Stardock Developing "I Can't Believe It's Not DRM" DRM Alternative
Stardock Developing "I Can't Believe It's Not DRM" DRM Alternative
Posted 10/24/2008 at 10:47pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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With all the recent hubbub about DRM (seriously, we're getting tired of using that link), it was only a matter of time until some brave soul stepped forward to behead the "draconian" menace*. Fittingly, that someone is Stardock, whose handiwork birthed the Gamer's Bill of Rights.
"While Stardock doesn't put copy protection on its retail games, the fact is that most publishers are never going to agree to do that," Stardock CEO Brad Wardell said of one sticky stipulation in the Bill.
"So the publishers are telling us, 'Put your money where your mouth is. Why don't you guys develop something that you think is suitable that would protect our IP, but would be more acceptable to users?'"
"We're investigating what would make users happy to protect their needs, but also provide some security for the publishers. ... We're actually developing a technology that would do that."
Although Wardell's plan still has all four limps planted safely in the cradle, he does have one concrete idea. "We want that license to be yours, not per machine. ... It's not your machine buying the game. It's you," he said, voicing his hope for unlimited downloads of a purchased game.
When asked if his solution could be defined as DRM, however, Wardell was hesitant to slap the newborn plan with gaming's three scarlet letters.
"The problem with 'DRM' is that it's so loosely defined. ... Stardock's products use activation, and I wouldn't say that it's DRM," he emphasized. "We're just verifying if you're real customer."
All told, though, we think Wardell is really onto something. Now, with time out of the way, it's just a matter of how many bricks we'll have to chuck through John Riccitiello's window until he actually listens.
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Skiplives
October 27, 2008 at 6:16am
You have:
"Although Wardell's plan still has all four limps planted safely in the cradle ..."
I think you meant "limbs", unless you think the idea is hobbled from the beginning.
Good article though.
Springfield45
October 25, 2008 at 3:20pm
To be honest, I have stopped paying attention to new game releases. So far, I have purchased 12 games from Good Old Games (www.gog.com) and plan to get several more. At $6 to $10 apeice, you can't go wrong. They have NO DRM at all. You can burn them to disk for archive, and install them on every computer you own! Most of them even run well on those little netbooks everyone has been going gaga over lately.
Leasing new games from the likes of EA? Naw. These will do me just fine.
-- An armed man is a free man. --
Vahn16
October 25, 2008 at 3:42pm
Yeah, GOG rocks. Best idea for a marketplace I've seen in a long time.
Also, for those who are already proclaiming Wardell's solution a Steam-alike, note that his plan isn't even close to complete. Now whether that means it'll become better or worse, well, we can't really know at this point.
Sovereign
October 25, 2008 at 9:52am
My big issue with Steam is the terrible download speeds, whether it be on my University connection (10kB/sec, shaped) or home (45kB/sec on a 6Mbit DSL line). The speeds suck! The concept itself is fine.
WarpathPS
November 27, 2011 at 2:01am
Your first mistake was DSL, your second mistake was not living in the U.S. or a very rural setting. Move to civilization and enjoy broadband.
Nuxes
October 26, 2008 at 2:12pm
I have a 9Mb cable connection and I usually get 400k-1M download speeds from Steam, maybe your ISPs are screwing with your downloads.
smashingpumpin
October 25, 2008 at 4:22am
Yes, good ol' Steam does it right with one time activiation. I think the main problem with Steam or any other pc games online distribution stores is and has always been slow downloads/reinstallation of games. They don't realize most people don't have a blazing fast internet connection so getting your game would take hours max which is a pain in the ass compared to using good ol' disc/s which would take at least a few minutes to install. In a perfect world, you should be able to buy a game digitally with a retail box or maybe just cheap, unlabeled backup cd/dvds copies included to be shipped to you at no added cost and with no shipping charge either with the same activation code as your digital download, but thats just wishful thinking.
chronium
October 25, 2008 at 5:49am
I agree, that is really the only way I will ever buy digital copies of a game if I know i am getting a physical version in the mail.
Gailim
October 25, 2008 at 4:22am
QFT
what there describing is pretty much Steams DRM. the game is assigned to YOU, not your machine
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