Connectivity - DRM Blues

The controversial topic regarding digital rights management has loomed over the gaming industry ever since it was conceived. It is at its core a form of restrictive technology which in theory would prevent pirates from copying the game and thus securing more profitability from the games sold. This would essentially protect the interests of the publishers selling the game without harming the genuine player who purchased the game. Whether or not DRM has managed to achieve this endeavor is highly debatable due to the versatility of the people that commit to piracy and their means to find loopholes and workarounds, as well as disabling the DRM entirely thus making the efforts made by the publisher moot. Unfortunately things would only get worse in time, eventually adding to the frustration of the players who have bought the game and damaging the company's goodwill.

One of the most notorious forms of DRM comes in the form of SecuROM, whose primary function is to limit the amount of installations a player can activate from the same key on different PCs. This would make it impossible for illegitimate players to download and install the game, yet the straightforward and draconian nature of the system would backfire on the original purchase just as well. What if the player wanted to uninstall the game? What if the game didn't install properly or they had to format the PC? What if they bought a new system? None of these honest concerns matter since the game would lock you out after limit has been reached, cheating the player out of a game they have spent a substantial amount of money on (and we'll get to that too later). SecuROM has taken several forms in its running, including an online activation and regular routine authentication; all of these were received poorly and had the publishers reconsider their stance, albeit retaining the imposing DRM.

While not as intrusive as SecuROM the other shot in the foot is fired by the persistent online authentication required in order to play the game to begin with. Naturally there are some games which have a milder instance of this such as exclusively multiplayer games like MMORPGs or the achievement system implemented to encourage the completion of certain aspects of the game. However these instances are the exception, since the practice has grown to make it mandatory to permanently remain online for the duration of your playthrough. Blizzard even defends the use on their newer titles despite the fact that for the most part the games are largely single player and not necessarily benefit players who have faulty internet connections to none whatsoever. What if you suddenly got disconnected from the internet? Maybe their own servers are broken or going through maintenance or what have you? You are given an error code and promptly shot out of the game; this has been such a common problem it has become a joke that would cement the company as careless.

But I digress. Data protection wouldn't begin to scratch the surface on the business practices when it comes to survive the game.