Hi Dennis,
You said: This is why I won't bother to produce any standalone games
unless I
intend to give them away. Anyone who thinks they can sell standalone
games without strong 'phone home' server authorization and make money
is fooling themselves.
I say: Very interesting comment.
I'd like to break down the strong 'phone home' server authorization term
to understand it better.
Obviously game clients that require a server in order to play are very
piracy proof.
Your Alter Aeon is a good example of this though you do not charge for
player accounts, but if you did it should be easy to ensure any created
account had to be paid for.
Were you also implying that a standalone game that for instance,
contacts a server every time it is opened and does not let someone play
unless the server could be contacted would be pirated less than one that
just uses an unlock code?
Or did the line stop with a game client that actually requires the
server to play?
From things I read ages ago I got the impression that a game could be
patched to take out the small bit of logic that contacts the server just
as elete hackers can reverse engineer your executable to see what key
generation scheme you use.
If that is the case then I don't know of any anti piracy mechanism that
would stop elete hackers except for the game really being on the server
and the player only having access to the client.
And if piracy rates are as high as you say it is a pretty difficult problem.
Ian Reed
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