For a different strategy you can buy -if there is any- DRM-Free games of that company more than once instead of buying the DRMed games, then downloading cracked version of the game you want to buy. Then send them an email explaining the matter. You will give the company same money thus supporting their products, but they will see a rise of the sales on the DRM-Free games side, not the DRMed ones.

Sadly some companies even hasn't got any DRM-free games.

Careful, they might...arbi...trate...you...

Yeah, doesn't sound as threatening. :P

EDIT: Seriously though, I'd email them before doing that, and see how they'd react BEFORE doing it, if that's the way you want to do it.

Technically, you're still getting the original product while simultaneously pirating the other one, so it's still technically 2 for the price of 1. Might as well buy the original product and tell the company you'll pirate it, due to the implications.

Better yet, send x amount of cash in the mail with a letter explaining that you pirated their game, and now you're paying for it. :P

I was told most people don't give a flying fjuck about DRM. And that's all that matters.

Techincally, digital "products" are not measured in "units". Because I can make a thousand copies of each GOG. Or none at all. And everything in between.

You always buy 1 license for personal use. How you get the software on your PC is a whole different bag of issues. But eg, if I run my GOG version from their page or from the torrents is legally the same. That is also why HiB store lets you get games as torrents. The very same torrents are used for piracy.

Piracy = using software without license. (But even most lawmakers don't know that and "anti-piracy laws" are completely besides the point.)

Edit: "Cracking" a game is, however, another bag of worms altogether.

Now this I gotta see!
No crossed-fingers.
No bleach-bath afterwards.
No mumbling.

Exactly HOW would you argue FOR DRM measures, dear chap?

Maybe livechat but certainly not e-mail support. I spent several days trying to explain to some indian guy what is my problem and he just kept asking me for my order info (which I don't have that was my problem!) before I just downloaded "different" version.

From following it, it was absolutely great when Origin came out, and has since been outsourced or something and it kind of nosedived to the same level as the other retailers.

I really hate being in the minority.

Would some think me bad admitting to taking some peverse pleasure every time a new release arrives and there's a thread about "...but ...but this game isn't OLD!"

I think, score one for the "I love buying DRM-free games, new or old" crowd versus the "I don't care about DRM and only want to buy OLD games" majority.

Guess I'm just being nasty when all those gaming companies want to do is lovingly share their DRM with me.

Look at it this way: Buy one game, get one or more DRMs for free! And who doesn't love "free"?!?

I think the corporate viewpoint must go something like this: It's like buying a dozen roses and getting a free three-pack of condoms!

Often, the gamer viewpoint is this: bought a single rose with thorns on the stem, and the condom came without lube.

Like this I guess.

(Warning: from a film that it rated 18/M pretty much everywhere, so a mild NSFW warning).

The only DRM'd game I've played in the past decade is Morrowind, and I bought that before I even really knew what DRM was. I don't think my ability to play games is 'crippled' at all. I've got so many games to play I probably won't finish them in this lifetime.

On the other hand, if I owned a game that required an internet connection I would definitely think that crippled my ability to play it during the years I didn't have a home internet connection. And when a friend borrowed my computer and installed a game with DRM that broke my DVD burner, I definitely considered that my computer was crippled, and I had to buy a new drive.

Just because you don't see DRM as a problem doesn't mean it isn't a problem for other people.

Also, browsers and DRM are so different that I'm amazed anyone can make the comparison. The basic, fundamental difference is that no one else owns your browser. It's like a car - you can't drive if you don't own a car. But when you buy a car you own it. When you get a game license, you don't own that. If there's DRM, you don't even own the right to permanent access to it.

They rarely even decide how it's done:

1) Fast
2) Good
3) Cheap

Pick two.

That's the software development axiom and guess which two are always picked, and NEVER by programmers. If the driving business decisions are Fast and Cheap you program shitty code and ship it the moment it compiles or you find another job. You're blaming people who have literally zero power to change shit, it's like blaming the secretary for the actions of the CEO's office. These are blue collar jobs that happen to take place in an air conditioned office and don't stain your fingernails with oil.

I've got to agree with you again. I don't have any experience programming but do have some contracting. If someone wants to hire me as "fast and cheap", that's the effort I'm going to put out and it's going to be an ugly looking job. I'm starting to turn down those kinds of jobs though to look for others because I don't want to have that kind of reputation. If a job pays decent, I'm much more likely to do a good job I'm proud of because that's the reputation I want to have. People are going to talk about your work one way or another, might as well be saying good things.