Few topics have the power to divide the game industry quite like digital rights management (DRM)--the technologies, copy protection, and anti-piracy measures used by companies to manage the right of use of their digital products. Everyone has an opinion when it comes to DRM, and it’s rarely a neutral one. Gamers get hot under the collar about its restrictive nature, publishers wax lyrical about its ability to stop piracy and improve revenue, while developers either renounce or defend it. So who is right? Certainly, DRM is not without its benefits, nor without its faults. But is DRM becoming too complex and restrictive, or are these measures necessary in a climate of increasing game piracy? Is it contributing to the decline of PC gaming and spurring on a rising dissatisfaction among gamers? To find the answers to these questions, GameSpot AU went to the source. In Part One of our DRM feature, we explore the history of DRM, how it works, its level of necessity and the games that have caused recent controversy.
In Part Two--which will go live next week--we speak to game publishers, indie developers and a group of gamers that the United States Department of Justice refers to as “the oldest game software piracy ring on the internet” to gauge their thoughts on DRM, its effectiveness in stopping piracy and its oft-quoted ability to instil mistrust in gamers and harm gameplay experiences. Finally, we’ll look at the future of DRM and its effectiveness in a market geared towards digital distribution.
Digital Rights Management
DRM is a heavily debated topic, both in and out of the gaming community. The problem most gamers have with DRM is a constant feeling that, as a copy protection system, it’s unfair to them as consumers. But what is it exactly that they object to? Is it the restrictions, inconvenience and faults of DRM? Or are their objections based more on principle, because they feel cheated and abused by a product they legally own? Before those questions can be answered, it’s necessary to understand what DRM is, and how it works.
DRM is an umbrella term that encompasses technologies and copy protection measures put in place by copyright holders to manage the use, installation, copying and performance of digital content and devices. Although copy protection and anti-piracy measures are only designed for the purpose of making piracy more difficult, these also fall under DRM. In other words, DRM is a way to stop the unauthorised use, duplication and manipulation of whatever the copyright holder is trying to protect, be it a video game, DVD, music CD, digital files, etc. It’s also a way to protect the financial interests of a company in regards to intellectual property. Unless it becomes intrusive and restrictive, it’s easy to understand why at its core DRM is necessary--artists must protect their intellectual property. Without this protection, they can be deprived of the right to make money. From this comes the concept of licensing--for example, when you buy a CD, DVD or video game, you pay for the right to use the intellectual property, not the right to own it.
DRM in video games works in a number of ways. One of the first forms of DRM appeared in early PC adventure games such as Police Quest, where code wheels and quizzes often popped up, referring players to the game’s manual to ensure they were playing a legitimate copy of the game. Today, game consoles have built-in copy protection measures that prohibit them from reading anything but authorised and legally printed game discs. As detailed in GameSpot AU’s piracy feature, Copycats, circumventing these protection measures via mod chips is illegal in Australia. With constant firmware upgrading, publishers like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony can constantly ensure that their consoles’ copy protection measures are upheld even when users connect to the internet.
PC gaming, however, still remains problematic for publishers. Game discs themselves have to make up for the lack of copy protection on the system they’re being installed on; the subject of contention for gamers is the measures taken by publishers in order to do this. There are a number of ways DRM on PC games works. The first is online activation, which requires the user to activate the game online when it is first installed. Sometimes a game will also require the user to go online every once in a while so it can check whether the activation is still valid, and in some cases, games require the player to stay online at all times while playing. The second method is install limits. This form of DRM restricts the number of systems the game can be installed on. For example, some publishers may allow a game to be installed only three times. This benefits publishers firstly by reducing piracy, and by blocking sales in the second-hand market (which they do not make a profit on). Serial numbers are another form of DRM, requiring the user to enter an alpha-numeric key during installation to authorise the game, as are disk checks, which hunt for physical defects in the game disc to verify a legitimate copy. The latter method requires users to have the game disc in the drive at all times during play, and can sometimes slow down access to the game while the check is performed. There is also "quiet" DRM, which requires users to sign up to online accounts in order to access all features of the game--an online distribution system such as Steam is a good example of this.
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HAMODA posted May 28, 2009 10:46 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)