Just a little note. The problem may not even be the fact that the internet is needed (which is also a problem in its own case for people who can't even get it plugged but are otherwise comfortable with their habitat and see no reason to get outside of it).

The problem may be in that there's less control of the thing I bought. So I bought this book of Alice in Wonderland for instance. I could do ANYTHING with it without telling the publisher "Hey, I must do this, will you let me?"

But in games, it's more like that. "Hey, I must do this, will you let me?" "Nah, you can't." "But I could do this wi-" "We said you can't."

Those two terms overlap but are not 100% interchangeable, particularly since the meaning of "DRM" has changed. Eg, older retail games were copy protected (often with a serial or code-wheel), but not neccessarily "DRM'd" in the sense you could legally resell them on EBay and they would work exactly the same way for the new buyer. Modern DRM typically means tying games to a person at the account level and preventing any resale via constant online checks long after you've bought them. GOG installers can't be resold, but at the same time, once you have them, the installers themselves do not make any checks at any point, so in that respect there's no copy protection or DRM in any practical sense once you have them.

Personally, I wouldn't call the serials that come with some games that seem to be required solely for 3rd party multi-player servers as "DRM" as the underlying purpose is often just to provide a unique identifier for the server to distinguish between gamers (particularly for any persistent worlds). Same goes for serials for other purposes, eg, Don't Starve comes with serials for the developer's own update path and I've never used them once (nor are they ever required), because GOG updates their own version anyway.

No, it's a way to CONTROL customers. DRM takes away customer's rights. You only rent their products, you don't own them anymore. Back in the day you bought a game, and could lend it to a friend or resell it to anyone. DRM prevents that. The steam DRM never worked as copy protection, all games get cracked on release day. It was intended to destroy the second hand market. The industry didn't like that resellers like gamestop made profits with reselling their products.

I remember seeing a GameStop store in one of the local shopping centers. It closed some time ago.

Come to think of it, I remember seeing some bookstores, too. They also closed some time ago…

The drm koolaid may be bitter and vile but the masses keep happily gulping it down and until that changes, we unhappy few must simply be content with whatever small scraps they give us.

Good luck hiding in the shadows.

Started a really long chain of replies/post/rant but you know what?

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I think that a cd-key that is only validated locally and doesn't have any intent to limit number of installs or time to use the software is not really DRM, though it is slightly annoying, because nothing about the system prevents you from using the software however you want. There is just the nuisance that you could lose the cd-key.

A cd-key which involves online activation, limited install counts, and similar is a form of DRM, though depending upon the implementation it may be moderately innocuous. There's sill the possibility that the permissive online service goes away, leaving you unable to install the software that you purchased.

Yup... agree 100%

It has been argued through the years (not by myself, by the way) that the license was sold to you, not your many friends and every publisher under the sun has faught the used games industry quite agressively.

I'd agree. It's controlling the rights you can utilize in regards to the content usage. I personally dislike that type of DRM.

Sony supposedly has some rather strict DRM on their Playstation consoles and games, but it is perhaps one of the less intrusive DRMs I've had (at least with their discs). I can take their discs and play it on any playstation I want (though playing it on a PC is a different matter), without a limited number of installs or other heavy handed methods to try to control my rights in regards to where and how I can play it in regards to utilizing different consoles. (DLC is a different matter though, I can only install it on up to 2-5 different Playstations if I recall right, though I can unhook one playstation from my account rather painlessly and that opens up one of the installations).

PC game makers could learn a thing or two about disc based games and DRM from Sony and Xbox in that regards (though Xbox did try to make DRM a massive thing at first until massive fan outrage and an extreme trend of lost presales made them rethink the decision).

Probably off topic, but just a story about my experience with DRM.

I remembered buying a Colin McRae game from Codemasters (now Dirt series). I have to reinstall Windows, back up my save game files, which doesn't work on the new computer. Apparently they have some hash checking so you can't move it around. This pissed me off because I already spent many hours on it unlocking all the cars and achievements. So I paid them $5 for a cheat code to unlock the cars, so I don't have to play all over. Later I found out the code is a one time use (should have known).

And that was the last time I ever played or buy anything from Codemasters. In fact, I'm kind of weary of buying racing games because of that.

Physical disks are expensive to produce and require the cooperation of retailers. As the inventor of bluray, however, sony has a vested interest in it remaining relevent as a platform. Both sides were nothing but profit and control.

Bingo. Someone who actually realizes what the M means... It means the publisher can at any point control the rights you have. e.g. removing your ability to install or run the game.

People have stretched and abused the term to imply that anything that even requires a login to download is DRM. That's just called commerce.

It's like warm apple pie.