Re: Why Must People Crack Games
It's all a balancing act, the good folks create DRM that's reasonably protective, but stays out of your way as much as possible. Others create DRM that's in your face all that time. I would rather not play games like that, use software like that, etc. SO, the best is a balance somewhere between the two. How can we provide reasonable protection against piracy without seriously inconveniencing our customers, that's the question devs should be asking when it approaches that time. Some get the notion they can stop piracy, this is false, completely and utterly, but you can make it harder for crackers. I personally don't like the X number of installs, but I see the reason for it. You don't really own anything you buy anymore that's digital, you just have been granted a license to use it, even if there is no key you have to enter to activate it, you still essentially only have a license to operate it. But the problem comes into play if you forget to deactivate it before swapping systems. I usually end up reinstalling windows every 6 months to a year, I know that's not common though, but its just the way of things for me, installations get screwy, so I reinstall. if I have 5 installs, and I forget to deactivate, that's like 2.5 years or so of installs I get. I shouldn't have to worry about deactivation to be honest, if that user with that key with that machine ID hasn't shown up in say 90 days, you should send them an email which asks if they no longer have access to that system, if they then answer no, they don't, then you essentially reallocate that slot back to them. Some instances mean you're unable to deactivate if you get a virus on your system that makes it useless, and you have to reinstall immediately.
There is always some layer of abstraction between you and the software when DRM is in play, its just, how annoying is that layer to jump through. Some DRM's won't even let you play the game if the computer doesn't have an active internet connection, which seems fine in this day and age, but people do lose power, people do lose service occasionally, what about driving if there are no hotspots and your laptop isn't one that will take a SIM card for connecting to mobile networks. What if you're moving and don't have service, you've pretty much got the place unpacked, but they couldn't get to you in a week, etc. I think its utterly ridiculous that a connection be required. If one is present, sure, use it to validate, send stats whatever, but if not, account for all that stuff in the meantime, and upload it when one is again and the game is launched. If a connection is available at time of activation, that should be good enough. Oh boy do people find out which games work when their internet is out.
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