SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - DRM a slightly different viewpoint

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- - DRM a slightly different viewpoint (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=167836)

I would be extremely sceptical of it. If anything it would be a sweeping 'Ubisoft reserves the right to suspend services without notice or compensation blah blah'

No way they would commit to a guarantee of removing the DRM, no way.

As for the purpose of DRM, not one person here has mentioned what both Ubi and EA have said in their most important communications: That to their stock holders.

They openly state they want to move towards a greater reliance on DLC as a revenue source.

DLC and the micro transaction system is a great money spinner and by forcing a connection, means people have constant access and ease of purchase for it.

They are effectively training their audience to accept the new model.

I think also that ubi's past actions (Assassin's Creed 1 for eg where the game would constantly try to phone home after June 3rd 2008) lead me to not trust their motives with regards to privacy and data mining either.

It sure is refreshing to see a wellargumented thread on this forum!

Carry on :salute:

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainprid (Post 1361395)

Ok, I know a lot of guy's don't like UBI's new digital rights management (DRM) and I can fully understand that. However after a lot of thought, I can also understand Ubi's point of view. SHV is the first game to use full DRM, consequently, it's a new thing and therefore represents change. We have all for a long time been used to the status-quo; you buy a game, you install it, you play it- as long as your PC is up to it, you require nothing further. Howvere, thanks to our old friend TPB and others, it would appear those days are gone.
Put yourself in UBI's shoes, you are solely responsible to your shareholders, you invest a million quid into a game and then some spotty skip rat pirates the same game and you lose potentially 20% of your income; which directly affects future game dev thereby ruining it for all of us......No SHVI (ok judging SHV most probably don't want one) but you see my point.
A few years ago, I bought an EVOIIX, my warranty depended on me buying 99 octane juice from BP, which believe me was a pain when I took a trip to the Scottish Highlands!!! but the point is, I knew about this when I spent nearly £40k on a car.
This isn't a new phenomonon, games for a long time, have at least required you to register on-line. Footy manager has required you to use Steam for a while, admittedly, you have the option not to register on the basis you have to permenantly have the disc in the disc-drive--maybe this is the way that UBI should have gone, given us the option.
In my opinion, DRM is here to stay......One part of me think's this is sad, the other part makes me think that because of this there will be a SHVI sometime 2013. A large proportion of the population now has broadband so from a developer perspective it makes sense and at least they have built in to the game a feature that saves your game if you become disconnected.

Please don't attack me guys, I know a lot of you feel very strongly about this and I don't want this to develop in to another DRM bashing thread. Personally, i'm not overly pleased about it but I would think the pragmatic amongst you may well see a kernel of truth in this???

Well put, except it ultimately comes down to the customer. Ubi can do whatever the hell they want to with DRM, as far as I'm concerned. As we, the consumer, can do whatever the hell we want to with our money.

So pick your poison - lose 20% of your customers due to piracy or lose potentially more due to draconian DRM schemes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarnsman (Post 1363595)

Also, why would UBi even want to store all saved games on their servers? That dosnt seem effiecient to me. I can easily store my games on my own computer, what purpose is served by remote game saving?

Because that's the key point of their DRM. They constantly modify your saves to get the mission goals accomplished.

I read somewhere on the net about those who use pirated version of SH5... they cannot progress in campaign. They can't even complete any mission goal, because all the code that does it is server-side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SubV (Post 1365464)

Because that's the key point of their DRM. They constantly modify your saves to get the mission goals accomplished.

Nope, nothing that advanced

Quote:

I read somewhere on the net about those who use pirated version of SH5... they cannot progress in campaign. They can't even complete any mission goal, because all the code that does it is server-side.

See above. The "server side code" is a rumor that started spinning when Ubi initially claimed that their DRM hadn't been cracked and that those who claimed having done so "had an incomplete version of the game". As we later learned this was not the case. The cracked version was full and complete, and advancing in the game was just a matter of "flipping a switch". In pirated games this just had to be done manually because the game couldn't phone home to get a permission to do it. I've heard that such manual editing is not necessary anymore though, as there's a Ubi DRM-server emulator out there.

Should we be discussing the fact that there are cracked versions out there???

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainprid (Post 1365485)

Should we be discussing the fact that there are cracked versions out there???

Only at your own peril :o

Kind of hard to discuss DRM at all without touching piratism don't you think? Preventing the latter is the whole point of the system after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fincuan (Post 1365580)

Kind of hard to discuss DRM at all without touching piratism don't you think? Preventing the latter is the whole point of the system after all.

I think it's the way it's discussed that makes the difference;)

Like I said before the most crazy part of all of this is that some people who own legit copies of this game are having to turn to a iccky version, I mean what kind of message is Ubi sending it's customers here ???:damn:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantom Mark (Post 1365600)

Are they?

I'm still playing my "real" copy. Apart from the first 2 weekends I've had absolutely nothing go wrong with my game (DRM or otherwise). Why would I want a dodgy copy?

I don't know of anyone who "owns" the game who's needed to go :arrgh!: either.

Nope my legit copy is fine

There is nothing wrong with my legit copy either, my problem is that I work away from my main PC all week, playing on my laptop is fine except for the fact I have no internet connection where I am staying, so I dont fit the mould of those who have the Ubi mould setup, should that exclude me from being able to play the game I have bought and paid for ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantom Mark (Post 1365679)

Short answer......No it shouldn't

But that isn't Ubi's answer... ;)

And you by buying the game said that it is A-okay too, regardless of your actual opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantom Mark (Post 1365679)

Thats a fair point and one I can't argue with. It's even worse for people (like Sailor Steve) who have no internet connection at all.

I play MMO's and my machine is wired straight into the broadband - so I knew it wouldn't affect me.

No cracks.

The Management

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainprid (Post 1365485)

Should we be discussing the fact that there are cracked versions out there???

No there aren't cracked versions! The only thing that exists is DRM mods and DRM mod fix ...

So the techical term is "mods" not "cracks". Cracks have the hulls on SH5, alots of them.

:haha:

Not only has my pristine, legit copy worked perfectly from the get go... it also earned me a bright shiny, new (old) Prince of Persia game. I've played it all of ten minutes so far.
Can i get a DRM roll, please? And the next free game from Ubi that I'll probably never play is.......
But seriously, it's not all bad news. :yeah:

What gets my goat is that there are people who are playing SH5 for free without having to connect to the internet. I think these are the very same people that UBI was targeting with it's oppresive and intrusive DRM/OSP/BOLOX (oops, there I go again).

And whilst these people have uninterupted playtime with SH5, I have to sit on my hands in the corner waiting for UBIs Brain Fart to be removed before I can purchase the product and actually play it.

Am I wrong to feel somewhat peeved that the people that UBI was trying to prevent from playing SH5 ARE and the people who have supported UBI and want to play SH5 CANT.

So that's one to the pirates then and one in the eye for the customers.

But then it was never really about Pirates was it UBI...:nope:

Cheers, UG.