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[nenjin]

One game at a time, return it whenever?

Basically, whenever being after a few months they start sending you notices.

To rent a game like BS for that long.....I'd pay $10. About half of what I'd pay to own it, to ensure I get plenty of time to get my jollies. I could clear BS in a few days playing like a crack head....so 3 months sounds an average amount of time to beat it, explore, and replay it a little.

[Sowelu]

Hmmm.  I am pondering that for a theoretical rental service, after a certain point, the NUMBER of games you have at a time stops mattering.  When you rent a movie you probably only watch it once, so you get a constant number of hours of entertainment per rental; the limiting factor is movie length, so more rentals = more enjoyment.  But with sufficiently long games, the only limiting factor is your free time.  More rentals = more variation but theoretically the same enjoyment.

So assuming that it doesn't cost anything extra, it'd be nice for a company to provide infinite games.  Which...I guess is what some of those weird "Play games over the internet, your computer is a dumb terminal" things are supposed to do.

[Urist McMalaclypse]

Just as a heads up, while I've heard good things about Gamefly, I've also heard it can be difficult to have the company cancel your account, should you ever decide you don't want to pay the monthly fee.

Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I like the basic means of copy protection - Starflight and Uplink are both excellent examples. Also, does anyone remember the 'content protection' from Leisure Suit Larry?

[nenjin]

The copy protection on all Sierra games was awesome. Insufficient by today's standards, but each game somehow wove game play and DRM together in a (sort of?) fun way.

A lot of Apple II GS ports did this too.

[inteuniso]

I really do hate DRM software. I understand that they want to make money, but seriously, does it have to come to this?

Fortunately, we live in a democratic capitalist society. Meaning we can vote with our dollars. And I am going to vote to boycott Homefront by not buying it. My dad told me of a time when he bought computer games, such as the original Command & Conquer, where the 2 CDs could be used to play LAN together. You had to use a CD to play the game, but the only reason for it was that some files were on the CD.  What happened to that?

[Soulwynd]

Nobody wants to put in a cd/dvd to play a game. DRM is useless for the common belief of what they are for.

The only thing DRM does is make resale harder, which is what they care about.

[zilpin]

Buying software with DRM is like buying a car which the dealer can explode whenever they want, at the push of a button.

[nenjin]

On a somewhat related note, there's a discussion on the Dungeon's forum about what DRM the game will ship with.

Kalyspo Media is doing this. You buy the game, and have to register an account. Your serial key is attached to this account. You validate your game through the internet on first launch, and get patches and content via this front end.

Sounds pretty standard these days, right? Except you can contact Kalyspo, deactivate the account the serial key is associated to, and re-sell the game to someone else who can re-register it under their name.

How's that for DRM? To me, that's honest DRM. Yes, it's a pain in the ass. Yes, it requires the internet. But it's true to its stated purpose. It is negotiating the final ownership of the product. Kalypso has the right to verify you legally own the game before you can play it. But YOU have the right to control and re-sell your ownership.

That's actual DRM serving an actual purpose that isn't a smoke screen, that isn't just a backdoor method to ensure more people are forced to purchase a game at whatever price the industry demands, while having the added bonus of annoying pirates.

I hope more publishers are willing to give up some sales, and accept some operating costs, so at least the consumer is on an even plane with them in terms of rights.

[Levi]

Kalyspo Media is doing this. You buy the game, and have to register an account. Your serial key is attached to this account. You validate your game through the internet on first launch, and get patches and content via this front end.

Man, I hate it when I have to register a separate account.  They should just tie it to my steam account.  I'm actually a little turned off of dungeons now.

[nenjin]

I'm asking for clarification on that issue on their forums now. Steam is supposed to make most other DRM not necessary. I too hate redundant DRM for Steam purchases, because they often fuck up.

So I'm hoping the DRM is just not present in the Steam version. It may not be. Since Steam will not allow you to resell your digital Steam copy to anyone. Which would make it pointless to have this DRM feature for digital purchases.

[Muz]

I just don't see the point in DRM.

The only people it harms are your customers. It doesn't harm the pirates except, maybe, for the game to take two weeks longer for someone to crack.

It'd be like having a seal on a loaf of bread that requires a password to open. If you input the wrong password or try to open it without a password, it releases cyanide on the loaf of bread.

The pirates simply hack the seal, take out the bread, clone it, and give it to everyone for free. It's not hard for a competent hacker to do. I don't like piracy, but I'd never buy high DRM software. It's so, so much more easier to steal it. I'd actually feel guilty about paying for it as it encourages more producers to screw their customers.

Is it any surprise that Spore was the most pirated game after they introduced the DRM?

[Gantolandon]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kalyspo Media is doing this. You buy the game, and have to register an account. Your serial key is attached to this account. You validate your game through the internet on first launch, and get patches and content via this front end.

Sounds pretty standard these days, right? Except you can contact Kalyspo, deactivate the account the serial key is associated to, and re-sell the game to someone else who can re-register it under their name.

How's that for DRM? To me, that's honest DRM. Yes, it's a pain in the ass. Yes, it requires the internet. But it's true to its stated purpose. It is negotiating the final ownership of the product. Kalypso has the right to verify you legally own the game before you can play it. But YOU have the right to control and re-sell your ownership.

It doesn't remove the second problem, though: this hassle will be a nuisance only to the paying customer, unless he decides to just crack the game. And then he will have more problems with patching it. The pirate is perfectly willing to wait a bit until the cracked game files are available in the torrents. Or just play the release version, unless really annoying bugs are present.

But I agree, this sounds better than most game DRMs.