[quote=Paris]I purchased my game from GG. After installing I had to activate on line which took all of 30 seconds, and that was that. No cd in the drive, no nags, no nasty piece of malware, easy as pie.
Except for the fact that you can only install the game five times, before being forced to ask the merciful publisher to reset said limit. It's insulting.
That is not entirely correct. It's restricted to 5 activations, not installs. You only burn an install when you install onto a brand new hardware configuration. It means if you dump windows, reformat, reinstall, and go to reactivate, you don't burn an extra activation. Unless you're the type to install on 5 different machines, or you change hardware dramatically, you shouldn't ever run into a problem.
Also if you take the time to uninstall your app, you return the activation, and beyond all that, there's I think a mass deactivation tool you can run to take care of all that.
-shrugs- I hate DRM as much if not more than most people and have balked at buying games that use it on principle, but it's nowhere near as onerous as people make it out to be either.
That's not how it works. Simply changing the MOBO will invalidate the install and copying the install folder will do jack all shit if the proper SecuROM files aren't present.
I have three PC's: Two stationary ones at two different locations and a gaming laptop for when I travel. I upgrade my Stationary PC's every two years or so (unless they crash for whatever reason) - so for all intents and purposes, I could easily lose the right to use the game I purchased after less than five years. This is totally unacceptable.
What this basically tells me is that it's simpler to just pirate the game - that way I won't have to worry about install limits or any of that bullshit, because hey! The game was available illegally before the bloody release date.
Do people not care for consumer rights anymore?
Well the MOBO change is a fairly dramatic hardware change (as I mentioned above as a scenario that causes a problem), and if you uninstall the game first and reinstall later you dont have the problem.
I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish getting upset at me. I'm not your enemy here. The DRM is. The only point I was attempting to make is that I find DRM to be repugnant on principle, however for people like myself who has just the single machine and a laptop, I've not ran into too many hitches other than I have to go through the trouble of uninstalling the game first prior to conducting the upgrade.
As to pirating, all I can say is knock yourself out. I'm too paranoid about the whole trojan/botnet/rootkit junk out there to where I wouldn't trust any firewall, virus-scanner, etc to keep my machine safe to even think of downloading it. If you have more faith in your system security, then by all means knock yourself out. For my perspective, to quote Wargames, the only winning move is not to play. [/quote]
I apologize if I've seemed to get upset, however I find it rather infuriating when people are in any way defending SecuROM.
I do not like being told that the game I paid full price for is merely a rental. Everything else is insignificant. Having to be careful about uninstalling the game regardless of circumstance is utterly absurd. Imagine for instance, if EVERY PIECE OF SOFTWARE required you to "uninstall the program properly" when you wished to reformat the HDD, or when you merely wished to upgrade the CPU and MOBO. Can you suddenly SEE the hassle? Now imagine if you that have a choice in the matter, whether it's a virus or a mere HDD crash - suddenly you lose one fifth of your "generous" publishers "permission" to use the product YOU PAID FOR.
Imagine five years down the round (which frankly isn't that much) - suddenly, you don't own your own game anymore, because you're out of installs. Then what? Call the publisher and beg to reset the activation count? PROVE that you're not some sticky thief? Is this how the publisher and (by extension) the developer wishes to treat it's customers? To mingle us with hassle for no purpose whatsoever, like a bunch of untrustworthy thieves?
I KNOW that publishers can do better - but they won't do so until people tell them to fucking FUCK OFF with their intransitive ignorance and insult towards consumers.
I mean - why do you think I'm even making this post? Because I'm scared of viruses or trojans and whatnot? No. Pirating software is easier than eating pie - there are plenty of safety nets associated with the pirating community which ensure that I don't have to check twice to see if I'm downloading something safe. As you can see - I don't have scruples against pirating, and iv I had to I'd defend that to the bone. But I clearly wish to pay for this game, as I'm of the firm belief that good work and a good product should be rewarded - but if I am to give up my money, I will at the very least demand not to be treated like child. Otherwise there is no reason to support the developer and I shall enjoy my fix from other sources.
If silly foolishness such as this causes a company to go down, then I'm all for it - because I won't do business with anyone who treats me like a piece of trash.
