Ironman273 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 5 Anti-Piracy Strategies That Screwed Over Regular GamersBy Andrew Heaton January 08, 2014 Since the dawn of the home gaming era, unscrupulous people have been pirating games, and unscrupulous companies have been trying to stop them. But just as video game graphics take a significant leap forward with every generation, so too does the increasingly inept technology behind copy protection. Only, you know, in the opposite direction. We've talked before about some of the best ways developers have messed with pirates -- now let's look at the other end of the spectrum, in which developers aim for the pirates but instead screw over their paying customers in increasingly ridiculous ways.#5. Lenslok Games Required a Little Plastic Decoder Gadget (That Didn't Work) Nijmegen 2010, via MSX A pioneer in the "only making things worse" approach to video game copy protection was the Lenslok: a little plastic contraption powered by tiny prisms that apparently sought to negate Atari-era piracy by making the simple act of playing a game so f***ing tedious that you'd end up throwing your primitive console out the window. Via Wikipedia Nearly 900 people were killed by a rain of Commodore 64s the first year it was out. The way it "worked" was that at certain points in the game, the breathtaking 8-bit graphics you were previously enjoying would become scrambled into an unholy mess of pixels at the center of your television and could only be descrambled by holding the Lenslok up to that part of the screen. Simple, right? Oh, and first you had to calibrate it, adjust it to account for your screen's anti-glare or flatness, and hold the thing precisely at arm's length or else it would only show gibberish. You'd know it was working once you saw the letters "OK." Lenslok, via Torrent Freak Or, like, a gaping vagina and a K. And you're done, right? Nope! At this point you had to reach for your keyboard (while still holding the Lenslok perfectly still with your other hand) and press a key to reveal a two-letter code on the screen. Enter the code and voila, you are now allowed to continue playing the game you bought, assuming you didn't break your arm performing that last move. But wait, what if your TV was too big or too small for the code to be seen? Then the manufacturer's official solution was "Get f***ed," because the Lenslok was only compatible with the most medium-sized of televisions. Not that it said so anywhere: You had to assume as much after spending hours trying to get the thing to work to no avail. This is all, of course, assuming the packager bothered to put the "extremely easy to use" instructions in your box and that you didn't get the Lenslok intended for a different game (hundreds of people did). Lenslok, via Torrent FreakThe game apologizes and wishes you luck, knowing that this may be the last time it sees you. Right, so, anti-piracy efforts in games didn't get off to a good start. And somehow, they were about to get worse ... Rest of the article at Source: Cracked ShellBox and madd-hatter 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovell Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Online only and install limits which had zero effect on pirates and only screwed over legit customers, good job. Lord Method Man 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKay Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Online only and install limits which had zero effect on pirates and only screwed over legit customers, good job. Yeah, can't believe "always on" isn't on the list. Lizardslap and TPreston 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timster Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 have there been any anti-piracy measure that actually benefited those that aren't pirates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yeah, can't believe "always on" isn't on the list. That was #1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted January 9, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted January 9, 2014 have there been any anti-piracy measure that actually benefited those that aren't pirates? i have to say no. i remember the old days when pirating games was easy. Use the crack or provided code and away you go. then i matured and got a real job so i could actually afford games. since then, these piracy protections have only inhibited gaming. i remember playing one of the Splinter Cell games a few years ago. the hoops you had to jump through just to play the game was staggering. Sign in w/ Uplay, activate w/ their servers, keep your internet connection running, sync w/ their servers, load your game, check your cd-key over and over. jesus. Phouchg 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MillionVoltss Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Was spore any good ? Although its Still ?29.99 on Steam .... Really ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKay Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 i have to say no. i remember the old days when pirating games was easy. Use the crack or provided code and away you go. then i matured and got a real job so i could actually afford games. since then, these piracy protections have only inhibited gaming. i remember playing one of the Splinter Cell games a few years ago. the hoops you had to jump through just to play the game was staggering. Sign in w/ Uplay, activate w/ their servers, keep your internet connection running, sync w/ their servers, load your game, check your cd-key over and over. jesus. I have a gaming PC and consoles, normally I get multiplats on PC. My exception to this is any Ubisoft games, I will get it on Console because I refuse to use the Uplay game client, it's so horrible it makes Origin seem good. Lizardslap and f0rk_b0mb 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted January 9, 2014 Global Moderator Share Posted January 9, 2014 Was spore any good ? Although its Still ?29.99 on Steam .... Really ? Spore was supposed to be the end-all game from God and turned out to be a turd. dont bother, but if you do, do it legally :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted January 9, 2014 Veteran Share Posted January 9, 2014 Was spore any good ? Although its Still ?29.99 on Steam .... Really ? The early stages of the game are really fun but it nose dives after that. Worst still, those early stages only last ~10 mins. The potential the game had was never realized, sadly. It drops to <?5 quite often on Origin, so if you're interested wait for a sale. I have a gaming PC and consoles, normally I get multiplats on PC. My exception to this is any Ubisoft games, I will get it on Console because I refuse to use the Uplay game client, it's so horrible it makes Origin seem good. I can't believe it doesn't even have a close to tray option. I don't have an issue with the client itself though. It's barebones so doesn't cause any issues, but then doesn't really have any reason to exist either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torolol Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 the only known good anti-piracy that actually benefited legitimate/non-pirate gamer, is when SNES cartridges was embedded with custom CPU which add functionality (graphics & sound) that normally not possible with standard SNES hardware. As those CPU functionally are virtually un-duplicate-able, its also behave as anti-piracy measures because said games wont work without it. Actually its take some years for the emulator developer to finally able to emulates such cpu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Veteran Posted January 9, 2014 Veteran Share Posted January 9, 2014 Lenslok wasn't too bad for Elite. It only authenticated at startup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yea, they still haven't learned. Having to crack a few games that I own? Reeeealy wanting to keep me legit huh? Was spore any good ? Although its Still ?29.99 on Steam .... Really ?Eh wasn't for me, didn't hold my interest much -- my daughter likes it quite a bit though, still plays it semi-regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotBored Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Yeah, can't believe "always on" isn't on the list. Its under the #1 Anti-Piracy Strategies that screwed over gamers. "Once you logged in to your game and it verified that you owned a legal copy, you had to remain online at all times so that it could constantly check back to make sure you didn't suddenly start using a pirated one. Because apparently you could be stealing and playing other copies of Spore, like, for the thrill of it, or something. It's as if the TSA didn't just check you before boarding the plane, but followed you all through your vacation and frisked you as you stood in line at Disney World." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compl3x Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Anti-Piracy straegies are pointless. And there is no shortage of examples to prove it. I suppose investors won't take to kindly to publishers saying they aren't going to implement any system to combat piracy so they implement anything, even something that pisses off those of us who buy our games. Thanks, a--holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 StarForce. Need I say more? (N) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789A Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 have there been any anti-piracy measure that actually benefited those that aren't pirates? The ones that told you to look in the manual and find word #3 in paragraph #2 on page #37 helped kids learn to count and read. Very good educational benefits. f0rk_b0mb, GotBored, DConnell and 2 others 5 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torolol Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 The ones that told you to look in the manual and find word #3 in paragraph #2 on page #37 helped kids learn to count and read. Very good educational benefits. that was fine until they decided to ship the games with remodeled manual with different different layout to cut some cost. i remember got hit by that, and i was forced to hunt for older manual, no internet at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 While I understand anti-piracy junk is there to delay the pirate release, what I don't understand is why it's so difficult? Why not tie a game to a motherboard (using a MAC code?) then if you upgrade your PC, you simply have to renew the licence to the new gear, where it stops working on the old stuff. But then I am not a anti-piracy engineer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member Posted January 12, 2014 Member Share Posted January 12, 2014 The largest anti-piracy strategy that screws over regular gamers is: 0) The fact that companies expect you to pay for their stuff. Pirates can't get it that way because the money is used as a deterrent for them getting the game. But, now I have to pay the money the pirates won't. :angry: The Evil Overlord 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hello, But then I am not a anti-piracy engineer!No you are not. While I understand anti-piracy junk is there to delay the pirate release, what I don't understand is why it's so difficult? Why not tie a game to a motherboard (using a MAC code?) then if you upgrade your PC, you simply have to renew the licence to the new gear, where it stops working on the old stuff. A MAC address can be easyly spoofed. What about if you have 10 network cards? Which would you assign it to? Another thing, what if the license server for renewing got shut down? The only way is the Xbox One way: Online always. Sorry army guys. A software constantly looking up a certified server cannot be cracked. No offline bypass, nothing. Its the only antipirate measure that can be done. And even then, legit customers will have problems with the server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member Posted January 12, 2014 Member Share Posted January 12, 2014 While I understand anti-piracy junk is there to delay the pirate release, what I don't understand is why it's so difficult? Why not tie a game to a motherboard (using a MAC code?) then if you upgrade your PC, you simply have to renew the licence to the new gear, where it stops working on the old stuff. But then I am not a anti-piracy engineer! It's easy for hackers to break simple mechanisms like that: It'd be single byte branch modification in the binary. That's why DRM schemes are so convoluted, because it has to be all kinds of convoluted to raise the bar for the hacker to break it. The only way is the Xbox One way: Online always. Sorry army guys. A software constantly looking up a certified server cannot be cracked. No offline bypass, nothing. Its the only antipirate measure that can be done. And even then, legit customers will have problems with the server. This assumes the software itself isn't modifiable to break online checks. It's generally a good assumption on restricted hardware that only runs signed code (until said mechanisms are broken either via hardware modifications or software hacks), but it doesn't work on open platforms. I'd have to add to the requirement that the certified server be integral to playing the game in some form. That way a compromised and modified game still needs to access the server for gameplay features. This raises the bar quite a lot because it means hackers would be required to emulate the server functionality itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted January 12, 2014 Veteran Share Posted January 12, 2014 Sim City had a double barrelled DRM scheme, always online to ensure you couldn't play single player by yourself, and just bad gameplay to ensure you wouldn't want to pirate it. ... The only way is the Xbox One way: Online always. Sorry army guys. A software constantly looking up a certified server cannot be cracked. No offline bypass, nothing. Its the only antipirate measure that can be done. And even then, legit customers will have problems with the server. Well for starters it can totally be cracked, and the Xbone wasn't always online, it was a daily check. Luc2k and The Evil Overlord 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 haha thanks for sharing the article, got a good laugh at this part it could constantly check back to make sure you didn't suddenly start using a pirated one. Because apparently you could be stealing and playing other copies of Spore, like, for the thrill of it, or something. It's as if the TSA didn't just check you before boarding the plane, but followed you all through your vacation and frisked you as you stood in line at Disney World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Really the only successful anti piracy mechanism is tieing the game into a server like Diablo III, yes they can be emulated and cracked but its so much bother, buggy and you can't play with your friends that its just not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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