Most dedicated PC gamers are familiar with the name GOG, otherwise known as Good Old Games, a digital game retailer owned by the company behind the Witcher series of games, CD Projekt. They're renown for selling games with no form of DRM whatsoever, believing that once you buy a game, you should be free to fully own it, rather than being bound by anti-piracy measures.

This stance has brought GOG to its latest attempt to inform gamers: the "FCKDRM initiative".

A new site, made by CD Projekt has gone live, called fckdrm.com, tries to advocate the public against all forms of DRM, claiming them as not only anti-consumer, but that they can also act as a "kill switch" that could easily prevent owners from accessing their purchases. A ticker on the top of the site says the following:

Did you know that there's a killswitch in your games/books/music/movies/apps?
It's called DRM, and it can block your access to things you bought.
You can still take control by choosing DRM-free sources.

The site then lists problems with media that has DRM, such as the inability to have offline access or a loss of consumer rights, as well as being a roadblock in terms of digital preservation.

DRM-free approach in games has been at the heart of GOG.COM from day one. We strongly believe that if you buy a game, it should be yours, and you can play it the way it’s convenient for you, and not how others want you to use it.

The landscape has changed since 2008, and today many people don’t realize what DRM even means. And still the DRM issue in games remains – you’re never sure when and why you can be blocked from accessing them. And it’s not only games that are affected, but your favourite books, music, movies and apps as well.

To help understand what DRM means, how it influences your games and other digital media, and what benefits come with DRM-free approach, we’re launching the FCK DRM initiative. The goal is to educate people and ignite a discussion about DRM. To learn more visit https://fckdrm.com, and share your opinions and stories about DRM and how it affects you.

At the bottom of the page is a list of causes to support, such as non-profit companies Defective By Design, which focuses on showing the failures of DRM in different forms, as well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who try to lobby and fight legal battles against companies who try to force DRM upon their users. Bandcamp, GOG, OpenLibra, and Vimeo are all noted for being a source of DRM-free media, as an alternative to more mainstream options.

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[Captain_N]

It doesn't matter how good a DRM is, it will be cracked immediately. It's just a waste of time and money.

This is true. Online games that run on a server and stream to you aint getting cracked.... yet

gog needs to remove starforce from games. i dont think they messed with that one much.

 

[Foxi4]

They deprive the company from earnings, since the pirate will share his software with the whole internet. Then someone who was going to buy will not.

You can't steal money that never belonged to the company anyways. No transaction was made. The idea of a "lost sale" is fallacious and nonsensical, you have no means of proving that the proverbial "pirate" would've bought the game otherwise and I have plenty of evidence to prove that he wouldn't - he's a pirate, he either can't afford the software in the first place or he had no intention of paying for it anyways. This is not a proper argument, it's equivalent to me saying that by me having to reply to your post you deprived me of a muffin I may or may not have eaten in the time it took me to write a response, so for all intents and purposes you owe me a muffin. I will also accept a cupcake if muffins are unavailable.

 

[samcambolt270]

it's equivalent to me saying that by having to reply to your post you deprived me of a muffin I may or may not have eaten in the time it took for me to write a response, so for all intents and purposes you owe me a muffin. I will also accept a cupcake if muffins are unavailable.

Best reply ever! XD Can I have a muffin too? I want in on this muffin train.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Thank you. Enjoy your shitty games that only untalented people will make when the talented ones realize that you can't make a living out of videogames anymore.

You mean like what has already happened? The game industry on average is on an upward trend and games get more and more mediocre and disappointing. More sales =/= better games.

 

[Foxi4]

Best reply ever! XD Can I have a muffin too? I want in on this muffin train.

Everyone gets a muffin. I just hate this argument, really - it's as if everyone on the Internet was a corporate lawyer protecting the interests of amorphous corporations. I was a pirate once, I would pirate hundreds of games at a time without a care in the world. I can assure you that if I couldn't, I wouldn't have bought all of them - I would buy a random selection of 1-5 at best because I'm not uncle moneybags, and I especially wasn't uncle moneybags as an early teen pirate without a job. The idea that every pirated copy translates to lost revenue is how corporations get millions of dollars in "compensation" from people with no means to afford those ridiculous sums, any judge who rules along those lines should be publicly flogged.

 

[Jayro]

Good thing that a site like this launched to try and inform more people about the negatives of DRM. Would not be surprised if my school blocks it(probably since admins thing DRM is good), considering they block words like "bypass" when searching in Google.

That's where a VPN comes in.

 

[samcambolt270]

Good thing that a site like this launched to try and inform more people about the negatives of DRM. Would not be surprised if my school blocks it(probably since admins thing DRM is good), considering they block words like "bypass" when searching in Google.

Wtf? I understand being for or against drm, but the school has no right to be pushing that agenda or blocking the word "bypass". Schools have absolutely zero connection to the video game or software business. The word bypass doesn't even have illegal connotation, and has hundreds of completely normal uses, especially for school. What if a student wants to learn about medical procedures such as arterial or gastric bypasses after being inspired by their anatomy class? What if they want to know about our countries highway systems and want to know about the history of the creation of a specific highway bypass!? Of course, I'm being facetious, but they still have no right to block a normal word just on the off chance one out a thousand kids may potentially use that word to search for how to circumvent drm.

 

[anhminh]

The piracy are reason why more and more gaming company gear toward gambling gacha mobile game.

It gave a lots more profit while there is no way for anyone to hack those game because data are on game company server. They can ban your account and take all your money away as warning for other while no one can do anything about it.

 

[Taleweaver]

It's reminiscent of Linux vs Windows.. In a truly obscure, but logical way.

That's an interesting thought, but I disagree. That situation is mostly the result of a spiral : windows was user friendly far before Linux, so developers and end users adopted it first Ms used that revenue for ads and programmer education, so the audience assumed it was better and programmers didn't knew how to program for Linux. Now that Linux is easier, it's hard to convince either of those to switch because either the audience or the software library is too small

On drm, users won't mind drm-free software. It won't hinder their other software and it's not like programmers don't know how NOT to implement drm. As such I'd say they're not reminiscent.

 

[Taleweaver]

Dude you are right........ BUT at the end of the day, its a fact that piracy doesnt hurt companiens in the long run, plain and simple. Its proven again and again with every generation of consoles, same goes for hollywood etc. The first console/s to get hacked or AAA movies/series which were leaked, stolen or whatever ended up being the most succesfull ones in the long run when it comes to sales. I mean, most Steam games (most still use weak protection) are cracked day one within hours if not minutes and what do we see? They are still on the top steam sale charts.... cmon.

Would it been otherwise, Valve would implement a much stronger protection YEEEEARS AGO!!!

Sorry, but your opinion isn't a fact but an opinion, just like everyone else's. The effect of piracy is certainly less than marketeers claim, but the arguments you bring are flawed.

* Hollywood changed their game in a same way as AAA- devs do: making it more about the experience than the content. The "being first" is pushed as a favorable thing, while a couple months down the road these games /movies are treated as leftovers
* the success of a console is measured in killer apps and marketing. Piracy isn't an issue in that. Or worse : one with an inverted correlation. On the wiiu, for example, there was a time that piracy didn't happen because it was too much of a niche product for the real hackers to care about. They rather hack platforms that already are popular
* like many people, you leave out most steam games when talking about "most steam games". Again : AAA titles get hacked because they are already popular (and on those sales charts) Steam is drm in itself which is enough for the bulk of small developers that ironically are too unpopular to be properly hacked or pirated

 

[Foxi4]

The piracy are reason why more and more gaming company gear toward gambling gacha mobile game.

It gave a lots more profit while there is no way for anyone to hack those game because data are on game company server. They can ban your account and take all your money away as warning for other while no one can do anything about it.

Nonsense. Piracy has always been a part of the equation and, arguably, it was a much bigger problem prior to the IBM Compatible era when most software could be easily copied with nothing more than a tape recorder. The reason why companies embrace the pay to play model you mention is because it is more profitable and increases the post-release engagement level. Piracy itself has negligible effect on software sales.

 

[calagan]

When Steam announced their new version of Steam Play Beta featuring Proton earlier this week, they also mentioned in the Q&A that if you want your games available on Linux "...It's also a good idea to avoid any invasive third-party DRM middleware, as they sometimes prevent compatibility features from working as intended".

 

[RedBlueGreen]

The piracy are reason why more and more gaming company gear toward gambling gacha mobile game.

It gave a lots more profit while there is no way for anyone to hack those game because data are on game company server. They can ban your account and take all your money away as warning for other while no one can do anything about it.

Gacha freemium games has nothing to do with piracy. These games exist because they make tons of money. The developers know that most people aren't going to pay money for a mobile game or put in much money. The freemium business model allows them to get a ton of money out of a few people with deep pockets. It's nothing to do with piracy, it's just easier to have a few cash cows than to not have your product sell

 

[Bimmel]

Thinking of a pirate:

The game is not yet released -> Maybe it has been leaked and I can get it for free!

The game is released -> Is it cracked yet?

The game is released, but requires an update of the console -> Seems I have to wait a bit. Still got a million games to pirate anyway!

The game is older than 2 weeks and not cracked yet -> Well.. I never wanted that shitty game to begin with.

Summary: 0 sales, no matter what.

 

[AdamFX990]

Online video game retailer politics is something that evidently exists, but it really shouldn't... Should it?

I'm fully behind GOG and their anti DRM policy though

EDIT: Why have they not listed itch.io as a DRM free game retailer? O.o GOG being the only one on their seems a bit to convinent of a mistake.

 

[FAST6191]

Online video game retailer politics is something that evidently exists, but it really shouldn't... Should it?

You would rather have the army of game players, ones that accept the inability to easily resell games, will say that second hand sales harm game devs and generally have some sheep like tendencies be your consumer activists/advocates?

 

[NZ_reg]

Publisher against DRM is like rock against drugs or bees against honey.

 

[anhminh]

Nonsense. Piracy has always been a part of the equation and, arguably, it was a much bigger problem prior to the IBM Compatible era when most software could be easily copied with nothing more than a tape recorder. The reason why companies embrace the pay to play model you mention is because it is more profitable and increases the post-release engagement level. Piracy itself has negligible effect on software sales.

But you have to wonder why freemium model so success. It is because you have no other choice but to pay, there is no way to pirate those premium currency without real money. If those premium currency can be pirate then I doubt they could be as success.

 

[FAST6191]

Publisher against DRM is like rock against drugs or bees against honey.

I still have to point at all those music selling places -- for years apple, microsoft and a bunch of others were selling music all DRMed up, it locked their customers into their devices, got them better deals with music companies and generally acted as their wet dream. They still dropped it in the end, possibly because file sizes got so small it was silly and copy and past MP3s had been the norm before even they rose up (Napster was 1999 for the real mainstream stuff, 2001 for the first ipod but being a filthy mac only affair it would be a few more years before it hit big, to say nothing of things like mp3search.ru and allofmp3) and there was a bit of consumer backlash when a few services got shuttered.

 

[Foxi4]

But you have to wonder why freemium model so success. It is because you have no other choice but to pay, there is no way to pirate those premium currency without real money. If those premium currency can be pirate then I doubt they could be as success.

Of course you have a choice - don't buy stupid skins that don't do anything because you're not 10.