Single CPU Installation on games

[Unholypaladin]

I am looking for some perspective on this "abomination" (excuse my bias)

 

The reason I call it an abomination is because it is truly an evil thing. Single installation on a computer is an anti-piracy device in which a disk is only able to be installed on one computer. Its not a bad idea for an OS or maybe a program of some kind, but for games I think it is pure evil.

 

For my reasoning, how many times have you needed to install a game, for example oblivion, because it has been corrupted or you got a new computer or maybe it just didn't install the first time, or a whole list of reasons? Chances of us half if not most of us have at some point. Now what if you could only install it once? That means you would have to RE-PURCHASE the game EVERY SINGLE TIME. Now this isn't exactly buying a new light bulb, a new game costs a range from $30-$100 and most places don't sell used anymore, (and even if they did, single installation only) Now even that isn't horrible, (Unless it was a failed installation, it would be a waste of money) but when you start adding a library of games it starts to add up. (10 games = $300-$1000 per re-installation) I for one am one to believe once you buy a game it is yours to install as many times as you like. (Maybe thats just because i am used to playing on a console) But I don't think it is fair to be pushing this on people. There are a lot of other ways to prevent piracy without alienating mass amounts of people.

 

I wanted to know what other people's intake was on this, am I the only one who is upset over this?

[Illiad86]

No, you're not the only one, that's just BS...they think this will stop piracy, but it's pointless. "Where there's a will, there's a way"....They have tried everything yet the pirates still find some way to override it. It's pointless, they should just stop it with all this DRM, one time installation, online activation, all of it...because all it's doing is alienating gamers and giving the pirates a reason to pirate.

 

I'm sick of all this hoops I have to jump through to play a game...what's next? they want my social security number? My address? My mother's maiden name? How far will they go and still not realize that what they are doing is KILLING the PC gaming market with all this bullcrap?

Edited September 26, 2010 by Illiad86

[TheTerminator2004]

What games do this, exactly? None that I'm aware of, for precisely the reasons you suggest.

[Chaosblade02]

If I buy the game, its mine for as long as I own the disk, and there are ways to get around this crap, the same reasons they created this method is only hurting people that don't pirate stuff, and the pirates already know how to get around it, so basically they stop nothing. Just patch your game with the same crack files the pirates use to play these games. The difference is that you bought the game, and you have the right to modify it in any way after you buy it. I find myself doing this more often now days, especially with these games that require Steam, if I want the game, I will still buy it, but I will crack the game so I don't have to use Steam. I stuff like this is even more of a reason to crack a game file. Ill keep the disk, and turn the game into an ISO file and crack it, and store it on a jump drive so I can play it on any PC I want to play it on, because its mine, and I paid for it.

[Unholypaladin]

What games do this, exactly? None that I'm aware of, for precisely the reasons you suggest.

 

There is a good collection now. EA is the biggest company for this currently, Spore is an example of a one time usage disk im pretty sure. There is also talk of fallout new vegas doing the same thing. The problem is they are doing it. I mean there are also registration codes and things as well, but this is the most outrageous. It is also true that this is INCREASING the amount of piracy rather than decreasing it, because it is making people feel spiteful of the companies that do this and not wanting to give them money. As well as it is now becoming an inconvenience to buy the game because you have to deal with all these problems, and its not fair to the players or the people who worked hard to make these great games.

 

There are some disks that allow a maximum of 3-5 installations, and although this is still a bad idea and installation caps shouldn't be put on.

 

Some of the blame falls on pirates yes, but piracy cant be stopped it can only be discouraged, and the game companies are just alienating millions of consumers just to increase the piracy problem.

[Povuholo]

Spore is also a good example of how ridiculously pointless that kind of DRM is, because a pirated DRM-free copy was on the internet the day before the game officially launched.

 

DRM only punishes the people who actually paid for the games.

[Vagrant0]

There is a good collection now. EA is the biggest company for this currently, Spore is an example of a one time usage disk im pretty sure.

Which received bad press all-around, was a rallying cry among piracy advocates, and was pretty much abandoned in that it was expanded to 3 installs, with installs becoming invalid after a period of time, and is only used in the case of people wanting to connect to the spore networks. It was also cracked 3 days before the game was released, so did absolutely nothing to stop piracy.

 

There is also talk of fallout new vegas doing the same thing.

Most the talk is actually based around some sort of online activation through Stream... Which has the same issues of forcing online connection for a non-online game. This will also probably be toned down heavily after complaints. Again, probably cracked as soon as someone has a leaked/pre-release version.

 

The problem is they are doing it. I mean there are also registration codes and things as well, but this is the most outrageous. It is also true that this is INCREASING the amount of piracy rather than decreasing it, because it is making people feel spiteful of the companies that do this and not wanting to give them money. As well as it is now becoming an inconvenience to buy the game because you have to deal with all these problems, and its not fair to the players or the people who worked hard to make these great games.

That's because they are using an out-dated sales model, are mostly ignorant as to what actually goes on, and see no other alternatives that follow that out-dated sales model. Unlimited online activation, without requiring continuous connection however is a method which most consumers are willing to deal with since they only need to connect once to tie the game with a user account, but companies always lean toward excessive plans simply because someone cracks their old one. Ubisoft however has rather proven that this method only serves to hurt the company and sales of the game.

[evilneko]

I have a desktop and a laptop. I specifically bought a laptop powerful enough to run Fallout 3 because I wanted my laptop to be able to fill-in for my desktop should it ever be out of service for an extended time (something which, at the time I bought my laptop, I considered to be highly likely as I was having tons of trouble with my RAM... went through at least three sets by the time I was done).

 

I will install any software I damn well please on both machines. If the software tries to prevent me from doing that I'll find a way to circumvent it.

 

The way I see it if I'm the only one using it, I have every right to do so. So I'm totally with you on the it's an abomination thing. It's called an End-User License after all, isn't it? :verymad:

 

There is also talk of fallout new vegas doing the same thing.

This would defeat the purpose of it being distributed through Steam. Thus, citation needed.