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Ubisoft plans to require constant net connection just to play their games


Jae Onasi

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That's an obvious inconvinience in so many levels. For instance, there are several PCs at home, and all of them share a single internet connection.

We have a single net connection at our house, and we're able to all log in to Guild Wars at the same time, and yesterday my son and I played STO together on the same connection, so it is possible. However, it requires multiple copies of the game to play it, which may be yet another reason why Ubisoft did this.

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We have a single net connection at our house, and we're able to all log in to Guild Wars at the same time, and yesterday my son and I played STO together on the same connection, so it is possible. However, it requires multiple copies of the game to play it, which may be yet another reason why Ubisoft did this.

I'm assuming broadband (cable/dsl) and/or router? Same here with my home network.

 

Dial-up would be an entirely different story.. of course, so would trying to game on such a connection.. hehehe

 

------

 

as for Ubisoft's idea.. it's a bit preposterous imo. Not everyone has access to broadband, or the finances to maintain one. Seems to me that cutting off a potential line of $$ is nothing short of shooting yourself in the foot. It isn't exactly the right kind of economy to be choosy about who your customers are. :raise:

 

Seems to be begging for people to crack it honestly :disaprove

 

Though not the same situation, you'd think Ubisoft would've taken note of the fiasco that happened with BioShock's initial release and the entire "activate online & then, only so many times". Companies need to realize that strangle-holding options are only going to cause the pitchforks & torches to start coming out.

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Come on, TSR, say something without dropping yourself in the s**t for once...

 

Here goes.

 

I can see the theory behind the lunacy, barely, and it is even more "facepalm-able" in the way they intend to execute it. This seems to be more of a publicity stunt to attempt to become some sort of Piracy fighting "front", or "celebrity" if you will. And as we should all be aware, so called celebrities often do very little to be heralded, so it seems to fit perfectly.

 

Onto the concept, the idea that you must maintain an internet connection is a double edged sword. While alot of people tend to have such connections nowadays (And i look to all the mmo'ers), there is still a vast amount of people who's only access to the internet and other online related things is probably their local library. There are still many villages/Hamlets in England that are not hooked up yet, and probably even more that are using the same infrastructure as when phone lines were initially installed, so merely getting a reliable connection is a challenge.

 

Reliability in England as far as i know, seems to be concentrated to the major cities, while the rest of the county all contend with eachother every evening waiting for 10 minutes for Facebook to load so they can see what people were doing yesterday. It is places like these that they are going to alienate, and from my limited consumer expertise, i can only assume that it is in said places that a major percentage of "offline" games are sold.

 

In short- A publicity stunt that has had the same thought applied to it as we did when we let you damm Americans take Hugh Laurie.

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I was having a hard time deciding what upcoming games I'm planning to buy, and which to skip. Ubisoft just made it easier for me.

 

I wonder if Ubisoft realizes that they've just murdered laptop gaming (for their games), which is pretty common on commuter trains where there is obviously no internet access.

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The thing that really bugs me about this is that it will not work. Pirates will crack it, and nothing will have changed except that Ubisoft might lose legitimate customers because of the restrictions.

 

I eagerly await the launch day howlings and whining that people's games aren't working because Ubi's servers aren't up to the task and are getting DDOS'd by everyone.

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I was having a hard time deciding what upcoming games I'm planning to buy, and which to skip. Ubisoft just made it easier for me.

 

I wonder if Ubisoft realizes that they've just murdered laptop gaming (for their games), which is pretty common on commuter trains where there is obviously no internet access.

 

They're not just murdering laptop gaming. This draconian DRM policy also has the potential to kill off the Submarine sim market - Ubisoft's Silent Hunter series has been the big daddy in those waters for a long time - and many veterans (it was about 80% last time I checked, but i'm not too active in that community much more) of the community have refused to play along.

 

Well, I say 'kill' - which isn't true considering the Sub community is pretty active with both SH3 and 4, and backed up by a strong modding scene, but it'd be sad to see a series of excellent games end because of Ubisoft's stupidity.

 

I eagerly await the launch day howlings and whining that people's games aren't working because Ubi's servers aren't up to the task and are getting DDOS'd by everyone.

 

No doubt Ubisoft will moan that they hadn't anticipated such high demand, and will increase their server capacity or some nonsense. I can't see them abandoning their scheme so rapidly. Personally, I give it three months.

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We have a single net connection at our house, and we're able to all log in to Guild Wars at the same time, and yesterday my son and I played STO together on the same connection, so it is possible. However, it requires multiple copies of the game to play it, which may be yet another reason why Ubisoft did this.

We have broadband here, supposedly. And it used to be like that too. But now I think the company just cut that option off.

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I've read about 3 pages of it, and it's very funny how everybody is saying that 'uhm, yea, you're DRM sucks.' and then the Ubi mods are going 'Well, duhr, post your system specs because that's where the issue is!' Followed by the party line... God, I haven't even played the first one and this pisses me off so badly..... Why do I have to have morals and not fire up ISOHunt and d/l it?!

 

Damn morals.

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I bought the game and am playing without the 'DRM dropout danger' with a no-dvd patch.

 

I do not see anything in the documentation provided that says it is illegal for me to do this - though I am surely waivering support options if something weird happens from a software perspective.

 

[iMHO] Those who want to properly protest ubi corporate's decisions should best do so by giving the game a miss entirely, or until(or if) the DRM is lifted. If you seek a pirated copy, you are harming the pc gaming community just as much as ubi's idiotic decisions are.

 

For a game I plan to spend hours on and am really enjoying, I personally can't bring myself to go out and leech a copy - it would be unfair to the folks that put a lot of effort into the game. These people don't have any say over how their work is being represented in this instance.

 

Quite frankly, if it weren't for the piraters leaking AC1 in the first instance, this **** may not have happpenned to this game :(

 

All in all, it's a bit of a mess for everyone concerned, both ubi and the pc gaming community.

 

I really love the game I must say, and looks and plays great if you have some decent kit.

 

mtfbwya

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The war is between the companies and the pirates. The rest of us are the one's caught in the middle and the only ones that either side is truly harming. Back in the day, I remember being passionate enough about gaming to just take whatever the publisher shells out and work around the inconvenience. These days, I'm content to truly boycott. Not say I'll boycott then break down. Not pirate the game to "show the developers what's what" but truly not partake in their product at all.

 

That's really the only way to get through to them. Not to steal from them which just exacerbates the problem, but to deprive them of their money; my money in any form. That's just me though, but I live under the rule that changing the world is impossible. I can only change myself. If more people did that rather than resorting to piracy, we'd see a decline in draconian DRM policies.

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To pose an opposite opinion, I think pirating may do as much to add data to possible sales as it would to hurt them.

 

One way to look at it is to say that pirating harms the community by causing DRM.

 

I pose the idea that DRM creates pirates in a form of morally questionable boycotting, and is closer the the heart source of what is harming the community.

 

DRM shows a definite distrust in the consumer. Even if it is right, it still shows it. It is a terrible PR problem. It shows distrust to gamers of all ages and an attitude of "we'll harm as many people as possible if it means sales". True or not, that is what it can translate to. Why do you think Steam and Valve have so much support, yet one of the best DRM systems available? Because, even though there is DRM, Valve updates their games, upgrades their games, and throws their community bones as often as possible. They share a sense of humor with the community, and at least give the illusion they care.

 

Why?

 

Gabe Newell gave an address to the gaming community years ago that increased DRM only hurts game sales and shows distrust and showed data of Steams own systems on how their sales were affected on what they did. It consistently showed that when they threw the community a free bone, their sales grew incredibly. He told them that treating the consumer like, well, a faceless, mindless sack of money to be bought would only hurt them in the end. Half-life games remain some of the less torrented games because of Steams DRM, but maintain health sales while torrenting has risen to incredible levels over the years with other games, especially on games with DRM. Nobody listened to him. They heard "you all need better DRM", and not "you need to trust and listen to your customers".

 

Gabe's main point was this: Pirates are not criminals. They are potential customers that you are losing. When you stop seeing them as criminals and instead as someone to win over, you'll make money and, frankly, have as much support as Valve does. Games with heavy DRM make torrenting records. The problem is exacerbated by a distinct distrust and mean spirited attitude towards fans and consumers. If anything, pirating is the big "f*** you" to the publisher. A number that says "this is the money you could of made, but now aren't".

 

A toaster that you threw out and then had pictures conveniently posted to you outlining how much toast you could of had if you respected the toaster. I say this because I can guarantee you sales would go up and pirating down if these games were just released and ADVERTISED as not having DRM. Because, truly, it is sad that the first thing asked about an upcoming game is "how much DRM will there be"? Because it is sad to look on the forum and see people unable to play a game they bought and actually having the balls to tell developers, on their own forum, that they are just going to go ahead and pirate the game.

 

I base this idea not on stealing vs buying, but on the age old capitalistic idea that the consumer knows best. Do not see Piratebay as a criminal haven, but as another company run like any other. This then becomes Ubisoft vs PirateBay or, rather, Target Vs. Wal-Mart. If Target begins to put huge, hulking tags on their shirt that remain there at all times and will burst into flames if the shirt is not used as intended... guess what? People will then buy the shirt at Wal-Mart. PirateBay offers the same product without the ball and chain with just as much, if not sometimes, more functionality. As a business, PirateBay is making more sales by the day because the Ubisoft consumer is unhappy.

 

The customer knows best, and if DRM is a reflection of customer opinion then customer opinion is this: The consumer wants their product when they buy it with as little restriction as possible.

 

With two real businesses, if this data came back to them then they would do what was in their power to copy or improve upon the idea and buy customers back. It is how a business is run, and how the top businesses remain.

 

Ubisoft and all these companies problem is that they do not view PirateBay as a competitor. They view them as a criminal organization and the pirates not as potential customers but as lost causes.

 

For this mindset alone, they deserve to be put out of business by the more profitable PirateBay. That is capitalism, and that is how things work.

 

Valve realized this years ago. This is why they have a gaming distributor system, are 1# with indie developers, and have the largest consistent non-mmo gaming community ever.

 

In summary: Bad DRM drives piracy, not the other way around. This is consumer opinion through the filter of capitalism at work. Quite frankly, you wouldn't call people who turn from Target to Wal-Mart criminals if Target put bombs on shirts that stayed on their shirts after market and would explode if they were not connected by wireless to the internet at all times.

 

View PirateBay as another company and pirates as other consumers and not criminals, and Ubisoft's justification suddenly looks a lot less thought out. In any other business this would be seen as anything from a deliberate handicap to economic suicide.

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The basic premise is, if business is good, you still shouldn't do anything that may piss off your customers. The only reason business is good is because the customers are happy with you. If they're not happy, then you're not going to have as many customers as you used to.... then business won't be so good...

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To pose an opposite opinion, I think pirating may do as much to add data to possible sales as it would to hurt them.

 

I pose the idea that DRM creates pirates in a form of morally questionable boycotting, and is closer the the heart source of what is harming the community.

 

Precisely. I'd just like to add (knowing some people who use pirated software) that the presence of DRM, while very important, is not the only reason for not buying an original copy. Part of the problem is the very high price of software.

 

If we talk about games only, when you compare most of today's games length/price/replayability/other you might conclude that a lot of them aren't worth the $30, $40 or even $60 you gave for them. That doesn't mean you wouldn't be willing to pay for a game, but simply that you aren't willing to give that amount of money for it.

The solution right now is to simply wait a year or two until the price drops, but most gamers aren't that patient and they'd rather pirate a game to play it now and perhaps eventually buy it.

 

Gabe's main point was this: Pirates are not criminals. They are potential customers that you are losing. When you stop seeing them as criminals and instead as someone to win over, you'll make money and, frankly, have as much support as Valve does. Games with heavy DRM make torrenting records. The problem is exacerbated by a distinct distrust and mean spirited attitude towards fans and consumers. If anything, pirating is the big "f*** you" to the publisher. A number that says "this is the money you could of made, but now aren't".

 

I think you nailed the point with this one. Like I said, people are willing to pay, but they want to be completely sure they'll get their money's worth.

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Avery I agree with your point completely. The same could be be said for the record and movie industries as well.

 

Frankly, I would think by now that Ubisoft has to realize they've dropped the ball on this one. I suppose that maybe they still think they can bounce back and maintain their ridiculous system, but someone, somewhere within the company has to be thinking "damn maybe we shouldn't have done this."

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In summary: Bad DRM drives piracy, not the other way around.

 

Oh cmon...it's not that single faceted! Human nature drives piracy. Heavy handed DRM can indeed goad the pirates along - as in this case.

 

The "why pay for it if I can get it for free(and dont get caught)" is at the crux of a lot piracy.

 

It verges on the point of ridiculous when games/apps that are available as budget titles are still available for leeching. Even if it costs $5, there is still someone out there who wont want to pay $5 for it!

 

There are software companies that go nowhere near any type of DRM implementation that have their stuff hacked and spread around on torrents. The demand for their product is the driving factor for their appearance on p2p sites.

 

As far as ubi are concerned, the cause is quite clear - the one month early leak of the pc dvd of Assassins Creed 1 burnt them badly. They weren't targeted because of their DRM back then - it was pirates/p2p folk wanting to get in on a game that everyone was so excited about following its console success.

 

The once 'good guys' of the publishing world were dealt a low blow by pirates, and this this flawed solution was the only way they could think of that will fix it.

 

The problem is exacerbated by a distinct distrust and mean spirited attitude towards fans and consumers. If anything, pirating is the big "f*** you" to the publisher.

 

It is also a massive f*** you to the people who worked on the game. If a title makes less money, the same talented people will not get together to make a pretty sequel.

 

The basic premise is, if business is good, you still shouldn't do anything that may piss off your customers. The only reason business is good is because the customers are happy with you. If they're not happy, then you're not going to have as many customers as you used to.... then business won't be so good...

 

One can imagine ubi had some number crunchers run the digits on projected impact on sales of their new DRM, and were still pleased enough with the profit to go through with it - mostly riding on the success of AC1 and the glowing reports AC2 has received on the console. If Ubi does loosen the DRM restrictions, it could be just as much due to the fact that their infrastructure couldn't deliver what they were promising (which seems to be the case so far).

 

One thing that is clear - whatever happens with this over the next few weeks/months could be hugely influential on policies adopted on other games and by other publishers. You can bet EA is watching with great interest.

 

mtfbwya

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I would like to see game companies do what iTunes has done for music. Make it cheap enough that people are willing to buy from you (an entire album for the cost of a cup of Starbuck's fancy coffee isn't bad), make it incredibly easy and fast to download, add features like playlists and all the other bells and whistles iTunes has (or whatever mp3 Player system you use), and make it secure. I buy music from iTunes because it's cheap there, the site is secure--I'm not going to get a virus from iTunes like I might from a torrent--and I'm not going to get harassed by RIAA.

 

Steam and Direct2Drive have it right. I recently d/l'd a digital copy of Kotor and Psychonauts from Steam and a VtMB copy from D2D. Why? For VtMB, it was because I was away from home at a conference, and I'd forgotten my game at home. Internet access was blocked in the conference hall itself, so I couldn't play LOTRO. The games were cheap (I got Psychonauts on the $2 sale), and it's a good backup for when my game discs do die. Trying to find a hard copy of VtMB and Kotor is becoming increasingly difficult. If my hard drive craps out, I can d/l another copy at no charge. I viewed it as game insurance.

 

If the devs went to the Steam/D2D versions, or had their own d/l system without draconian DRM, and lowered the prices on the game, I think they'd make more money and see less pirating. The challenge is to make it so attractive to buy it legally that more people want to go to the dev's site (or store, or Steam or other legal outlet) as their first choice rather than a torrent site. It's pretty bad when Ubisoft's DRM system has managed to make me even think about considering torrenting the game instead of buying it just to avoid the authentication problems, considering how I feel about how wrong theft is--and let's face it, torrenting is theft. Instead of buying the PC game which I'd rather have, I may just rent it for the 360. I'd like to play the game itself since the Renaissance is one of my absolute favorite historical time periods, but I sure don't want to support this DRM policy with my dollars.

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Okay things are getting convoluted in here now... so I'll just put out a question.

 

There's always going to be piracy in some form as long as we have to pay for any sort of media. No matter what kind of DRM is put into a game, there'll be someone around the world who will be able to bypass it and then spread it to the rest of the world which means that all that effort to add the DRM into the game was a wasted effort in the first place. So, after that happens, why is it still necessary to shackle down and punish the rest of the audience who haven't pirated their game?

 

@ Astro: DRM is like the Rudd governments futile attempts to censor the internet.

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@ Astro: DRM is like the Rudd governments futile attempts to censor the internet.

 

ubisoft is trying to protect our children from pedophiles! :eek:

 

but yes, the 'poorly implemented' part of that analogy is on the money :thmbup1:

 

@Samuel Dravis If only EA was EP, that would be so much cooler!! XP

 

mtfbwya

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