EA Staffer Not Liking EA's New Restrictive DRM
DRM is holding back the legit gamer. That's not supposed to happen.
Current editor-in-chief of EA.com Jeff Green, who has a long history with the Ziff-Davis publishing company, is making it public that he's not a fan of the new DRM scheme that EA has chosen to protect Command & Conquer 4.
Earlier in the month, we reported that EA was opting to use the same sort of DRM method that Ubisoft is with its constantly-required internet connection, even in single player mode.
Green, an employee of Electronic Arts, made it known through is Twitter stream that he's experiencing a problem with playing through C&C4 not because of a problem with the master server (as is the case with Ubisoft's customer woes) but because of a less-than-reliable DSL connection at home.
"Booted twice--and progress lost--on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked," Green updated last weekend. "DRM fail. We need new solutions."
That update was followed shortly with, "Welp. I've tried to be open-minded. But my 'net connection is finicky--and the constant disruption of my C&C4 SP game makes this unplayable."
Those of you who have been playing Command & Conquer 4, have you had sort of problems?

Then read the article one more time. Good to know tho your connection works perfectly fine and you enjoy your game. I haven't bought it but im not as arrogant and I know how messed up it is for those that did pay for it and have issues with it.
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.
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..?
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.
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
LOL
I'll consider buying it in a year or two IF this crap's removed.
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.
There, I fixed the title for you. =D
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.