I cringe when someone tries to say their DRM isn’t DRM. There’s nothing inherently wrong with DRM. The problem thus far with it is that the R part of it (rights) is often ignored. A proper acronym for DRM thus far should be DrM . The rights in DRM were supposed to be between both developers and users.
So for months, since the Gamers Bill of Rights was launched we’ve been working on a technology that would provide the kind of protection publishers want and would accept but at the same time would give gamers a lot of the things they’ve been asking for.
The solution we’ve come up with and integrated into Impulse Reactor is called Game Object Obfuscation (GOO). When a developer runs GOO on their EXE, it encapsulates it and Impulse Reactor into a single encrypted EXE. When the user runs the program for the first time, they enter in their email address and serial #. It’s about as easy as logging into a forum except you only have to do this once.
Because the game is tied to a person instead of hardware, they can install on their other machines without being hassled. Also, because it’s all self-contained it makes possible 3 key things:
1. Universal Activation. If I buy a copy of a game from Steam or Direct2Drive or Impulse that is also available on one of the other platforms, I should be able to re-download it form any of the services that it’s available on. That way, if the place I buy from folds, I can still re-download my game from someone else. A Goo’d game makes this possible.
2. Used copies. One thing that holds digital distribution back is that a gamer who buys a game digitally can be made to feel like they’re renting it because the licenses are non-transferable. Publishers, however, really don’t like reselling games (I hate the way it’s currently done). But with Goo, now the game developer and the user can both benefit and let gamers resell their copy to someone else. That’s because the Goo’d EXE is encrypted and the user can voluntarily disable their access from it thus making it transferrable.
To demonstrate the business advantages of this, we plan to use this feature of Goo ourselves on Elemental– it lowers the risk of buying a game and thus can increase sales.
3. Untethered gaming. Because Goo is all self-contained, there’s no third party client floating around. A developer can use this on their game and have it available at retail or other digital distributors.
What’s nice about GOO is that a developer simply runs it on their program. They don’t have to mess with source code or anything. It takes care of it all for them. Legitimate customers end up with something that’s incredibly benign, publishers end up something that protects their rights, and both get something that opens the door to resolving some of the remaining challenges with digital distribution.
Internal beta of Impulse Phase 3 client. UI graphics are not finalized yet. Faster, cleaner, more streamlined view. More major publishers scheduled to come on board in the month of April.
Blizzard still has the best download/account management service. Register your key on Battle.net and download a Mac or PC installer for your game. Easy as pie. I wish every publisher would let you register their games with a client-free download website. It also helps that Battle.net is sleek, efficient, and devoid of adverts and other bloat.
We'll have to see how that holds up with Starcraft 2, though. Blizzard really hasn't released a game recently enough to compare them with current events. When Warcraft 3 was released, there was really no digital distribution to speak of. World of Warcraft doesn't count, since all the money comes from recurring subscription, not unit sales.
the only way to demonstrate point 2 is to use GOO. I don't think that Stardock will develop something else that have the same functionnality.
Well, not necessarily? I don't see why executable encryption or phone home on install would be required for it. The registration can be handled the same way it is now, no?
This stuff is in Goo so that it can be client(Impulse)-free. But Stardock will continue to use Impulse for its products, so there's no need to use this.
It certainly does not sound like Goo is an all-or-nothing package. Especially since a while ago, Brad released a document outlining Impulse Reactor features (activations, etc) being tweakable. And I'm assuming GOO is either the final name for it, or part of it.
I meant the people who complain about having to be online to activate.
WHat does rankle people I think is limited activations, or time-consumption such as Steam DRM.
Ok, I'm confused, is it really worth all the fanfare? It's pretty much what's already been done but less intrusive... And, though I'm loath to say it, it actually sounds less secure.
It's an online activation that points to impulse instead of the publisher's server. That's fine but it doesn't really adress the "What if company X goes away?" question, it's just that company X becomes Stardock instead of the publisher. Of course there's still the "What if I don't have internet access?" group unsatisfied too, but since it's seems more geared for the digital distrubution age I'm willing to leave that as a moot point.
How does it protect the publisher's rights any more than a simple CD key? Like all the other protection it will still be prone to torrents of the whole game with the encryption already pulled apart for the plebian pirates (if no-one can pull the encryption apart to share it, I will take my hat off the team at stardock and promptly eat it for good measure). But a serial-email combo without activation limits is just as prone to being shared with friends as a good old CD key. I'll go on a limb and assume it's limited in the same sensible and forgiving way like games bought from impulse; large numbers of activations in a short period of time (never been told a number, but it's said to be 100+ a week) will get the serial locked down, but even then that still lets a reasonably large circle of people share a copy without being caught out. If a publisher isn't willing to accept a CD key as sufficient why would GOO appeal to them more? And if you only need to activate on install what's to stop multiple people sharing a single digital distribution account to each download the game? I honestly do appreciate Stardock's efforts as a publisher to be respectful of their customers but I can't imagine convincing other publishers to change their ways with this scheme.
How will the universal downloading work? Steam, D2D, impulse and all the other digital distributors I know of all require you to log into an account to which the game is registered before you can begin to download any software. Say for example I buy a game from Gamersgate and it goes under, I can't log in to steam and download it instead unless it's already registered on my steam account. Do you intend to convince the distrubutors that the serial provided from one distributor is enough to register the game to an account on all the participating digital distributors providing the email adresses match? Trying to unify the serials used across the digital distrubution platforms is laudable and all that but it doesn't need GOO to make it work, just an incredibly good diplomat, since they all have their own protection schemes. Direct2Drive and Gamersgate have used an encrypted client download with activation very similar to what GOO sounds like for a long time, just with limited activations to reassure the publishers.
Sorry for sounding negative but it sounds like painting a wheel red and saying you managed to reinvent it.
Well, my understanding is that's not the case. It appears that it can be activated by any service that carries the game. So game X is available on Steam, D2D, and Impulse. You can buy it from Steam, and if Steam caves in you can get it authed off D2D or Impulse.
Basically it's a universal authentication. Any service that carries the game can authenticate it regardless of where you bought it. I do think you misunderstood in your assumption that you would be able to *download* it from anywhere (or maybe I did), that doesn't seem right.
Someone official correct me if I'm wrong. But if I'm not, then this is definitely more than repainting the wheel
Maybe I did misinterpret that part, but if that's the case, then what's the point in being able to authenticate off other servers if I could only download the client off the distributor that has now gone under and I'd only need to authenticate if I was reinstalling?
Well, all services have backup options for a physical copy. So you'd never have to re-download, the main issue becomes activation, not download. D2D just downloads a zip. Steam and Impulse have their backup options.
Physical Copy FTW!!!
Ah, fair point, I just plain forgot they have methods of making physical backups.
If it works your way then they have adressed the issue of reliance on a single server for authentication with that at least.
I'm mostly going by what I'm reading. The real test would be the first game to use it From the OP it does sound like there are several publishers lined up for it already, which is more promising than not! I would assume these publishers tested it and are satisfied, but we'll have to wait and see for that.
How is this so great. You loose blizzard, you loose your game. And really, companies can close their doors overnight, especially smaller companies without anyone realizing what was going on. I buy a DVD of CD and I get to use those products for as long as the technology is viable (the players are available). It doesn't matter what happens to Disney or any other owner of the copyright material. So what's different about the game industry, they're forcing their consumers to rely on their ability to run a business and ensuring their products don't last any longer than they do, or until they feel like not supporting an older product to force people to by the new one. Some companies have already done this with multiplayer servers, just shutting them down for older versions of serial games. I have a problem with that. I don't think it's reasonable. It's not as if anything else in my house works that way. If GM, or Ford goes down, my car isn't going to stop working tomrorow. If Acer closes it's door, my monitor isn't going to refuse to turn on. As long as their distribution forces gamers to rely on some external server to grant them a right to use what they have legally purchased, I say it's not good enough. And I know some people will say they burn through games in a couple of weeks so who cares, well that's irrelevant. That's your choice and hasn't anything to do with what consumer rights ought to be.
It's not a moot point if someone buys a retail copy of a game that has no online content and is still forced to activate the copy online. If they're buying a physical box, then it shouldn't be treated in the same manner a digital distribution copies are. And let's not forget, there are a very large number of people do not use high speed internet, either by choice or because lack of access. I live in an area where high speed internet is not available to a lot of people because the cable company didn't feel like running its lines on the other side of a freeway. Everyone on the otherside is on well water, uses Sat TV and dial-up internet or, maybe, some expensive wireless plan if the tower is close enough and this not, by any defnition, a rural area but it is hilly.
I'm just saying everything about the OP says GOO is primarily targeted at digital distribution of games so that isn't an issue they're aiming to solve.
I just added some of the other issues to cover all the bases.
Well if i understand Stardock's intentions, with the gamers bill of rights and everything, it is to be an industry leader. If you are going to be al eader in the industry, I think you need to acknowledge that digital distribution is not going to be the only means of purchasing software anytime soon, it's not even possible for people on dial-up, therefore, any widepsread overhaul of DRM methods should include retail copies. And of course, GOO need not be the answer to both distribution methods, but if its digital only, it should clearly state so.
Well, the good news is that most games require Windows -- the only way this situation would be a problem is if you have a developer program a game to work on linux (unlikely to begin with) and then require the use of Impulse (incredibly unlikely, and you can blame the developer then).
I like the gibe at blizzard, even if they release no game would ever beat the current starcraft community, as it will probably take at least 3 years before we probably have a reconigized champ, so it I bet in the mean time, Blizzard will probably keep the original starcraft active. It isn't people don't mind digital download, they like the feeling of having a disk, even if it needs a serial code and online registration to play it online.
With GOO:
It's a lot simpler than some of you are making it.
Right now, your serial # is handled by the digital distributor alone.
If a game uses Goo universally, they (the publisher) can provide what CD keys are valid to ALL of their partners. Those partners then can let users enter in their CD key and download the game where it will work as long as their account is associated with the email address in question and validated in the first place.
There is a validation server in there somewhere that your simple (though affecitve) visuals is leaving out. Even if its multiple servers that you have an option to choose from, the fact is there is still a company in control of whether or not you get your validation. In my opinion, that's still a problem. As long as I have to remotely ask some machine, regardless of which company owns it, for permission to use my legally purchased game, you're only shifting the control from one business to another and still not the consumer.
So it's voluntary? Because you guys have been offering this to publishers whose games get on Impulse and you've had exactly 0 takers so far So I'm not sure how widely this feature will be used.
And yeah, I was wrong in one of my posts above, but I have more concerns about "download from anywhere" than "activate from anywhere". What real incentive would say, Steam have to let you use their bandwidth if you bought it from D2D?
It's great for the user, surely, but I don't really see anything really attractive for the distributors in this to make them jump on it, other than "well, we get them to get on our service, maybe they'll buy something else".
Simple Solution? You can grab game from distributors other than point-of-purchase *only* if the game is not available from point-of-purchase (due to bankruptcy, etc.) It's like fraud protection on your bank account - it only triggers in the event of fraud. This model solidifies digital downloads as a stable medium - it's good for the industry as a whole without leeching off one distributor with better bandwidth.
You will be surprised about the number of game windows only wh orun on Linux ( or MAC )... Impulse in itself is mainly not a problem... 99% of it work with mono ( who is a .net multiplatform )... but the 1% who make problem is related to non documented thing or bug... it is veyry easy for Linux or other OS to simulate the .NET thing... but the bug are a pain in the ass...
Mainly, with impulse, you have only one problem who need to be resolved... sure that soon of later, it will be ok... with sins itself, we have almost way one year for a full working version... some time ago, one problem was resolved for online game... recently, the second problem was resolved who have allow us to use sins online with Linux...
To be honest, i rant again impulse for a simple reason... when i have know stardock, they was use Stardock Central who was 100% compatible on Linux... but once they have switch to Impulse, it was not more true... once i have have them about a Linux client, of they ignore me or reply "never"...
Now, about Goo, i have not yet test it... maybe it will work good ( sure that the encryption part will work on Linux since we are some level upper Windows ) but when i have read that it was based on Impulse, i was fearing the worse... difficult to make a comment about something that we cannot test...
So, i say : wait and see... maybe it will be some problem with other OS but maybe we can resolve them... in any case, i have always win XP 64 for my update...
By the way, i don't care about elemental being with goo.. i only fear about Sins, specially if a Sins II come out ( have know the problem with NWN... original working on Linux ( buy the game and the two expension pack )... second version incompatible ( buy nothing )...
I just hope this new DRM is only for games of publisher who really really REALLY want to use DRM and not for everybody... especially not for Stardock games.
I hope that Impusle will continue to sell DRM-free games as much as they can.
Stardock is going to keep doing what they've been doing with their games.
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