Have you ever felt the cold hand of Kotick slide up your moist wallet?
I have been playing and enjoying Dead Space 2 for a week now, it is a brilliant game which should not give me cause for complaint, but it does. You see I had not realised that Dead Space 2 was online pass enabled, I generally like to think the best of people (j/k) and so I do not keep a running list in my head of all the games featuring draconian and obtrusive DRM, perhaps I should.
But alas I cannot, for you see, I’ve a mind like a sieve. Subsequently I feel tricked.
It was upon hearing of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II DRM that I resolved never to purchase such an unfriendly piece of consumer software. Then when publishers started locking bits of core content from their titles, requiring the game to first be registered to a console, essentially locking the game to one console, I resolved that such unscrupulous publishers would never see a red cent of my money. I would either buy these games used or obtain them in SOME OTHER FASHION, whichever of the two was easier at the time, yet sadly I had forgotten that EA was a proponent of this garbage. I was not able to make good on my resolve.
Assassin's Creed 2 (PC), the very embodiment of ethical piracy
With increasingly shameful and offensive schemes being put into place, and with the publishers grasping hands in our pockets becoming ever more evident, I think it high time that we as gamers asked; why do we not yet have a public DRM Offenders registry? Relatively benign Offenders such as Steam may be easily integrated and accepted within our community, but if a publisher close to you was an online pass enabler WOULDN’T YOU WANT TO KNOW? WOULDN’T YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO KNOW? SOME OF THESE PUBLISHERS EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO OUR CHILDREN, ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK YOUR CHILD FALLING PREY TO DRM? I though not.
I need someone to protect me from my own complacency as a consumer, because a gamer can only be raped by faceless publishers so many times before they raise a clenched fist to the sky and bellow unto the heavens:
yes, you are making a desirable product, Evil Game Company, but I will not financially support what you do and will turn to breaking the law in order to get what I want.
The ultimate consumer protection!
It is only understandable that such a situation would result in resentment, ethical piracy and/or boycott, my only concern is that more benign developers and publishers might be caught up in the backlash. Hence it would make things infinitely more simple if such Offenders were named and publicly shamed on a public communal registry, that way the good apples may be sorted from the bad.
Ubisoft may tether you to an Internet connection, EA may lock your content, Sony may try to vexatiously bankrupt honest homebrewers through the frivolous lawsuits delivered by Darth Lane (j/k), yet it is never OK to harm an innocent party to this situation. XSeed, NISA and Atlus should not be made to pay for the disgraceful and shocking actions of many of the larger publishers.
DISCLAIMER: Piracy is never legal, regardless of how ethical it may be.
If you see a DRM-using company in your local area, don’t remain complacent: ACT! Inform the DRM Offenders Registry immediately!
I’m going to pirate Catherine on principle! And I don’t even own a PS3/360!
I’m kidding!Or am I?Nah, I’m kidding.
I’m still puzzled by that Spore piracy backlash though. Why would anyone want to play Spore? Hello Kitty games, Facebook games, Spore, The Sims, Harvest Moon, and just about anything release by Square-Enix should all be layered with the most onerous DRM available to prevent the painfully retarded people who buy them from actually playing them. It would encourage the miscreants to go outside or take up a hobby. Perhaps make the world a better place by taking up painting or learning to masturbate with their other hand? The possiblities are limitless!
I bought Spore because the premise was awesome. The idea was excellent. Everything I’d seen up to that point led me (and a lot of people) to believe it was going to be spectacular.
And it was perhaps the most disappointing game of all time.
DUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRM
Ubisoft ditch their Internet tether DRM for AC Brotherhood (PC)! MOAR POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!