Game publishers/etc DO have the right to expect those playing their game to purchase a legal copy and NOT pirate it. There have been reasons put forth (like games being priced out of the reach of many people and so on) that attempt to justify piracy, but those are MOSTLY excuses.
I DO agree that games are priced WAY too high considering what you GET in many cases - one or more CD's with (usually) VERY buggy code. And the profits mostly end up NOT in the hands of those who worked so hard to CREATE the game...
But I digress... Copy protection as it is being developed now SUCKS!!! People KNOW that they should not pirate games and other software, but those who are DETERMINED to get their games/software at a five-finger-discount are GOING to find a way REGARDLESS how "difficult" it is made.
Copy protection schemes like Starforce and Valve's Steam activation are NOT going to prevent - or even SLOW DOWN - piracy. ...Well, maybe slow down for a short time, until the hackers figure out one of the many ways AROUND the CP scheme(s)!!!
In essence, adding all this CP crap to games is only accomplishing the following:
1) It is adding to the prices of the software. (Come on!!! You didn't think that CP schemes just magically appeared FREE to the software companies, did you?!!!)
2) It adds an extra area where bugs can creep into an already buggy piece of software. (Have you EVER seen a piece of software without ANY bugs in it???)
3) It adds an "extreme annoyance" factor to the HONEST and LEGITIMATE owners of the software!!!
4)... There are probably many more points that could be added here, but I don't feel inclined to waste more of my time itemizing them right now.
I am probably both one of the BIGGEST supporters of the computer gaming industry and one of the most IRRITATED!!! I currently have IN MY POSSESSION on original disks/cd's/dvd's and with original manuals and boxes over $20,000.00 worth of computer games. ...Yes, you read that RIGHT!!! Over TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS US!!! And that doesn't include games that, over the past years, I have lost, given to friends and relatives, or just donated to some charitable organization.
I ALSO am a HUGE proponent of software like Alcohol, Virtual Drive, and so on. While I have literally MANY HUNDREDS of disks, cd's and dvd's, it would be a MAJOR PAIN IN THE <TUSH> if I had to keep looking for and changing the media every time I wanted to play a different game!!! In fact, I recently purchased a 300 GB HD which is dedicated to NOTHING BUT virtual disk files so that at the MOST all I have to do now is click/mount a virtual CD file to play any game I want.
Yeah, probably a bit extreme, and certainly a little costly, but the convenience is WORTH it!!! In fact, one game that I DEARLY wanted to try was HL2, but due to the type of hoops that Valve is making its customers jump thru JUST TO INSTALL the game - let alone PLAY it!!! - I have vowed that until a no-cd crack is developed such that I can install the game and play it WITHOUT having to connect online, I will fore-go the pleasure of playing that game. And just to point out that it is NOT an issue of not wanting to pay for the game, a friend of mine offered to lend me HIS copy (along with his Steam account so that I could install/play it), but I told him that I wasn't interested!
I work HARD to squeeze EVERY BYTE of power from my computer, and anything that threatens to drain even ONE of those precious bytes is going to meet with my STRONG opposition.
Bottom line, software producers NEED our support to continue to produce the stuff that we like to play on our computers, and so we should SUPPORT them financially by BUYING their games rather than pirating them. BUT when situations come up like Starforce and Steam Activation, I propose a TOTAL BOYCOTT of those companies until they REALIZE that the wrath of HONEST CONSUMERS is FAR WORSE than the piddling losses they will suffer IN ANY CASE at the hands of pirates who would not pay for the software under ANY circumstances!
