activated" !!

what is wrong with you guys ? have you ever heard of a game that activates itself on each launch ?
it's not called activation in this case but authentication/login in...

activation means you register an account with a CD key or something of the like...

Plus that guy from german ubi forum said it was a one time connection required !

Sounds very good to me!

[addman]

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

I'll just be extremely thankful to have the content.

I could care less about the DRM scheme. Hopefully it's robust and completely protects the content.

These DRM posts are so old and archaic. No one of any significance listens to them.

We all need the content protected as much as possible. From my perpective as a user - it's in my own best interest to keep the development dollars going to the creator and to keep the simulation intact from tampering.

S!

Gunny

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[yellonet]

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

I'll just be extremely thankful to have the content.

So will I but that doesn't mean I don't care what else the publisher or developer has decided that I must install to play the game that I've paid money to play.

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

I could care less about the DRM scheme. Hopefully it's robust and completely protects the content.

These DRM posts are so old and archaic. No one of any significance listens to them.

People of significance... who are they? If you're talking about the publishers or developers, then of course they're not listening, they're the one's that wants to decide how we are able to use the product that we paid for.

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

We all need the content protected as much as possible. From my perpective as a user - it's in my own best interest to keep the development dollars going to the creator and to keep the simulation intact from tampering.

You are wrong. DRM is never created or used for the benefit of the user. DRM's sole purpose is to enforce how the product - that you paid for - can be used by you.
It's also highly doubtful if DRM has any effect on piracy.
That DRM is for you is just what the creators of DRM wants you to think.
People that just download a cracked game are not very likely to pay for that game even if they couldn't get it cracked anyway, so there's probably very little gain there.

Saying that DRM is for the users best is just the same thing as when the politicians say that taking away our civil rights and freedoms are for our own protection against terrorists.

No, to me, DRM will always be the thorn in the side of people that actually pay, we're the ones being subjected to unwanted software. Anyone who downloads the cracked version is likely to being spared the DRM software.

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

I'll just be extremely thankful to have the content.

I could care less about the DRM scheme. Hopefully it's robust and completely protects the content.

These DRM posts are so old and archaic. No one of any significance listens to them.

We all need the content protected as much as possible. From my perpective as a user - it's in my own best interest to keep the development dollars going to the creator and to keep the simulation intact from tampering.

S!

Gunny

+1

[The Kraken]

Originally Posted by TUSA/TX-Gunslinger

These DRM posts are so old and archaic. No one of any significance listens to them.

Doug: What are your current thoughts on CP and DRM?

Oleg: I dislike any copy protection, but that’s up to the publisher to decide. In general, it’s a very complex question, and to properly address all the issues I’d probably need at least as much space as the rest of this interview.

Doug: What do you think about having players connect to the Internet 100% of the time as they are playing?

Oleg: I am not a big fan of these things. Many players, especially in less developed parts of the world, still to this day play only single-player and barely use the Internet even if they have Internet access at all.

http://www.simhq.com/_air11/air_341d.html

[MikkOwl]

The UBI titles that had 'constant internet connection required' had that disclaimer on the boxes. This one instead is the same that SteamWorks titles use.

I read an article some weeks ago stating that UBI would withdraw their 'constant internet connection required'.

UBI publishes all(?) their games on Steam. Some of them are exclusive, such as R.U.S.E. from September 2010.

Put these infobits together and you get big arrows pointing to SoW using Steam as delivery platform. Can buy it on DVD or through Steam. Have to activate it with Steam once regardless. Patched through Steam. Multiplayer (probably) through Steam.

Steam is tolerable because it does permit playing without needing to be online. The inability to resell the product is an agreeable tradeoff from them permanently storing & delivering the game to you online whenever you want.

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by leggit

this is the 21st century....if your using a machine without internet access you really should rethink your setup....i have to agree regarding this whole copyright protection arguement its old and out of date....the FACTS are that studios are turning away from the pc platform because of the constant problem of piracy...suck it up people if you want quality games for your pc in the future its got to have some sort of DRM...you can't have your cake and eat it anymore.

Well, i agree with some sort of DRM. What i don't agree with is "i'll take any kind of DRM they throw at me". Nope, not gonna happen. If i can't play a game due to factors outside my direct control i won't support it, or at least i'll wait until it drops in price first.

And for clarification's sake, a problem within my direct control is a drivers problem or a busted graphics card. I can work to repair such a software issue or save some money, go out and buy a new GPU.

However, i can't do jack about a road construction crew accidentally cutting a bunch of fiber optic cables midway between where i live and the country's capital (where incidentally, the main hub to connections in other countries for all local ISPs happens to be).

This is not within my control and as such, it's not fit to have something that depends on it as part of the system requirements. If it is part of them, i refuse to support such a title at its initial asking price or completely.

And before someone says i got a wild imagination, this exact thing happened a couple of years ago and i was stuck with a DSL line that dropped the moment my router requested the slightest amount of traffic. Sorry, but i wouldn't pay for a car i can't drive whenever there's a storm half way across the globe, so i won't do something similar for a game either.

The encouraging bit for me is that Ubi's in-house DRM already failed and mr. Maddox himself has said he's not partial to such solutions.

I've never used Steam and i'm getting mixed opinions and reviews about it from different people. To be honest i'd prefer they have their own infrastructure just for activations and maybe an integrated multiplayer server browser, with the rest of the network traffic being exchanged between the users to keep bandwidth costs down. All the server browser would need to do is tell your installation that it needs to "talk" to a certain server/host/IP, then your PC would communicate directly with that IP address.
As long as the rest of the game runs locally on our PCs without a constant connection requirement the traffic would be cheap enough to manage for someone like Ubi, but since they went "all or nothing" on their previous DRM that flopped so badly maybe they can't afford it anyway

The ideal process for me would be something like this:
1) Go to the game's website and create an account.

2) While the sim is installing log into the website's members area with this account, go to your profile, click on "bind your account to your product key" or something similar and input the product key found in your DVD box. This tells the service that your account corresponds to the owner of a legally purchased copy.

3) Use this verified account to log into the game in order to "unlock" your installation and you're done, but ONLY the first time a fresh installation of the game is being executed.

4) Allow unlimited installs/uninstalls. This way i can grab the DVD box, my TrackIR and my stick, go to a friend's house while we're having a LAN party, install it on his PC, log in with my account to activate it and do some free advertising for the game. But how will this stop me and my friend from "sharing" one key so we can both play the game? See next point.

5) Whenever i'm connected to the internet the game communicates with the authentication servers in random intervals. It could be once a week, once a month or even every single time, whatever, but it ONLY happens when i'm ALREADY connected to the internet. If i'm not if won't ask me to.
So, if i am online and it detects that the same key is used more than once simultaneously, both players get an "multiple log-ins detected" message and they need to reactivate. I can, since i know my account details, my friend can't since he doesn't. If he likes the game that bad, he's gonna have to buy it

6) Want to take this one step further? Allow customized "client" installations without any activation required. What for? So we can fly in multi-crew with people who don't have the game yet. Restrictions for such an installation would be
a) unable to fly any single player missions (apart from 1-2 sample missions or certain QMB scenarios, hey, presto, we got a demo this way)
b) unable to host multiplayer sessions
c) able to join a multiplayer session hosted by a player with a fully activated installation, or a dedicated server
d) once joining a multiplayer session, unable to act as the only human player in the aircraft (so, no piloting single seaters for you if you don't buy the game, actually, no piloting bombers either if you don't have a registered fellow in the same airplane)
e) able to join in with a player who has an activated installation into the same aircraft, either as pilot/copilot or as a bomb aimer/gunner.

This way i could install "client" installations on all my friends' PCs and give the game some extra exposure, without enabling them to play it for free. It would just get them interested in it and they might buy it.
Out of about 10 people i regularly game with there are 4-5 that have an interest in WWII history, one i already managed to get into flying IL2 with me (he was into falcon 4.0 back in the day) but the rest think sims are "too difficult/time consuming". That's where the Tiger Moth and the multi-crew feature comes in, teaching them to fly. Sooner or later, i might be able to convince an extra two guys to buy a cheap stick and the game.

See, there are ways to do this that can be mutually beneficial to the fans and the developers/publishers alike