I mentioned DRM a lot in my last youtube video. Judging by how many times i crammed it into the script it is an important issue for gamers. DRM stands for digital rights management. It is a term that describes efforts of digital rights holders (game developers and publishers) to prevent, and punish software piracy. This isn't a new idea. I remember searching through game manuals to find the third word on the twelfth line of page 162. Doing this proved that I had actually bought the game from a respected establishment. I did the same thing with CD keys. The difference is that things have gotten more complicated now (or advanced depending on your perspective). DRM now ranges from always requiring the user to be connected to the internet, to guns shooting chickens instead of bullets.
Many developers and publishers feel it is necessary to protect their income from piracy by using DRM. We as gamers can fool ourselves into thinking that piracy is not causing any problems. We're fighting against the corporate man, man! Piracy does cause problems, maybe not as big as some publishers will have us believe, but malicious pirating does exist. That's why DRM exists. Yes pirating can generate some sales, and add to a company's marketing efforts, but it can also cost a company sales. The problem is that DRM is not being implemented properly. DRM that is improperly implemented can actually destroy a game. Remember what happened to the latest version of Sim City? It still has not recovered from that debacle.
There are a lot of arguments against DRM, it never works for long, the funny punishments can attract gamers to the pirated version of the game, it increases costs, etc. My main problem with DRM is that it almost always will hurt the legitimate users instead of the pirates. Lets say a gamer buys a game through steam, and a pirate downloads an illegal version. The pirate can play the game whenever he wants no matter what their internet is doing. The gamer has to always be connected to the internet. I felt this on Wednesday because my internet went down because of some construction behind my house (that's why there was no sale update, sorry). I could not play any of the games in my steam library. I could not use the products that I paid for. One reason why I like GOG so much is that it gives me access to old games that I played more than a decade ago, but the copies I have are either not compatible with my current system, or I am missing information required to install it. The problem is that I have to pay again to use it legally. Some games limit the amount of times you can install the game on your system. Assuming that it will still be compatible with future systems, I might not be able to use it because I have bought a few new computers over the years. This is punishing me for not pirating the game. Each time DRM is used the pirate can avoid it completely, and the customer has to deal with it. In the aforementioned example of Sim City, it was a pirate that hacked the game and created a version so legitimate customers could play the game. Let that sink in. Just to play the game the customers had paid for, they had to turn to an illegal copy put out by a third party.
Here are a few other opinions about DRM from people way more qualified than me:
- It treats our fans like criminals
- DRM hurts more than piracy
- Removal of DRM increases sales (This one is a little bit more than an opinion)
I do not support piracy. Game developers, and publishers deserve to get paid for their work. I deserve to be able to use the product that I paid for. DRM is something that we need to live with, but it is also something that does not need to hurt the customer. With the way internet is going I am OK with requiring an internet connection. I barely notice steam in all honesty (don't get me started on origin though). It is a complicated problem that will take cooperation to solve. One thing I think gamers can do for now is not pirate games. We need to support the developers we like and agree with. If a developer/publisher does something you don't like don't give them you money, but also, don't give them ammo in the anti piracy debate.
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