Starcraft II DRM?

[Terzo]

The way I reckon, if you really want to play it but don't like all this DRM, just buy a copy and install a crack.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

This an even more disturbing thought then the DRM thing. Because this is a whole new classification of game that somehow gets around original EULA's that basically said you had to be able to play a game without any additional fee's. Premium services could be charged but basic gameplay had to be free after the intial cost. This tied in with no LAN support means they are pushing the subscription model. I beleive this has something to do with the loop holes between the EULA and ToU of MMO's. Then again I aint no law expert.

...

As much as I hate some of the stuff they've done/doing at the moment, Eula and ToU are written by the publisher/(developer?). They're not mandated by the goverment or anything, and as an asside they usually fall appart if actually taken to court.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

The way I reckon, if you really want to play it but don't like all this DRM, just buy a copy and install a crack.

At that point, you might as well download it and install a crack. I assume you're atleast breaking their eula cracking it, and they may even beable to get you with DMCA or something similiar (doubtful but I haven't looked into it).

 

[Bun-Bun]

The way I reckon, if you really want to play it but don't like all this DRM, just buy a copy and install a crack.

You have still supported the DRM buy paying for the game. And you still can't play on battle.net.

 

[Terzo]

At that point, you might as well download it and install a crack. I assume you're atleast breaking their eula cracking it, and they may even beable to get you with DMCA or something similiar (doubtful but I haven't looked into it).

Meh. From what I understand the EULA is powerless. IANAL but if you were taken to court over buying a game and then cracking it I bet the plaintiffs would get laughed out of court. As crazy as the RIAA is, I haven't heard of them taking someone to court for burning copies of their cd's to an mp3 player, and I think that's technically illegal.

You have still supported the DRM buy paying for the game. And you still can't play on battle.net.

I don't really know much about the cracking scene, but I imagine that, given enough time, cracks for battle.net will develop. It's been done for steam. As for supporting the DRM...you could resell the game later. Sure, you're still supporting the DRM but not as much as if you buy the game and hold on to it.

 

[taltamir]

you can't resell a cracked game... nobody in their right mind would buy it, they will just download it since it requires a crack anyways... or buy from blizzard and use a crack.
you supported it the same amount in the end.

 

[Terzo]

you can't resell a cracked game... nobody in their right mind would buy it, they will just download it since it requires a crack anyways... or buy from blizzard and use a crack.
you supported it the same amount in the end.

Huh? Doesn't a crack just involve a key-gen and changing the .exe? It's all done on the computer, right? Leaving the original media (CD) in "stock" condition?
Or am I missing something?

 

[smackababy]

OMG you have to activate the game once for crying out loud. None of you are allowed to complain about this. You are posting on an internet forum.

 

[taltamir]

Huh? Doesn't a crack just involve a key-gen and changing the .exe? It's all done on the computer, right? Leaving the original media (CD) in "stock" condition?
Or am I missing something?

no keygen, just a modified EXE. the thing is, everyone by now knows about the SC2 DRM... so the conversation is like this:

you: hey, want to buy my SC2 copy? 20$
buyer: but, you can't buy it with its DRM scheme...
you: don't worry, I will give you a cracked exe, you could play it offline then...
buyer: so why bother paying you? I can just torrent it myself.
you: yes but this way you get a legally purchased copy!
buyer: but it is illegal to use the crack in such a manner, so I am actually still breaking the law... you are actually selling a cracked copy, making what you are doing commercial piracy... which carries a sentence of half a million dollars fine and 5 years in prison for first offense, and double that for every subsequent offense!
you: don't worry about it, its fine!
buyer: besides, if I do that I am limited to single player only.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

OMG you have to activate the game once for crying out loud. None of you are allowed to complain about this. You are posting on an internet forum.

ONCE... every 30 days apparently.

 

[Terzo]

no keygen, just a modified EXE. the thing is, everyone by now knows about the SC2 DRM... so the conversation is like this:

you: hey, want to buy my SC2 copy? 20$
buyer: but, you can't buy it with its DRM scheme...
you: don't worry, I will give you a cracked exe, you could play it offline then...
buyer: so why bother paying you? I can just torrent it myself.
you: yes but this way you get a legally purchased copy!
buyer: but it is illegal to use the crack in such a manner, so I am actually still breaking the law... you are actually selling a cracked copy, making what you are doing commercial piracy... which carries a sentence of half a million dollars fine and 5 years in prison for first offense, and double that for every subsequent offense!
you: don't worry about it, its fine!
buyer: besides, if I do that I am limited to single player only.

I'll admit I don't really understand a lot of this, but here is what I thought to be the case.

When you buy SCII you're supposed to register it with your battle.net account. I'm assuming this is done similar to most games by entering a CD key. Now, if you crack the game, and don't register with battle.net, that means the CD key is unused. So you could sell that to someone who could then activate it with their account, right?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Meh. From what I understand the EULA is powerless. IANAL but if you were taken to court over buying a game and then cracking it I bet the plaintiffs would get laughed out of court. As crazy as the RIAA is, I haven't heard of them taking someone to court for burning copies of their cd's to an mp3 player, and I think that's technically illegal.

The eula might be powerless, but if circumventing the copy protection falls under DCMA that most certainly is not powerless.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'll admit I don't really understand a lot of this, but here is what I thought to be the case.

When you buy SCII you're supposed to register it with your battle.net account. I'm assuming this is done similar to most games by entering a CD key. Now, if you crack the game, and don't register with battle.net, that means the CD key is unused. So you could sell that to someone who could then activate it with their account, right?

and then you can't play online...

On a slight tangent, If you register the key on a new account it is always recoverable by the originator of the account (once you prove it's you and the account name can't be changed) so if you buy it from someone you're basicly having to trust that they'll never want to play it again and take their account back.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Ok, apologies if this has been answered previously in this thread, but I haven't read anything since the second page.

A friend of mine has their own copy of Starcraft II. If I took my own copy of the game, installed it on a secondary computer, and they came over and logged in with their Battle.net account, would I be able to play my copy on a different computer with my own Battle.net account without any problems?

In other words, is the CD key tied to the game installation or the Battle.net account? I'm hoping that it works similar to Steam in the sense that it doesn't matter who installed the game, it just matters if you own a copy on your account.

 

[Bun-Bun]

The eula might be powerless, but if circumventing the copy protection falls under DCMA that most certainly is not powerless.

EULA holds for where there are laws in agreeance to it.

However the EULA in no way acts as new laws or superceeds laws already in place.

Ok, apologies if this has been answered previously in this thread, but I haven't read anything since the second page.

A friend of mine has their own copy of Starcraft II. If I took my own copy of the game, installed it on a secondary computer, and they came over and logged in with their Battle.net account, would I be able to play my copy on a different computer with my own Battle.net account without any problems?

In other words, is the CD key tied to the game installation or the Battle.net account? I'm hoping that it works similar to Steam in the sense that it doesn't matter who installed the game, it just matters if you own a copy on your account.

It is tied to the account.

The CD key is registered to someones specific battle.net account and has nothing to do with specific installations or computers. You don't even need a cd-key to install the game.

 

[taltamir]

I'll admit I don't really understand a lot of this, but here is what I thought to be the case.

When you buy SCII you're supposed to register it with your battle.net account. I'm assuming this is done similar to most games by entering a CD key. Now, if you crack the game, and don't register with battle.net, that means the CD key is unused. So you could sell that to someone who could then activate it with their account, right?

i see what you are saying... buy the game but never register it, only play offline with a crack... then sell it with your "never before registered" key and without a crack...
yea, I can see it working. as far as the law (I think) and blizzard are concerned, you bought then sold an unused copy... while pirating the game for your own use.

still, it might be a tough sell to convince someone to go along with this.
How will your craig list ad look like? "selling used SC2 copy, I never registered the key with my account, but I used the DVD"

 

[Terzo]

and then you can't play online...

On a slight tangent, If you register the key on a new account it is always recoverable by the originator of the account (once you prove it's you and the account name can't be changed) so if you buy it from someone you're basicly having to trust that they'll never want to play it again and take their account back.

I think there's still some misunderstanding. I'm not suggesting you buy it, crack it, then immediately sell it. I'm saying when you've finished playing through the game, uninstall it and sell it off. If I was advocating keeping a copy then I would say screw it and just pirate it in the first place.

i see what you are saying... buy the game but never register it, only play offline with a crack... then sell it with your "never before registered" key and without a crack...
yea, I can see it working. as far as the law (I think) and blizzard are concerned, you bought then sold an unused copy... while pirating the game for your own use.

still, it might be a tough sell to convince someone to go along with this.
How will your craig list ad look like? "selling used SC2 copy, I never registered the key with my account, but I used the DVD"

Yeah, I agree. Trying to sell it off would come across as sketchy.

 

[Qbah]

Okay, checked my CE box and there are 3 lines in capital letters saying:

INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED.
PLAYER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL APPLICABLE INTERNET FEES.
FREE BATTLE.NET REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

So OP, Blizzard did inform potential buyers you need an internet connection to play (they did not specify under which conditions so it applies to all). Hence your opening post claiming it was hidden, is incorrect. I didn't look for it specifically as I don't care (got broadband and tethering on my iPhone if needed). So my dissatisfaction with the way Blizzard handled it was uncalled for and unnecessary.

 

[Bun-Bun]

It does not state anything about the 30 day reactivation. When asked about what the statement on the box means the developers told interviewers that there is a one time activation on install. They did not mention anything about the 30 day reactivation.

So yes, there is grounds to be dissatisfied/angry with the way blizzard handled this situation. Esspecially given the fact they stated not that long ago they are against DRM and feel they don't need anything in addition to battle.net being required for online play.

 

[eggrolls]

Is SC2's DRM really that inconvenient? It seems to only affect people who:

1. don't have internet for 30+ days and want to play single player (go get internet?)
2. have slow internet and want to host LAN parties (understandable)
3. plan to resell SC2 (why would anyone buy a used multiplayer PC game even if it could be resold?)

 

[PieIsAwesome]

it does not state anything about the 30 day reactivation.

INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED.

abcdefghi

 

[taltamir]

Is SC2's DRM really that inconvenient? It seems to only affect people who:

1. don't have internet for 30+ days and want to play single player (go get internet?)
2. have slow internet and want to host LAN parties (understandable)
3. plan to resell SC2 (why would anyone buy a used multiplayer PC game even if it could be resold?)

4. haven't played for 30 days, want to play today, don't have internet today.
5. people concerned with the servers going down (inevitably they will)

 

[Bun-Bun]

abcdefghi

Could say the same thing about Bioshock but people were upset by that as well.

 

[Qbah]

It does not state anything about the 30 day reactivation. When asked about what the statement on the box means the developers told interviewers that there is a one time activation on install. They did not mention anything about the 30 day reactivation.

So yes, there is grounds to be dissatisfied/angry with the way blizzard handled this situation. Esspecially given the fact they stated not that long ago they are against DRM and feel they don't need anything in addition to battle.net being required for online play.

Link to the Blizzard statement? I find it hard to believe, knowing Blizzard's past history. Especially with such a clear statement on the box.

Also, INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED is pretty clear, no matter how you look at it... You have it? You can play. You don't? You can't. It doesn't say "ONE TIME INTERNET AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED"... How can you even argue that?

And taltamir, servers going dong? Diablo 2 support is going strong for the past 10 years, Starcraft 1 the past 12 years... Warcraft 3 for 8 years... Should an unfortunate event occur, Blizzard will release a patch stopping the dependency of SP on their servers, of this I'm sure.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Is SC2's DRM really that inconvenient? It seems to only affect people who:

1. don't have internet for 30+ days and want to play single player (go get internet?)
2. have slow internet and want to host LAN parties (understandable)
3. plan to resell SC2 (why would anyone buy a used multiplayer PC game even if it could be resold?)

No, it isn't. People will always come up with ridiculous situations to bash DRM because DRM IS BAD!

In all seriousness, I can understand not buying this if your current situation precludes you from having internet access for long stretches (however... activating the game and finishing it within 30 days shouldn't be that difficult if you're the typical Anandtech poster). But to relegate the game to bargain bin status when you're not in that kind of situation is a bit over-dramatic. We get it, you don't like DRM and any game with any type of server-based copy protection is unacceptable because the servers might go down for some stretch of time in the next 15 years. Some games are worth this incredible inconvenience.