Hmm, I'd have to say Steam just for it's ubiquity and the fact that so many people see it as acceptable. UbiDRM is terrible, but it's only been used in a handful of games and the consumer reaction was pretty dreadful.
I see Steam as being a bigger threat to my principles simply because of the number of games being released Steamworks only nowadays.
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Steam performs useful functions outside of simply being DRM, like achievements and friends lists. It doesn't install or run unless you tell it to, it DOES uninstall when you tell it to, and it doesn't take up much memory even in terms of a DDR1 rig. You can run it without connecting to their servers, effectively disabling the DRM, and the company that makes it has publicly pledged to deactivate its DRM features should they shut down for any reason. By registering a game on steam, you'll have access to it even if you lose the physical media it's stored on. You can put your games on as many machines as you like; none of that install limit garbage.
And the DRM part of Steam? It's literally just pinging their server and verifying that your account does, in fact, have the game. You know, just like every single online game you've ever played, ever.
So, yes, it basically is the best version of DRM anyone's yet thought of.
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There are some games which don't use any of steams features like achievments, stats, and steam cloud (eg, sonic CD)
Yes, you can run it without connecting to their servers, but I have to go online, to enable offline mode.
If I suddenly lost connection, I would be unable to log back in to play my games, unless my connection came back.
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That doesn't always work. When we lost internet access temporarily, my mother (who I was staying with until the beginning of the next semester) couldn't go into offline. Every-time she tried, she would be asked to go ONLINE first. Whereas, I didn't have that problem. Eventually, we had to go someplace WITH internet access just so she could log in online and, from there, go offline.
There are many complaints about this on the Steam forums.
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I think it has to do with the way Steam updates itself (I know sometimes it tries to update itself and then produces this error), though I don't know technical details.
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Those may be nice features, but they could exist without the DRM and therefore in no way justify it.
I'm not afraid to admit that I am on the hardcore side with my anti-DRM principles. If I can't install and play without an internet connection then I won't buy it.
"You know, just like every single online game you've ever played, ever."
Right, except there are ****loads of single player games on Steam. How do you justify that?
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In one of the mother/earthbound games, I recall playing a pirated cart would be the same game only being far more difficult and have a lot more enemies. The game would be extremely difficult, and potentially unplayable. Should you get through to the end of the game, the game would finally crash at the final boss fight, then wipe all the saves on the cart. Pretty good stuff.
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In Batman Arkham Asylum the DRM glitched the grappling hook and made it impossible to progress by taking the scenic route.
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I know that, i never had a DVD of Batman:AA, i just bought the key, thinking "Hey, i'm gonna play Batman", then i could pass the 2nd Scarecrow fight, because grapple icon wouldn't appear. Yeah, i cracked it, but still paid my money, now most players who bought the keys for Batman: AC, got keys for G4W, but not for DRM system, so they had to wait for a working crack. That's just inconvinient, just like DRM or G4W wasn't enough, make at least those keys redeemable on steam.
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Well, it should be either ANY DRM which has limited numbers of activations or that's Ubisoft thing... well, StarForce qualifies too
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So guys, after reading about Serious Sam 3: BFE on Wikipedia, I stumbled across a section mention the DRM. Supposedly if the game code detects what it thinks to be a 'illegal' copy of the game running, it would make the game much harder to the point where you are unable to complete it.
My question to you guys is: Which game has the worst DRM and why?
I personally find these 'DRM' articles to be interesting and would be fascinated to hear your thoughts about the worst ones.
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