EA Staffer Not Liking EA's New Restrictive DRM

Ironically the pirated version works perfectly by making a virtual server for the game to communicate with, fooling it into thinking it's online. The DRM only hurts legitimate players.

I've had absolutely zero problems with it, and I have a terrible connection. I have no idea what his issue is.

I will never buy any software with that sh*tty drm. I bought Zero Hour and C&C3 and would have bought C&C4 but now - no way.

DRM=fail at getting my money evar!!!

When do companies start to become smart?
I started buying official copies maybe 10 years ago. And my experience with drm and game protection is making the fun factor go down. For instance games who are overly protected because game manufacturers are so afraid to loose money with piracy. But the funny part is...they already lost! And with drm they keep pushing people towards illigal software.
Because the offical version is becoming more and more expensive.
On top of that drm is negatively influencing the play and fun factor.
for example: not able to use mods, fallout 3 is such an example. Some offical download sites overly protect their games. That is one reason why I check to buy which game where... If I know that a company uses too much protection I will then not buy so much from them any longer.

Bottom line: Thiefs will not easy convert to saints... most of them will stay stealing even if they become 'mature' in age. Young learned old done we Dutch say. And the people who buy offical copies would keep buying the offical.

Solution: stick your expensive drm plans in the artic where it's cold.
And put some sunshine on the gamers faces by lowering the price.
Better sell more copies , more income then less and sell them for expensive.

DRM = Fail.

As someone stated, pirated version works fine while legitimate buyers get into trouble.

DRM only hurts legitimate buyers and make the pirates wait a day longer. WT..?

Keep in mind that they have to pay quite high sums to even commission DRM to be created. I think they lose more to paying that than they would piracy.

Then they have to pay for the server to literally do nothing but sit there and watch games play...

Although this stuff is pretty effective at killing used game sales.

I have C&C4 with my Verizon 3G isp and yeah, the losing progress is f--king annoying. I had to patch it with a pirate version just to play my single player campaign skirmishes like I like.

one would wish that people who are in charge of designing DRM or any other mechanism to protect copyright stopped a bit and asked themselves: will this bother my clients instead of those who pirate it?

simply put: I buy a legitimate dvd movie, have to read through unskippable FBI warnings and whatnot, then watch some trailers (not from another company, but the same one who published this specific dvd, mind you) which are also unskippable and THEN I get to watch what I paid for.
If I go the pirate way, I insert my dvd disc and watch the movie I want to (they way it should be if I actually PAY for the darn thing)

same for games: buy an original with a dracononian drm and lose your two-hour progress because your internet service blinked... now ain't that nice?
go for the pirate version and you get all the benefits and none of the hassles: play as long as you want on or off line, install as many times as you need/want

something seems to be working backwards

I like steam's model, I wonder why not more companies can take on it

people's going to steal stuff always, has always been doing it, will always do it, but I think doing the drm things right will slow down people who are considering the pirate way... right now seems to be encouraging customers to go pirate instead

I try my best to support the PC game world by buying games in store or buying my games on steam. But this new Stay Connected all the time thing, that doesn't work so well, i have a great connection, but every now and then my internet does go off, but i never know when it does. If SC2 is anything like C&C4 then my SC2 experience is going to be shitty. The game didn't score to well either, it averaged a 71. At 50 bucks and the stay connected thing i will wait for a bargain price of 20 dollars or i will for sure pirate it =D

PLEASE remove this new and annoying brand of DRM.... I have a bad internet connection and this new idea is absolutely ridiculous. I will litterally never buy a game that has this kind of drm.

I have been a fan of C&C since the original Windows 95 version. This will be the first one I don't buy. It makes me sad inside.

Before this, i was kinda a supported of DRM.

But now companies are starting to pull this crap and i can't for the life of me understand why they can't see that it DOESN'T work. It's beyond me why they need to treat us, the paying customers, like children when the Pirates get the game with out DRM (Not just for free, but DRM free).

I would love to buy your games EA, Ubisoft. But i can't bring myself to do it.

"EA staffer fired for complaining about DRM"

There, I fixed the title for you. =D

Thanks EA for ruining one of the greatest RTS series of all time. Being a huge fan of previous releases, I unfortunately bought C&C4 and have regretted it since day one. This type of DRM is atrocious!

Why does no one bring up Stardock in these discussions? Their games sell even when they are completely DRM free and their impulse store is actually way more convenient than steam since I can install my game whenever, and wherever I want on multiple PCs.

Looks like the scheme could be blindsided by poor connections or other technical problems. I wonder what would happen if a really large number of gamers repeatedly contacted the companies, complained, and threatened not to purchase future games.

I hate DRM. HATE IT. It's a lock down feature for something I bought with my hard earned money.

Then I try and put myself in the position of devs. I worked hard for my money, shouldn't the people who make the games we love get paid to do so? For sure. No one wants to work hard and get nothing in return.

So now we have a problem: People need to get paid, people also pirate software. Some argue that because the software is too expensive, they'll steal it. I've done it, you've done it... it's stealing. You got something you didn't pay for. You can't argue your way out of that.

So what's the solution? Look at what Radiohead did. they embraced a new distribution method and BAM!! They're making money with out any type of lock down on their music. I like it, as do many others out there. Look at Steam, they're doing just fine. It goes to show you, if you make it easy for people to pay (and not punish them with DRM) you'll be ahead of the curve.

The ONLY solution is to offer a great (if not only good) product with no restrictions to give people incentive to purchase your product.

Another company that lost my buisness..

DRM = Denied Rights Manager.

This is what happens when game developers blame piracy for crappy sales. They refuse to believe 10,000 reviews are wrong when rating a poor game to the public and everyone isn't buying it because of its lackluster gaming. Instead they then treat legit gamers as pirates and handicap them. They wander why people aren't buying those games, well what else do you Developers have to blame you already blamed piracy once!

I say let them add all of this DRM stuff, then we can all together quit buying there software and watch these companies crumble, if they can't sell DRM enabled software they won't make it.

I bought it, it didn't work due to finicky connection. I used a hack for it to keep it from having to be online, now I can't play in online game rooms but I can at least do the single player campaign.

So, a legitimate user who bought the game, has to break the game code to play it.

Ok, I have had the game since it was released and I have to say aside from the DRM crap.....the game sucks. EA put a ton of time and effort into "protecting" this title but apparently forgot to make a decent game. It took me less than a week to complete the entire campaign series....not to mention the limited online game play is crap too.....and don't get me started on the skirmish mode. Was it such a big deal to at least take the good things from the previously successful titles and attempt to incorporate that while coming up with something new? I have to say....this game is pretty much crap. Good thing us legitimate gamers spent the $50.00 that I will never get back. I will skip my soap box on demos and try and buys since I posted that in another article for C&C4 here. It's nice to know that EA supports the legitimate gamers by not refunding us for crappy games they make.

Its always bad business when you screw up a game so bad, the paying customer has to use a pirate version to play it. And some pirate versions could be infected with a virus.

Sorry, I'll never buy a game that requires you to keep an internet connection to play it. I have a cable modem, and it is simply amazing fast. But I'll not pay for something that has stipulations on how and when I can use it, especially if I am not breaking any laws! Do you hear that EA? You will not get any of my money for this nonsense.

I played the public beta of C&C4, and I did not have any problems with playing the game.

However, I have a very reliable connection. I know many others that do not, and I do not agree with having to be signed-in 24/7 to play a singleplayer game.

I have skipped games due to draconic DRM in the past, but in all I felt it sucked also. However, in the case of C&C4, I didn't buy it simply because I was very disappointed & unimpressed with the game, like so many others.

Whenever I buy a game, I also download the crack for it, even for simple disk checks (I can't be bothered to put the disk in the drive every time ). Now it helps that I don't play online/multiplayer games.

Anyone with common sense realizes that heavy handed, restrictive DRM only hurts the legit user, since pirates get around it within a week no matter what the companies try.

Note to Game Publishers: Take the money you would spend licensing/developing DRM, running the servers, and employing the people to maintain those servers and put it towards lowering the price of your products and developing better ones, and more people will buy them.

ea is stupid just release the game simple and playable to every community and sell lot of games. they will crack the game anyway. so what are you trying to do ???
they are just idiots and made mistake and now they will pay for it.