SEIV is being Pirated

[Argh]

Well . . . hrmm. I must admit, I'd think that an all-Online gaming company would actually have far FEWER problems with piracy. . . if they used proper security.

A typical example would be the Pixels 3D software company. I've bought several revisions of their incredibly powerful(and relatively cheap) 3D animation software, and they have effectively locked every install by using the following method: they have a key generator that creates a unique key string tied to the serial number of the BIOS. Whenever I install the software, I'm unable to use it at all until I've gone Online and registered the software. . . whereupon a matching string is sent to me.

This works much better than either:

A. Trusting your customers not to make copies with their burners and simple cracking tools.

B. Sending out a serial/registration code on the jewelbox and locking the CD to the game. Again, it's too darn easy to break the code if you have both strings and can watch the registers. . . you don't need to be very good, either

Anyhow, Pixels' copy protection sounds like a royal pain in the rear for end-Users, right? Well. . . no! Since Pixels sells all of its software Online, and distributes through one supplier(sound familiar, Richard?) . . . all of the Users already have the expectation of having to deal with the software publisher's website, so having to take the extra step of registering to recieve their serial number(which can be generated from the seed provided by the machine's BIOS or any number of other unique identifiers) would provide fairly complete protection from warez hackers for a very reasonable price in terms of time and effort. Just a thought

[BeeDee10]

Well I, for one, am extremely annoyed by the vast majority of the so-called "copy-protection" schemes I've seen used on software. I don't pirate (well, with a handful of exceptions over the years , but I do back up my software because I do occasionally lose manuals and damage CDs and whatnot. I considered it a really nice feature that all I had to do to back up SEIV was to grab the setup.exe and copy it off the disk like any other file. In fact, I have only put the original CD into the computer _once_, when I first recieved it; I immediately copied it, installed from the copy, and stashed the original away in a secure place for storage.

Kudos to Shrapnel Games and Malfador Machinations for actually _trusting_ their customers! Yes, it makes it easier for the handful of idiots out there who pirate, but if it's a good game it's going to get pirated anyway unless you impose the most ridiculously draconian restrictions.

[rdouglass]

Copying software to give away just plain SUCKS. I do quite a bit of custom Web development and that's a huge reason why I have done most of my recent development (whenever possible) in ASP so that when some "script kiddie" comes along and right-clicks my page, all they see is my results and not my code.

I wonder how those Warez people would like it if they came into their jobs on Friday and they were told they were only getting paid for 30 hours of work this week instead of 40 'cause some guy gave away 10 hours of their work. I wish there was a way to do this!!! There would be far less pirating IMO. However, there isn't any way (at least not with current technology) that I know of.

You would think that the SPA would try to develop something like the US Government's CARNIVORE thing to get these @$$holes.....

Unfortunately, I'm just 'preaching to the choir' here and not the thieves (that's what they are)...

[Rich04]

The only problem I see with the copy protection you mention Argh is what if the company goes under. You are stuck with the one installed Version and never will be able to install it again.

I too hate pirates. But over the years I have seen some really annoying copy protects
that have really complicated even installing a bit of software. Amusingly it has never seemed to even slow down pirates.

Kinda like gun laws. Average citizens here in the USA have to go through all sorts of hassles to get a liscense (not that I am against that). But your average criminal can get hold of a firearm in minutes. Heck I am not a criminal (I have some Law Enforcement background) but if I wanted to I could buy one in minutes illeagly.

I believe both of these problems have no solution.

[Magnum357]

Replying to a comment stated below, I think I read once that copyrights only Last 10 years (50 years for a patent) then they become public domian. I could be wrong on this but theoretically, if ya really wanted to, in 2010 we could make copies of SE4 and give them to people. Although I probably wouldn't just for moral reasons.

I looked this up once because a software company named "Sierra" (you might know it, makes that game called Halflife) had two REALLY awsome sports games (Football Pro and Baseball Pro). They dicontinued their sports game about a couple of years ago and don't plan to make any more sporst games (unless you like bullriding and fishing). Anyway, I read some laws in the government that talked about copyrights and Patents. It stated that copyrights had a certain time span then they become public domain. Patents are a little different. Their hard to get established, but if someone uses your patent and you can prove they did it, you can really nail them big time! Patents are easier to get applied to things, but have limitations.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that theoretically (assuming I'm correct) we could all make copies of SE4 by 2010 and give them to people. As long as we don't sell them for a profit, it is perfectly legal.

[Phoenix-D]

Last I checked copywrites were for *50* years. More if some of the big corps get their way.

Phoenix-D

[Magnum357]

Are you sure? I thought I read it was only 10 years, but again I could be wrong on that. Maybe its only 10 years for certain copyrights perhaps. Hmmm... I should do a little researching here.