Online Activation: What're your thoughts?

[volkov956 0]

some games with activation as in GTA4 run strangely when cracked .

And so far Fade shows signs of anomalies if cracked so I doubt ARma 2 being cracked will run fine. So you will have to activate to play online properlly if that is the route they go.

Fade is Arma 2's anti piracy why add 3 levels like Activation/CD Check/Fade

[musicrab 10]

So, to get straight to the point: does anyone know if ArmA II will have online activation?...

I don't really care PROVIDED it doesn't stop me from playing the game when I want and the install process isn't unduly long or buggy.

However, ignoring the pirate issue, the mechanisms (Steam in particular) do make it difficult to sell a game which means...I may start to care a bit more in the future. e.g. I'll only buy a game if I know its not going to be shelved after 20mins.

[R4-P 0]

A small - maybe a bit late - update concerning the online activation for those who still care:

Recently I learned that the German release version from Morphicon/Peter Games/idea games is being shipped without DRM.

So in essence, there is no online activation for the German version. At least yet. ;) That's been a real surprise for me which immediately lead to me buying ArmA2. And indeed: I installed, patched and played ArmA2 without an active internet connection. :)

I do not know whether the international 505 release version of ArmaA2 will have any sort of DRM though...

[galzohar 31]

How are we supposed to discuss online activation without discussing copy protection? It's practically the same thing.

The general idea the way I see it is that you stop piracy by making the paid version have benefits over the pirated version. Installation limits make even the people who bought the game look for pirated methods to run it - either because they ran out of installs or because they're afraid they will run out in the future.

There are plenty of ways to protect your game from piracy without any actual DRM. Granted, it won't work for offline players, but NO copy protection works for offline players, and those that supposedly do get cracked before most people even know the game exists. And it's not like the cracks are hard to use. Hard to find, maybe, but so easy it's silly. Anything from replacing a file after installation, up to not even needing to install the game at all, just download and play! The protection needs to provide service that competes with this sort of piracy, so that people will be willing to pay.

Pirating is so easy, the end-user of pirated products doesn't even know what DRM your using most of the time. The legal user, on the other hand, suffers from it the moment he has to reinstall more than your predefined # of times, or every time he has to place the CD in the drive.

[Minkey 10]

I would be suprised if Securom was used in Arma2, after all the bad publicity its recived and for the reason it dosent actulay work in the slightest to stop real games piracy.

Sticking Securom on a game imho is just like asking for someone to crack it and make a torrent of it.

Arma2 will probebly get pirated anyway, so BiS will lose some sales, but from what ive gathered about Bis in the week or 2 they are dedicated to there customers more so than many of the others out there, and that alone should bag them much more sales.

[galzohar 31]

I would be suprised if Securom was used in Arma2, after all the bad publicity its recived and for the reason it dosent actulay work in the slightest to stop real games piracy.

Sticking Securom on a game imho is just like asking for someone to crack it and make a torrent of it.

Arma2 will probebly get pirated anyway, so BiS will lose some sales, but from what ive gathered about Bis in the week or 2 they are dedicated to there customers more so than many of the others out there, and that alone should bag them much more sales.

Nah, even if you don't stick Securom onto a game you're asking for someone to crack it and make a torrent of it.

Why talk in future tense about Arma 2 pirating? The game had been out for more than a day, you know ;)

[Minkey 10]

Well your right of corse, i just havant looked for a torrent ;) , If its worth buying i buy, if its not, its not even worth getting a torrent of.

[Surtr52 10]

Grab the steam version, No DRM at all (Aside from steam itself, which I don't mind one bit.)

[Minkey 10]

I dont buy anything over the net, but do use steam so my question is if i buy a hard copy of Arma2 then enter the cd key into steam will i get a non DRM copy?

[galzohar 31]

I dont buy anything over the net, but do use steam so my question is if i buy a hard copy of Arma2 then enter the cd key into steam will i get a non DRM copy?

That's the million $ question. We're still waiting for an official answer (or to see when Steam is released).

[SeanRamey 10]

I think that ArmA 2 should just have a CD key, not online activation. What about people who dont have internet? Some poeple dont have internet and its really annoying to go to the store, see a really cool looking game, buy it, go home and install it, then you get slapped with an "Internet Activation Required" message. Not having internet activation would lead to more sells because more people could buy and play it. Forget about trying too hard too deal with piracy, and just stick with a CD key. A CD key has never failed me, and its not hard to do. The only drawback is if you lose it. But that is why you take care of it and even make a backup copy of the CD key incase you lose the original. Also, another thing that would bring more sales is reducing the rating of ArmA 2. Currently it is Mature for blood, violence, mild sexual themes, and strong language. It would help if It didnt have any strong language, and no sexual themes. Or at least have an option. I figure the rating would go down to Teen then, and more kids' parents would allow them to buy and play it.

(There are still people who have morals in this world)

(I still cant figure out how sexual themes made it into a combat simulation.)

(The reason I now have internet is because I bought Spore and I needed an internet connection to activate it... It ended up costing about $300 for hardware stuff. Then I played it and figured out it wasnt very fun at all... It lacked alot, but this isnt Spore forums so Ill leave it at that)

(I also would like to have a DVD and a manual-physical book or computer file)

(Am I Clear?)

Edited June 22, 2009 by SeanRamey

[nomdeplume 0]

Also, another thing that would bring more sales is reducing the rating of ArmA 2. Currently it is Mature for blood, violence, mild sexual themes, and strong language. It would help if It didnt have any strong language, and no sexual themes. Or at least have an option. I figure the rating would go down to Teen then, and more kids' parents would allow them to buy and play it.

This is the funniest thing I have ever read. I'm not sure if you're serious or not. You really believe realistic armed warfare is suitable for a teen rating, but no way should we ever let them know that people like to have sex? My mind is well and truly boggled. Your definition of "morality" worries me a little, although I suppose it is in-line with the American/Hollywood notion of what's okay or not, so I shouldn't be so shocked.

(Thank you, BIS, for not trying to get a teen rating on a mature game like this.)

Regarding the subject, I don't like online activations much - and I don't see why they're always restricted to a certain number. I can understand limiting it to a certain number per day, but a certain number overall? Surely it's not terribly difficult for the publisher to monitor the activations and take action if a particular copy is activated an excessive number of times? Why this "5 activations and then you have to beg us to let you keep playing the game" stuff? It just makes the game dev/publisher seem hostile to its own customers for no apparent reason.

The other issue is of course that boxed copies shouldn't require internet access, since not everyone has internet access. At the very least they should provide an easy way to activate it, either by using a different computer with internet access (website that supplies a license file or something?) or by phone. Not too much of a concern for me since I prefer to buy online and download anyway, but I can see it being a significant problem for some people.

[David Schofield 10]

To me, online activations always lead to limited installs. Luckilly, I hear Arma 2 does not have limited installs, just the Demos. I didn't get demos so it does not concern me.

[alext223 0]

I'm happy ArmA2 is a CD key.

Not the biggest fan of online activation, Empire: TW was the first game I've owned that

requires steam or such to play, and it was the first game that I've ever played that is unplayable.

Considered my self lucky if I, not the game, returned to the desktop!

But I'm sure it isn't steams fault, it was just the first time I've had to use them.

I just don't like the Idea that I can't install a game that I paid full price for (Mostly at release too.)

and require a 3rd party to play it. But it is there for a reason, secure their income.

The rest of my games never a serious problem. (And BI, always reliable from '01!)

Edited July 23, 2009 by alext223

[tsb247 0]

I hate the idea of a ser number of activations for a game. That's the whole reason I bought a hard copy of the game after I bought the Direct3Drive version is because the D2D version has a specific number of unlocks. What if I get a new PC? What if I want to uninstall the game and reinstall the game later? What if I have trouble with my PC, etc.? There are just too many things that could go wrong.

If I buy the hard copy, or legitimately buy the game through digital download, I don't think I should be limited to how many times I can install the game. I like the good 'ol CD key and/or the registering for updates (like Stardock does).