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09 03 2008

Anti Piracy

Posted by Alan in Technology

Piracy is a CrimeRight. Rant time.

So, having now got back into Oblivion, I noticed there was a new DLC (Downloadable Content - new game features and quests basically) available. I duely paid my $1.89 for it (something I’ve never quibbled about) and downloaded the installer. A chore in itself, as in order to download it the following sequence of events happens:

In Firefox I buy the module. This is a success. Thunderbird downloads my receipt email, which has a link to the installer. I then click on the link. This however opens Internet Explorer, which won’t let me download the installer because I’m not authorised.

So instead (having thankfully left my Firefox window open), I copy and paste the link into Firefox, and it downloads happily. Presumably there’s some sort of security cookie involved. In which case, why can’t I just get a download link on the original webpage?

Anyway, so job’s done? Install and away I go?

Nope. Instead on running the installer, the security software being used throws a wobbly and crashes out. A quick search of the official forums reveals this is a common problem, and instead I must faff around rebooting into Safe Mode to install it.

What? Didn’t I just buy this and jump through hoops to download it? Now I’ve got to jump through hoops to install it as well? And after all these hoops it still demands my serial code before it installs.

And they wonder why people turn to torrent sites and illegally downloading stuff? Its because its easier half the time.

I don’t mean to single out Oblivion downloads of course. We all have to sit through that “Piracy is bad, mmmm’kay?” trailer on our legally-purchased DVDs these days. We can’t skip it and jump straight to the movie we’ve purchased. Nope, instead we need to be beaten around the head with an anti-piracy message first.

Of course, if we’d got a pirated copy, then we’d already be watching the film. The pirates are laughing at us at this point.

I also had a run in when my copy of Neverwinter Nights (yup, my legally purchased copy) wouldn’t run on my new PC drive. You guessed it, the anti-piracy software on the CD didn’t like my DVD-drive. The response from the software company (not Bioware I hasten to point out - the company responsible for the anti-piracy guff): “well, use another drive then”. Very helpful.

The music industry is finally starting to figure out that this kind of nonsense just encourages piracy and results in bad press. DRM-free music is starting to spring up all over the place. While I appreciate the need of companys to protect their products, how long is it going to take before they realise that perhaps punishing those of us who’re supporting them isn’t a good way forward?

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 13:55 and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “Anti Piracy”
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  1. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 10, 2008 at 10:48

    The music industry is coming around. I’d say partly because there seems to be a lot of support whenever a service offers DRM free stuff.

    PC software seems to be one of teh wors offenders for punishing legitemate buyers. The code on the disk, thats it. by all means if the computer is online check the code, make sure its not already in use, but it shouldn’t be a requirement. Interestingly enough the number of registrations and hoops that need to be jumped through has killed the second hand PC software market. Not only that but the difficulty in installation is only driving peopel away from teh platform and on to consoles.

    Lastly the piracy ads on DVDs. Completely agree. I just don’t see how they are even meant to work, in cinemas I understand, its an ad campaign, like telling people not to drink and drive, but all I feel when I see one on a DVD is “I wish I’d bought a pirate one.

    The biggest anti piracy weapon is to make the legal way the path of least resistance. If i want a game, then buying it shoudl be 10 times easyer than piracy. TV is a good example. Sky have managed to cut down on people pirating their shows by sticking as close to the US Schedule as possible. So you can download the show from the US a few days (Not more than a week though) before it gets aired on Sky 1, but by the time you’ve downloaded it you’re really talking days in comparison. Not to mention the pitfalls of the illegal route, viruses, spyware, and of course quality. This weekend I was torrenting my weekly fill of USTV, this included Lost, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Ark of Truth. Atlantis ws fine, lost took 2 attempts as teh first had no sound and I’m on to my third attempt to get ark of truth with audio. Its on sky this week and if i had sky, by gods I wouldn’t bother downloading, I’ll wait a week and watch it in my armchair.

    Virgin One were less bright falling into channel 4’s no more than 1 big show trap. Sarah Connor was shown months after its US counterpart, well if it gets low ratings blame your delay rather than piracy. Same goes for ITV with the Bionic woman and BBC/UKSci-FI with season 2 of heroes. Kiss your advertising revenue goodbye folks, by the time you show it we’ve got bored and downloaded.

  2. Alan says:
    March 10, 2008 at 15:39

    I completely agree that the key to defeating TV piracy is just to show the TV shows over here quickly.

    Sky One seem to have caught onto this fact, I think based partly, from when they aquired Lost from Channel 4. At the time, this was really controversial, with loads of people complaining, as it meant you needed Sky to watch it, and the slightly nonsensical complaints about it meaning more adverts. Newsflash, Channel 4 aren’t so great in the advertising stakes either. If you want to avoid them, hope the BBC nab your favourite shows.

    Sky One must’ve then looked at the mistakes made by Channel 4. Principally was the fact that they sat on Lost for about 6 months after it had finished in the States. So Sky One said, right we’re going to show it only a few days later. Brilliant.

    Certainly, its the first show I can think of where they set out to show it in line with the US broadcasts. They’ve also caught onto the tie-in podcasts to bolster their airings of the shows. I love watching Lost/Prison Break on Sky One, and then getting the podcast afterwards to listen to.

    Sky get a lot of stick, but as someone who watches a reasonable amount of US cult TV, personally I tend to find myself routing for Sky to get any new shows.

    However, as an aside to this, I think the Sky/Virgin thing needs sorted out. Getting Sky back on Virgin will help kill off torrenting for shows like Lost, Stargate etc. I remember reading that they’re talking again (I think the big court case is coming up), so fingers crossed they sort something out.

  3. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 11, 2008 at 11:11

    Won’t kill it off but If we get Sky back before Galactica starts I for one won’t be torrenting it. In fact even if it takes until next year to get Sky back, it would pretty much wipe out my torrenting (I may torrent Heroes unless BBC or Sci-Fi can give me a definite date for the start of the new series.)

    Sky show US adverts, I actually am sure Channel 4 showed more, as I remember Lost taking longer than an hour to watch. I think they added at least 10mins of extra adverts (If you include the bookending) Sky’s Lost ads were just at US levels. What peopel percieved as bad was that the used teh US frequency of (IIRC) an ad break just after the titles, 2 breaks mid show and a break before the end of episode conclusion. Its the early and late ones that get people because the show will only be on for about 5 mins between the bookending break and the first ad one. However the advantage of using these break times is that the US shows are paced around stoppages at those times, so ad breaks will be mini-cliffhangers, scene changes etc and it works.

    My objection to Sky showing ads comes from the fact that it is already a premium channel, so you have to pay to get Sky 1. After taking that lump of cash they then get more by showing adverts. I object to the UKTV channels for the same.

    Basically my rule is, you can show adverts if I can get your channel on a freeview box or with no subscription on a sattelite box and your channel has no ties to the BBC short of buying its repeats. So virgin 1, can have adverts, Dave, can have adverts, Film 4, can have adverts. Sky 1 however get your money directly, so adverts are just greed.

  4. Alan says:
    March 11, 2008 at 19:14

    See the extra money doesn’t bother me too much. In the case of Sky, there’s clearly some investment of the money being made to bolster the available services, in the form of Sky+, HD, Anytime etc.

    In fact, one thing I’ve mentioned before that they’re spending money on is tie-in podcasts. I loved their Prison Break one, and the Lost one has proven invaluable with keeping up with the show, as there’s loads of stuff I’ve forgotten as, frankly, it happened two seasons ago.

    Not to mention the clear investment in original drama. Granted, they aren’t doing it as often as the BBC, but stuff like the recent Pratchet TV-movies is very welcome.

  5. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 13, 2008 at 10:54

    I suppose they at least no longer make Hex, which is a comfort to all. And they’ve started making better stuff than their old “Some drama about holiday reps bonking” However they do keep insisting on sending Ross Kemp to dangerous places and returning him unharmed. WHY!

  6. Alan says:
    March 13, 2008 at 11:21

    I liked Hex. Although there were elements of the second season that I thought didn’t work that well. The second half especially I didn’t think was nearly as good as the first, and the new main character (Ella?) wasn’t as well established as she could’ve been.

    Agree though about their love of holiday rep shows. And the “uncovered” shows. Urgh.

  7. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 18, 2008 at 3:43

    Back on teh Piracy subject, Arrr, Do Ye remeber…

    Sorry got carried away.

    Do you rememebr how the makers of Duke Nukem 3D tried to geta round the Piracy issue, ok the Atomic Edition/Plutonium Pack had the CD check, but the other incentive to buy the game was how much they bundled with it. From my memory of the Atomic Edition you got:

    Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition
    Duke Nukem 1
    Duke Nukem 2
    Duke Nukem Desktop themes and wallpapers
    Build Level editor
    and a few demos.

    Why not try rewarding those who buy rather than punishing them, it encouraged me to buy Duke 3d myself rather than use a copy of your legit one.

  8. Alan says:
    March 18, 2008 at 8:47

    Yeah, I loved that about Duke 3D. Throwing in the level editor actually encouraged me to start designing my own levels as well. It’d be nice to see more games do that kind of thing.

    The only other one that springs to mind is the Elder Scrolls series. Morrowind and Oblivion both shipped with level editors included.

    Part of the problem these days is collector’s editions. By bundling in some extras, they started charging extra. Having a game that’s not afraid to bulk things up with some bonus stuff is always nice.

  9. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 19, 2008 at 2:58

    Or even some free collectors item boxed if its an off the shelf buy. Didn’t oblivion come with some coins or something? As we’ve said previously, it boils down to giving a half decent incentive over the pirate copy and making legal use the path of least resistance.

  10. Alan says:
    March 19, 2008 at 9:18

    I’m not sure an incentive is especially needed (being legal should be enough), but it would definitely help persuade people to go legal.

    It was the collectors edition of Oblivion that came with the coin, and a bonus DVD. There was a vanilla edition as well which was cheaper and came with just the game.

    I definitely think the path of least resistance is key. While I know you hate me mentioning it, iTunes has completely changed my approach to music. If I hear something I like in an advert or on the radio now, I know I can just quickly fire up the store, do a quick search, and then have a nice legal copy of a track.

    I also wonder what kind of effect the iPlayer will have on people torrenting BBC shows. Granted, its not a format you can keep, but if people were downloading them just because they missed them, then I imagine the iPlayer will take a good chunk out of that.

  11. Pie Man 70 says:
    March 20, 2008 at 4:03

    Well look at it this way, Because of football I missed ashes to ashes, so I caught it on Virgin’s on demand. Due to work Ive missed torchwood and will miss ashes to ashes again, but I can catch up on both not only legally but in my armchair. Why the hell would I torrent it.

  12. Alan says:
    March 20, 2008 at 9:17

    Exactly. Virgin’s On Demand, iPlayer, Anytime. These things are all vital in the war against TV piracy I reckon. Alongside showing things within a reasonably short spell of its US airing.

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