You say all of this like there is an alternative.
Yup, because there is.
The way the market works right now, it may be difficult to see an alternative, but then, why must the market be this way? currently it sure as hell isen't healthy, i dare say it's becoming downright toxic for both developers and legit consumers alike, and only the pirates benifit from the way things are.
The thing the author compleately misses is consumer confidence, he fails to ask himself why things have become this way, he points to a handfull of games that where released without DRM that got pirated anyway, sure, but how could they not be? as he points out himself, there currently exists a culture of piracy, and that was never going to change just because a few companies have released a handfull of games without DRM, ofcourse not, that's just not how things work, you can't change a whole culture with just a few token efforts.
DRM cannot change that culture, it may stop some zero-day pirates, but it gets cracked anyway, and it sure as hell isen't changing peoples minds, it doesen't make them want to support the developers, quite on the contrary, it just adds fuel to the "thease companies don't deserve our money" fire that the pirates are huddled up around.
Whats needed is an industry wide change, the days of selling snakeoil with cool boxart is well and truely over, the internet saw to that, and also provided the pirates with the means to grab the games free nice and easy, it's a new market, but the industry hasen't changed with it.
You know why i am barely buying any new games thease days? it's because so many of them are garbage, not worthy of the pricetag, i am fed up with beeing lied to, of beeing shown screenshots and pre-rendered vids and hearing about cool features that turn out to be overinflated and much worse in reality, and of beeing lied to about system requirements or not propperly informed of limitations put on the products, i am tired of a market where it is the norm that games are released before they are done because of unrealistic deadlines inforced by publishers, i am tired of how buggy and poorly tested games are becomming, hell knows if the game i just bought will even work before i install it (and by then i cannot get a refund because i broke the seal), i am dead tired of games getting shorter and shorter, i am tired of bad console ports, and of features like LANplay and Dedicated servers beeing removed but the price staying the same, of no demos, and i am tired of DRM, of needing to jump through fiery hoops just to install and play something i gave good money for, beeing treated like a criminal, and told that i can only install it x amounts of times before i have to make a longdistance phonecall and beg them to let me play it again, of Auth servers beeing taken offline so i can't play it anymore, and of all thease new moneymaking schemes they are comming up with, buy half the game for €50 and buy the rest as €10 a pop DLC, and i am tired of franchises beeing put through the wringer to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and i am tired of having no consumer rights when i buy anything because crafty lawyers have covered the industry's arses, nobody is held accountable for any scewup that happens.
Seriously, can you honestly tell me that this is a healthy market? one that people would truely wish to support? and are you really supriced that piracy is such an attractive alternative to buying the way things are?
Hell, i have a hard time convincing myself to not just throw the towel in the ring and take up piracy, how the hell am i supposed to tell others they shoulden't do it either?
You want to do something about the piracy problem? then first you need to fix the legit market, how the hell can you expect people to stop their freeloading when the "pay-to-play" alternative is this misserable? you cant, and it will never happen this way, the industry needs to change, they need to figure out that "out by this deadline" does not equal a good game worth buying, the quality needs to return to gaming, considdering the prices they ask it has damn well better, and buying/installing a legit copy of a game cannot be an ordeal, nobody wants to pay for that.
Thease issues must be adressed before we can even begin talking about piracy, and i can promis you that draconian DRM is not helping fix the problems, it's only making it worse, and turning away legit buyers like myself, DRM may never go away, but it cannot be like it is today, it cannot hassle the paying customer like this, not if they want things to change.
EDIT: Also, i'd like to point out that the articles anology of DRM beeing like the door to your house having a lock and key, is purest BS, you know why consumers buy doors that can be locked? because it offers THE CONSUMER some protection.
DRM does not offer the consumer any protection, on the contrary, it offers companies protection FROM THE CONSUMER, to the consumer it is both a hassle that offers them nothing good, and a risk, because if the company folds or takes the Auth servers offline, they will be locked out of something they purchased, and the way the market works, they would have no legal right to regain access to their purchase, they will have wasted their money.
DRM is not like your front door, it's more like having a front door that you do not own the key for, and everytime you want into your house, you have to call a company and have them come unlock it for you, and said company can deny you service at any time if you stop beeing profitable.
Well, the analogy still sucks, but my way it is atleast a bit more accurate.
