I can fully understand the desire a developer has to protect their creation from being copied illegally. I can understand why some steps would be taken to mitigate the risk of losing money due to piracy. What I can’t understand is why some companies go so far with their anti-piracy measures that it starts to have an impact on the honourable, paying customers.
I have bitched in the past about how activation is a pain in the neck. But that example is nothing like what 2K Games have recently inflicted on the buyers of their latest creation, Bioshock. Rather than throw a few links to a bzillion blog and forum posts that have covered it already, let me just give you the short version:
- Bioshock comes with SecuROM.
- It requires online activation before it can be played.
- It can only be activated twice.
On the surface this might not sound so bad, but when you think about it a little deeper it becomes obvious why this is such a pain in the arse.
SecuROM has a bit of a reputation amongst gamers, and not a good one at that. Most people who fork out the dollar to purchase a game don’t want to be harassed afterwards. SecureROM does a good job of exactly that - harasssing. It usually requires you to insert the CD/DVD of the title while you play it. Again, this isn’t a biggie for most people. But for a lot of gamers, changing CDs and DVDs constantly is annoying. I’d go as far as to say that it shits them up the wall! (yup, that one’s for you, Vorlath, if you’re reading 
). If you buy the game legally, and you install the game legally, you should be allowed to play it legally without having to muck around with the discs.
Activation of games is fairly commonplace these days, but I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to enforce it on the buyer. In the case of Bioshock, the SecuROM activation does some sort of hashing of your hardware and operating system information before passing it to the Mothership for archiving. If you install it on another machine, the process happens again. Each time your hardware or operating system changes, you end up with a new “fingerprint”. According to 2K Games, you’re allowed two of these “fingerprints” against a given serial number and that’s it. Do you think that’s reasonable?
Before giving your answer, make sure you consider all the possible scenarios that might result in the need for reinstallation. Such as …
- … Windows biting the dust due to malware.
- … hardware biting the dust for any reason.
- … the need to put the game on a different machine which has higher specifications and hence can provide a more enjoyable gaming experience.
- … the game refusing to run on a certain version of Windows (cough Vista cough).
There are probably more reasons as well.
2K Games are saying that it’s possible to uninstall the game before reinstalling on another machine and everything will continue to work fine. That’s all well and good so long as you can uninstall the game. What happens if your machine is fried? Fat chance of uninstalling a game from a hard disk that burnt to a cinder. Good luck removing software from a machine that’s been trashed by some nast virus. If any of the above does happen to you, then you’re in for a rough ride convincing the support team to allow you to reinstall past your 2-installation limit.
I’m one of those people who frequently rebuilds their machine. When I do, I don’t uninstall every bit of software before wiping and starting again. Usually the disks are repartitioned and the OS is reinstalled. I don’t think twice about it. I don’t think I’m the only one who would end up suffering because I forgot to uninstall a game that I know I have the original discs for.
Let’s consider the long term issues that might arise from a mechansim like this. What happens when 2K decide that they’ve had enough of supporting Bioshock, and users require help with their activation? Simple: the users are left high and dry.
If you think buying a copy of the game through Steam is going circumvent this level of protection, think again. Steam not only has its own security in place to prevent piracy, but it also delivers the SecuROM anti-piracy gizmos that you get in the boxed version. So you’re not safe.
There are already reports of people in strife due to this stupid level of control. Legal users of the software are unable to play the game because they’ve been forced to reinstall operating systems, or try on different machines because of the hardware requirements of the game. This is just crap. If you buy the software, it shouldn’t come with a stack of crap which prevents you from being able to use whenever and wherever you want.
What makes this worse is that those people who do pirate software do not have to put up with this kind of crap! They download, install and play. That’s it. No tales of woe. No activation issues. No concern of not being able to reinstall on a beefier machine. Nothing. The pirate is the winner, not the legal consumer.
I take my hat off to 2K for being monumentally stupid. You’ve tarnished an arguably amazing game with your stupid anti-piracy antics. You’ve also managed to piss off half of the game playing population…
.. and that’s before we take into account the widescreen issue.
Edit: Have a read of this, this and this if you want to see what other people are saying.
August 24, 2007
One thing I forgot to mention in my post was that I was narked to find out all this after I had bought and preloaded the game on Steam.
Yes, it might have been mentioned somewhere in the acres of text in the EULA that flashed on screen, but not a single soul on the planet reads those things before clicking ok.
With things as invasive as SecuROM, and as restrictive as a 2-install limit, that kind of information should be in big flashing lights before you install. It should be thrown in the users face and not part of EULA the size of War and Peace.
Before I go, I’d like to point you at this, and ask you to say a prayer for 2K Elizabeth before going to bed tonight
August 24, 2007
Another update: This is worth reading. It goes to show that 2K are indeed stupid if they’re infringing their own User Agreement.
August 24, 2007
But wait, there’s more!
SecuROM seems to be unhappy when you try and run:
Another set of added bonuses for the users of Bioshock!
Bear in mind that when you remove Bioshock, SecuROM stays (it doesn’t get uninstalled). And yes, it does come with the demo as well, so if you’ve played the demo on your PC you’re already infected. So you’re stuck with it unless you search out other tools (such as CureSecuROM) to remove it (or reinstall Windows).
And the hits just keep ooooon comin’!
August 25, 2007
Whilst in no-way making what they’ve done right, they have changed some aspects of this and detailed them here:
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/pc_faq.html
August 25, 2007
Ta for the link Gav. While this alleviates some of the issues, it doesn’t completely remove them. 2K are still going to suffer, but to a lesser extent than before. It sounds to me like the catch-all “Revoke Application” is designed to be their knight in shining armour. It will allow people to mess around with the activations constantly but still give 2K control over them. I don’t like it. Smells of Big Brother to me.
I love how they say they don’t fingerprint the hardware in any way, yet they go on to say that if you change a few bits of your hardware you’ll have to reactivate! How else do they know if your hardware has changed if they don’t fingerprint it?
They’re still idiots in my view.
August 26, 2007
Hi OJ
“The pirate is the winner, not the legal consumer”
this is so true
azmo
August 29, 2007
Hi Azmo,
Yes that tends to be the case doesn’t it
It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is. I can’t wait for the day when companies learn that it’s detrimental to use such measures to the point where the experience is lessoned if you actually pay for the software.
They should spend the time and money on things that will improve the game and the experience. Not lessen it.
That’s a mistake I plan to avoid with my software
September 2, 2007
… but that is simply nothing but market systems in operation, isn’t it? The fact is, Bioshock is a great game that has no choice but to go to great lengths to prevent piracy because it’s so widespread.
If people weren’t so appallingly dishonest, the market would not have to introduce such rigorous means to assure the legitimacy of software.
About 6 out of 10 people think nothing of stealing movies, music, games and software on the worldwide web. They do it for one simple reason … they do not believe they will be punished. That means there are way, way more sociopaths around than most people ever realize. People for whom there is no right and wrong should not complain when others take steps to thwart their innate tendencies to thievery and grift to get what they want.
I think what you need is a whole ‘nuther planet populated mostly by people like me. Realistically, that isn’t going to happen so Bioshock has instituted very tough copy protection.
By the way, as a digression, if most computer games were not such utter crap, then Bioshock would not be so attractive a target for piracy. It’s because of the fact it’s the first game to really even be worth the money since Half Life that it constitutes a jewel that is esteemed worth stealing. So both players and computer game companies all suffer from the same essential problem - they are all by and large a bunch of scumbags. Instead of one in a thousand, games like Bioshock should be at least one in three. If they were worth the money.
September 3, 2007
While I wasn’t overly impressed from the trailers of this game I was planning on buying it. After seeing the restrictions put on I’ve decided against it. I to re-build my system probably once every 3 months and I never uninstall my programs. That means that I could play this game for 6 months. Fat chance of spending money on a game that I can only play for 6 months.
It’s things like this that ruin PC gaming.
September 3, 2007
@Adam: I agree with you. I did enjoy the trailers and I was always keen to buy, but I am still appalled by how far they seem to have gone with their copy protection. Time and time again these protections just make life worse for the paying client, while the pirates don’t have to see any of it. It’s crap.
@Vault-Co: I’m not sure I agree with you to be honest. As I said I can understand that the software creator(s) feel the need to protect their creations. I do believe that this level of protection is necessary. Why? Because the pirates will break it regardless, and the only people left carrying the baby are those who paid good money for the game.
I think that there is a great deal of crap appearing on the computer games market, and that’s why I no longer buy very many games. I think that certain companies stifle innovation and the result is a stack of really crap games that are overly priced.
September 16, 2007
i agree with you fully oj and others, but i brought this game been got with it i dont like the activation idea i mean what if someone plays it with lesser specs activates it gets a new pc and has to reactivate that sucks for them 40 quid on a game they cant ever reinstall again but my bioshocks gathering dust on a shelf as we speak now as im drooling over portal and tf2
@oj long time no post eh , hows ya diddling
September 16, 2007
I’ve nearly finished it now, and when I’m done, I probably won’t bother with it again. It has been fun so far, but I don’t think it’s got high replay value.
I’ve pre-purchased the orange box and am ready to go with TF2/Portal/Ep2 as soon as they’re released
Can’t wait!
Yeah I’ve been a bit on the busy side mate. I have a few ideas stewing for new posts, plus I need to carry on the geek series (as there’s another few types to cover!).
September 17, 2007
yup i see us trying to find a server half way from each other for a nice owning session