The facts of life: A heartfelt defense of Ubisoft and DRM

[IanC]

Originally Posted by tater

John, all those apologies LIED.

The timeframe they presented was a handful of hours. We all know it was FAR longer than 2:30-9 or 9:30 pm.

Maybe 2:30 pm Saturday to well, didn't ducimus post about problems TODAY?

That's like having an airline cancel your flight, put you on a new flight 9 hours later, then sending you an email apologizing for the 2 hour delay.

Nicely spotted.

About the 4000 posts comment: I will not be shouted down because my meaningless number is less than someone elses meaningless number.

The rest:
How many of these problems can be explained with people trying to play the game with weak or non-permenant internet connections? If you do not have the hardware required to play the video game (as stated in the "Required Hardware"), it is inadvisable to buy it. As i said with the cheapest cable connection offered locally i have not had a single DRM hiccup.

Its like having a DirectX6 video card, trying to run the game, than complaining that ubisoft is courting the lucrative "21st century computer" market, shamelessly abandoning their Silent hunter 2 fanbase to go after people with things like "Modern computers". If you live in australia and know that your internet goes out, dont buy the game. If you have 56K, dont buy the game. If you want to play it on a laptop, dont buy the game.

FFS it says it right on the front of the box, do i need to mention that again?

[Seeschwein]

I paid my 50 euros for SH5 (as I did for SH3 and 4 too, respectively, and ohh yes the U-Boat mission disk for SH4 too). I expect to have a product I can use. This was not the case with SH5. It was a DoS yesterday, it might be a problem with my own net connection tomorrow.

[tater]

BTW, I've made it clear before that I'm fine with DRM, just not this DRM as it stands. Right now it's a system that makes piracy far more desirable than owning a legit copy. To me this is the wrong business model. They should add value so that the DRM version—even if 100% online—provides so much value, playing a hacked copy is a poor second.

I've even posted suggestions for how they might do this within the current OSP that might make it so desirable that the occasional outage that is the fault of Ubi (like this last one was) becomes acceptable.

1. Adopt a system like Napoleon: Total War where players can "drop in" and take the place of what would be AI in other players' campaigns. You'd never know if the DE near that enemy convoy was one of the various AI skill levels or some player hell bent on sinking a u-boat. Priceless.

2. The limiting factor on the immersiveness of the AI avatars is almost certainly their repertoire of audio files. Have the online connection trickle a new one to every copy of the game for every X hours of play (they'd need to have a special folder that these are pulled from so it doesn't continuously break mods that use the same files).

3. Weather? Perhaps a system that populates the game world with "real" weather where the clouds match current satellite pictures updated every so often (maybe pulled from X days back).

4. Streaming audio content (radio traffic, music, etc).

There might be more, though #1 would be a huge selling point, and #2 cool, but less spectacular.

[IanC]

Originally Posted by MattDizzle

About the 4000 posts comment: I will not be shouted down because my meaningless number is less than someone elses meaningless number.

The rest:
How many of these problems can be explained with people trying to play the game with weak or non-permenant internet connections? If you do not have the hardware required to play the video game (as stated in the "Required Hardware"), it is inadvisable to buy it. As i said with the cheapest cable connection offered locally i have not had a single DRM hiccup.

Its like having a DirectX6 video card, trying to run the game, than complaining that ubisoft is courting the lucrative "21st century computer" market, shamelessly abandoning their Silent hunter 2 fanbase to go after people with things like "Modern computers". If you live in australia and know that your internet goes out, dont buy the game. If you have 56K, dont buy the game. If you want to play it on a laptop, dont buy the game.

FFS it says it right on the front of the box, do i need to mention that again?

So Matt, let me get this straight. You say DRM/OSP/Upay is the best form of protection out there, and you want us to show compassion to Ubisoft, and now you're blaming the users who might not have proper hardware. Do I have that right?

[Skullcowboy]

Originally Posted by MattDizzle

<snip>they dont make these games to please you. <snip>

Unfortunately, I think this is one thing you got correct. And this is why they will fail. WE are the customers, not pirates. WE are the people who spend our hard earned disposable income on their product, not pirates. And WE ARE THE ONES THEY NEED TO PLEASE lest we take our money elsewhere. UBI seems to have forgotten about us and taken the stance of 'Damn the customers, we are going to beat those pesky pirates'.

I am not a pirate, I am a customer. Pirates don't buy games, customers do. Stop treating me like a pirate.

[Galanti]

Originally Posted by tater

2. The limiting factor on the immersiveness of the AI avatars is almost certainly their repertoire of audio files. Have the online connection trickle a new one to every copy of the game for every X hours of play (they'd need to have a special folder that these are pulled from so it doesn't continuously break mods that use the same files).

3. Weather? Perhaps a system that populates the game world with "real" weather where the clouds match current satellite pictures updated every so often (maybe pulled from X days back).

4. Streaming audio content (radio traffic, music, etc).

Brilliant ideas!

[tater]

Matt,

my reference to post count was because virtually every single, post that is a flat-out support of the OSP system has come from someone with a very very low post count.

That doesn't mean every new member is a paid troll of Ubi, but after we've seen several of them come and go it certainly gives that appearance, particularly when they delurk to post glowing reviews of the OSP DRM. NOt saying you are, but you need to be aware that that might well be an assumption given the new user posts we've seen since the OSP thing was announced.

Your post count doesn't contribute to the quality of the argument one way or another, and that was not my point, anyway.

Originally Posted by Skullcowboy

UBI seems to have forgotten about us and taken the stance of 'Damn the customers, we are going to beat those pesky pirates.

Guys, look at this. Not flamign skullcowboy, just look at this ridiculous argument. Apparently giant game publishing companies are cartoon villans from scooby doo?

[Task Force]

Lol, I have nothing good to say to ubi... but I wish them the worst of luck.

They will learn there lesson hopefuly... and tell us the truth... I dont believe this "we were attacked" thing... Its just easyer to say that than say "are servers cant handel the load, so they are *******ing up"

[Skullcowboy]

Originally Posted by MattDizzle

Guys, look at this. Not flamign skullcowboy, just look at this ridiculous argument. Apparently giant game publishing companies are cartoon villans from scooby doo?

Hmmm, you claim the producer of a product is not out to please customers and you call MY arguement ridiculous. My point is that they are more focused on the pirates than the customers. Still ridiculous? Then a fine day to you sir.

[Commie]

Originally Posted by MattDizzle

FFS it says it right on the front of the box, do i need to mention that again?

So??? That's the point isn't it? People read that you need to have a constant internet connection! THEY DO HAVE A CONSTANT INTERNET CONNECTION! They bought the game in good faith knowing this and accepting it! Yet they STILL CANNOT PLAY THE GAME!!!!

That is the problem, and that is why it's UBI's fault and their failure to not live up to the terms of sale!

So don't try and be pathetic mentioning directx 6 cards as if the people here that bought the game are retards. They have all that is needed to play the game and they still can't play whenever they want. This is a dishonest practice by UBI and indeed it is fraud. They took the money of paying gamers and refused to provide the services paid for.

[briangw]

To the OP:

I'm all about protecting IP and I think that some DRM is OK, but not this effort.

I'm a mobile gamer; I have a decent laptop that can run this. I also like to play games in places where there aren't any public hotspots. For Ubisoft forcing me to connect to their network to play this is ludicrous. There aren't many times that I am mobile, but it is plenty enough to interrupt m gaming. Why they can't have an offline solution like Steam is beyond me.

There may not be many others out there like me, but this is another example of Ubisoft not thinking about their different types of customers. I bought this game for several reasons: I love the modding community, the devs deserve the money and the series has long been a favorite of mine; On a related note, I still remember having a blast with Silent Service on the C64. But Ubisoft will not get another dime from me until they start considering their different types of customers. Why do I have to be punished for others' transgressions? My sentence to Ubisoft is to not enjoy their other titles until they consider other forms of protection. As someone mentioned ealier, companies like Stardock deliver high quality games with little to no DRM and they sell titles well. Piracy will always exist, but let's consider developing quality games and serve the customer, not sever them.

[ParaB]

Originally Posted by MattDizzle

If you live in australia and know that your internet goes out, dont buy the game. If you have 56K, dont buy the game. If you want to play it on a laptop, dont buy the game.

FFS it says it right on the front of the box, do i need to mention that again?

Pure strawman argument.

I am on a fast broadband connection and basically couldn't play the game three days in a row.

You're more sounding like an UBI intern with every post.

"It's ze pirates' fault!"

"It's ze hackers' fault!"

"It's ze stoopid users' fault!"

"Praise UBI and their DRM!"

You guys are saying "Do something else" "Try something else". Well what would you do that has the end result of getting more money from each silent hunter unit into the pockets of the developers and distributors? "Make better games, be nice and hope for the best" is not a responsible business model.

Ok, let me get around to ParaB's masterful post.

Originally Posted by ParaB

You're more sounding like an UBI intern with every post.

"It's ze pirates' fault!"

Again, i am sick of ze same threads again and again and i am defending ubisoft from ze popular opinion. I am not paid or employed by ubisoft in any way, so help me god it IS ze pirates fault, its 100% without a doubt ze fault of everyday people who steal products. Its why we lock our doors and install CCTV cameras, bad people exist.

Originally Posted by ParaB

"It's ze hackers' fault!"

For the Ddos attack, yes.

Originally Posted by ParaB

"It's ze stoopid users' fault!"

For ignoring ze system requirements and attributing ze resulting problems to "Failed, broken, stupid drm" (paraphrase) with a slight side note of people taking minor issues (say, a login timing out) and acting like their service dropped out for hours, before an ubisoft rep personally walked in and stabbed their brand new puppy.

Originally Posted by ParaB

"Praise UBI and their DRM!"

Ubi i dont know, i'm defending them as i would any other money making orginization, i have no personal attachment.

I believe the DRM is needed to get more money to the people who deserve it, and it is a vast improvement over what they have used in the past. I have had no issues with the software or online login function, and nobody i know has either. I belive that the issues reported can be attributed mostly to bad internet connections, the one hacking attack i know of, and teething issues for a radical new online service. Could i be speaking in any more plain english?

Look! I didnt even need a laughing emoticon to show my disapproval of your statements. I dont need to mock people, i only need to speak the truth. Thanks for playing though.