Beware of BioWare!

[DABhand]

Originally Posted by AstralWanderer

As an aside, please don't make a habit of this - it makes it harder for others to quote the relevant parts of your posts.

I.e. More work for you?

Please provide some examples where a publisher has given a phone number specifically for activation then (at best, all I've seen is an email option). The only example I know of is Microsoft's Windows Activation and I wouldn't consider that a game.

Two Worlds. Earth 2160. To name a few. There is more out there.

And how does this allow someone to activate if they wish to keep their gaming PC offline?

Would be stupid of them to buy something that only requires an internet connection when they have none wouldn't it. Who is at fault there? The end user for not reading the warning on the box.

The point I was making is that there are people who don't have fixed line Internet access and never will due to either living/working in restricted areas (e.g. military barracks) or having to constantly be on the move (e.g. a mobile crane operator). At best, online access would be via a local library which would be totally useless for activation purposes. And with mobile phones, Internet access may be charged at extortionate rates (for example, the mobile network I am with charges about US$4/MB sent - a bargain compared to their previous US$10/MB rate).

Again not the fault of the developer/publisher. If someone buys a product that needs online authentication (if no phone option available which mostly there is) and they know they travel around the place. Nobody's fault but their own for buying it.

The reason: "Credit charge chargeback" was stated 6 words before your reply. Reading a post before hitting Reply might help avoid missing the obvious...No, it isn't talk - it is a simple (and pretty darn obvious) observation. Publishers will log the IP address used for each activation (see Stardock's activation page linked above) and in many cases, geolocation can be used to provide an approximate physical address. If you have something that activates daily (as Windows Genuine Advantage did) on a laptop you carry with you, it should be pretty clear that this would provide a reasonable record of your whereabouts.

And it is not illegal for companies to collect data in most jurisdictions either. In many cases, they don't even need to make it clear in their EULA. And aside from technically minded customers, I very much doubt anyone is monitoring them - law enforcement in particular has far bigger things to worry about.

Not all IP addy's are static just remember that. And the permabanning was mentioned by you, do NOT forget this. Now here is a legal matter, If say someone is banned but went out and bought another copy of a game to make a new account, they cannot ban this new account without good reason, and the reason of being banned before is not valid.

"Credit charge chargeback" what the feck is this? You trying to say banned because a Credit Card is invalid or something? Can you speak english please lol

Now you have proven you only know things you have heard and read about. But not read well.

It is illegal for any software to receive information via its software of anything other than the data attributed with the software.

Only time they can see your files on your PC is if your silly enough to share your HD on a P2P server.

And which land of legal milk and honey do you live in where such a provision exists? If a company goes bankrupt, their only obligation is to their creditors (and staff, depending on legislation). They have none to their customers - indeed, for USians, the beloved DMCA would likely prevent a developer from releasing an activation-removal patch since they would need the permission of the now-bankrupt publisher (who almost certainly couldn't give a fig about past customers).

Again your only talking about hearsay things you have read or heard others saying. Actually looking into this subject more may indeed reveal a wider prospective to the whole scenario.

You seem to forget that buy purchasing software, such as any that requires online activation or to be online to play full stop, once installed and you agree with the EULA you are in a contract with yourself and the publisher. If they are going bust they HAVE to give a way for the game to be usable after this event. Or else they would find themselves in hot, infact very hot water.