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I'm new to this board as a poster but have been reading for over a year. Here's my .02 on this subject...
As technology advances and games become more interactive the shift has been away from single-player to multi-player modes. Most games include a small single-player mode for "training", then the gamer moves to the online community. This move to a multi-player environment is set foremost in the game designers desire to appeal to a larger audience. No longer do they have to rely on and code for an A.I. in the single player mode. So an easy way to ensure good sales of a game is to have a kick-ass multi-player environment to play in. You use a key that is checked on the server side of the game. If it's in use you get "Key In Use" or "Invalid Key". Now the publisher doesn't have to worry about people copying the game...in fact I would think they secretly want gamers to do just that. Get yourself a little taste of what the game is like in single-player mode (from a copy) an then, since you need a valid key to play online you go buy the game.
Half-life is a good example of this. They included a really good single player aspect as well, but the multi-player and good mods keep the game going and selling well. I know people who go out and but Half-life so they can get a "Key" so they can play DOD or Counter-Strike.
Think about the games that have a robust copy-protection scheme...does the aforementioned game have a decent multi-player aspect? The ones with none or minimal...how's their multi-player?
docadar
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