31 replies to this topic

[Phil]

I'm actually thinking of pirating the game (to get a version without the awful DRM stuff) and sending them an email to ask for their bank account so I could still send them the money

[duke_Qa]

Hehe, its bad when you prefer to download a cracked version to keep your pc clean of big-brother software. But pretty much my thoughts on the topic.

I might buy it, but I prolly won't ever unwrap the plastic of it if I do. Unless I can make it work online with a serial and a crack, which would mean that I would need to get to the serial .

[Mastermind]

From what I gather, the DRM in RA3 is going to be insane - including limited activations and a requirement for permanent internet connection. Not connected? Can't play, lose an activation.

Not exactly. You get 5 activations, but you just phone in and they'll allow more if needed. And an activation isn't reinstalling it on the same PC, it's installing it on a separate PC. You also only need to be connected the first time you play, that's when the game gets activated. And post-release there will be a deauthorization tool, so you can deauthorize a computer and get that activation back. Plus, you won't need the DVD in the drive to play once it's activated. It's not perfect, but it's not exactly what I would call insane either.

[MadHQ2]

From what I gather, the DRM in RA3 is going to be insane - including limited activations and a requirement for permanent internet connection. Not connected? Can't play, lose an activation.

Not exactly. You get 5 activations, but you just phone in and they'll allow more if needed. And an activation isn't reinstalling it on the same PC, it's installing it on a separate PC. You also only need to be connected the first time you play, that's when the game gets activated. And post-release there will be a deauthorization tool, so you can deauthorize a computer and get that activation back. Plus, you won't need the DVD in the drive to play once it's activated. It's not perfect, but it's not exactly what I would call insane either.

Ya, its not as bad as most are making it out to be, I dont think... Though you may want to wait a day or few before you buy it or install it, as im sure they will have some kind of issue with the activation...

[Phil]

Not exactly. You get 5 activations, but you just phone in and they'll allow more if needed. And an activation isn't reinstalling it on the same PC, it's installing it on a separate PC. You also only need to be connected the first time you play, that's when the game gets activated. And post-release there will be a deauthorization tool, so you can deauthorize a computer and get that activation back. Plus, you won't need the DVD in the drive to play once it's activated. It's not perfect, but it's not exactly what I would call insane either.

1) We've heard the stories (and seen the evidence) of EA's customer support. I wouldn't rely on them for a second to restore another copy as easily as they make it out to be.
2) The "deauthorization tool" is a nice idea, but why is that coming post-release? Doesn't seem like it has got a high priority, yet the restriction of rights has?
3) The need to connect online even if it's only once is ridiculous. Not only because I might not have internet access on every machine I want to install it, but imagine what happens in a few (and with today's game lifecycle that's really few) years when they decide to shut down their authentication systems? Will they actually care enough to ensure that I can still install the game? Who knows...

Fact is, you're not really buying a copy of the game... you're renting it, for a possibly limited amount of time. Great idea to punish the honest buyers and rewarding software pirates. Spore has proven that it works.

[Mastermind]

Hi, guys. Chris here.

It feels like there’s still some uncertainty swirling around our plans for Red Alert 3’ s PC copy protection. I want to clear the air and explain what you can expect when the game ships on Oct 28th. I know there’s a lot of detail here, but I think that’s what many of you are looking for, so please stick with me.

DRM and why we need it
Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years, putting our soul into making software and it breaks our hearts to see it pirated. Imagine going to work every day for two years to create something special, only to see it stolen. Copy protection may not be a perfect solution, but we can’t sit back and do nothing. The copy protection in Red Alert 3 helps strike a delicate balance between protecting ourselves from casual piracy and allowing players the flexibility to enjoy the game on multiple machines.

No disk required
Here’s one thing that is unambiguously cool about Red Alert 3: you do not need the DVD in your drive to play the game. Install the game on your machine and then put the disc away in a safe place - you won’t need it again unless you want to install it on another machine. All of the game content is placed on your hard disk, which helps make loading times fast and video playback smooth.

Authorization limits
Red Alert 3 comes with no installation limits whatsoever. You can install and uninstall the game on as many machines as you want, as many times as you want. But you are limited to five authorizations. So what’s an authorization? The first time you actually run the game on a machine, we will authorize that machine. If you reach the authorization limit, the game will not run on a new machine. If you make major changes to the computer (switching out multiple pieces of hardware, install a new OS, etc.) you might need to reauthorize the machine. This is quite similar to what other commercial applications do.

Just give us a call...
Most importantly, and I really cannot stress this enough, we are not going to leave you hanging. If you had a run of bad luck, some hardware failures, a botched OS install, your notebook was stolen, you spilled a coke on your keyboard - you get the idea - and all five of your authorizations have been used up, just give us a call. We’ll work with you and provide as many additional authorizations as are appropriate.

...Or do it yourself
It’s not going to be ready in time for the game’s release, but we are working on giving you the ability to deauthorize machines yourself. In a future Red Alert 3 patch, we plan to provide you with an easy way to remove the authorization on a given machine, freeing it up for use on a different computer. Now we don’t know how long it will take to prepare this feature. We are shooting for the end of the year but we believe that it’s much more important to implement it correctly than to rush it out the door. And while it’s true that being able to deauthorize your machines doesn’t address those rare “act of God” scenarios that wipe out five authorizations all at once, it will be very easy to move an authorization from one machine to another under more typical circumstances.

Looking Ahead
A few weeks ago I installed an original copy of Red Alert 2, released in 2000, on my work machine. I don’ t know if the authentication servers will still be up and running 8 years from now, but if the previous C&C games are any indication, we’re going to be playing Red Alert 3 for a long, long time to come. Knowing this, once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy has died down, we plan to patch the copy protection out of the game. We don’t have any preconceived ideas about when this will occur, but when we decide to decommission the authentication servers we will first make a patch available that will disable copy protection from the game. I think this will come as a relief to many of you; it does me.

I know that some of you will disagree with this approach, and again, I understand where you’re coming from and really do respect your position. The development team is extremely proud of Red Alert 3 and I want all of you to have the chance to experience it for yourself. I hope you’ ll give us the chance.

How's that for answering your questions?

[Soul]

It doesn't say if it still has SecruROM and that's what is really turning me away from this game.

[ambershee]

It's in their EULA, same as every EA game that's coming out now. It should be on EA Store, but it seems they've recently chucked a random, unrelated PDF up there instead (hmm, funny).

Like it or lump it, the DRM I described is exactly there. Spore has it, Dead Space has it, Red Alert 3 has it.

Depending on how it's phrased, modding may also force you to break the EULA - meaning you forfeit the right to reactivate, but we'll have to see on that score.

Edited by ambershee, 25 October 2008 - 10:24 PM.

[Blodo]

How's that for answering your questions?

I'm just going to reiterate what was said plenty times before. This copy protection is only going to worsen things for them, because it will sway costumers willing to pay for the game to the other side. I would no doubt buy the game soon after release, but I will not do it while they use this SecuROM pile of shite DRM virus (that's right, RA3 still uses SecuROM). I would far more prefer being required to leave the CD in the drive to play, thank you very much.

No matter how you put it, the copy protection targets the legit customer. In the best case scenario a copy of RA3 is gonna be up for download in the same week as the release. In worst, it's going to be available days before that (like Spore was). It's going to hurt them more than it will help them, but that's their choice. Hopefully a lot of people will download it instead of paying for it, and show EA that this is not the way to "protect themselves from casual piracy".

Edited by Blodo, 25 October 2008 - 11:40 PM.

[Phil]

Just look at the ridiculous piracy rates for Spore. At some point EA will have to realise that penalising the honest buyer isn't going to do them any good because obviously any form of copy protection can be outsmarted. I'm actually quite convinced that "better" DRM systems encourage crackers who probably see this as a mix of provocation and challenge. And that's not even taking the internet crusade phenomenon ("the people vs. the evil corporation") they are sparking into account.

[ambershee]

Almost every form of DRM is outsmarted the exact same way. All the crackers have to do is identify, and alter a few bytes in an executable or dll file, and distribute it. That's all it is - it takes an experienced cracker a couple of hours at the most, so long as they have an idea what they're looking for (of course, knowing what you're looking for is the majority of the task)

What a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars of development, to be outsmarted in $100 worth of man hours by someone doing it for kicks. It's the customer who pays for that, of course, and the developer, who has to waste valuable programming time to integrate useless shit that could be used to fix bugs.

[duke_Qa]

Here's another fun thing about RA3 and DRM. http://forums.revora...showtopic=66633