- Joined
- Oct 10, 2009
- Messages
- 719
"Gamers were understandably upset when Ubisoft announced that its upcoming Digital Rights Management (DRM) service required that PC gamers be connected to the internet at all times in order to play games like Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft tried to explain how the system works by taking save points and so that gamers will be taken back to their last save point in the case of a connection failure and able to pick up play from there once the connection has been restored. Gamers were still understandably upset.
Now comes word that Ubisoft’s DRM servers were the victims of a Distiributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack yesterday that prevented some owners of Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 from playing their games. Ubisoft originally chalked the incident up to "exceptional demand" before finally admitting that they were the victims of a DDoS attack. However, both excuses display the folly of Ubisoft’s new anti-piracy measure.
Assassin’s Creed II is a single-player game. At no time should PC gamers be required to connect to the internet to play their legitimately purchased game. Gamers are mostly used to the infrequent internet issues such as a bad router in their home, bad connection from their ISP, or something larger affecting their ability to play multi-player games. Sure they’ll complain but it’s mostly a non-issue unless the problem originates with the game company.
A perfect example of this is from my own experience. AT&T is currently upgrading the network in my neighborhood and are out and about digging holes, pulling cables, and re-wiring boxes. I’ve experienced very brief internet outages during this time but nothing significant so far. These brief outages have kept me from playing multi-player games online but haven’t kept me from playing single-player or local multi-player games. I would be incensed if I was unable to play a legitimately purchased copy of a game simply because my internet connection was down through no fault of my own.
We’ve come to expect game companies to fight piracy. When you can find thousands of copies of cracked games floating around the internet, game companies are completely within their rights to include some authentication measures with their games. However, it is a balancing act between keeping the pirates at bay and not trampling on the legitimate consumer. Lately, it seems that the game companies are forgetting that they still need to win the trust of legitimate consumers and Ubisoft is not the only game company and the PC is not the only platform where this is an issue. Sony has instituted a DRM scheme that requires gamers to purchase the right to play SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3 online for the PSP if they purchase the game second-hand or if they need to switch PSPs.
The pendulum in the fight against game piracy has swung too far in the direction of being anti-consumer. This isn’t the first time it has happened and it likely won’t be the last. I just hope that Ubisoft, Sony, and other companies realize the folly of their decisions and see that they may gain some against piracy but lose the trust and confidence of legitimate gamers."
With that being said, I have 2 questions for everyone.
1] Has the DDos attack in anyway interfered you from being able to play either games?
2] Do you in anyway agree with the attack as it can kill this DRM in the long run?
Now comes word that Ubisoft’s DRM servers were the victims of a Distiributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack yesterday that prevented some owners of Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 from playing their games. Ubisoft originally chalked the incident up to "exceptional demand" before finally admitting that they were the victims of a DDoS attack. However, both excuses display the folly of Ubisoft’s new anti-piracy measure.
Assassin’s Creed II is a single-player game. At no time should PC gamers be required to connect to the internet to play their legitimately purchased game. Gamers are mostly used to the infrequent internet issues such as a bad router in their home, bad connection from their ISP, or something larger affecting their ability to play multi-player games. Sure they’ll complain but it’s mostly a non-issue unless the problem originates with the game company.
A perfect example of this is from my own experience. AT&T is currently upgrading the network in my neighborhood and are out and about digging holes, pulling cables, and re-wiring boxes. I’ve experienced very brief internet outages during this time but nothing significant so far. These brief outages have kept me from playing multi-player games online but haven’t kept me from playing single-player or local multi-player games. I would be incensed if I was unable to play a legitimately purchased copy of a game simply because my internet connection was down through no fault of my own.
We’ve come to expect game companies to fight piracy. When you can find thousands of copies of cracked games floating around the internet, game companies are completely within their rights to include some authentication measures with their games. However, it is a balancing act between keeping the pirates at bay and not trampling on the legitimate consumer. Lately, it seems that the game companies are forgetting that they still need to win the trust of legitimate consumers and Ubisoft is not the only game company and the PC is not the only platform where this is an issue. Sony has instituted a DRM scheme that requires gamers to purchase the right to play SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3 online for the PSP if they purchase the game second-hand or if they need to switch PSPs.
The pendulum in the fight against game piracy has swung too far in the direction of being anti-consumer. This isn’t the first time it has happened and it likely won’t be the last. I just hope that Ubisoft, Sony, and other companies realize the folly of their decisions and see that they may gain some against piracy but lose the trust and confidence of legitimate gamers."
With that being said, I have 2 questions for everyone.
1] Has the DDos attack in anyway interfered you from being able to play either games?
2] Do you in anyway agree with the attack as it can kill this DRM in the long run?
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