I have applications like Alcohol 120% and Daemon tools (virtual drive, ISO copying etc).
I use them for MSDN releases as well as copying games onto the harddrive and running them from an ISO copy. Well, I did that until 3 or 4 years ago when StarForce started flooding the gaming market.
Now, I'm treated like a thief. I support gaming companies by purchasing the games, and I have to dig the CDROM out when I want to play the game.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely understand they are protecting their product and source of revenue. But I haven't heard a single apology to me--the consumer (that's another word for the person that actually BUYS the game) for having to put up with crap like StarForce.
Cracked .EXE's were never an option for me. Primarily because I will not use something someone's hacked. I don't care how careful I already am, I won't do it.
I'm a developer. The software I use, you have to contact a webserver and it registers the software on the machine you're on. Perhaps the gaming industry could take example of this?
Sure, unique serial #'s and such would take a little more resources, but what is the aggrivation and annoyance users are experiencing with a protection scheme where they cannot even use the product.. what is it costing you?
