Originally posted by: ShawnD1
I'm pretty sure that the only way to do what you are suggesting would be to make the game not work in offline mode. I don't mean Steam offline mode, but like World of Warcraft offline mode. Instead of logging into a game like WoW to play multiplayer, you would be logging in to play single player. The installed copy of the game would not have the ability to run as a standalone game, but more like a client requiring a server.
There's a lot of ways to accomplish what I'm suggesting, but it will almost always tie content delivery to a form of payment, similar to what Steam, MMOs and online games that require a service like Battle.net are doing now. While CD-Keys can eventually be cracked, companies are quite good at filtering cracked vs. non-cracked keys and segregating pirate copies from legal players.
The problem with PC gaming is that they haven't been able to add value or improve the gamer's experience in games that aren't online-based or continually update content. A good example would be XBox Live. That's a huge reason to legitimately buy copies of XBox360 games, as they've developed a culture that revolves around multiplayer online play. If the PC can eventually come to this point then I think its possible to change PC gamer's perspective as well. But there's no doubt they would also have to change their pricing and content model as well.
The problem is that people like me will never buy a product like that. It has been stated over and over again in the threads about activation limits: I care what happens when the company doesn't exist anymore or stops supporting the game. I still play older games like Red Alert 2, Quake 1, and Doom. If there's no assurance the game will work after 10 years, there's no way I'm going to buy your game.
Have you bought Company of Heroes? They installed a similar patch that required online authentication even if you're playing single player. There was some backlash but for the most people its a completely innocuous DRM check. If that's all it takes to ensure the ongoing viability of a great game franchise and dev studio like Relic I have absolutely no problems with it. Oh and CoH will be releasing its 2nd expansion in 2009.
As for assurance that a game will work after 10 years etc., while this is one of the few viable reasons for opposing activation or online DRM, there are also examples of games that remove activation/cd-key checks after a certain amount of time (Bioshock). There's also examples of devs releasing no-cd .exes after a certain amount of time. Sure it would be great if there were some guaranteed or announced exit-strategy if a company goes under but I don't see that happening until publishers are satisfied with anti-piracy measures first.
edit: I'll say right up front that World of Warcraft is an exception since I knew exactly what I was getting into. The game has no single player, so obviously it will become unusable after a certain period of time.
How about something like StarCraft 2? Or Diablo 3? Or any other MMO down the line? Realistically, if the game is something that you want to play enough, you'll get it regardless what form of DRM it employs whether you buy or pirate it. So once again, DRM isn't the problem, its just a convenient excuse.