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[qwertyuiopas]

It's simple: Give a server-side benefit.
You can control server-side content, but not client-side.

Allow users to see who is properly authenticated with a unique ID, though don't block authed-nonauthed user games entirely, otherwise regular users will switched to the pirated versions so they can play with the larger crowd.

Rather, release frequent updates that affect the code, and prevent out-of-date versions from plaing at all, that way, the pirate players will always lag behind at least an hour, and the hassle of updating/completely retorrenting every week will be the penalty for getting to play online. Naturally, someone will develop an updater for the pirated version, but unless they are supergeniuses, there will always be at least a 10-minute cut out for all pirated versions before they can release the unofficial patch.

Give neat features such as profiles and profile-actions server-side maybe linking a forum profile to the in-game profile to unlock bonus content such as a user forum section for each game that is read-only for non-purchasers, and allow people to create threads/topics about a server with an in-forum link and status indicator. This will be considered a very neat feature, and allow server mods an easy way to allow playtesting by letting users read everything and join without having to find the server out of the list of hundreds.

Piracy should be encouraged and discouraged at the same time, so that rather than blocking pirated versions entirely and installing invasive DRM, users who can prove themselves to be using a legitimate unmodified game are rewarded.
As a bonus, give out a free demo that can join servers but not create them and doesn't quit after the first hour, and then when an update comes out it will be BETTER than the pirated hacked versions for the first hour(s), and as a bonus, players who cannot afford the game can still play!

If the game doesn't even require a CD to play, but simply blocks more than one player from using a single key online, LAN games will be easier.


To fight pirates, don't use DRM, use server-monitored features!

[Antioch]

It's simple: Give a server-side benefit.
You can control server-side content, but not client-side.

Allow users to see who is properly authenticated with a unique ID, though don't block authed-nonauthed user games entirely, otherwise regular users will switched to the pirated versions so they can play with the larger crowd.

Rather, release frequent updates that affect the code, and prevent out-of-date versions from plaing at all, that way, the pirate players will always lag behind at least an hour, and the hassle of updating/completely retorrenting every week will be the penalty for getting to play online. Naturally, someone will develop an updater for the pirated version, but unless they are supergeniuses, there will always be at least a 10-minute cut out for all pirated versions before they can release the unofficial patch.

Give neat features such as profiles and profile-actions server-side maybe linking a forum profile to the in-game profile to unlock bonus content such as a user forum section for each game that is read-only for non-purchasers, and allow people to create threads/topics about a server with an in-forum link and status indicator. This will be considered a very neat feature, and allow server mods an easy way to allow playtesting by letting users read everything and join without having to find the server out of the list of hundreds.

Piracy should be encouraged and discouraged at the same time, so that rather than blocking pirated versions entirely and installing invasive DRM, users who can prove themselves to be using a legitimate unmodified game are rewarded.
As a bonus, give out a free demo that can join servers but not create them and doesn't quit after the first hour, and then when an update comes out it will be BETTER than the pirated hacked versions for the first hour(s), and as a bonus, players who cannot afford the game can still play!

If the game doesn't even require a CD to play, but simply blocks more than one player from using a single key online, LAN games will be easier.


To fight pirates, don't use DRM, use server-monitored features!

ever heard of the word "cracked server"?

[Leafsnail]

EA don't make games, or at least not many.  They provide the investment and marketing for other studios to make a game (Maxis, in the case of Spore, for example).  You might say the studio is automatically evil for taking EA's tainted money, but then again...

[qwertyuiopas]

ever heard of the word "cracked server"?

They can crack the master-server, with all it's unreleased code, and few even getting the program itself?

Sure, the game server included with the game can be cracked, but can they create an up-to-date master-server with even some of the features the official one is?

Can they keep it up-to-date with updates?

Can they integrate it with the official forums?

Most of those are no, unlikely, and probably not.


They can host a cracked game, but few people would care to even try to recreate it, much less have access ot the kind of computing cluster and extreme internet connection to host one.

[Sordid]

ever heard of the word "cracked server"?

Ever heard of battle.net? That seems to work fairly well for Blizzard.

EA don't make games, or at least not many.  They provide the investment and marketing for other studios to make a game (Maxis, in the case of Spore, for example).  You might say the studio is automatically evil for taking EA's tainted money, but then again...

It's not that simple, they may not make the games themselves, but they do own the studios and have the final say in what a game is going to look like. If they're going to fund the development, they want to make sure the game sells well to recoup their expenses and make some profit, so the individual developers aren't free to make whatever game they want.

[Soulwynd]

Not everyone wants to (can) be online to play games. It has been a major turn down for several games.

And yeah, most servers can be revenged and the games can be cracked in order to not need a server or to go to an alternative one.

There's no stopping hackers/crackers, ever.

[Ivefan]

They can crack the master-server, with all it's unreleased code, and few even getting the program itself?
Sure, the game server included with the game can be cracked, but can they create an up-to-date master-server with even some of the features the official one is?
Can they keep it up-to-date with updates?
Can they integrate it with the official forums?
Most of those are no, unlikely, and probably not.
They can host a cracked game, but few people would care to even try to recreate it, much less have access ot the kind of computing cluster and extreme internet connection to host one.

They are not up to date, but i belive that most, if not all, major mmo's have free servers hosted by private persons.
To me it seems that it's only the update part that is lacking and most people do not need to voice themself on forums.

[Thndr]

EA don't make games, or at least not many.  They provide the investment and marketing for other studios to make a game (Maxis, in the case of Spore, for example).  You might say the studio is automatically evil for taking EA's tainted money, but then again...

Publishers have amazing control over what the game looks like. Especially if the publisher provides majority of the funding (as they do with most games).

Also, EA bought Maxis. So as the company that owns the studio, they have even more control over what Maxis does.

---
And people pirating MMORPGs isn't really a big deal as they are usually far behind on updates anyway.
And no MMO as far as I know allows non-authorized users on the server.

[Jreengus]

Why are you downloading a copy if you know you would never purchase the piece software?

Because you want to get it for free.

No your wrong, I don't buy many games because I don't have a job. I don't have a job because in my mind the advantages (lots of free time) outweigh the disadvantages. (No spending money except what I scrounge off my mum.) Now lets place this example for a second in a world without piracy, I would still feel this way, I can get all the games I really want simply from birthday/christmas presents. So my choice not to buy games is not made because I can get them for free but rather because I don't view the effort required on my part to buy them as worthwhile. Now if you introduce piracy to the picture all of a sudden I can play games that I otherwise wouldn't even consider. And sometimes it turns out I like it a lot and then I normally ensure that I gain a legal copy. So the net result of my piracy is a gain for great games and no loss for anything else.

Anyhow I'm tired and it took me 2 cups of tea to write that, it probably makes no sense so I may edit it in the morning.

[a1s]

there was a study...

For such a study to be meaningful the devs would have to touch nothing but the DRM. Have they added features, expanded the content, fixed bugs, etc, along with or between the fixes? Doesn't say, and if they had then it's fairly obvious where the increase in popularity came from.

err... so what you are saying is that if they made bug fixes (like developers should), the new customers were all (most?) new users? And piracy prevention doesn't lead to new sales at all? 
I can live with that.

[justinhoffman]

It's unfortunate when the reality is, they all love games and take a lot of risks producing games and supporting developers.

Are you SURE?

Yes, when companies use antipiracy and such they are just trying to make money that is rightfully theirs. If you don't like the game, don't buy it. Still, you're too extreme to assume that large corporations are never assholes. At least piracy isn't invading other people's property or privacy like some trojan programs do, although you could say that stealing risks as much damage to the victim's assets.

Of course, in a perfect world no-one would pirate and there would be no DRMs. If there were better ways to prevent piracy, maybe that would mean less trojans. Of course, I'm sure the fancy software was (they thought) better than whatever came before.

  Look, whether you like EA or think EA is full of assholes the fact remains, they invest in games.  Without that investment, developers can't make and distribute the games in the first place.

  They are still the good guys.

[Micro102]

EA doesnt invest in every game, other companies do it just fine, without the DRMs and greediness.

[Ivefan]

  Look, whether you like EA or think EA is full of assholes the fact remains, they invest in games.  Without that investment, developers can't make and distribute the games in the first place.

  They are still the good guys.

What micro said, also:
I watched the rolling credits for B&W2(EA game) which took 10-15 minutes i think. That is a lot of names and there were not many of them invovled with the actual game making.

[chaoticag]

The question we should be asking here is whether or not there is a net gain for the industry if all of a sudden piracy and pirated games were to disappear.

On the supporting end of things:

-people cannot get alternatives to what they used to pirate, and would have to buy new, legitamate games.
-companies will make more money, as people will actually buy their games if they want to enjoy themselves.
-games differentiate, as they would be more likely to sell than if piracy was around, making it acceptable to take risks.
-more games in general.
-great for the long run.

On the opposing end of the arguement:
-People who get pirated games would not buy any game they didn't know well enough
-Companies lose money due to loss of sales.
-Games become more of the same thing due to executive meddeling.

Also, put me in the group of people who think that in general, people do not buy legitamate games if they pirate. As a kid, I pirated a few games because things were simply not in my price range. It was a choice between paying some amount of money I couldn't hope to get, or getting a chip installed in order to get games for a much cheaper price. I have gone past that, and buy everything legitamately, but many people here still pirate games even though they can afford to pay the full price.

To offset this serious post, some comic relief:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg&NR=1&feature=fvwp

[a1s]

To offset this serious post, some comic relief:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg&NR=1&feature=fvwp

um... we kind of had that video in this thread already. same exact link too.