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EA's stance is to have a non-obstrusive disk check for disc based media, and authentication upon installation only for digital download.
Will you really only buy physical copies of game that don't even have a disc check?
I don't want to turn this into another yet DRM debate, but no, that wasn't quite what I meant.
On the subject of DRM, I've said before I won't accept “overly-intrusive” DRM. So briefly, It all depends what we each regard as “overly-intrusive”, and what I regard as overly intrusive might well not be the same as you, or others.
I don't much like a disk check on a physical disk, but I'll live with it. After all, I've bought many games that have that, and it wouldn't stop me buying one now.
What I, personally,
will not put up with is either having to have it authenticated by an online check every time I play it, or even that there has to be an internet connection. I'm not prepared to put up with only being able to play a game if a server operated by the games company says I can. What if the games company goes out of business, for example? I've bought a game I may then not be able to play. And yes, I know some of then say they'd release a de-DRM patch. But if the company had died, will they? I can't see it being a priority somehow. So I'd be risking buying a game that I then can't play at some point because the company has gone bust. Well, that ain't happening,because I won't buy games like that.
Nor will I buy games that require me to install a Steam (or anything else) client, that then does a verification with Steam. Why? Partly because I don't want “client” software (let alone SecuRom, etc) that is or even might be talking out onto the web on my PCs without a damn good reason and a game isn't a damn good reason for me. Also, partly because my games machines aren't on the net, They are on a standalone private network that doesn't have a net connection, and I'm not connecting that network to the internet just to satisfy a games company's DRM requirements.
See, I'm not an online gamer. I'm just not interested. Tried it years ago, and don't care to do so again. I either play standalone, or with a small group of friends, on an offline network. And I use those machines for some other things that I'm not willing to put on the net. Consider client confidentiality reasons for a start. A hacker can't hack or a virus can't infect what he/it can't connect to or infect because a connection doesn't exist.
I haven't even bothered to connect games consoles like Xbox 360 to the net.
Those games that I've checked recently have at the very least appeared to require more than a disk check for authentication. I've more or less given up even looking at PC games, from EA and everybody else, because it's too much of a problem working out what uses what method. All I've checked have referred to either requiring Steam, or “an internet connection”, without specifying what it's required for. It could be for online gaming, which doesn't interest me, or for patch downloads, which I'd do on other machines, or it could be for DRM. I'm not prepared to spend ages researching a game before buying it to work out precisely what it does or doesn't require for DRM. One of my complaints is that there's a considerable lack of transparency on game packaging about just what it does require for DRM. I want to wander into a shop, spot something that appeals to me, and be confident I can buy it, install it and play it without worrying about whether I can authenticate it or not, because I rather doubt a shop is going to want to take it back if it turns out to require “intrusive DRM” and I'm not risking £30-£40 to find out. A disc check on physical media allows that. It's a pain, but a small one. Authentication by EA (or whomever) serves, or Steam, or a net connection, isn't a mall pain, it's a whopper for me.
The upshot …. having bought hundreds of games, since the days of Tigers in the Snow on an Apple II in the late 70's, the only PC games I've bought recently are old titles on budget release, like one of the Myst series I missed when it came out. Hassles and/or lack of clarity over DRM prevented me buying some number of games over the last few years, not least of which was Halflife 2, or more likely, the Orange Box, but there's a lot on the list.
So I miss out on games I would have bought and played. Oh well. I'm not going to lose sleep over it …. any more than EA are going to cry over losing my custom, I'm sure. And if the state of overly-intrusive DRM, online authentication etc means my PC game-buying days are over for good ….. shame, but so be it.
