General Discussion [ Page 72 ]

DRM: Its 2013 and it Still Won't Die

Recently Tommy Refenes posted on IndieGames.com about Piracy and DRM and you really should read it.

http://indiegames.com/2013/03/team_meats_refenes_apathy_and_.html

Its a well written piece and he brings up several points I want to highlight.

“We are closing in on 2 million sales and assuming a 10% piracy to sales ratio does not seem unreasonable. As a forward thinking developer who exists in the present, I realize and accept that a pirated copy of a digital game does not equate to money being taken out of my pocket.”

He goes on to say...

“In the digital world, you don't have a set inventory. Your game is infinitely replicable at a negligible or zero cost (the cost... Read All

Sparklepop wrote on 03/26/2013 at 07:09pm

Agree 100%. And this isn't a hard concept to understand. Well, at least not for us little people.

IceMice wrote on 03/26/2013 at 10:42pm

i'm just gonna be sharing this over on facebook now...

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/26/2013 at 11:13pm

This is good stuff. I like Tommy's article. The argument that piracy equals lost sales never made sense to me. Value and respect go hand in hand, and the idea of creating something valuable, rather than creating a product that you put a value on, is an essential concept. Radiohead experienced a similar thing with their pay-what-you-like digital release of In Rainbows:

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&title=did_radiohead_s_in_rainbows_honesty_box_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/27/2013 at 12:02am

I picked up that Radiohead album and for me, yeah it brought with it a new way of thinking about buying stuff. They should have tagged it better and added album art BUT it opened peoples eyes to a new way to delivering the rad.

I think people in the ivory towers of mega-videogame-corp-o-tron don't understand that paying customers are not evil. I don't pirate software but I have a shitload of Steam titles. You can't invent DRM that works with me cause I don't pirate games, I buy them. I have met people that pirate as a way of life, they just want free stuff, no amount of coaxing will get them to think otherwise.

Anyways ill get down off the soapbox :D

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2013 at 03:49am

I'm OK with certain DRM. Steam is fine. It's something that you have to be logged into, or have logged into in the somewhat recent past, in order to play. It's totally unobtrusive and doesn't put up roadblocks every step of the way.

But like you and everyone else has said, if it's good enough, it's going to be broken and spread all over the net. They aren't punishing pirates in any way, they're punishing paying customers.

If I download a movie I open it and it starts playing. If I buy one it takes at least a minute or so to get through all the crap to get to my movie.

If piracy is providing a better product than you are, you're doing something wrong and need to change your model.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/27/2013 at 06:28am

"If piracy is providing a better product than you are, you're doing something wrong and need to change your model."

That is exactly true.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:03pm

@Travis: I think there is a difference between "always online DRM for single player games," "online multiplayer games" and Steam.

* Always online DRM: Must be online to start start and play single player game.
* Multiplayer Online Game: Games like WoW and DoTA 2, must be online to play, kind of the point of the game.
* Steam: Must download game before you play it. Can play most games offline unless its like DoTA 2 or some other online multiplayer game.

Just because you need to download something before you play it doesn't mean its DRM, that's like saying Firefox is DRM'ed too. Does Cheerful Ghost employ DRM because you have to be online to use it? :D

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:15pm

No, Steam is DRM because you have to sign into Steam in order to play most of the games you have purchased. There's a significant difference between always online DRM and Steam, I wasn't trying to equate the two, but Steam *is* a kind of DRM. Or I guess more correctly, DRM is a part of Steamworks. It isn't just a download manager for your games, it provides its own DRM for publishers to use. This is most notable in (for me) its only downside-- If you've signed out incorrectly or if you've failed to install an update and sign in once afterwards, you can't use Steam offline and you are locked out of your games.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:16pm

The relevant bits from the FAQ:

"Steam's DRM solution (called "CEG" by Valve) is just one of many Steamworks components game developers may use, alongside achievements, cloud saving, the workshop, matchmaking network code etc.; just like with all the others, implementing it is not required to distribute a game on Steam. A game can use the other Steamworks features and still remain DRM-free."

But in effect, the list of games that choose not to use it is very small.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:38pm

Huh. Well, I didn't know they did that. So yeah, apparently it is. It seems just like a download manager to me and I have played offline to boot.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:45pm

Yeah I've played offline a bunch, in fact I may have once or twice... heard about... a friend... sharing accounts with people to and after signing in blocking Steam via the Windows firewall to force it offline so two people could play single player games on the same account. But it requires that sign-in, and if Steam ends abruptly or thinks it needs to do something you're screwed until you sign back in.

I think you have to sign in once every 60 or 90 days for offline mode to continue to work as well. Can't remember the cutoff.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2013 at 04:54pm

BUT! I think it speaks volumes about Steam's DRM implementation that it was so unobtrusive you were unaware that there was any DRM there. It's DRM done right. At this point DRM is still a necessary evil if we want games from most publishers, and Steam has a way to do it almost transparently and without being detrimental to the customer.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/29/2013 at 03:24am

For some reason it just now, more than a day later, occurred to me that my previous comment could be taken like "haha you didn't know Steam had drm you stupid head." That wasn't my intention at all- just pointing out how well that Steam had implemented it, so that it's almost entirely transparent to the user.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/29/2013 at 03:39am

I didn't take it that way :)

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Eat Game Live: Make Food Inspired by Games

"Eat Game Live is what happens when you let a gamer into the kitchen. I was sick of eating trash all day, so I decided to learn how to cook. My goal of this blog was to write recipes for people in my situation: gamers who just want a good meal. I try to keep my food healthy without sacrificing flavor."

Eat Game Live has some really cool recipes on the site themed around some awesome games like Starcraft, FTL, Dark Souls, Borderlands and more.

http://eatgamelive.com/category/starcraft
http://eatgamelive.com/category/faster-than-light
http://eatgamelive.com/category/darksouls
http://eatgamelive.com/category/borderlands

The photos of the dishes look really good and I might try... Read All

Friday at GameStorm:Kickstarter & Community Panels

My first day at GameStorm was great. Its nice to come to an event by Geeks for Geeks. If you love playing RPG's, Board Games, Miniatures or Collectible Card Games GameStorm is your jam. I do and it was fun to sit down and play some games I wasn't previously exposed to. After my first panel(more on that later) I hit up the floor and settled on playing Steve Jackson's Revolution! Revolution! is a game where you try to coerce the town such that your influence spreads such that you gain the towns support for your revolution. I was mesmerized by the bidding and strategy process so much that I forgot to expand my influence in the city. I was spending time reading the table,... Read All

Duck Tales is being remade!

If you played this game on NES, you know how big a deal this is. I'm seriously looking forward to this game more than most 2013 releases.

Duck Tales was released by Capcom, and designed by some members of the same team that did Mega Man, including Keiji Inafune. It's easily one of the best NES games, back when you could actually get good licensed games.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 03/22/2013 at 11:13pm

I'm a little luke warm on the art style. The scene with the Beagle Boys running to the right looks like a flash cartoon to me, which is a pretty lousy aesthetic. Especially when Way Forward does amazing pixel art.

Still, the original is one of my favorite NES games, so I'll definitely give it a shot.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 03/22/2013 at 11:26pm

Style: http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/gallery/adventure-time_1/adventure_time-3.jpg

http://www.brashgames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Aliens-Infestation-DS-Screenshot-1.jpg

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/23/2013 at 05:02pm

Looks good to me. The art style looks fine to me, though I do prefer the Pixel Art aesthetic. My only question is hit detection, from the video I was wondering how easy it would be to make a jump or do things. Beyond that, looks cool.

Clifton wrote on 03/23/2013 at 05:22pm

This game had such an impact on me, beginning with the purchase. I remember specifically my dad buying it for $49,99 at Fred Meyer, and seeming a little shocked at the price. I felt slightly bad at the time, but I really wanted that game, and it wasn't like I was gonna ask him not to buy it. I knew he'd be fine.

I probably spent more hours playing that game than anything else for NES, except RPGs and Mario titles. It soon got to the point where I beat it every time I popped it in the machine, but the fact that the challenge was gone didn't bother me at all. It was always fun to play. Didn't care about my high score or anything, just liked bouncing around on my strange springy walking stick thing.

As an interface designer, I can also remember how picky the controls scheme was. You had to hold down and press B to do the downward air attack, but B on its own didn't do a damn thing, so why make me hold down as well? And the second or so it took pressing up against an object before you could thwack it with your stick seemed so arbitrary. It didn't add to the challenge, just added extra time to an otherwise straightforward action.

I was eight years old when I was thinking about this stuff. No wonder I do what I do now.

krcDeuce Supporter wrote on 03/23/2013 at 05:36pm

I never owned it, but I remember renting it multiple times from the local video store.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 03/24/2013 at 05:34pm

Pixels are great for hit detection, which is a big part of this this game. It's just weird that they got a studio renown for pixel art and had them do flash art. I'm still into it.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/24/2013 at 05:49pm

I remember many of Capcom Disney licensed games from "Disney Afternoon" being pretty good. Duck Tales, Chip & Dales, Tale Spin. Darkwing Duck didn't seem as awesome though.

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Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Guest Pass Giveaway

Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm came with 4 guess passes. I will be giving them away to the first people that claim them in the comments.

* no Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Guest Pass Left!
* 2 Word of Warcraft Guest Passes

Ill update the post when someone claims one of the passes.

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 03/21/2013 at 11:50pm

Wings of Liberty, please!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/21/2013 at 11:51pm

Sent.

aziz_cingz wrote on 03/22/2013 at 02:40am

Aye!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/22/2013 at 02:58am

Which one do you want Aziz? Wings or WoW pass?

aziz_cingz wrote on 03/22/2013 at 06:47am

Wings please, sir (:

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/22/2013 at 01:39pm

Sent

BR Supporter wrote on 03/22/2013 at 04:10pm

Aw damn! I missed the starcraft ones :(

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/22/2013 at 04:47pm

Plenty of WoW codes :D

BR Supporter wrote on 03/22/2013 at 06:48pm

No thanks, I am done WoW. I used to play it quite a bit.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/22/2013 at 06:49pm

done with WoW*

Travis Admin wrote on 03/22/2013 at 09:41pm

Hang on a sec, how does the WoL guest pass differ from the SC2 starter edition? I thought Starter Edition replaced the need for guest passes.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/23/2013 at 12:37am

It may Travis. I just had those in the Collectors Edition. So yeah, BR you might wan to try the SC2 Starter Edition and let us know how that works out.

Oh and I hear you on leaving WoW, sometimes stepping away is good.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/23/2013 at 01:03am

Is the starter addition just a trial or something?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/23/2013 at 01:05am

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/3250656

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Indie Minute is live!

Hey everyone, I've been planning to do this for a while now, and I've finally started a series of super short videos all about indie games.

Indie Minute is my attempt to create something like Destructoid, but solely for independent games, in short bursts that combine the essence of a topic, like an upcoming game, a review, rumor, tips for developers, etc, with my tendency to get super excited and talk really fast.

Anyway, the first three episodes are online. I'm about to leave for GDC, so I wanted a few shows up for people to see, and I plan on doing some interviews while I'm down there for future episodes.

Let me know what you think! Also, I'm looking for more games to... Read All

Publishers balked at female lead of Remember Me

Apparently some companies still think a female protagonist can't sell games. Despite the successes of some (admittedly few) series like Tomb Raider, Portal, and Metroid, some refuse to publish a game with a female at the forefront.

From the article:
"We had some [companies] that said, 'Well, we don't want to publish it because that's not going to succeed. You can't have a female character in games. It has to be a male character, simple as that."

Source: http://penny-arcade.com/report/article/remember-mes-surprising-connection-to-facebook-and-why-its-protagonist-had

John Riccitello Steps Down as EA's CEO

EA CEO John Riccitello has announced he's stepping down at the end of March. The one reason most sources agree upon is loss of revenue, but others mention botched product launches, so I can't help but wonder if the Sim City launch has anything to do with it. Losing revenue is par for the course these days, with competition from mobile games rising, but that much loss of face may be something they can't let slide.

EA used to be the bad guys of gaming, then Activision kinda took that role for a while, but over the past few years it seems EA has been trying to get that title back. Requiring one-use codes to enable multiplayer on their games, requiring you to give them... Read All

BR Supporter wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:50pm

Hopefully this will change the way they look at gamers to actually people instead of walking money bags. If they honestly changed their ethic to producing games they could become a favorite to me. They could start by not releasing day 1 dlc.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:52pm

+1 to progress.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 07:27pm

Day 1 DLC can be good if it's done for the right reasons. After the game is done you have a while to wait before it hits stores, and even before completion there are some teams who won't be working on bug fixes. So it can make sense that there might be some DLC completed in time for release date.

What I hate, though, is when the day 1 DLC is just a few k in size. You can tell the content is already on the disc and you're just paying for an unlock.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/20/2013 at 12:50am

I don't expect things to change any time soon. The micro-charge-you-till-you-die approach from mobile gaming seems to be bleeding into all other gaming. Large studios have stopped taking chances on new IP and are content to regurgitate the same 4 titles ad nauseum.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:36am

Good thing indies are making awesome stuff. Plus they all seem to be doing cross platform, which is awesome.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 04:21pm

EA player appreciation sale:

http://store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/html/pbPage.origin-deals

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What Should I Play Next?

I was just talking to @scrypt on Steam about this and I am wanting to ask you all as well. Now that I have completed Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm what should I play next? I mean, I am totally getting Age of Empires II: HD but, beyond that, what should I play?

A few thoughts on games I could buy:

* FTL
* The Walking Dead
* Dishonored
* FarCry 3

Games I own I haven't started yet:

* Bastion
* Fallout: New Vegas
* Braid

So what do you think I should play next? Ill make a choice based on your suggestions and let you know how it turns out.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/19/2013 at 03:16am

You already own three amazing games that you haven't played. I would suggest New Vegas. If you want to ease your way in before going into another hardcore game, Braid can be completed in just a few hours.

jaelte wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:06am

While I know I do not follow this example at all, it's probably best to go for a game you already own. If you've played Fallout 3, you probably have an idea of how much time you'll be putting into New Vegas. Should you be up for a long game, I'd say go for that one. I haven't played Braid, but I can definitely vouch for Bastion. I beat it in 11 hours, but you could spend a lot more time going for various challenges if that was the sort of thing that interests you.

jaelte wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:09am

All that said, you really do need to play The Walking Dead. So if you have a little extra money burning a hole in your pocket, get that one.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:22am

All that makes sense, thanks guys. Leaning to New Vegas, because I own it already and LOVED Fallout 3.

Then again, Bastion, FTL and Braid.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/19/2013 at 03:27pm

You also should watch LOST lol

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 04:52pm

Ok its down to FTL and Fallout: New Vegas.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:27pm

New Vegas is so fucking good and it's easily twice the game FO3 is (and I love FO3). I think the answer is clear.

2nd runner up? Bastion is a pure joy and is short.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:55pm

Definitely New Vegas since you already own it. Although, the waflkig dead is an amazing game I'd wait till you can get it on sale because it is a small game, content-wise (huge game story-wise though)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/19/2013 at 05:57pm

Yeah, I am edging to Fallout: New Vegas. Already have it, seems to be double awesome over Fallout 3 so can't go wrong there.

For sure will play The Walking Dead and FTL and Bastion at some point though.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/20/2013 at 12:24am

I know your mind is made up, but here's one more vote for Bastion. Beat it once, but there is so much that I left undone, I'll be going through it again.

Also, The Walking Dead (the Telltale adventure, not the travesty that just came out) is a must-play if you enjoy the comics or television show. It's not a feel-good, romp-a-minute action game, but it'll stop your heart once or twice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:35am

Ill take a swing through Bastion at some point for sure!

Travis Admin wrote on 03/20/2013 at 01:08pm

Anyone else wanting Bastion can get it for as low as a buck this week: http://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

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A New Feature: Post Tracking

I just rolled out a new feature many of you have been asking for called "post tracking." Post tracking is the star to the right of the comment button. The star lets you know by it being highlighted or not if you are tracking a post.

If you track a post you will get notifications whenever anyone comments on the post. If you want to stop getting notifications on a post, click the star to stop tracking it.

If you create or comment in a post you will automagically track it.

Tracking specifies you and everyone else's interest in the post over time. You might be interested in a post in the beginning and over time might want to exit the conversation. You also might just want to... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/16/2013 at 11:49pm

Woot!

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/16/2013 at 11:53pm

Fantastic news.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/17/2013 at 12:17am

Very cool new feature!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2013 at 12:55am

Thanks everyone, its been a long process of thinking about it after all that it was really only maybe a few hours to add it in.

BR Supporter wrote on 03/17/2013 at 01:16am

Yay, now I won't get 1 million notifications when I comment on something. :P

All jokes aside, this is a really cool, and simple to use, idea.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/17/2013 at 01:19am

Glad you guys like it! Personally I love getting notifications and only recently didn't know people didn't like that. :D

Travis Admin wrote on 03/17/2013 at 03:19am

Yeah there has yet to be a conversation I wanted out of, but I can understand with things like the Terraria server, if you weren't in on it and didn't need to get updates, etc.

Looks awesome!

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