[jdkbph]

I am one of those "some" who have had problems.

The DRM concern is two-fold:

The first is related to the SES EULA, the legality of which is suspect in any case. Although it's not really an issue for me personally, others have complained that the DRM, which effectively enforces the EULA, prevents them from reselling or otherwise transferring the rights to install and play the game to anyone else.

The second, and most significant in a practical sense, has to do with the fact that any number of small, silly and/or seemingly unrelated type things you might do or have happen to your computer will cause the DRM in Distant Guns to think you're a pirate and de-activate the game.

Sure, if you know what those things are (SES won't tell you what they are), and can plan for it in advance, and you have internet connectivity at the time, you can use their built in "de-license" tool to transfer the license back to the SES server, then re-activate it from the SES server once you complete whatever you were doing.

But if you run into something unplanned (like a hard drive crash) or unexpected (like a simple CPU R&R) or do something you would not expect to affect the DRM (such as use Windows compatibility mode to troubleshoot a graphics or memory issue), it breaks on you, and you have no way to get it working again... other than by writing to SES and asking them for help.

This has happened to me twice. The first time it took about a week - and the kind intervention of a 3rd party forum moderator with contacts - for SES to get me working again. The second time it took about 4 days for them to respond, and only after I complained about the situation on a public forum... which resulted in me being flamed, abused and accused of all sorts of things, from rabble rousing to outright lying to attempted piracy, by the head guy at SES (Jim Rose, aka L'Empereur).

And I am not the only one this has happened to. Search the technical issues section on the GameSquad DG forum, or peruse the wargames usenet groups and you'll find many instances of other people experiencing the same DRM related issues, and the same kind of treatment.

Yet, after all this SES still defends and proudly justifies their DRM by claiming they've thwarted hundreds of piracy attempts. Their position, as stated by Mssr. L'Empereur, is that it's just too bad and something we legitimate users will have to learn to live with as long as there are pirates out there who might be trying to steal their game.

Oh, and BTW... you might find their position on the reselling or re-assignment question interesting as well. SES holds that your $70 USD investment does not confer any rights of ownership, but only a license which entitles the original buyer (and no one else) to play their game.

So very M$ like... wouldn't you say?

Bottom line:

- SES' home brewed DRM in Distant Guns sucks because it inconveniences legitimate users.

- Given a well documented history of DRM issues, SES' support for users experiencing a DRM "false positive" is not consistent, and too often inadequate and/or not timely.

If SES uses the same DRM system in Jutland?... as much as I'm a big fan of naval history and wargaming going back 40 years, I'm out.

JD