Ubisoft's Draconian DRM

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

No matter the petitions, forum rage et cetera, the game - Assassin's Creed 2 will sell in millions. (SHunter is a different story due to the niche genre and lack of hype)

The population will be increasing exponentially at some point in the near future -- new markets are emerging and, of course, factor in the teen mentality along with the 'cool' side of things, just another wave of people, that never read your petition, played your favourite games. Just another hundred thousand people, buying first PCs, getting internet connection, or simply parents buying their children another toy for X-Mas, or whatever holidays their cults acknowledge.

Gaming used to be about: 1) Simulation, 2) Entertainment.

People with engineering backgrounds used to Create Games; now think of it as a conveyor belt similar to "* Idol", where paint artists (often showmen) assemble another roller-coaster.

Although, there are still great games around: Mass Effect 1 & 2 - not for it's gameplay, but for it's story, and sometimes with deep philosophical meaning reduced to a 2-3 sentence thought, so that the general population can delve into it, without being distracted. If the story in Mass Effect, or probably any Sci-Fi book, that touches the Humanity as a space-faring species with the Knowledge that Nationalities wasn't a great idea after all, isn't the story that ultimately awaits people living on this planet, I do not know what is.

If you consider yourselves consumers, be ready to be treated like cattle; there's only downhill from there.

P.S. Congratulations to John Carmack on the success of Armadillo Aerospace enterprise in NASA's project and long overdue "Lifetime achievement award". (Link)

Edited February 25, 2010 by Iroquois Pliskin

[celery 8]

They say Silent Hunter 5 has been cracked. GG Ubisoft? :rolleyes:

[vilas 473]

such copy protection is stupidity

if buy something - i do it cause i am honest, not cause i cannot download

such action only make enemy to "official" version

cause when i buy electronic product (soft, music) i want use it simply

i remember once stupid CD protection, that music CD not played in CD-roms, after every 30 seconds there was 1 second pause

it was horrible

my old hi-fi broken, i used to wear disc-man (before MP3) and i couldn't listen this record

it was stupid situation that you bought music disc and need to download it from internet to listen to it

cause my hi-fi system is :

my PC + amplifier + speakers

so when CD was protected - i couldn't listen to music that i bought

second example:

i bought once upon a time dictionary (Polish-English)

costed me a lot of money then etc.

i tried to install and message appeared "to unlock functions post letter to adress ... bla bla bla"

i was so mad "wtf, i wanna use it !!!!!!!!!!!!!"

i received letter from company with the code

i entered code, i could use dictionary

few weeks later i need to change VGA, "hardware code" changed, dictionary requested another code from producer

i wrote another letter and they interrogate me "why you need new code?"

i was so pissed off

my friend laughed at me "man , i downloaded this dictionary from torrent and all works well without any letters, codes etc."

such "security" kills "legal users" cause we no more buy such soft if it is "trouble making"

when i pay for pizza - i wanna get it in hand and simply eat, without waiting for code, registration, checking

when i pay for shoes - i put them on leg and walk, without waiting for code, registration, checking

when i buy game - i wanna play it, not register, send letters, enter another codes, and being under permanent control

i have poor internet developer, my connection breaks sometimes in 30 minutes, so ???

i couldn't play such game if my connection will broke

such "protection" is only demotivating to buy such "product"

protections of soft only hit in legal user - who bought it

illegal users always have cracked versions that work without problems

crackers are best coders and making another "protection" won't stop them, cause they are the best and it only will hurt "those who bought it in shop"

and will be another reason for pirate users, cause they will be laughing at those who bought "hahaha, he must send letter, he must do many actions, he must wait for answer code, he must wait for letter - me not" will say such guy

cause if normal lazy person would have to choose:

- download and USE (enjoy)

OR

- pay money, enter codes, register, wait for codes, push disc in rom, have internet connection on good line (no radio connection when weather is ugly) in future requesting another codes cause you changed machine (PC) ?

...than... ? what is "best" choice ? some developers not see this and they make pirates themselves

if pay for pizza - i simply eat it , i don't wan man in restaurant "sir enter code, sir send letter and wait for answer with code, sir, put pizza on plate cause we must check if tomato and mushroom is in proper place, than assistance of waiter is needed, you will be giving code after every pizza part"

i would say f.. you, give me back money and NEVER visit such restaurant again (eventually smashing this pizza in their face)

when i buy game, i wanna install it and PLAY (forget when i put disc, no internet connection, no request answer codes and mails and registrations etc. ), i simply wanna use it like other products aka shoes, pizza, dish, cattle, jacket, jeans, backpack, chair... whatever

if developers will be acting like prescribed example in first post , than ... torrents will be bigger and bigger

cause you want make friends/ friendly customers - if you aim at someone from gun and threaten him by accusations

Edited March 4, 2010 by vilas

[Nazul 10]

Silent Hunter5 and Assasins Creed 2 have been cracked. I dont know when they were released or how long it took to crack them. Maybe theyre(UBI) happy with the "inbetween" time and were able to sell enough.

[vilas 473]

everything can be cracked, cause crackers are best informaticians or even coders who wrote application and sell it second time

policemen say about "night production" in some companies that produce discs daytime "for developer" and in the night "for Caucasian bazaars"

it is no matter if company protect game or not

cause cracker will break it anyway

but - the more protections - the more pissed off users (like me and music CD and Dictionary examples) who won't choose again "problems"

people simply wanna USE something they bought

building large wall before users will only make pirates growth

basic things must be in brain of those who sell "i must sell easy friendly-user products"

look at digital cameras (not talking about professional cameras aka Canon EOS) market

man buy camera, man pushes one button, man make photo and THAT'S ALL

i cannot imagine that i would have to register, enter codes, wait for letters etc. when i buy camera

if i would have to choose between "take and use" and "take and have problems" i would use first option, only masochist chooses longer and harder way

if i am "honest" and i pay for products - i don't want have "problems" with using it

i have 350 CD with metal music on my shelves, i could download them from torrent right ?

but i haven't done it , although such music CD (except this one example Armia- Pocałunek Mongolskiego Księcia) has no security at all

if i use MP3 player, i buy CD in shop, i convert to MP3

i could download the same files from torrent ? am i sucker ? no i am "honest"

and the same should work to "games"

game costs as 2 music CDs so i see no problem

and crackers will do all "easy to use" < thats why some people prefer torrent

not cause they want "steal", but they want "easy USE" product

not like i had with my goddamn dictionary and letters and "sir, why you need another code?" phone interrogation :/

checking game disc DVD before run - okay, if it must be

but NOT for "internet connection" (cause many people have poor connection), request codes (i wanna use it since first minute after instal), registering (personal data and marketing spam in mail box) etc.

thats why i have Open Office, not MsOffice :]

but there is other issue - my LAW and in many countries too - ALLOW to have ONE copy of disc, in case of "my disc broken"

if game has "disc check before run" - it may happen that disc will be scratched

and my law regulation ALLOWS me to copy this disc for personal safety-backup and copy-protection is against rules

i cannot update some old addons , cause disc was scratched by checking (starforce) and now i cannot buy old game in shop (only newest games are in shop)

and for example it is against my law regulation

also if someone buys such game and suddenly it appears that "without internet connection it won't run" can piss someone , cause disc bought on bazaar from Caucasian-looking man will RUN anywhere and anytime

sometimes choose between "cracked" and "legal" version is "buy CD for 50 PLN or buy from Russian-speaking on bazaar for 20 PLN"

30 PLN is not big difference, but if lad from my street has choice "working version" or "not working" , you think he will choose "harder way" ?

it is stupid situation that you BUY in shop CD music and next day... you must download it from torrent to listen to it

is it not stupid situation that you BOUGHT in shop software and... you must get another version to use it and your "legal copy" lie on shelf not used, cause "requires many letters, request codes" ?

is it not stupid to PAY for something and download it from torrent to be able to use it , cause legal version version from shop simply not work ?

when i told my friend about problems that i had with English-Polish dictionary i bought (he wanted to buy the same) , he resigned from buying, cause normal man want "use it", not "visit post office three times"

if i pay for game, i wanna put disc into rom, install and throw disc away to box in the bottom shelf and play

i bought 350 discs with music, i could downloaded them from torrent

i simply converted them into MP3 for personal use, all discs stand on shelf and i listen from PC

i could have the same files for free

so it is not important "how you protect" electronic bits, cause it comes from "internal honesty or money possibility" what you use

my 349 discs (except this one) were not protected at all , and my friend also bought them, cause he also believes that musician deserve money for his job

we (my and my friends) have mostly the same discs, we could exchange and noone would stop us

no cd-protection is needed when you are "honest", but we both bought the same music discs

and none cd-protection will help when cracker is professional, cause crackers/hackers are the best coders, they are coding/programing elite and protection only hits in "those who bought it", i doubt there is single software in the world that was not hacked

i doubt that any copy protection prevented pirates

to prevent and fight pirates - you must fight third-world placed severs with uploaded torrents, not fight end-user that payed for product

developer can built-in 100 types of protection and ... someone who use torrent will have it next day without all those shits disturbing gameplay and consuming CPU

but guy who bought it will be crying and in effect... next day he may think "well , maybe i should also use torrent"

if Ubisoft don't understand this - they are building wall against themselves

i doub't there is positive effect connection relation between "how much game is protected" and "how many percent has it from torrent"

in time when you can have 10 MB internet connection in house and P2P it is less important

it was important when people were copying for neighbor and had 256kb connection 6 years ago

but even back then it was better for developer , cause "when 2 guys bought 1 game and copy themselves" than 1 copy is SOLD

if game is "pain-in-the-ass protected" than such 2 teenagers buy ZERO copies, they'd prefer torrent

some game developers (Ubisoft in this case) behave irrational and schizophrenic, like army that bombs another country and asks "why people are against us and more fighters appear and shoot to us"

they both see no connections between action-reaction rule, third Newton rule "every action has reaction"

i think basic IQ was lacking in some brains in this case

look at BIS example - first disc check , later no-cd patch and we are all satisfied with this fact

why we buy Arma ? cause we respect and love BIS, not because we are under the gun of 10 types of protections

if i would have to pay 100 USD for Arma2 to BIS i would do it with pleasure cause i see it worthy, Ubisoft see potential customer as thief and it is not good from customers point of view

if shop keeper would treat me as thief and would be doing personal research on me, i would never visit such shop :)

Edited March 5, 2010 by vilas

[Deadfast 43]

Vilas, just as I started thinking you have learned your lesson you post yet another wall of text.

Please, for the love of god, use proper sentences with capital letters at the start and periods at the end.

[spooky lynx 73]

Hmm... Maybe I am mistaken, but now I feel that game devs and publishers think mostly about profit but not about the game quality. It looks like they think the only way to raise their efforts is to make another kind of DRM. FAIL. Make really top-quality games and gamers will praise you by bying thousands of its copies. Game development is not the best way to become wealthy. It should be art but not industry. And the source of profit should be the quality of product but not another DRM trying to decrease piracy level.

Heh, steam is mentioned... I can say tons of rude words to its developers:mad: I'm not against online activation, but I'm absolutely against inability to play SP Half-Life and its mods without some unknown updates and often just without internet connection!

[vilas 473]

Spooky Lynx - but it was always "business" not "underground punk-rock band hobby" :)

the only problem is "if you as customer can use it without problems"

2 examples i show (CD and Dictionary) show that "legal version may be pain in the ass and crack/torrent will be user friendly"

it is PROBLEM, cause LEGAL version should work better and without problems, without activation codes, internet etc.

those developers make problems themselves and now act surprised

it really shows me one old Polish joke:

- stupid farmer sit on tree branch and using saw cuts it from trunk, tourist look at stupid farmer and say "man, you will fall"

and farmer fallen

"fortune-teller or what ?"

----

it is the same, they protect more and more soft against USER / customer and they... are surprised that people choose torrent version that "works since first minute" ?

like soldiers of one country fire to other country citizens and are surprised that opposition and number of guerrilla rises and say "we started to get rid of few hundreds of terrorists and now each day there is more and more of them"

for someone who has BRAIN it is "natural consequence" - eye for an eye

third Newton rule - every action has reaction

Edited March 5, 2010 by vilas

[spooky lynx 73]

Spooky Lynx - but it was always "business" not "underground punk-rock band hobby" :)

the only problem is "if you as customer can use it without problems"

2 examples i show (CD and Dictionary) show that "legal version may be pain in the ass and crack/torrent will be user friendly"

it is PROBLEM, cause LEGAL version should work better and without problems, without activation codes, internet etc.

those developers make problems themselves and now act surprised

it really shows me one old Polish joke:

- stupid farmer sit on tree branch and using saw cuts it from trunk, tourist look at stupid farmer and say "man, you will fall"

and farmer fallen

"fortune-teller or what ?"

----

it is the same, they protect more and more soft against USER / customer and they... are surprised that people choose torrent version that "works since first minute" ?

like soldiers of one country fire to other country citizens and are surprised that opposition and number of guerrilla rises and say "we started to get rid of few hundreds of terrorists and now each day there is more and more of them"

for someone who has BRAIN it is "natural consequence" - eye for an eye

third Newton rule - every action has reaction

I can understand gamedevs and publishers caring about protection of their rights. Friendly speaking, they are violated often. But when they care mostly about their rights but not about the quality of their product - it will only rise amounts of cracked games. And paying so much attention to different DRM systems they don't care about providing demo versions to all games before its releases. So customer would try any game he wants before spending his/her money. And now there is a kind of dishonesty in "game creators - cusomers" relations, when customer can be punished for cracking or using cracked product, but game creator at the same time may not give any demo versions of their products. Even if the customer can not return the game if he is not satisfied with it. Nearest example - OFPDR.

[vilas 473]

were my ca. 350 music CD protected ?

no, i bought them because of "honesty"

and no protection or lack of protection make someone honest or not

i had one CD protected and i had to download it , no matter that i payed for legal CD, but it was not functioning on my HiFi

it is sick situation when you BUY in shop CD and... it not works in your CD player , and if you wanna hear to the music, you have no choice than torrent, cause legal version is "protected" from user , it is surrealistic and sick situation that should not appear

CD should play in ALL players you may have in home, car, portable etc.

nowadays all CD i buy have even files titles, so when you make MP3 from it, it has titles of songs , no protection

they don't care about providing demo versions to all games before its releases.

cause when they would provide demo than it may appear that game is ... shit (for people like we, who played many years the best game in the world - OFP1 )

so they don't do it , like our politicians say A before election and B when are elected, if our politicians would show their "regulations" before voting, they would never been elected

the same to the "money making" and business

remember that your "level of demand" is too big, cause you expect other developers to be BIS ;)

so for people like us many thing can be "shit", cause we compare products to level of Arma2, OFP1, MaxPayne1 etc (old games had atmosphere, new have graphics)

Spooky Lynx - you cannot start judging other digital cameras owning Canon EOS 1D Mark III yourself ;) cause then everything will be shit

we started from very high level like OFP1, RTCW, Max Payne ... it is hard to reach this level for other developers

probably gaming industry make 100 games every year

but when you look at past 10 years you can count 5-7 titles that you see as "good" ;)

for me MOHAA was better than all CoDs

Edited March 5, 2010 by vilas

[maturin 12]

They should do it Soviet style and abolish intellectual property, right Vilas? :D

[vilas 473]

it looks like you have basic problem with understand

"intellectual property" has nothing to "user-friendly" functioning of product, i gave examples of jacket, pizza, camera, music etc. - all are products

if i pay and buy product than it simply should work without problems and annoying "register, wait for code, enter another code, put disc again, check connection" etc.

CD game costs 3 times less than US EWCS parka, but when i buy water proof jacket, noone expect me to register, enter code before using and have internet connection when it is raining

if you not understand connection between "user friendly" factor and torrents than i feel sorry for you :]

the more "protections", the more pissed off users that are angry cause "i simply cannot install an play"

person who bought product - expect it to work

and intellectual property is in fact that you pay for it respecting creators

strange way of thinking you have if you think that "user friendly software is equal lack of intellectual property"

cause than it would mean "software that requires calling to company, sending letters by post before start, and armed security behind you back is best software"

when you go to cinema to watch movie, does anyone require any codes , letters, calls , activations ?

no, so it means that person who BOUGHT ticket abolished intellectual property ?

or if i bought 350 CD with music, and they have no protections at all , it means i not respect musicians cause i don't push activation , codes, letters before listening to the music ?

intellectual property is law to have profits from things that person made, it is not equal "prevent from using on PC without internet connection", cause next day another idiot will require that user must call company before he start game, to get "60 minutes unlock code"

intellectual property is law that allows person to sue someone who stole his work

it is not about "preventing before use by someone who bought it"

Edited March 5, 2010 by vilas

[AndresCL 10]

Too bad it is too hard for some pepole to just NOT buy the game. But pepole keep buying the damn games no matter how crappy or dumbed down it is. Hell, it happened with MW2. Even tho MW1 had better characteristics such as dedicated server support and anti-cheat, or now with BC2 that only has a maximum of 32 player per server, no planes, no mods, no server files even tho BF2 had all of those and more, pepole keep buying them.

It is a fucking shame really, all going to hell because of the average gamer is too stupid to realize they are being screwed over and over again.

Sorry for the rant, is just that, i am seeing this all over the industry. I know you guys can do better than that, i still hold my hopes (At least, on BIS and other companies wich i find good)

[spooky lynx 73]

They should do it Soviet style and abolish intellectual property, right Vilas? :D

It looks like you know nothing about laws and patent system that was in USSR.

[vilas 473]

It looks like you know nothing about laws and patent system that was in USSR.

and about our stronger food-standards of quality from past and etc. etc.

it is f*** how their minds are fed by Reagan propaganda about our live here in past

moreover, it also weird how some people mess intellectual property and "user-friendly" product easy and ready to use

[spooky lynx 73]

The best DRM is the quality of product :) To be honest, for the first time I played pirated Half-Life 2. But when I tried and tasted it, I bought steam version. And did the same with all Episodes, CS:S and DoD:S. And will buy only licensed cpoy of Episode 3.

Authorities care about gamedevs' and publishers' right, intellectual property and income. But who cares about customer's right of receiving full info about the any game he wants or right to get back his money if he is not satisfied with the game?

[STALKERGB 6]

Can't remember exactly who it was, I think it was Brad Wardell of Stardock, he released Sins of a Solar Empire without any real copy protection, I believe he did the same with DemiGod. And although the was alot of pirating Brad believes its that him and his team need to make a better game.

His reasoning is that if you make a good enough game, people will be more than happy to pay for it.

I think he is completely right about that, I don't mind simple copy protection but it has got completely out of hand. I bough Silent Hunter 5 rather than pirating it, and no matter how good I feel the game is, there is that bitter taste knowing you have had to bend over backwards just so UBISOFT are certain you are not a pirate.

I think its a better idea to reward people when they buy a game (like extra content if you bought it in a shop) rather than treat them as criminals.

As has been said. You name it, they have cracked it.

[krycek 349]

Can't remember exactly who it was, I think it was Brad Wardell of Stardock, he released Sins of a Solar Empire without any real copy protection, I believe he did the same with DemiGod. And although the was alot of pirating Brad believes its that him and his team need to make a better game.

His reasoning is that if you make a good enough game, people will be more than happy to pay for it.

I think he is completely right about that, I don't mind simple copy protection but it has got completely out of hand.

I'll never agree with Ubisoft new fuhrer drm,but Sins of a Solar Empire it's a pretty bad example that retards will still pirate in large numbers anything they can get(i'm refering especially about that category of people who don't even buy the game if they're enjoying their pirate version).

Regarding the new drm I've been reading the sites and they say while playing the game is downloading the next missions and so on,could anyone confirm?

If it's true then WTF am I paying for??If my net is slower then what will the game tell me "hold on buddy you can't pass that door,we're still downloading"??

[Deadfast 43]

People who only pirate games will pirate them DRM or not.

AC2 stores your saves online, it doesn't download any levels or anything.

[STALKERGB 6]

I'll never agree with Ubisoft new fuhrer drm,but Sins of a Solar Empire it's a pretty bad example that retards will still pirate in large numbers anything they can get(i'm refering especially about that category of people who don't even buy the game if they're enjoying their pirate version).

Regarding the new drm I've been reading the sites and they say while playing the game is downloading the next missions and so on,could anyone confirm?

If it's true then WTF am I paying for??If my net is slower then what will the game tell me "hold on buddy you can't pass that door,we're still downloading"??

The main point about startdock was that, the lack of DRM didn't see a huge increase in pirating compared to a game that had DRM. Sins sold over 500,000 copies which is massive seeing as the game only cost about a $1,000,000 (or less than). Essentially its better to reward the legal customers than treat them as thieves.

And I can't say I have run into SH5 waiting for it to DL anything, just does you savegames I think.

[vilas 473]

the lack of DRM didn't see a huge increase in pirating compared to a game that had DRM.

yes, cause cracked versions are on torrents... so ... it is not a difference if it has protection or not

but "user-friendly" issue is important , protection should not harm using soft

example = BIS , first we had disc-check, we have "huge dispersion" on pirated version

it is RIGHT protection, BIS not require registration, still internet connection, no damn codes to do something etc.

i cannot understand those who treat user / customer as thief - cause HE PAYED FOR DISC

and on torrent there is crack ALWAYS that not requires ANY actions (register, answer codes, internet connection) from user

so pirate - never has problems as those who bought have (user-friendly factor)

i would say that lack of this can increase sales, i know it sounds surprising but...

if all is "very protected" than group of friends choose "torrent" version

if it is not so secured than... 3 friends can buy 1 legal copy and company sold 1 disc (in poor countries)

it is for them cheaper and better than waiting few days and get virus, trojan instead or broken version (in case if they have slow internet connection in such countries)

of course there are pathological downloaders, but as said above - they are not to be stopped by any kind of protection, cause every torrent includes crack that erases all kind of protection - it is specially pathetic in rich countries where people have a lot of money and game for them is very small financial effort

i can understand pirating in countries where people earn very small money, i cannot understand it in countries where they have few cars

Edited March 7, 2010 by vilas

[NoRailgunner 0]

Simple solution - don't buy, don't play and don't advertise such "user-friendly" products. For sure people can live without such protections and enjoy other/older games as well. Don't follow the Pied Piper's of such companies. :)

[vilas 473]

"don't play" is not right advice, cause sometimes something is cool but "protected from legal user"

for example Arma1 in Polish edition had worst version of StarForce, while other versions had other securing, cause it was chosen by country wholesaler , not BIS themselves

till BIS made non-disc patch, it was horror to start Arma1

so "don't play" advice would mean for example "don't play Arma1 legal version bought in shop" cause Polish printer decided to "secure it" other way than people in other countries had

to start Arma 1 (before BIS patch) i had to restart game or Oxygen 8-14 times

can you imagine in 2007 live without Arma ?

[Bulldogs 10]

UK, March 8, 2010 - Ubisoft's DRM servers were overloaded over the weekend, rendering the recently released PC version of Assassin's Creed II unplayable for many legitamate owners of the game.

In an attempt to combat piracy, Ubisoft announced an extreme method of DRM whereby games required a constant internet connection.

Assassin's Creed II, released last week, was the one of the first games to support the policy, and its first weekend has been plagued by server issues with posters on the official forums telling of connection outages.

"Due to exceptional demand, we are currently experiencing difficulties with the Online Service Platform," said an official response on the forums, "This does not affect customers who are currently playing, but customers attempting to start a game may experience difficulty in accessing our servers. We are currently working to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience."

Source : http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/107/1075124p1.html

Like you couldn't see that coming.

[vilas 473]

hardcore user unfriendly edition ;)