The gawd-almighty merged DRM in Silent Hunter V thread

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Will I or won't I....Is it a head or a tail

She loves me, she loves me not...

Wait, are we still talking about Jennifer Love Hewitt?

[MasterCaine]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

You sound even less decisive than me. Speaking of a 'fix' I'm aware of a conflict in my current line of thinking.

One the one hand, if a 'fix' becomes available and it seems to have no adverse effects then I will probably buy the game knowing that I can fall back on the fix if necessary.

On the other hand I would actually be quite thrilled if a publisher managed to come up with a genuinely crack-proof DRM, even if it is a bit draconian, because I really do think there are some 'lost sales' due to piracy.

So, do I hope for a fix or hope for the absence of one?

I have no problem at all with using a 'fix' for a game I bought legally. I do have a problem handing over my hard-earned money to a company like Ubi that treats their customers like sh*t.

[Seafireliv]

Originally Posted by Lanzfeld

Nevermind. I figured it out.

The goal was always is to be able to charge a monthly fee in the future to allow access to the game and you cannot do that with a dongle.

To think they were claiming that this was to protect them from pirates when it was always $$$. Always is I guess.

Yes, makes sense. However, I will not be part of it.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

On the other hand I would actually be quite thrilled if a publisher managed to come up with a genuinely crack-proof DRM, even if it is a bit draconian, because I really do think there are some 'lost sales' due to piracy.

So, do I hope for a fix or hope for the absence of one?

Crack proof games would be great, because they'd have one less excuse for poor sales figures. There have been lots of number flying around - 10 pirate copies to one legitimate one springs to mind, but that may have been an extrapolation of the MW2 figures. There was a more 'offiicial' looking report, I think from Australia on world piracy rates, can't find the link now, but that said the average rate was 38% world wide, with about 20% is the US and 33% in the UK. I think those figures are more belivable, so the question is, how much do these anti piracy measures cost? Perhaps Ubi is moving to their own system as Starforce is becoming too expensive to license.

The budget lables usually remove DRM not, I suspect, because of phillantropic reasons, but because they don't want to pay the licensing fee to Starforce. For them, piracy isn't much of a threat as I guess most people would have pirated it by then so they would be making a loss on the anti piracy measures.

So what's the cost of DRM versus the cost of lost profit (not revenue!)? I have no idea, but that's your tipping point. The needs or conveniences of the customer don't seem to factor into the equation at all.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

She loves me, she loves me not...

Wait, are we still talking about Jennifer Love Hewitt?

I bloody well hope so

[horden]

When you know all the WW2 sim's simulation from the begining to SH4, you can see that the most important for hard sim player is never involved in the next product. Year by year, sim by sim.

A real wolfpack war from the german side is a chemaire since 15 years now. Even wolfpack wasn't good for that. When you play to Silent service 1 then go to generic Silent Hunter IV...what's the difference except the candy-eyes !

Really Control the "dive dive dive" sequence of a sub is nothing since the begining of sub simulators. A real using of the sonar, the most important part of a sub when submergered is all the time a joke !

But this time, don't worry, you should play in SH5 with people involved in your sub, some barbies' or better ken's you talk too.

Happy guys

[elanaiba]

Well, I guess one can assume all sorts of thigs, one was so inclined.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Wonderful, you provide a link to a page that does not mention optical drives this interview. Can you fine tune your citation a little?

The starforce interviews are on the left of the page under "starforce interviews".

[sabretwo]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

So what's the cost of DRM versus the cost of lost profit (not revenue!)? I have no idea, but that's your tipping point. The needs or conveniences of the customer don't seem to factor into the equation at all.

All of that is true, but you are missing the critical factor of lost customer sales owing to lack of playability (infrastructure, etc.) and lack of good-will. If you make a DRM too restrictive, it will loose sales. Period.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by sabretwo

All of that is true, but you are missing the critical factor of lost customer sales owing to lack of playability (infrastructure, etc.) and lack of good-will. If you make a DRM too restrictive, it will loose sales. Period.

Yep, good point, that's part of 'the cost of DRM' as well. People who do not have stable conncetions won't buy the game, so that's lost profit right there, as a result of DRM. Returns is also part of the cost. How many lost sales will there be and how many sales will be gained if the system is 100% crack proof?

[nigelnire]

I have internet access 24/7 and much as I love SH3 and 4 but I won’t be buying SH5 because of DRM.

[michaelws]

Hasn't cahnged my opinion. But thank you Neal for taking the time to dialogue with them.

I still will not buy with the DRM restrictions.

[scrapser]

I do not believe for one second this new DRM was so Ubisoft could provide content and services users have been asking for. That is a line that has been used in various forms since advertising was invented ("New and Improved!" comes to mind).

The last version of DRM that was tried and is still in use by many publishers is the limited number of installs with a tally maintained on the company's server. This raised Cane with Bioshock and Crysis. But at least you could play offline.

What we are really seeing here is the publishers groping for as best a DRM as they can find. In other words...we are all Beta testers for the ultimate DRM solution which is yet to be found (and probably never will).

[soldat32]

I had been following this titles development since it started.I am an avid subsim gamer and have been playing SH3 and SH4 since they came out.Was really looking forward to SH5 but now that I'm hearing Ill have to stay connected to the internet at all times to play I will be passing this title up.

I think this is a bad business decision for Ubi.All these excuses about pirates just doesn't wash.Piracy is rampant on consoles.I've read many gaming articles about modded consoles so this claim that piracy on PC's is worse just does not add up.Most the people out there that actually play these sim's own them.Ubi will be committing sales suicide by going forward with this and I really hope it does to teach them a lesson.Punishing paying customers and offering a weak excuse to do so.I also do not buy software online that have limited downloads.I buy physical products.Limited download is a complete ripoff.

In the end that's ok,no loss.With only 1 sub type and the campaign only going as far as 1943 there's not much to miss.Sounds like they were in a hurry as usual and decided to push it out the door for sale fast before completing it.I still have SH3 and 4 on my hard drive to play and with all the improvements the mod community has given us over the years it keeps me completely satisfied.

[martes86]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I bloody well hope so

[PIC OF LIVE FEMALE HOTNESS]

You don't know what you have done!! We... we... erm... nevermind, I can't think.