I hate to beat a dead horse, but I hate seeing all these posts decrying game companies for trying to make some money on their products.  It seems that the PC gaming community as a whole is unable to restrain itself sufficiently from mass piracy, stealing millions in profits from gaming companies that are starting to give up on the platform.  If a bit of responsible drm is needed to help keep PC gamin viable, then why are so many people against it?  
 
Look - I'm not for DRM that freezes computers or allows companies to steal information, but in this day and age is it really so horrible if a game checks in every 10 days to make sure its legal?  In fact, it seems to me that an internet authorization might be the best way to restrict piracy without draconian PC locks, but maybe I'm used to it since I've played WoW in the past.
 
Regardless, people need to stop feeling that they are entitled to free games.  Welcome to capitalism guys: if you can't afford to pay for it, then you don't get to play it.  Lets be responsible and stop acting like children who foam at the mouth every time a publisher wants to make some cash.  Piracy is theft and if we want to keep playing we're going to have to accept a few security cameras here and there.
 
 
Skot.

Few, if any people are complaining about "a bit of responsible drm", but are really more concerned with the ever increasing invasiveness of security measures that ultimately only punish the loyal customers.  In reference to the latest ME security:

Someone from the Mass Effect community forums puts it better than I could:
http://masseffect.bioware.com/foru [...] =125&sp=45

Welcome to capitalism indeed.  Piss off customers with intrusive security, and they vote with their wallets.

The "complaining" you're so tired of is the sound of otherwise loyal customers trying to persuade a company they'd otherwise support to change their ways before turning away and no longer supporting them.

Skot.

 
 
If you bothered to listen to the arguments and read the posts you would find that the objection to DRM is the opposite of wanting something for nothing.  To be frank, if I wanted to download my games for free I would encourage DRM because nothing and I mean nothing encourages piracy like draconian security techniques that never work.  
 
Honest customers are actively repulsed by the idea and turn into pirates.  
 
Is it so hard for you to imagine any of the many scenarios in which the ME PC DRM could make it more difficult to play the game?  I do not object so much to the mild mannered tame DRM of yesteryear.  CD Key validation and requiring a CD be in the drive without breaking the computer are acceptable if mildly irritating.  
 
What Bioshock and ME's DRM do go way beyond reasonable.  The best options are simply Steam or Stardock.  Both are very good options and have been shown to work wonders at preventing piracy.  Why then would publishers use any publicly despised DRM systems to secure their game?  It boggles the mind and saddens the heart.

Being the inquizitive type, check the guys profile that started this thread, he joined to post his message, and no E-Mail address, I wonder who he is working for, as for the piracy, we vote with our wallet, as for the money lost, ID seems to be doing fine, and the few others that have have no DRM but a GOOD game are doing well, the real losers are the ones that have a horrid game and make the box look god hoping that some unsuspecting fool will buy their piece of crap, enter the whinner

alot of people are missing the picture with this new DRM, and that is what companies are hoping for....
 
can anyone tell me what information will be sent out?
 
we know it sends out hardware info...
 
if im an average joe, and buy this game then the game transmits my wireless/network card or mac/ip address info, allong with my processor, ram, HDD, soundcards etc, this is all really usefull info for a hacker to have... because then they can look up the make/model and look for known exploits.

 
Why us? I mean like the DRM industry has been hurting consumers so much, no wonder people are fighting back. I mean like take itunes as an example, authorise this, tiddle that.... These days people who actually buy CDs or tracks from online are few, so why punish us? A recent survey that I conducted (you have my word its true) only 3/40 people (me + BF+Julia (wow what a minority) actually legally bought tracks from online stores or bought cds (I count that as legal).  
 
So why do such horrible things to us like machine activation? No idea. Most of my friends 33/40 *hint*Macgirlfriend  *hint* ( the rest use real player or download from places like Youtube) just used limewire for their portable music player. Many cannot afford the high prices of the Australian Store $1.69 (we are students, not mini Bill Gates).  
 
You will never stop piracy rings, DRM companies, don't even try!  
 
At my BF's high school, gangs of people swap games (cracked on USB sticks (He likes retro Floppies instead)). People swap all sorts of games like CoD 4 or Crysis (and the best DRM, is school integrated graphics   ) Come on companies, have you realised piracy comes from pirates not regular consumers. Face it more DRM, less customers.
 
(rant nearly over): Also The best DRM is pretty quickly snapped to the point its better to just have copy protection of a basic anti-nero level. Pirates just strip all DRM away anyway, so why bother to bother your bothered customers. Those boffins really have a way with the end-consumers now do they.
 
I reckon DRM to a certain level is good like in disc protection and anti-copy but anything more is just consumer trouble. People won't buy something like that. Besides do disc really need keys? Anti-copying should be enough to deter any non-professional pirate and pro just download cracks, we can safely assume we don't need them.
 
(rant almost over)
 
Oh once their was a PC gaming age
Where many were a wizard a sage
Pirates were confined to the sea  
An lawful gamers played you a me
 
Back then DRM had not to be a done  
As many gamers were too busy with fun
But something evil was a the air
The rise of the pirates was the scare
 
The old game shops of yore
became the pirating spores
sending evil across the land
giving games a hand a hand
 
Many sought this free and lawless lifes
Away from the developer's stifles
But the developers didn't stay still
they implemented DRM a will
 
Squeezing its customers tighter a tighter
As gamers walllets got lighter a lighter
Research of DRM had began  
Many wondered what happened to the fun
 
Soon many begin to fight back  
Preparing for a piracy attack
And the wars were a fought  
But the consumers never taught  
 
Why they were rebelling  
Until stardock thought of something compelling
And so we are today  
wondering what to buy and play
 
And that's were we are....... I'm bored  

 
Could that information be intercepted, yes, but secure 128bit connections are hard to crack

 
Which begs the question... are they even using that?  Probably not.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if they are only using ipsec authentication headers or similar technology to cover their interests and that is it.

^ If somebody stole that info......

I don't know what all the new and different security measures are that are being referred to here but I have ceased to buy games that require steam activation because it's too much of a hassle. If what you're all referring to is true with a revolving 10 day check i'd have to get a cracked version of the game.
 
 I'm a contractor and travel alot with my trusty laptop for work and still require my gaming fixes. I don't have a mobile internet connection and have no intention of going to wi-fi hotspots just so my game can check i'm being honest. In that respect it would actually drive me to go from being an honest, respectable, law abiding game purchaser to having to downloading (when I can) a ripped, cracked version so I can actually play it.
 
Seems counter productive in that respect. Although i'm sure i only represent a very small portion of affected users.

There are a lot of customers who foresee similar situations and as such are boycotting any games protected in this way.
 
Myself included.
 
I really REALLY wanted to buy Spore too.  

^ I know......

My real problem with piracy is that I can see what's going to happen. If people keep cracking the DRM's that company are spending lots of money on.
 
Game companies will stop selling games on disc. The only way you will be able to get game is on a pay to play type service. Games like WoW where you have to pay every month to play will start to become the norm. I bet a lot of game companies have seen the success of WoW and the amount of users it has.
 
Rather than spending loads of money on DRM's game companies will use that money to setup online only game sites. I personally don't want to have money taken from my credit card every month.

^ Some of us don't have credit cards, yet........

No, we can't.
 
Next topic.

Lol yeah and the fact that a million pounds can be spent on DRM, then some dude in a basement will hack it like a week later for free, and then make it very easy for anyone to play DRM free.

Well for one I don't mind game security. But its when they go too far as to take your personal info and creat DRMs that can destroy your Windows installation ( ahem, Sony this means you....).
 
I don't think its right for a DRM to act like a rootkit and then potentially open more holes in your PC security. And they truly have no right to see what is on your PC.
 
Personally I think the best way is to use a program like Steam. It registers the game to your username and then bam you are set. And if you ever lose the CD you can redownload it. But that would be the easier and smarter thing to do. Not to mention it would help stop piracy and promote sales since people wouldn't have to worry about crappy DRM.

If there's a game I really want to play, I buy it.  I want to support the industry, not steal from it.  But do you know who taught me how to pirate games?  The game publishers themselves.  One day I Google searched for a way to install a game using Starforce without installing Starforce, and it broadened my horizons with the knowledge of no-CD cracks and bit torrents.  Kind of ironic if you ask me, and absolutely true.  I'm sure plenty of others out there had a similar experience who now pirate anything and everything.

What gets me is if I buy a game, and it's having to sit there and check if it's the right disc or not.  New system and it's slowing down my computer making my newer pc slow.  Not acceptable.  I have gone online in cases like that and just found cracks for games.  How many people are driven to do things like that?  If a game starts phoning home on me, forget that, why would I buy it?  That's intrusive and there is no justification in any way sh