Two highly anticipated games due for release by the end of year, Spore and Mass Effect (PC version), have the dubious distinction of using the latest version of SecuROM Digital Rights Management to “prevent” piracy. In this case the games must connect to a server every 10 days to verify that the copy you are running is legit. Is my copy going to suddenly go rogue 12 days after I register?
Both games are single player, offline games. They have no purpose to be connected to the Internet other then this security check. Don’t play for 11 days and then try to load the game while on a plane. Guess you’ll have to watch that in-flight movie after all.
No form of DRM has ever been user-friendly. It places unnecessary and excessive restrictions on users that just make the gaming experience less enjoyable. Having to keep the CD in the drive while I played a game (for no other reason then to make sure I actually still had the CD in my possession) was bad enough.
DRM is not necessarily a bad thing. I have no love for DRM, as I’m sure this blog will reflect in the future, but the notion behind DRM is good — the goal being to prevent people from illegally pirating software. That’s good. The problem is that every form of this insipid technology tends to go out of its way to make life difficult for legitimate owners of the digital media.
Apple’s DRM tends to be a favorite target, as iTunes explodes in popularity. Despite the fact you’ve legally purchased the music from the iTunes store, you can’t play it on any device that Apple doesn’t want you to.
You can follow more of this from Joystiq.