Question on Data Rights Management
 

Hi!

Jutland looks like a good game, but I have a question about the Data Rights Management (DRM) scheme: does that mean that I can no longer play the game if (Heaven forfend) Storm Eagle Studios goes under and the website is no longer available?

Thanks!

Pablo

Pablo: Thanks for your interest in Jutland!

This is a great question that comes up often.

In the event of the worst, i.e. Storm Eagle Studios going defunct, With the flick of a compile switch, Storm Eagle can release a final patch that can be applied locally, to remove the DRM.

If you think about it, should we did go under, why would we not do this?

Since we would be in a situation of not sellling the game any more, why would we care about copy protecting it?

Norm Koger, Conductor here at Storm Eagle, is still providing support to people who bought his first game, Stellar Crusade - 1988 SSI, 21 years later!

Can you name anyone else in the gaming industry with that kind of record?

Jim Rose
StormEagleStudios.Com

RE: Lempereur
 

For one the code would be an asset, so if SES owed anyone money you just couldn't legally turn over your assets to fans. All one has to do is follow "your" postings on the gamesquad forums to date to get a feel for what kinds of actions "you" might take. Benevolence isn't in your DNA from what I've seen. Apologies to Norm Koger.

So you found me..
 

Looks like we cant hide from you no matter where we go...

Ok you got me...

Take me to your......

Who do you work for?

I really do not understand the concern or upset over data rights and protection programs in this game or any game for that matter. :hmmm: Maybe one day someone can explain it to me. Until then, I play the games and not worry about protection programs, etc. :up:

The makers of Starforce, we're just mad that you came up with DRM worse than ours. ;)

No more. This wannabe developer seems to suffer from the same delusions, game appears to be extremely unpopular, too ;)

That's not in any way an accurate statement.

Starforce was a complete abonination, I agree. Besides sinking roots all through your system files that were nearly impossible to get rid of, IMHO the worst part about it was that it poisoned the whole world against the entire DRM concept. When folks hear "DRM", they think of Starforce, or perhaps Spore which is bad in different ways, and go on the warpath.

Our DRM has nothing in common with Starforce or Spore's system. It does nothing to your system; it's all within the game itself. If you uninstall our game, there's no trace of our DRM left on your system. And while it's still on your system, it affects nothing else on your system. You have unlimited uninstalls and reinstalls. You download the game onto as many computers as you want and easily transfer the license between them all as often as you want.

I see nothing wrong with this DRM. It is the nature of games today. They come with a copywrite protection system. There is no way around this as far as I can tell. Oh well, my game fires up and my computer is just fine. What is the worry:06:

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, actually.

Well I think It is a bit like pay TV, there's always a way around which is to avoid it.

Sure some people are happy to live for the moment.

Sure, just like pay TV, getting around paying is well, theft. I guess that is part of living in the moment? If the protection right really bothers anyone, then the option is to not load the game. I have never had an issue with any protection device on a game. That includes SF. -shrug-

That theft remark was completely unnecessary. What I said was no one has to buy products only because they are in large supply. Living for the moment = be happy that something runs at the moment, without knowing whats really going on.

Well, a horse is a horse. Working around something to gain use that requires a payment for use is theft. Working around pay tv to receive the signal then is what? I completely missed the part were you explain something about a large supply. And living in the moment= happy something is running but not really knowing what is going on? So, just what is going on when I play Jutland or any other game with a protection device that causes such an uproar by little few? How would you handle protecting a game you created? Have you purchased Jutland?

Not my problem if you think everyone who is advocating to not buy products with DRM must be a a pirate.

I thought that's clear. Concerning Jutland, it will potentially refuse to play every 7 days. E.g. if you have no internet connection, or if the server does not accept your e-license. That's a bit like having batteries instead of a dynamo. Sooner or later someone will forget to charge them.

Other infamous DRM systems limit the number of installs to 3 that's also well known. Of course during the first installs everything will work fine.

From the developer and this DRM.


This quote is what is clear to me. It could potentionally not play in 7 days?Everything in life could potentially not work on any given day. Does not stop me from making a purchase.

Just for kicks I disconnected my internet to see if this game would start. It started without issue. So what you are saying in 7 days if I have no connection to the net and have not played the game within the 7 days it potentially could not start, correct? Perhaps it may not accept my e-licence, correct? One could wait for the internet to work on their computer again. no? If my e-license is not accepted I can go to customer support, no? I have never been without internet for 7 days. Customer support is willing to help. I think these are minor issues really. No worse then losing a key code on a jewel case or having your cat do a dance on your disc scratching it up. You have stated that "other' DRM have been known to limit the number of installs. Here, the developer, said you have unlimited downloads. So, again, the quote for the dev is what is clear.

Here's the deal with the 7 days....

Every time the game starts, it phones home to SES to make sure it's really your copy. When it makes contact, it remembers the date.

Now suppose you start the game and for whatever reason it can't contact SES. The game compares the date it last made contact to the current date. If it's been less than 7 days, then the game works fines. IOW, you can go for up to 7 days without an internect connection. But note that this is based on the last time the game made contact. IOW, if you haven't played the game for a week already, and the day you do it again you don't have internet, then it treats this as being more than 7 days.

If it's been more than 7 days since the game made contact with SES, 1 of 2 things will happen, depending on whether or not the game can make contact with SES:

• If it makes contact, then it will ask you to re-enter your license number and password. Once you do that, the game will run normally and this date gets recorded as the time of most-recent contact.
• If it doesn't make contact, then the game will revert to its demo condition. HOWEVER, this is NOT permanent. Whenever the game regains contact with SES, it will ask you to re-enter your license and password, and resume normal operation.

There are 2 reasons for this, both intended for your convenience:

1. You can go without an internet connection for up to 7 days without internet. As noted above, this time could be reduced by the number of days beforehand since you last played the game.
2. If your computer blows up unexpectedly, you only have to wait a maximum of 7 days before the game will run on your new system. This period is also reduced by however long it was beforehand since you last played the game.

So assume it's been 4 days since you last ran the game:

1. If the game makes contact when you run it today, it works just fine without asking you anything.
2. If the game can't make contact, then it will run just fine without asking you anything. It will continue to run for another 3 days, but after that it will revert to demo mode if you haven't got the internet back by then, but will only remain in demo mode until it regains contact.
3. If your computer blows up today (HD crash, MB fried, etc.) before you run the game, then you'll have to wait 3 days before you can run the game on your new system. But it will likely take that long just to get a new system or repair your old one anyway. Once you're up and running again 3 or more days later, you can download the game on your new rig, enter your license and password, and the game will work with full features.

This is quite true. Each license you buy is associated with 1 computer at a time. However, you can have the game installed on as many computers as you want. Only the one with the license on it at the time will run with full features, the others will run as demos. But you can transfer the license between them as many times as you want with just a few keystrokes.

I don't think SES plans to "turn over the code", they would simply patch the game so that it would not use the DRM.

Jutland
 

It's DRM is as clean as it can get.

There are some people who do not DRM. We understand and respect that.

They choose not to buy. Thats ok.

But our solution is the cleanest, easiest DRM on the market.

One other feature that our detraftors never mention is that if you have not connected in 7 days, our server automatically releases the License so it can be installed on antoher PC. If autolog back in, the counter starts over.

This puts control of the License directly in the hands of the gamer. There are a very small number of people who go more than 7 days without connecting to the internet. TO everyone who has purchased our game, our DRM is invisible to them, and they get extremely excited everytime we release and update!

I am sure the developers of Silent Hunter IV would love to release more updates than they are allowed to by the publisher. Thier hands are tied and are at the mercy of the Publisher in most respects.

It also has the built in feature of autoupdating. We are about to release version 1.020 in the next day or two. Thats twenty(20) updates in two months.

It allows us to maintain uniformity in the code by keeping everyone at the same update level.

But if you refuse to purchase because you dont like DRMs, you may find that lack of support of these types of games may result in them vanishing from the market, or, in our case, you miss out on some awesome fun!:yeah:

Leaving gamers hanging would go against everything we have ever done in Gaming.
WE recently tried to count all the PC and board games that we have been involved in over the last 27+ years and we stopped counting at 68!

If we were in this strickly for the money, we would be making first person shooter games.:up: