Pirates, Publishers and the DRM

For the past two weeks I've been observing a spectacle on the Ubisoft forums that is more thrilling than the announcement of iPad peripherals.

OK, that was a lie, I couldn't care less for the iPad, but having said that, there is something rotten in the state of France, particularly at Ubisoft. Their latest release The Settlers 7 has experienced some player trauma since release date. The game itself features a "unique" kind of DRM (Digital Rights Management), which connects the player with one of their servers in order to check whether they are playing a legally purchased copy.

The only problem is, you have to be connected at all times and the servers appear to be down half the time. This has affected players from South Africa, Australia and various European countries, rendering the single-player game unplayable.

Many are demanding their money back and Ubisoft has yet to officially address the community with an apology... or a patch to remove the faulty DRM.

The reason all this is occurring is because of Ubisoft's lame attempts of fighting video game piracy. In order to play some of their newer games (Assassin's Creed 2, The Settlers 7, etc.) players have to be connected to their servers, unfortunately this backfired and left many players unable to play the games.

My question now is, is that really worth it? Make it impossible for pirates to crack the games but anger more than half of your genuine customers. Good idea.

What are your thoughts?

Agreed. and regardless, they'll never completely stop video game piracy... Hackers will always find a way. I agree also that the supposed "Ends" don't justify the means. Alot more people pay for the games legally than people who download illegally, so whats better. Stopping 10 thousand people downloading illegally, or keeping the 100 thousand angry customers from nenver buying their games again. Seems like a very stupid move on Ubisofts part

Well, Id want my money back too. I know piracy is a problem but it always has been and most likley always will be. It's somthing any industry has to battle against, but I think more consideration toward the actual paying customers should be a priority. Afterall, you can deal with a few pirates if your customer base is strong, if not, it's going to have a larger impact.

I feel it's all getting a bit big brother. I know they have to do their best to try and keep a tab on their games but surely this is a bit ott. Furthermore, what if you don't have internet conection? Rare these days, I know but it excludes those who don't.

DRM was a good concept but the way it is managed is awful.

If you look at all of the games which use DRM you'll see a rise in illegal downloading, Spore for example held the record for being the most pirated game of all time. It generally isn't worth putting the effort in to anti-piracy software as its only gonna encourage people to get cracked copies.

They should stick to having to have the CD/DVD in the machine. yes, that software can be by-passed, however, it has the advantages of...

a) Meaning at some point a legal copy has been bought, and in fact, probably been bought a lot.
b) You can still play it when you are offline. The Settlers is a good example of a game that could bon a kids computer, but the parents don't mind them playing, even if they don't want their kid online.
c) It standardises how piracy is managed across the industry.

No matter how you try and combat piracy, someone will find a way round it. Your job is NOT rto stop it, but to minimise. You stop piracy as easily as you will stop the common cold or end the war of drugs - not gonna happen. The sooner companies and governments realise this the better.

The main problem is that they can't manage severs to save their own lives and also it's only Ubisoft who's doing it... otherwise it might have a small chance...
It's really just a company who hasn't thought their plan through properly!