Game Copyright Protection Frustrations, Part 1

First, let me state that I am not in any way on the side of pirate-ers of software. I understand that many wish to play the games, yet cannot afford them. These are hard times. It goes without saying that the easiest way to get the games for many is through illegal means. This, however, is a disservice the people that spent hours of love and hard work creating the games that those pirates profess to admire. By pirating, those who find ways to illegally distribute or obtain the games are hurting the industry, reducing the chances of better games being developed. Such is not the "cool" or "underdog" thing to do, it is simple theft. It isn't as if games keep people alive, and that the fans can't wait for the titles to hit the bargain bins. There is no defense for such actions. There are many good things that the underground computer community does for our society, but pirating games is not one of them. And as for the idea of stealing games only being hurtful to the big corporations, it is untrue. It hurts those of us that are willing to pay for the games. In fact, it even hurts those who are getting the pirated games. When corporations believe that high quality games will not sell as well due to pirating, they won't be willing to pay as much for the talent necessary to create great games, and thus we start to end up with carbon copy cliche's instead of real entertainment. Or even worse, they start to go to rediculous measures to keep their copyrights safe. Which leads me into my point.

It seems that big game companies are starting to put what can only be described as trojans on their software. They stay on the computer even after the game is removed, and often can cause the software to not run on the computers of those who actually paid for the game. Sometimes it as limited numbers of installations. Other times, the "protection" interferes with the ability of the game to even install at all. This is all in the name of preventing possible online theft. This all sums up in the fact that DRM hurts the customer. And ironicly enough, it isn't even a fool proof way of preventing piracy. With the proper editing of the software, DRM can be bypassed. So in effect, protection software like DRM only serve to make the product less appatizing to those who would legitimately pay for the game.

And that is a big problem, especially for those companies who are using such "protection". By using such devices in the attempt to prevent pirating, they are effectively reducing their own sales. So what happens, is that everyone loses. The game company sees its profits cut. The potential customer either buys the game and is unpleasantly surprised, and thus tells friends not to purchase the game, or simply avoids the purchase. Fans are dissappointed, and the brand name is damaged. The only people who keep on course is those who pirate.

"Digital rights management -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .