DRM and Need for Speed
p2pnet news view DRM | Games:- DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control has never served any useful purpose, particularly with respect to the entertainment cartel and software companies who insist on using it to shackle their products.
Alex Hanff, internationally famous for his continuing efforts to make sure personal data pirate Phorm doesn’t get away with online robbery, is now wondering if it isn’t time to sue video game company EA for fraud.
“Hey Jon,” Alex says in an email, “as you know I work pretty hard and occassionally when I find a little bit of time for myself I like to play the odd computer game. Nothing excessive – maybe a round on Tiger Woods or a few races in Need for Speed.”
Need for Speed: Carbon, also known as NFS Carbon or NFSC, is an Electronic Arts video game that’s part of the Need for Speed series, explains the Wikipedia, going on the game is set in fictional Coast City and features various kinds of cars with various kinds of capabilities.
With that as background, “I recently finished Need for Speed Most Wanted (which I purchased in 2005 so it shows how often I game) and decided to buy Need for Speed Underground: Carbon,” says Alex, going on »»»
I went to EA’s web site and they have it available on download which to me is far more convenient than having to go to a store and purchase a hard copy, so I went ahead and purchased it.
After a long download I installed the game and then attempted to play. But before I could play I had to activate the game with the Activation Code provided when I purchased it.
To my surprise I got an error back saying the activation code was in use by someone else.
I was annoyed because EA issued me with an invalid code making it impossible for me to launch the game I’d paid for.
So I signed up to the EA Support site and issued a support ticket to which I got a standard email reply saying the ticket had been initiated and that I’d hear back within 24 hours.
Five days later, I finally get a response asking for a bunch of details such as the invoice number, the code that wasn’t working and my personal details – which I provided. I got a response saying the situation was more complicated than they thought and would require further investigation which could take more time.
Two weeks have now passed and I still don’t have access to the game. Nor have I had any further response from EA.
This makes me very angry and leaves me thinking perhaps it’s time for me to go to the police and file fraud charges against EA as they have taken my money but failed to provide me with the product I purchased.
“Once again this highlights that the only people effected by DRM are legitimate customers,” Alex adds.
Stay tuned.
personal data pirate Phorm – Phorm phounder tangles with Sir Tim, March 12, 2009
April, 2009
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April 9th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Typical, hardly any EA game works when you first purchase it. If anything I think they are trying to annoy customers so bad that they abandon their PC’s and buy consoles. This has happened to me with every game purchased from EA, so now I don’t support them. I go for the pirated copy cause they usually work without the annoyances.
If everyone had consoles and only bought games for them piracy would be eliminated. This is probably more their thinking.
BTW I hate consoles and the stupid controllers.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
“To my surprise I got an error back saying the activation code was in use by someone else.”
Likely the script kiddies who downloaded the game illegally and created a key-gen for it
Just happens to be your key got generated on a hot copy, so in fine EA fashion
they run around screaming FIRE for a few weeks trying to figure out what to do.
When they do get back to you it will be the equivalent of “Your just going to have to bend over and take it, nothing we can do!”
April 9th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Here is one of the bad things about DRM. Music says it is a customer enabler. It’s not, it’s another hoop to jump through. Why buy things that are going to be a problem when you can pirate it and never have to worry about these hoops? Pissing off the customer isn’t a good way to do business.
Games are expensive enough without having all these extra hassles to go through. Then there are so many that are very poorly done games as to make them not worth the money they want for the game. How to tell what is a good game and how to tell what isn’t worth considering? You know the answer to that as well as I. You check it out first.
For myself, I like games with replay value. If you play it once and there are no more challenges then I don’t fancy that sort of game. I want one that is interesting the first time played and then again and again after that. Very few games fit into that category. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like serial games. Something like COD is ok to play once but unless you are on line, that’s the end of it. EA specializes in those because they know there is a following for them. Franchised games wind up usually to be short games, limited replay value, and not worth the money, so I usually avoid them.
DRM is something I consider too. If it has draconian DRM, I don’t want it. I’m not going to purchase a console, forget that. I will do without them first. The computer is a multitask tool that does well at lots of things, games is just one of them. I see no need of having a tv to play a game when I don’t use a tv. Have no call to buy one for use. So console is out of consideration.
I don’t mind buying a good game. I don’t mind rewarding the maker of a good game. I do mind getting stuck with problems or with trash claiming to be what it is not.
Something game makers are going to have to come to grips with is that if you piss your customer off enough, they ain’t coming back. EA has gotten an ear full over Spore. So much so that they have released tools to remove some of the crimp but I hardly think it enough of a step. They have more negative feed back coming. If they won’t hear and do about it, then they can kiss my money goodbye.
I already do this with makers of other products, such as Sony who screwed me on a warranty job. They screwed me once and now for years and years afterward, they continually miss sales in what I buy, just because the makers name on the product is Sony. EA is quite capable of earning a spot on the list and they are well on their way to arriving there. I won’t forgive forever and have limited patience when it comes to this sort of thing.
I expect things right when I pay. If it isn’t I remember that next time I consider another product. Give me enough to remember and I will quit buying totally from that maker. Mark my words…
April 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I have noticed how business models based on shoddy creation of product is catching up to reality. The game, movie, and music industry used to have months of ‘wiggle’ room concerning a certain title prior to the sheeple discovering that said product is crap. Enter the internet, where word-of-mouth is still the cornerstone of advertising. Instead of it taking months for the quality of a product to be reviewed (objectively) and distributed to other potential customers, thereby influencing the buying decision, it now takes days, and sometimes hours for this effective method of advertising to sink a shoddy product. The digital age has empowered individuals access to close to 80x more information than legacy avenues of newspapers, magazines and friends used to offer.
It seems a common issue among all product creators today. Put out a shit product and people will find out faster than ever, thereby influencing their buying decisions. This is not a ‘piracy is killing everything’ issue, this is more of a ‘put out a better fucking product asshole, and more people will buy it’ issue.
my 2 pence.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Excellent Surfer!!!!
The whole reviews thing I use daily for everything, music, movies, furniture, appliances,cars everything!!!
There a lot of companies producing crap now, and hoping their sales can max before anyone finds out.
I haven’t thought of what you described despite researching everything I buy until you said it.
I think you are dead on!
With the economy in its current situation more and more people will research before they buy therefore lowering profits on crap. Maybe GM and Chrysler should cry the piracy/Internets fault, and start sueing people because they don’t enter the dealership.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
LOL, I don’t feel sorry for the guy…After all, he paid when he could’ve just downloaded the game for free…..And he would’ve been playing it by now!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
.: download the game, keygen and crack it right now! You paid for it and nobody could argue that is morally wrong with a straight face. if EA even managed to remotely detect it and decided to litigate, counter sue it would be epic.
oh and Fuck the ESA.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
‘Maybe GM and Chrysler should cry the piracy/Internets fault, and start sueing people because they don’t enter the dealership.’
or sue you for ‘piracy’ for letting someone borrow your car, instead of buying their own.
Does everyone get it now? You can’t make a copy of a car, but you can make a copy of a movie. So why is it piracy to let a buddy ‘borrow’ my CDs, but it’s NOT if I let him borrow my car? Whether he makes copies of the CDs or not, I still get them AND my car back….
So, from Mitch ‘the Don’ Bainwol’s point of view, if he worked for GM, would be that its copyright infringement to let your buddy borrow your car, and he should go buy his own, that’s a lost sale.
gimme a frakking break already with the lost sale ad nauseum
stw
April 11th, 2009 at 8:03 am
I do feel for the guy as he is trying to do the right thing and purchase the game legally
sure he could have downloaded it for free from one of many torrent tracker sites
it just shows how much EA really cares about its customers, it is much more worried about profits
and by doing so they have blinded themselfs to the real way to make money,which is to keep your customers happy
and they will be a continuing source of income
How does DRM help stop piracy anyway???people that are going to not pay for the game are going to download copy of the game
from a torrent site ,though thoese that actually buy the game are force with ridiculous DRM limitations…How does that help???
it does the opposite I think as people like guy that started this thread is now very pissed off at EA
and is wanting to take legal action as he feels ripped off,which he has every right in my opinion to feel that way
hence the chances of him going and buying a game in the future with DRM is greatly decreased
and has increasing the chance he will pirate games that he wants in the future
EA is making things worse for themself
I think they would be better off making games much cheaper and not use DRM
then people are much more likely buy the game instead of pirating it!
Same goes for the Movie industry
if DVDs movies where $2 USD and Bluray movies $9.95 USD
and they continued to lower the price on Bluray movies over the next ten years until they are $2
and by then make DVDs movies cost less than $1 each or $2 for a triple packs
they would make money as heaps more people would buy them legitimately hence they would make money
Sure EA is a Rich and Powerfull company (At the current time)
Though so where other software companys in previous times though have fallen and they didnt use there fore
Adding DRM to the mix just reduces your companys life even further
April 11th, 2009 at 8:39 am
If I was you, I would Email EA and ask them can they please give you another key, as you have payed for it
if they dont reply back with a key in a few days, then since you have legally purchased the game
email them back and demand a key or a copy on DVD or you will be suing them for fraud!
It not like they have a leg to stand on!
you payed for a perfectly legal product and have NOT received it
which in my book at is blatant case of fraud
if companys want to use DRM they need to use it in a way that will not hurt legit customers
eg let you install the game on as many as 10 different computers with unlimited number of profiles
(eg if a game is installed on a Windows XP machine with 8 users then all 8 users can play the game)
and get the installation to verify itself every 90 days by either getting you to insert the original CD/DVD or by contacting the EA website and getting your registration info to verify the installation
hence the DRM will only stop you from playing the game if you can not verify that your installation is legit
and if you need to install it on more than 10 machines you could contact the company and arrange to have your installation limit increased for a very small fee once you have verified yourself as a legit customer
April 12th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I wish to add one more thought to the pile I listed with companies that make crap products and getting on that list for me to buy.
Another answers that he researched a lot of stuff before buying. Researching though reviews no longer works on the net at authorized site. You see, if the editor or one of the game testers writes up a bad review, next time around, that site doesn’t get an early preview for writing up an article. The game makers and others see an honest review that doesn’t give them glowing words as a reason not to let the site evaluate the next latest greatest. So forget going to the gaming review sites. Also forget going to the software review sites or music sites for that matter. You won’t get the real truth from them, unless you keep this in mind and read between the lines.
The better place to go is someone that has no affiliation with the game or originator. Someone that doesn’t care if they get a good report or bad one because they have no vested interest beyond the reader. That advertisement dropping won’t affect them and late or early release won’t matter to them. Either that or talk to the real die hard gamer that has to have all the new titles.
Don’t go by the burb on the box; they all sound like the next Oscar winner for a movie, the next blockbuster game, the next superstar of music, and nothing is further from the truth.