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Author Topic: Computer Games and DRM  (Read 9577 times)
Chronos
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« on: September 27, 2008, 01:47:10 PM »

This guy makes some good points on Digital Rights Managements in computer games.

Although, I am starting to like Stardock, for some reason.
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2008, 03:39:18 PM »

Types of DRM.

1) THE CD MUST BE IN THE DRIVE, and proprietary, covert software must integrate with your os to make sure that's the case.
---A. This pretty much eliminates any chance of the game working under linux.
---B. Some people have laptops, e.g., eeePC, that lack in CD rom drives. Some people have external CD drives for their towers and limited usb ports (Pick only two: Mouse, CD drive, Gaming Headset, or this (NSFW)). (p.s., check out microsoft's virtualCD powertoy if that's your issue for non os integrated drm schemes)
---C. I give my family limited privelige to modify the system, because they're techotards and malware addicts. Os integration means full admin privelige, and that's an issue.
---D. => Some users will face issues.


2) You need a CD key, to be validated on the company's server.
---A. In the case of single player games and no network connectivity (think steam and portal), you're hosed.
---B. In the case of multiplayer  games, this works beautifully. Look at Starcraft =).
---C. => Some users will cheat the system by sharing keys

---------

Companies that choose abandoning the needs of some users over losing some supposed profit to pirates... are jerks. It only makes good economic sense if there aren't people out there willing to protest, e.g., the amazon/spore thing.

-------

DRM in music, on the other hand.... really, really pisses me off. Especially iTunes and the iPod.
e.g., iPod could have used the widely supported and super easy USB Mass Storage driver... but they chose to go the path of vendor lock in. And it was great economic sense, because people are flippin idiots.
Not to mention, if you want itunes to work well for you (in the case of automatic podcast delivery), you need to own apple hardware...

-------

Restricting people in general pisses me off. Last night, I did my duty with a screwdriver and pliers because some business put up an uncomfortable (and also dangerous, if anyone fell on it) metal strip over what would otherwise be a great place to sit...
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Chronos
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« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2008, 10:30:49 PM »

Types of DRM.

1) THE CD MUST BE IN THE DRIVE, and proprietary, covert software must integrate with your os to make sure that's the case.
---A. This pretty much eliminates any chance of the game working under linux.
---B. Some people have laptops, e.g., eeePC, that lack in CD rom drives. Some people have external CD drives for their towers and limited usb ports (Pick only two: Mouse, CD drive, Gaming Headset, or this (NSFW)). (p.s., check out microsoft's virtualCD powertoy if that's your issue for non os integrated drm schemes)
---C. I give my family limited privelige to modify the system, because they're techotards and malware addicts. Os integration means full admin privelige, and that's an issue.
---D. => Some users will face issues.

A.
None of the games are designed with Linux in mind anyways. The vast majority of computer games are designed around DirectX. If you can get DirectX compatibility on a Linux, it is reasonable to expect that you can get around a simple CD problem. Regardless, this restriction does not completely rule out Linux.

B.
98% of all computers have internal CD drives. On top of that, most computers without CD drives are not powerful enough to run new games anyways. Combine all of that with the fact that CD drives are dirt cheap, cheaper than the actual games in most cases, and it's completely unreasonable for companies to even consider the fraction of a fraction of a percent of people who don't have a CD drive, cannot get one, and yet still can afford and run the game.

The demographic for problematic external CD drives is even smaller.

C.
Most new games do not need administrator access to run. Those that do can be a problem. However, such a restriction is hardly necessary for this type of DRM, and thus this problem is beside the point.

D.
Some users have issues, big issues.


2) You need a CD key, to be validated on the company's server.
---A. In the case of single player games and no network connectivity (think steam and portal), you're hosed.
---B. In the case of multiplayer  games, this works beautifully. Look at Starcraft =).
---C. => Some users will cheat the system by sharing keys

A.
Most people have internet access. Many games will let you play single player without validating. Steam, in particular, allows you to go into offline mode and play without revalidating indefinitely. Granted, there is still a small margin who might be unable to play some games, but they are few and the packaging warns you right up front when this could be the case.

B.
Sure. StarCraft also has a substantial single player system that does not need any online validation.

C.
That's not really an argument against it, per se. Not to mention, in many cases the servers will not allow a single CD-key to be validated too many times.

Companies that choose abandoning the needs of some users over losing some supposed profit to pirates... are jerks. It only makes good economic sense if there aren't people out there willing to protest, e.g., the amazon/spore thing.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time, qe2eqe. There will always be people complaining. Not to mention, it does make economic sense because, complaints or no, almost all of the people who would buy the games do so even with the DRM on the game.

DRM in music, on the other hand.... really, really pisses me off. Especially iTunes and the iPod.
e.g., iPod could have used the widely supported and super easy USB Mass Storage driver... but they chose to go the path of vendor lock in. And it was great economic sense, because people are flippin idiots.
Not to mention, if you want itunes to work well for you (in the case of automatic podcast delivery), you need to own apple hardware...

Most MP3 players use the standard driver. Apple figured if it really mattered that much to people, they could go and buy a different product. With that in mind, Apple decided to go with a driver much more condusive to the platform that they were trying to build.

Also, it would be completely unreasonable, not to mention outright foolish, to expect Apple to go out of their way to fully support their competitor's products. Just the fact that iTunes even works with competing products is more than anyone should feel entitled to.

Restricting people in general pisses me off. Last night, I did my duty with a screwdriver and pliers because some business put up an uncomfortable (and also dangerous, if anyone fell on it) metal strip over what would otherwise be a great place to sit...

Now we're getting into the realm of the outright illegal. qe2eqe, just because it doesn't make sense to you does not mean that there is not a reason for something.
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2008, 12:43:52 AM »

nice job with the 98% statistic. Expertly bs'ed, sir. Expertly.
What % of people have two drives? What if I wanted to play music from a CD and play a game? What if my drive jammed? What if my dog ate the disc?
You're calling people negligible, non-factors... on behalf that bs% of people that you clearly don't belong to and are happy to leave in the dust, go screw yourself. With a rusty stick.
-----
Effort spent on restricting people is a an act against humanity.
Economics plays trump to morality any day, look at wal*mart, the share value of AIG, lobbyists, cigarettes that smell like fruity pebbles, micro municipalities inside other cities with 100x the expected amount of traffic tickets, dioxin containing herbicides sprayed to cheaply kill the weeds amonst the crops... all the medicineless brown people dying for the sake of consistent intellectual property rules.
Many of those examples are entirely off point...
But there is a question: Is screwing even a small percentage of well intentioned people moral? Is screwing people who don't have the money to pay for something that costs nothing (to produce additional copies of) moral? Is it moral to stop people from committing a victimless crime?

You ever try to do good research for noble reasons, only to run into the roadblock of a $40 per view article? A $4,000 per view article?
It's only fair that the researchers, the game artists, the other guys make a decent wage...
And it's not a perfect world, and all the omelettes need their eggs (as well as ther electricity generated from the coal whose atmospheric carcinogens gave tiny tim the cancer he can't survive because he's not a citizen of a developed country...). I'm saying some eggs are worse than others.
-----
Regarding the screwdriver, yeah, it was illegal. I also saved their ass if my buddy wanted to sue them for the profound contusion it left above his ilium.
If I leave anything anywhere that poses a threat to any human, I deserve to suffer that threat, because the only thing that differentiates me from the guy that gets it is happenstance.
If I do nothing for that poor basted who couldn't help but buy into 'open box software = non returnable' paradigm, to later find out that restrictive drm just circumstantially happens to leave him high and dry, I deserve that fate.

---
regarding directX, http://sourceforge.net/projects/directxwine/
regarding illegal, "an unjust law is no law at all." (Ok so 'no vandalism of property' is a just law. It's the property that isn't just. [it isn't justice to let someone hit that and bleed and call it an acceptable casualty.])


---

Everyday, I grow a bit more anti-fascist, and my need to make others anti-fascist grows, too...
entirely off-topic:
Quote
It would seem that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.[1]
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zephyrblade
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« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2008, 02:10:02 AM »

You're calling people negligible, non-factors... on behalf that bs% of people that you clearly don't belong to and are happy to leave in the dust, go screw yourself. With a rusty stick.
You've been warned over 9000 times in various areas of the forum to keep it nice.
Chronos has taken the time to write his argument, at least show some respect for that, even if you think his points aren't of any value.
Next time you'll receive some form of minor punishment.

In b4 someone Bawwwwing about some bias, because I agree with Chronos or whatever. >.>
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2008, 02:48:27 AM »

Well, a barnacl'd stick would have made for a better visual.

Excuse my easy colloquialism. Is it legal to call him thoughtless on behalf of the people he doesn't think much of?

----

Another note on DRM - if its worth breaking, it will be broken. Game companies will still make money - a good example is the guy I work for just bought a $100 wireless router entirely because it was preconfigured for the ports Xbox needs. He already had a router; he's got a much higher ratio of $$$$/(skill + frustration tolerance) than I do. Xbox made their money, and the Xbox devs put food on the table. Just saying, there are always people who will take the easiest route and just pay.

« Last Edit: September 28, 2008, 02:53:42 AM by qe2eqe » Report to moderator   Logged
Chronos
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« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2008, 03:33:17 AM »

nice job with the 98% statistic. Expertly bs'ed, sir. Expertly.

How very mature of you.

What % of people have two drives?

Having two drives does not increase one's difficulties with DRM. That one might have two is beside the point.

What if I wanted to play music from a CD and play a game?

Then you can go out and buy a stereo system. They're like three dollars at Goodwill. In any case, I fail to see how this is a significant enough problem to warrent much concern.

What if my drive jammed?

Then you'll have to go buy a new one. It is completely your responsibility to make sure that your equipment is up to grade.

What if my dog ate the disc?

Then neither I nor anyone else have any sympathy for you. Keep your valuable computer games away from all household pets. It is not that hard.

You're calling people negligible, non-factors...

I am not calling people non-factors. In fact, I am giving them a very specific factor, 2%. How much concern do you think it is fair for 2% to garner? I am going to venture a guess that 2% concern is quite fair for 2% of the people. Unfortunately, 2% of the concern does not really have enough weight to completely override the other 98% of the people, with 98% of the concern.

on behalf that bs% of people that you clearly don't belong to and are happy to leave in the dust, go screw yourself. With a rusty stick.

First of all, this supposed to be an intellectual discussion. If you cannot refrain from such blatant insults, I would ask you to refrain from participating.

Secondly, you are being quite quick to jump to conclusions about me. I do not have much money, nor have I ever had much money. I do not like the fact that so many people are faced with such problems, but I still believe in what I believe in due to reason. Where one stands in life should, ideally, not overly affect one's basic beliefs.

Effort spent on restricting people is a an act against humanity.

Not all restrictions are an act against Humanity. I, for one, am glad people are not allowed to go around slaughtering everybody. I am also thankful that there is no antifreeze in my breakfast cereal.

Economics plays trump to morality any day, look at wal*mart, the share value of AIG, lobbyists, cigarettes that smell like fruity pebbles, micro municipalities inside other cities with 100x the expected amount of traffic tickets, dioxin containing herbicides sprayed to cheaply kill the weeds amonst the crops... all the medicineless brown people dying for the sake of consistent intellectual property rules.
Many of those examples are entirely off point...

Entirely off the point, exaggerated, and misrepresented. At least in my opinion.

But there is a question: Is screwing even a small percentage of well intentioned people moral? Is screwing people who don't have the money to pay for something that costs nothing (to produce additional copies of) moral? Is it moral to stop people from committing a victimless crime?

People do not need video games to survive. It is not necessarily inhumane to refrain from giving peopl video games for free.

The companies are not making peoples lives worse by making a game and not giving it to people for free. At worst, people's life-itude would come out even, as if the company never existed.

You ever try to do good research for noble reasons, only to run into the roadblock of a $40 per view article? A $4,000 per view article?
It's only fair that the researchers, the game artists, the other guys make a decent wage...
And it's not a perfect world, and all the omelettes need their eggs (as well as ther electricity generated from the coal whose atmospheric carcinogens gave tiny tim the cancer he can't survive because he's not a citizen of a developed country...). I'm saying some eggs are worse than others.

Yes, some things are reasonable, and some are not. That is what this discussion is primarily about. How strict can or should DRM be without being unreasonable.

Regarding the screwdriver, yeah, it was illegal. I also saved their ass if my buddy wanted to sue them for the profound contusion it left above his ilium.
If I leave anything anywhere that poses a threat to any human, I deserve to suffer that threat, because the only thing that differentiates me from the guy that gets it is happenstance.
If I do nothing for that poor basted who couldn't help but buy into 'open box software = non returnable' paradigm, to later find out that restrictive drm just circumstantially happens to leave him high and dry, I deserve that fate.

I give people only the risks that I would take myself. You cannot please everybody at once, nor can you leave everybody in a perfect state. The World is a broken place. One can only attempt to minimize the total suffering involved.


I know, but it is no harder than using a suitable CD-emulator. That is all I am saying.

regarding illegal, "an unjust law is no law at all." (Ok so 'no vandalism of property' is a just law. It's the property that isn't just. [it isn't justice to let someone hit that and bleed and call it an acceptable casualty.])

Yes, but who interprets whether a law is Just? If everyone interprets for himself and does what is right in his own eyes, we have naught but anarchy. If you are an anarchist, then that might be just fine. However, I do not happen to believe that anarchy would result in anything good. That distrust of anarchy is why our ancestors, way long ago, banded together to form civilizations. The people gave up the right to do as they please in return for protection from each other. That is, in essence, what civilization is. I would not take such a commitment lightly.

Everyday, I grow a bit more anti-fascist, and my need to make others anti-fascist grows, too...
entirely off-topic:
Quote
It would seem that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.[1]

Just make sure you can distinguish between Fascism and Capitalism. I do not care if you like Captialism or not, as long as you can recognize it as separate.



Well, a barnacl'd stick would have made for a better visual.

Excuse my easy colloquialism.

Most would interpret it as an insult, as would I. Let us try and keep it civil, shall we?

Is it legal to call him thoughtless on behalf of the people he doesn't think much of?

Legal? Yes. Polite? No. Free speach allows you to say whatever you want, but not wherever you want, qe2eqe. This forum is not public property, it is private. Thus, the owners of this forum are allowed to set policies as standards. If you disagree with them, you do not have to stick around.

Not to mention, you have no idea what I think of those people, qe2eqe. Jumping to such a conclusion would be both immature and rude. I have not jumped to any conclusions about you, qe2eqe, even though several have crossed my mind. Please return the favor.

Another note on DRM - if its worth breaking, it will be broken. Game companies will still make money - a good example is the guy I work for just bought a $100 wireless router entirely because it was preconfigured for the ports Xbox needs. He already had a router; he's got a much higher ratio of $$$$/(skill + frustration tolerance) than I do. Xbox made their money, and the Xbox devs put food on the table. Just saying, there are always people who will take the easiest route and just pay.

DRM methods have never been designed to be unbreakable. They have always simply been designed to be a deterent.

There will always be people on the fence. Whether it be struggling with ethics or convenience, or somewhere inbetween. The stronger the DRM, the less people pirate it, the more people buy it, and the more money the developers make. Developers are just trying to find that golden ration, the perfect balance between ease and security.
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2008, 05:29:36 AM »

Quote
First of all, this supposed to be an intellectual discussion. If you cannot refrain from such blatant insults, I would ask you to refrain from participating.
-------->I can't. Would you rather have an idle thread?
Besides, if some guy just paid $40 for a piece of plastic that refused to work with his setup... and you told him he's in the 2% that ought be left behind... well I'm sure he'd tell you where to put something.

Quote
What if my dog ate the disc?
Then neither I nor anyone else have any sympathy for you. Keep your valuable computer games away from all household pets. It is not that hard.
---------->It can be. Living with children/animals (they're both dirty/noisome). Paying for a license means getting to do what the license lets you do. Giving it an Achille's heel - with no recourse - is extortion.
Quote
Not all restrictions are an act against Humanity. I, for one, am glad people are not allowed to go around slaughtering everybody. I am also thankful that there is no antifreeze in my breakfast cereal.
---------> That's why I made the distinction of victimless crimes. Or, at least I think I did.

Quote
I am not calling people non-factors. In fact, I am giving them a very specific factor, 2%.
--------> (pareto bs) 20% of the population takes 80% of the social welfare funds (e.g. medicare). Fortune is all that keeps you from being that 20%, so it's good to agree with the way that works. Of course, video games are not life and death - and they can't be legislated - but the 98% should still look out for the 2% as a matter of principle.

Quote
I give people only the risks that I would take myself. You cannot please everybody at once, nor can you leave everybody in a perfect state. The World is a broken place. One can only attempt to minimize the total suffering involved.
What about your grandmother? You'd leave her all those risks you'd take yourself?

Quote
That distrust of anarchy is why our ancestors, way long ago, banded together to form civilizations.
I think it had more to do with commerce. Anyway, anarchy is a broad term. Laws aren't absolute, either - the letter of the law is violated quite often - and the subjective interpretation of the spirit of the laws reigns supreme, be it the police officer that lets you slide or the court that sides with practicality and dismisses a case.
Ethics is bigger than law, anyway. Read "Letter from birmingham jail" - mlk jr.

Quote
Where one stands in life should, ideally, not overly affect one's basic beliefs.
oi... nothing should overly anything, hence the definition of overly. Even Aristotle fig'd that one out.

Regarding my bit on fascism... I was trying to show that I'm a fascist against fascists, fundamentally contradicted. Aren't we all?

Quote
At worst, people's life-itude would come out even, as if the company never existed.
Not always. For example, Is WoW the new golf?

Anyways, the new crop of drm crap doesn't affect me, because I won't buy it. The way video games have evolved - the skyrocketing budgets for thousands of devs and zillions of polygons, the feeping creaturisms....is just so splurgy.... that's what you're paying for. Then again, maybe it's rare that I can get my jollies off just a flash game with good gameplay.
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Chronos
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« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2008, 12:07:04 AM »

Quote
First of all, this supposed to be an intellectual discussion. If you cannot refrain from such blatant insults, I would ask you to refrain from participating.
-------->I can't. Would you rather have an idle thread?
Besides, if some guy just paid $40 for a piece of plastic that refused to work with his setup... and you told him he's in the 2% that ought be left behind... well I'm sure he'd tell you where to put something.

This is an intellectual discussion. If you feel the need to insult me, you can do it somewhere else. I happen to know that there is an entire board or two devoted completely to that purpose. Stop being childish or leave.

Quote
What if my dog ate the disc?
Then neither I nor anyone else have any sympathy for you. Keep your valuable computer games away from all household pets. It is not that hard.
---------->It can be. Living with children/animals (they're both dirty/noisome). Paying for a license means getting to do what the license lets you do. Giving it an Achille's heel - with no recourse - is extortion.

Yes, the person should get the license that the person bought. There's a problem, though:

The license that one bought is to play the game on one's personal computer, as long as the CD is inside the computer and the key has been authenticated. No one has been lying about the license one is buying. One knows from the time one buys the CD that if the CD is lost or stolen, then one could be in trouble.

Now to mention, qe2eqe, the law explicitly states that one may legally make a backup copy of any digital media.

Quote
Not all restrictions are an act against Humanity. I, for one, am glad people are not allowed to go around slaughtering everybody. I am also thankful that there is no antifreeze in my breakfast cereal.
---------> That's why I made the distinction of victimless crimes. Or, at least I think I did.

That was a rash, blanketing statement. I merely countered it. You may have made distinctions later on, but this statement in particular you never clarified.

Quote
I am not calling people non-factors. In fact, I am giving them a very specific factor, 2%.
--------> (pareto bs) 20% of the population takes 80% of the social welfare funds (e.g. medicare). Fortune is all that keeps you from being that 20%, so it's good to agree with the way that works. Of course, video games are not life and death - and they can't be legislated - but the 98% should still look out for the 2% as a matter of principle.

The 98% do often take care of the 2%. If you read what I said carefully, you'll notice that I did said that they should get some concern. However you cannot cater everything to just that 2%. It then becomes a question of balance. It would not be fair to the 98% for the 2% to garner a majority percentage of the vote. Yes, the 2% should retain their unalienable rights, but beyond that it becomes somewhat of a numbers game, and rightfully so.

Quote
I give people only the risks that I would take myself. You cannot please everybody at once, nor can you leave everybody in a perfect state. The World is a broken place. One can only attempt to minimize the total suffering involved.
What about your grandmother? You'd leave her all those risks you'd take yourself?

I would only give her the risks that I would take at that age, qe2eqe. I am not so stupid as to suggest that risks should be distributed age-blind.

Quote
That distrust of anarchy is why our ancestors, way long ago, banded together to form civilizations.
I think it had more to do with commerce. Anyway, anarchy is a broad term. Laws aren't absolute, either - the letter of the law is violated quite often - and the subjective interpretation of the spirit of the laws reigns supreme, be it the police officer that lets you slide or the court that sides with practicality and dismisses a case.

Judges and police officers have the legal right to provide that flexibility. The average person does not really have that right. For that, I am often glad. I see many people I would not want interpreting the law in their own fashion.

Ethics is bigger than law, anyway. Read "Letter from birmingham jail" - mlk jr.

Some might argue that part of ethics is obeying the law. I would venture to say that some, some mind you, inconvenience is withstandable to maintain a reasonable amount of order.

In regards to MLK Jr., he was not fully going against the law. Rather, he was invoking citizen's god-given right expressed at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence:

Quote from: The Declaration of Independence
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Of course, if you are going to make a decision based on that passage, make sure you read the qualifications directly preceding it:

Quote from: The Declaration of Independence
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

Quote
Where one stands in life should, ideally, not overly affect one's basic beliefs.
oi... nothing should overly anything, hence the definition of overly. Even Aristotle fig'd that one out.

Fine, let me rephrase it more directly: Where one standsa in life should, ideally not significantly affect one's basic beliefs.

To qualify, many, I among them, would claim that truth is absolute. If something is true, then it is true from any angle. One should be in a constant pursuit of this truth. Do not confuse this with the claim that truth in any direction is invarient. All should be judged according to their circumstance, but the underlying truth is the same.

Regarding my bit on fascism... I was trying to show that I'm a fascist against fascists, fundamentally contradicted. Aren't we all?

Quite well put, qe2eqe. I would not exactly call that a bad position to be in. Although, I would still try to show everyone a base amount of courtesy.

Quote
At worst, people's life-itude would come out even, as if the company never existed.
Not always. For example, Is WoW the new golf?

Now you are getting into psychology. I am a big believer in personal responsibility. I believe that you can no more blame a video game company for addicting people than you can for an alcoholic beverage company. Granted, there are cases where you can blame an alcoholic beverage company. I trust Blizzard Entertainment enough to believe that they would not purposefully try to ruin people's lives in greed. Not to mention, in digital media it would be very difficult to do something unethical to physically or psycologically addict people. In other forms, simply adding drugs does the job quite well, but binary drugs have not been invented... yet.

Anyways, the new crop of drm crap doesn't affect me, because I won't buy it. The way video games have evolved - the skyrocketing budgets for thousands of devs and zillions of polygons, the feeping creaturisms....is just so splurgy.... that's what you're paying for. Then again, maybe it's rare that I can get my jollies off just a flash game with good gameplay.

If you truly do not care then, to use an Australian term, good-on-ya. Many people are perfectly happy with free Flash-based games. Many people like both classifications of games as well.

We do not truly know how the average person is going to like this new generation of DRM because we are all still in transition. People always complain about change, virtually without fail. For instance, people hated when the world was switching over to Windows XP, from whatever they had before. Now, most people love it more than they ever loved the previous versions. Even among the people who hated both versions of Windows, most would still agree that Windows XP is better. Now people are complaining about the transition From Windows XP to Windows Vista, and this change is even much, much easier than the XP change.

Now, just because complaints are to be expected does not mean that they should be ignored. Rather, it simply means that the complaints must be carefully supplemented with reason.
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2008, 12:38:10 AM »

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Now to mention, qe2eqe, the law explicitly states that one may legally make a backup copy of any digital media.
ok, read a little more about the crop of DRM behind games like spore. They try their best to prevent you from making copies.

---I'll make more responses later, and please don't be offended by the following comment:

Using bits like 'quite' and 'one should'... We'll, sounds too airy. Barnacl'd sticks might be too vernacular, but the way you're responding to it is a little too far out the other side. It'll make an audience like me think you're full of yourself, not that I think you're full of yourself, and even if you were it's been fun.

more to come.
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Chronos
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« Reply #10 on: September 29, 2008, 01:24:12 AM »

Well, half of it is that I am trying to talk in a formal Argumentitive style. The other half is that I, like many other mathematicians, tend to be allergic to ambiguity. I apologize if my posts sounded snobish. I will try to be more mindful of it in future correspondence.

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Now to mention, qe2eqe, the law explicitly states that one may legally make a backup copy of any digital media.
ok, read a little more about the crop of DRM behind games like spore. They try their best to prevent you from making copies.

Meh, they try. I personally have not found their efforts very effective. Most of their attempts seem to center around blocking out access to the game while certain emulators are running. Neverwinter Nights 2 won't even run when I have my super-Task Manager running. These safeguards can generally be circumvented by reburning the ripped media onto a writable disc.

One nice thing is that some companies will replace lost or broken CD's for only S/H or a nominal fee. All you would have to do for those companies is privide proof that you own the game, such as something as simple as the case, the manual with the original CD key, or the CD's broken pieces. Blizzard in particular provides this service.
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qe2eqe
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« Reply #11 on: September 29, 2008, 02:33:06 AM »

Speaking of ambiguity, how bout these weasel words?
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The average person does not really have that right. For that, I am often glad.

You pretty much pwned me (this time) - it's impossible to prove that companies don't have a right to design a product as they see fit.

As for vista...  you shouldn't need a 300 watt cpu to surf the net, but then again, I use alot of shoulds.

<---And I'm by no means a mathematician. I always like Buckminister Fuller's self-proclaimed vocation, 'design scientist'.
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blakranger51
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« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2008, 09:01:07 AM »

I have to side with Chronos on this one...

qe2eqe, just give it up, leave the forums. No one likes you, no one listens to you, no one wants to hear what you have to say.
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« Reply #13 on: September 29, 2008, 06:12:27 PM »

from: http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming
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The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.

from http://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=1095
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"
[edited for concision]
As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games," stated Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corporation. "The console market effectively already has something like this in that its games have to go through the platform maker such as Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. But on the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed, poorly supported, and full of intrusive copy protection and then be stuck on it."

[edited for concision]

The Gamer’s Bill of Rights:

   1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
   2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
   3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
   4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
   5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
   6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
   7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
   8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
   9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
  10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.


----eh. Of course, you already read this stuff, I'm sure.
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...I'm starting to like Stardock...

I think I'll pirate their game and send them a thankyou letter. =)
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Cameron07
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« Reply #14 on: September 29, 2008, 07:32:48 PM »

omg.. too much quoting.. and whatever chronos said.. he's right
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