Starforce Petition!

[Rayder]

Alrighty, I've read every single post in this thread. (WHEW!) Add me to the boycott list, I'm convinced that this protection should be completely outlawed.

I have 3 games in front of me right now that are SF protected that I still have the boxes to: Dead To Rights (DTR), Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition (MATDE) and Peter Jackson's King Kong Signature Edition (PJKK). I know I should have the Trackmania Sunrise box right here handy too, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. I know I have a few more, but these are the ones I still have the boxes to investigate.

Anyway, looking at the packaging, only one of them mentions anything about having any copy protection on it at all....PJKK. It says (and I quote),

Notice: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some CD-RW, DVD-RW and virtual drives.

This was in a (approximately) 1/4" by 1" little box on the back of the packaging. Carefully notice that it DID NOT say the protection was Starforce. Hey! At least in warned you though....nevermind that you you had to hunt it down on the box to see it. Also notice that it said it may conflict, not destroy, your drives.

The other 2 games say NOTHING about the fact that it can damage (or conflict with) your PC in the least.

(minor digression)
A couple of months ago, my Plextor CD-R drive (2410a if my memory serves) started getting VERY slow to recognize disks and would fail to write basic data CD's consistently (sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn't). I just figured that the drive's time had come and replaced it. Now I wonder. I can't test it to see if it works fine in a non-SF infested system since I tossed the drive and replaced it with a LiteOn DVD-R drive.

Anyway, to my point. I think ALL Starforce infested games should have the warning that PJKK did, but TELL you that it is, in fact, SF that is the protection, not only that the protection used MAY cause issues. That way we'll know not to waste money on those games. While I've not had any absolute proof that SF has really caused any damage to my system, why blatantly invite problems?

I have a couple ideas for the people here to make our purchase decisions easier. One may be sort of shady and/or illegal, but that one idea would certainly help get the message across to more people outside of the internet.

First (and this is the easy one) make a sticky post in the PC Games section that lists ALL known SF infested games. Keep it updated as new games with the SF infestation come out. While this thread has that info in spades, many may never see it, but a sticky post is hard to miss. This way, when a game comes out and you aren't sure of it's protection scheme, you have one simple post to check to see if it's one with the SF infestation.

Next, (and this is the shady one that would have to be done voluntarily because it COULD get you in trouble) is to get a roll of super sticky labels (you know, the kind of sticky that license plate stickers have, can't remove those suckers very easily at all without destroying whatever they're stuck to ) that have something like this printed on them, "Warning: This game uses Starforce protection which MAY damage your PC or limit its ability to function properly", (or something like that) and stick these labels on SF infested games in stores so EVERYONE that picks up the box will see the warning (instead of having to search the whole box that may not even have such a warning) and hopefully will spread the word (or at least cause them to investigate) about the dangers of StarForce.....not to mention instantly alerting those of us that ARE aware to not even touch that game.

Sound like good ideas to you?

Well, I'm going to uninstall MATDE (only SF game currently installed) and run the SF cleaner program now. Later all.

My goodness! This ended up to be quite a long post. Sorry 'bout that. Just goes to show what a sensitive issue this is to us honest puchasers of games I guess.

[Grumpy]

@Rayder
I believe the only reason King Kong has the warning on it is because now they realize there is potentially a problem and they are just covering their asses!
With the warning, they now add to the box, nobody can argue in court that they were not told of a protection being used. But as you say they still dont mention it is actually starforce!
With so many complaints and petitions, circulating on the internet now, I believe it is only a matter of time before something drastic happens. Whether or not this will actually stop publishers from using Starforce remains to be seen?

Notice: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some CD-RW, DVD-RW and virtual drives.

Now that warning gives people a strong reason to return their starforce games for a refund! All they have to do is say it conflicts with their drives and wont work! After all we should not be expected to buy new hardware just to run a game! This argument could actually go 2 ways though as some people buy new graphics cards just to play a newer game!
The shops would not be able to disagree as it states it on the box! The shops would have no choice but to refund your money!
If the shops have to keep refunding money then maybe they might stop stocking starforce games? So that is another way, if everyone purchases a game then returns it 2 days later for a refund!
As for you sticker idea, I like it!! I can just see myself doing that!
I havent purchased a starforce game for a very long time, and I feel the only game that I may really miss is Race Driver 3 (Toca). But even that wont persuade me to go through the hassles of installing a starforce protected game!!
I wont even download game demo's anymore until I find out for sure which protection is being used on it!!
Anyway keep boycotting and stay PC safe.