EA Staffer Not Liking EA's New Restrictive DRM

By Marcus Yam
published

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?

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ghostsoldier
    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.
    Reply
  • Kelavarus
    I've had absolutely zero problems with it, and I have a terrible connection. I have no idea what his issue is.
    Reply
  • rtfm
    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.
    Reply
  • Manos
    KelavarusI've had absolutely zero problems with it, and I have a terrible connection. I have no idea what his issue is.
    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.
    Reply
  • dtm4trix
    DRM=fail at getting my money evar!!!
    Reply
  • turtlespeed
    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.
    Reply
  • thanhhaimai
    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..?
    Reply
  • False_Dmitry_II
    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.
    Reply
  • Quinid
    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.
    Reply
  • triculious
    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
    Reply