Big Brother gone too far?
First, to all my Auckland followers (I'm sure there are some) happy Auckland anniversary to you. Don't give us workers in the rest of the country a second thought as you flock to the beaches and relax on the grass. Over the weekend I played some more Mass Effect 2. I've put in about 16 hours so far and am loving it.
A reader (thanks Paul) passed on an interesting post from the always entertaining British PC-centric blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun - run by great British gaming journos Alec Meer, Kieron Gillen, John Walker and Jim Rossignol - that will have many, if not all, PC gamers shaking in their boots.
In a post dated January 27, Walker writes about Ubisoft's decision to dump the much-hated Starforce protection system and replace it with a PC-only DRM system that requires you to be permanently online in order to play it. A benefit of the system, says Ubisoft, is that you won't need to have the CD in the PC's disc drive for authentication and there is no limit to the number of PCs you can install the game on.
Says Walker: "So from now on, beginning with Settlers 7, potentially all Ubi PC games will require you to check in with them to let them know you've started playing their game, and then tell them every time you save, send them all the data in doing so, and then say bye-bye when you're done playing for that day."
Let's think about the ramifications of this type of DRM for a minute with a hypothetical scenario (that is based on some personal expeience i.e. the paying for internet). What about gamer who doesn't have access to a permanent internet connection - say, when you're on a tenting holiday - and don't think they should have to pay $8 for an hour's worth of internet access?
Well, it means that they won't be able to play that new Ubisoft game that they got for Christmas on a wet summer's day in the tent because they need an internet connection to verify all sorts of things. You'll also be screwed if your internet goes down at home (which we all know it does); you won't be able to play it at your grandmother's if she doesn't have internet; you won't be able to play it on a long train/bus/ferry trip; you won't be able to play it while waiting at the airport for that international flight. The implications are huge.
When I played Cities XL last year, I'm sure that I had to initially login using an internet connection and then select play solo from a dropdown menu. I'm not sure if this is the same sort of thing or not, but if I've paid for a game, I want to decide whether I go online with it. I don't want a publisher forcing me to go online when I don't have to.
I know PC gaming is rife with piracy but I'm sure gamers will talk with their wallets if they object to the DRM, but where will it lead? Will consoles be next? Will eventually all console gamers be forced to have an internet connection to verify that the game disc is genuine before they can play the single player mode of their new game? Or is it because console games are much harder to pirate that publishers wouldn't go down that path?
What do you think? I'd especially like to hear from PC gamers on what they think of Ubisoft's new DRM: Love it or loath it?
Want more Game Junkie? He's now on Twitter and Facebook.
Fancy yourself as a blogger? Whoever wins Blog Idol 2 will blog on contract at Stuff as well as win a new Nokia phone. Put on your blogging hat and enter!
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
That would well and truly suck!!!
As a PC gamer first and foremost due to my obsession with Close Combat I can honestly say this would stop me from buying a game. Especially with the crappy network NZ has for high speed interent.
I could understand random checks every couple of months or something similar to that but having to be online to play a game is just ludicris. Any time you have a fault, dont pay your bill (all though that is your own fault) or even if you move address when it can take 3 weeks to get your internet install to be done at the new address, if i couldnt play close combat for 3 weeks I would lose my mind.
I would never buy a game with this stipulation, I believe the right way would be to renew your registration say every 2 or 3 months, even to me this is pedantic but understandable with the amount of theft that happens with PC games.
Well this just seems like an idea doomed to failure. Certainly I would imagine that Settlers 7 is not going to sell very well - but be extremely pirated - much like Spore was.
Lets hope RPS has got some of the details wrong.
IMO this follows an ongoing trend towards online multi-player only games. There will be no more single player mode eventually. Gaming is all about multi nowadays, so it makes sense that you would have to authenticate online also. Whether we like it or not is another thing.
Unlike the name suggests I would Loath this. I mean 98% of the time I have internet but that would suck to be stopped playing just because it go's down. Im thinking I will just buy consol versions of games like that.
"A benefit of the system, says Ubisoft, is that you won't need to have the CD in the PC's disc drive for authentication and there is no limit to the number of PCs you can install the game on."
Oddly enough, that's also a benefit of not having any DRM at all. It's a sad statement when a touted benefit of a game component is that, in some respects, it's not worse than doing nothing.
Recently I've been playing and enjoying a 10 year old game (Morrowind). Will Ubisoft keep their authentication servers running for 10 years?
Pc gaming is so 90's. when Bungie joined Microsoft and sold the Myth IP it was all downhill from there. apart from Asherons Call.
Well Ubisoft have just lost a customer! While having to have the dvd/cd in the drive continuously is annoying this is far worse. Game publishers do go under I don't think I want to buy titles for a game and then have to rely forever after on their authentication server working down the track for me to play it. Not to mention if there is an internet problem, or server issue! I'm also not interested in providing the game publisher any "statistics" on what/how/when I play a game and they certainly wont be using my Internet connection to do so.
You shouldn't be playing games in you tent on a wet summers day.... You should be playing cards with gran.
I'm always amazed at the effort taken to attempt to stop piracy, when its been shown time and time again that the pirates will successfully rip out the security and have their own unprotected version out within 24hrs. It is generally the paying customer who is effected the most. I personally had a copy protection that didn't like my particular type of CD drive, I was forced to download an install patch before I could play the retail version. Sadly things like this actually make the cracked version of a game more appealling. No internet registration, no disc required, no delays while you muck around with validation. I really think companies like Ubisoft need to consider the cost of developing, setting up and running a security system, compared to the number of increased sales it will bring. Theres a high likelyhood that its not making a positive impact on their income.
Schoolgirl sex video man guilty
Sir Richard Taylor named New Zealander of the Year
Dazzling Adele silences critics
Kiwis in cruise ship cocaine bust
Mallard offers ticket cash back
'Starved, beaten' teen weighed just 32kg
Sonny Bill Williams finds rugby boring: mate
No radiation leak on plane, says Fire Service
Sir Richard Taylor named New Zealander of the Year
Game promotes friendship across cultures
Dazzling Adele silences critics
Kiwis' epic skateboarding adventure
Electronic cigarette explodes in man's mouth
Mallard offers ticket cash back
15-minute-old newborn gets heart pacemaker
Feral cats 'worse than possums'
"A benefit of the system, says Ubisoft, is that you won't need to have the CD in the PC's disc drive for authentication and there is no limit to the number of PCs you can install the game on."
Oddly enough, that's also a benefit of not having DRM at all. It's a strange world that we live in where a touted benefit of DRM is that, in some respects, it's not worse than no DRM at all.
I've recently been playing a 10 year old game (Morrowind). It's still great fun. Will Ubisoft keep their authentication servers running for 10 years?