Beyond Starforce

Discussions about the latest news in the Might and Magic community.
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protecyon
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Unread postby protecyon » 19 Dec 2005, 17:40

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1135010532

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Sikon
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Unread postby Sikon » 19 Dec 2005, 17:40

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Not Steam! And not anything Steam-like, unless it's open source and run by an independent group.

I will not survive yet another mandatory Internet activation system...

HMMFan
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Unread postby HMMFan » 19 Dec 2005, 17:49

I guess I don't have a problem with Steam. These companies are in the business of selling products, and not providing us entertainment for free or that we can freely distribute or pass on to others. Despite its initial launch problems, Steam works quite smoothly now.

anakha
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Unread postby anakha » 19 Dec 2005, 18:44

A person shouldn't have to go online to play single player games, that's total bogus.

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Labyrinth
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Unread postby Labyrinth » 19 Dec 2005, 19:37

What about privacy? ... I don't like it.
What the #$*! do we know?

tetsumonkai
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Unread postby tetsumonkai » 19 Dec 2005, 19:59

"A person shouldn't have to go online to play single player games, that's total bogus."





why shouldnt a person have to go online to play single player games? because we are used to not doing that? maybe if people could have stopped using piracy software then we wouldnt have this today. Now i just think this is what "we" deserve.

Arzang
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Unread postby Arzang » 19 Dec 2005, 20:15

to tetsumonkai:



Please. The industry in general is not ONE ENTITY unless some fishy business is going on.. If company A has problem getting games sold and company B has it as well, why should company C give its consumers what they "deserve" because of what company A and B have sufferred?



Blabla companies want to sell games etc etc. Sure do that, just don't damage my hardware, my software and let me at least be able to play the game single player if my connection dies. Maybe I want to install it on a laptop without internet connection so I can play in bed? If I have paid for the game I should be able to do that.



That's why a person shouldn't have to go online to play single player games.
Edited on Mon, Dec 19 2005, 13:17 by Arzang

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LindaG
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Unread postby LindaG » 19 Dec 2005, 21:49

I do not like online games. Period. If I have to go online to play for any reason, I will not buy it. Blah.

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Amgor II
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Unread postby Amgor II » 19 Dec 2005, 22:28

I like my games out of the box. After awhile put them on the shelf

until you play them again.
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Wildbear
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Unread postby Wildbear » 20 Dec 2005, 00:02

I like it. Excepted for the first launch of half life 2 which took about 20 minutes (long update, I bought the game very late and there were tons of fixes), I never had any problem with it and I like the auto-update idea.

I only hope they won't add cd-check to the steam-like authentification, that would be very annoying.
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anakha
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Unread postby anakha » 20 Dec 2005, 05:39

tetsumonkai:



Because you HAVE to be online to be able to play, and everyone can't be online all the time just to play games.

Because everyone doesn't even HAVE internet access.

Because I should be able to play a single game without being CONTROLLED and REGISTERED.

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Edswor
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Unread postby Edswor » 20 Dec 2005, 08:27

I think Steam has a offline mode, so if you have "decripted" the game for play then you can do it even if you are ofline.
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Ururam Tururam
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Unread postby Ururam Tururam » 20 Dec 2005, 12:14

Well, its not uncommon that a game with a single player mode is played on a machine without the net access. So such a restriction would vastly limit the number of "legal" players and encourage pirates to make and sell a cracked version.
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Orfinn
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Unread postby Orfinn » 20 Dec 2005, 14:26

Protection systems like SF, Steam etc just dont make it any better!



But why bother to warn mindless game producers, their mind is filled with dirty tricks and a huge taste for cash, no matter the cost they will sell their games to "want-to-buy-the-game-even-with-vicious-PS-included-because-im-a-hardcore-fan" people.



So even if SF/Steam damages (unable to retrive valuable data from HD(s) 1/4 of the fans computers, theyre just a neccessary expendable group for the game company, they dont care to busy with counting money. We sold 3/4 anyway so why do we care about those uncaustious gamefreaks with ruined computer game controlled lifes.


Edited on Tue, Dec 20 2005, 07:35 by Orfinn

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HodgePodge
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Unread postby HodgePodge » 22 Jan 2006, 16:59

Orfinn wrote:
… So even if SF/Steam damages (unable to retrive valuable data from HD(s) 1/4 of the fans computers, theyre just a neccessary expendable group for the game company, they dont care to busy with counting money. We sold 3/4 anyway so why do we care about those uncaustious gamefreaks with ruined computer game controlled lifes.
Totally agree. It's a shame that game publishers are so insensitive to their customers.
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Kilfire
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Unread postby Kilfire » 23 Jan 2006, 00:47

I don't see an Ubi version of steam, or an updated StarForce, as the final answer.

Fundamentally, to control what gets copied on any computing device, you need to be the sole sysadmin. But even in XP, most people still use an admin account for day-to-day use.

If you are not the sole sysadmin, then the other admins can undo any protection you set up. StarForce, and all other copy prevention, is mere "security by obscurity". All attempts at being more intrusive, and digging lower into the hardware, are mere obscurity. They do not address the fundamental "multiple sysadmin hole".

In theory, really good obscurity will protect a game for the six weeks it takes to make the bulk of its sales. In practice, StarForce-"protected" discs have been copied much faster than that.

Now, I am not keeping my diary, my finances, or any other personal data on any box where some remote corporation has sysadmin rights. You may be able to persuade less technically minded folk to give up being admin over their own PC's, but (a) they don't know how, and (b) they sure know how to complain when things stop working! (personal experience ;)) So on the current generation of PC's, StarForce and its like will remain an exercise in futility.

...Okay, back to the topic, the possible futures:

(0) The new DRM in Windows Vista renders StarForce superfluous. Piracy unaffected. Game developers seriously consider the next option:

(1) Now that you can get keyboards and mice for consoles, all we are waiting for is HDTV. Then we can play HoMM6 on the XBox1080 and the PS4 without eyestrain.

(2) PC's are almost cheap enough that you could get two. I may yet end up with a cheap laptop for word processing and personal stuff, and a high-end system purely for games and a little home programming. Though option (1) is a lot cheaper.

(3) Once broadband becomes cheap enough, PC gaming goes totally online. You no longer buy games, you rent them from your ISP. The server is geographically close to you, so you always get a fast response.

Option (3) gets really interesting once you start writing games specifically for that type of service. You might never have a complete copy of the game downloaded onto your hard drive - now copy that! :) Also, it becomes feasible to watermark the code that is sent to your PC, so if you pass it to someone else, the company knows who it came from.

(4) Option (1) occurs, games developers abandon the PC - and for a few years, PC gaming appears to be dead. But during those years, open source clones of older games quietly fill the gap (it'll take about as long as the development of Mozilla). Fast forward ten years, and FreeCiv v3.9 is having a significant impact on sales of Civilization v6. (Let the lawsuits commence!)

Overall, I predict the future will see mostly (3), with (4) in some genres (like TBS :)).

Should I have made a poll out of this?

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HodgePodge
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Unread postby HodgePodge » 23 Jan 2006, 03:04

Yes, sniff, sniff … :S I've been considering for quite some time now, to go the console route. But somehow, to me, it's just not as much fun.
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