The Sims 3 or E.A vs Piracy : How I stopped worrying and learned to scratch my head.

[Nineteenth]

The newest addition to Electronic Arts' mega-franchise The Sims has reportedly been leaked online two weeks before the video game's official release

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05...leaked_online/


Seriously. Not even two weeks before the game is scheduled to hit stores it's leaked. I don't play the sims, but isn't this a bit too much? There's so much rampant digital piracy going on that it honestly does not seem like it's worth it to continue making things anymore.

Anyway, since people whined about the DRM in Spore they eased up on it in the Sims and look what happens. I feel bad for anyone who actually pre-ordered this game , you know. Since the first ones who got it , got it for free and 2 weeks sooner than everyone else.

Maybe it's an elaborate trap created by E.A?

[Eris]

Anyway, since people whined about the DRM in Spore they eased up on it in the Sims and look what happens. I feel bad for anyone who actually pre-ordered this game , you know. Since the first ones who got it , got it for free and 2 weeks sooner than everyone else.

This argument really doesn't hold water. DRM is always crackable, and and it's usually done in a matter of days. DRM is to keep Joe Sixpack from distributing copies of his CD to his friends. It has no effect on the organized guys, and in the end all it does is hurt the little guy.

DRM or no DRM, the sims 3 would still be leaked now.

[Nineteenth]

Anyway. I've been following the news on this simply because of a whim.
Here are the updates as if anyone cares about legality on the internet anymore.

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/286...t-9m-to-piracy

Since the leak of the game was monitored heavily rather than subpoenaed and shut down in most sites, they decided to watch the exact number of people downloading it.

For a game that's not even legally out yet, they simply counted the downloads and did the math for purchased versions.

This is as close as they can get when it comes to numbers because they are currently unsure how many people will actually buy the game when released.
As the article states, people complained about DRM and SecureRom and claimed they pirated spore out of spite of it. Now, those very same people have gotten what they wanted and repeat the same actions.

Gone are the days of where you work for what you deserve; Personally, as a person who deals with copyrights,protected media and the sorts I would be royally pissed is someone decided to torrent and redistribute things to other people for free while I've been expecting to turn a profit off of it.

[Eris]

Gone are the days of where you work for what you deserve; Personally, as a person who deals with copyrights,protected media and the sorts I would be royally pissed is someone decided to torrent and redistribute things to other people for free while I've been expecting to turn a profit off of it.

There is nothing new under the sun. This is a prime example of market economy. If you have a broken business model, then you suffer. No matter how much you pout and cry at the government, there is nothing they can do to help you.

DRM doesn't work. Not using DRM doesn't work. The conclusion is that a some other change in the business model of the game maker's is necessary. Maybe subscription based gaming? Or ad-funded gaming?

[PHPfembot]

Somehow I think piracy cant be just stopped on the software level anymore. I mean games, applications like adobe that hits $2000 now can do nothing. One way or the other, theres a way to get through it.

By observation I think one way to limit it is to remove the sources (where they are stored) online. This has been working I believe. A cracked software or ripped music is useless if you cant distribute it or get a hold of it right.

Instead of paying programmers like maybe $120/hr assemble a team of $10/hr workers whod just hunt for links on the net and just keep the team til youve reached your target income from the product, then from there just let things go.

[Eris]

By observation I think one way to limit it is to remove the sources (where they are stored) online. This has been working I believe. A cracked software or ripped music is useless if you cant distribute it or get a hold of it right.

That worked 10 years ago. BitTorrent put a stop to that. With BitTorrent, it isn't stored anywhere in particular, so you really can't shut down a server to stop distribution. The internet is designed to automatically correct damage by routing around it, and that is indeed what it does if you try to censor or control it.

[Storm Strife]

That worked 10 years ago. BitTorrent put a stop to that. With BitTorrent, it isn't stored anywhere in particular, so you really can't shut down a server to stop distribution. The internet is designed to automatically correct damage by routing around it, and that is indeed what it does if you try to censor or control it.

There's also the problem that if they try to take down the sources, they're going up against the Scene. And while there have been some victories in that territory, the release groups have usually been one step ahead, or they've recovered.

[PHPfembot]

But thats also the point. There are things that you just cant really do anything about, you just have to give up on those. You cant stop that tech and you cant stop the cracking so what else can you really do but just focus on those that you can control now, not to eliminate the problem but jsut do damage control until a new revolutionary protection tech comes. Which... I hope never does I guess.

Note though, I did see them the sims 3 ... stuff, but I did "buy" a real copy ok. Why, sometimes its just freakin annoying downloading something like 6 gigs of data and it doesnt freakin work or its like german or some unknown language to me without notice. I mean god, Id rather jsut buy the damn thing and get it over with.