DRM, You Know You Hate It

Well we're here again with, in my opinion, how companies are trying to protect their pockets and distance their customers. Let me first say that DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management" which is how the publishers (EA & Ubisoft for example) maintain control of their product once it leaves the shelves and installs it self onto your computer. Its only real purpose is to prevent you from sharing the content that you pay for; can't give it to a friend to install on their computer or can't get the game from another source by illegal means. All it really does is limit how many times you can install the game or how many different computers you can install it on or force you to connect to the internet so you authenticate your session on the game.
We all know that most digital media and pretty much all games have DRM but there are some interesting new takes on the matter that are starting to show up. EA happens to use SecuROM with severely limits the amount of times a game can be installed. A problem with that is pretty much the normal issues one might face; computer crashes, harddrive malfunctions or just uninstalling for something else. The DRM the PC gaming world is beginning to hold a grudge against is Ubisoft's take on it; for their newer games you actually have to remain connected or risk losing your game progress!

DRM is double-edged in my opinion. Good reason to have it is to prevent piracy of the content. Bad reason to have it is because of the restrictiveness of the situation; if I purchase a sandwich, it is mine to do with as I please, whether it be to shove it in my face hole or share it with a friend for the short period of time I can. It should be the same way for video games that you buy. I don't know how many times I get on the net and find pirated copies of games that are DRM protected but are nonetheless there for all pirates to enjoy. This is a swift kick in the balls for people like me who legititmately purchase my video games either online or in a store; I have the entire Command and Conquer collection as well as Age of Empires III and others, all which have known to have been pirated but I purchased as a fan and supporter of those games. And then I can't play said games offline because some guy cracked it? All my years of good service to the company counts for nothing as soon as they implement DRM like this.

-Source: Kotaku.com

My take on it is like this: Radiohead actually released "In Rainbows" with a "pay what you want" form. You could literally give them a penny for the album or even nothing at all. They made $10 million in the first week of release. People will play games if they're free or not, by lessening the restrictions, you get more players therefore more money. The amount of piracy is not yet greater than the amount of purchasers and I believe that even the pirates would stop if the companies didn't hold the software back so much. But hey, that's just what I think.

-Armand