Video games DRMs

[Flo]

I just came across an article saying that Nintendo and its Switch are planning to adopt this DRM system called Denuvo, what exactly are DRMs though?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Flo:

I just came across an article saying that Nintendo and its Switch are planning to adopt this DRM system called Denuvo, what exactly are DRMs though?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management

[Moin0]

Okay, so basically, DRM are used to control the use of digital works by encrypting them and having copyright authority. These software programs aim to :
restrict reading of the medium to a specific geographical area
restrict reading of the medium to specific equipment
restrict or prevent private copying of the medium
restrict possession of a digital work to a single person (and thus prevent the gift, loan or sale of a digital work).

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Moin0:

Okay, so basically, DRM are used to control the use of digital works by encrypting them and having copyright authority. These software programs aim to :
restrict reading of the medium to a specific geographical area
restrict reading of the medium to specific equipment
restrict or prevent private copying of the medium
restrict possession of a digital work to a single person (and thus prevent the gift, loan or sale of a digital work).

Actually I made a paper with my university group about it, a mixed-methods approach was employed to comprehensively investigate the impact of Digital Rights Management (DRM). The quantitative aspect of the research involved surveying participants to gather numerical data on their experiences, attitudes, and perceptions related to DRM, which was sent out to the Sciences Po Le Havre Campus. A structured survey instrument was designed to capture both quantitative and categorical responses, allowing for statistical analysis to discern trends and patterns among the participants.

Simultaneously, the qualitative dimension of the study delved into the subjective experiences of individuals affected by DRM. Articles, blog posts, and newspaper articles were used to analyse insights into how DRM and its importance. This qualitative exploration aimed to capture nuanced perspectives, emotions, and narratives surrounding DRM, offering a deeper understanding of its implications beyond numerical metrics.

To enhance the rigour of the analysis, the qualitative findings were interpreted through the lens of published scientific articles. By aligning the qualitative insights with existing scholarly literature on DRM, this study sought to contextualize individual experiences within the broader academic discourse. This triangulation of methods—combining surveys, qualitative content analysis of first-hand accounts, and an informed interpretation through the literature—aimed to provide a holistic and nuanced understanding of the multifaceted impact of DRM.

However, it is also crucial to acknowledge certain limitations that may influence the generalizability and interpretation of the findings. One notable limitation was the reliance on a relatively small sample size for the quantitative survey, which may have affected the statistical power and limited the extent to which the results could be extrapolated to broader populations. Additionally, the qualitative dimension of the study, relying on online testimonies, blog posts, and newspaper articles, was susceptible to the inherent bias associated with self-selected individuals who may have had specific motivations or experiences. Moreover, the phenomenon of "review bombing," wherein individuals strategically provided negative feedback to skew perceptions, may have introduced a negative skew in the qualitative data, potentially affecting the overall representation of attitudes toward DRM. Recognizing these limitations is essential for a nuanced interpretation of the study's outcomes, and emphasizes the need for caution when generalizing the findings beyond the confines of the specific sample and online platforms under investigation.

[Flo]

Yes but I mean do ppl really care about this thing?

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Flo:

Yes but I mean do ppl really care about this thing?

From the sample we gathered from Sciences Po, a substantial majority of participants, with over 70 percent, indicated that they had not encountered the concept of Digital Rights Management (DRM) before. While this might suggest a limited prevalence of the term, it is important to note that the core principles associated with DRM, particularly in the context of digital piracy and ownership of digital goods, remain highly pertinent. Through discussions with other classmates, it became apparent that the idea of firms and content creators implementing mechanisms to control access to digital content and protect intellectual property was familiar, even if the formal term "Digital Rights Management" was not widely recognized. This underscores the significance of DRM-related principles in the broader discourse on digital content distribution and intellectual property protection, despite variations in the explicit awareness of the term itself among the study participants.

When engaging in discussions with other students, it became evident that while the term Digital Rights Management (DRM) might not have been familiar to them initially, the broader concept of piracy remained a significant and recognized issue. The prevalence of piracy has been on the rise, facilitated by various websites offering free access to movies, music, and books without proper authorization. These discussions highlighted the need for a more comprehensive understanding of DRM, as it emerged that DRM could play a crucial role in addressing and mitigating the challenges posed by rampant digital piracy. The increasing accessibility of unauthorized content through online platforms underscored the importance of exploring and discussing DRM as a potential solution for safeguarding the rights of content creators and preventing the unauthorized distribution of digital media. Recognizing the broader implications of DRM in the context of evolving digital consumption trends, these discussions underscored the relevance and importance of delving deeper into DRM-related concepts in future conversations and academic discourse.

[Flo]

Yea, wouldn't it also be interesting to see if this copyright barrier actually pushes ppl toward the use of piracy? At least that's what I'd imagine.

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Flo:

Yea, wouldn't it also be interesting to see if this copyright barrier actually pushes ppl toward the use of piracy? At least that's what I'd imagine.

In short: yes.
There is a scientific consensus that increasing DRM protections will always increase the demand for pirated products.
However, this does not mean that it is necessarily not beneficial for companies to implement high level of DRM protections. Indeed, a higher level of protection will render the efforts to pirate a game more difficult and therefore will allow benefiting from the DRM restrictions. Demand for piracy does not equate the fact that a game is being effectively pirated. This could however affect long term benefits on games, since the DRM aren’t generally removed and a game need only to be pirated once to be shared on the internet.

Two most famous examples among the gaming community of extensive piracy use after the implementation of restrictive DRM protections are: Spore (2008) and SimCity (2013).
The latter conditioned the access to the game with a mandatory connection to the Electronic Arts (EA) servers, which caused an outrage because SimCity didn’t have any multiplayer option (which would require an internet connection) and because EA servers were routinely on maintenance. Spore on the other hand pushed their DRM policy so far, that it limited the installation of the game to a number of 3 times, to limit the number of people who could play the game using the same account. Of course this measure was very unpopular, and it is estimated that the game was pirated over 500,000 times over the ten first day of its releases; it is now estimated that the game was pirated over 1.7 million times, which makes it one of the most pirated game on the planet.

One could ask how it is possible that video games, among all form of media, are so prone to being pirated.
In their research paper: The Role of Morality in Digital Piracy: Understanding the Deterrent and Motivational Effects of Moral Reasoning in Different Piracy Contexts, published in 2019, Kar Yan Tam, Katherine Yue Feng and Samuel Kwan distinguish three criteria that could lead to the extensive piracy of video games. These are: Price, Availability and Morality
If the price of a game is too steep, people will tend to pirate it more.
In the same way, if a game is only available on one platform (typically the platform of the editor itself, that tend to pale in comparison to more widely used platforms like Steam), people will also tend to pirate it more.
And finally, as the authors of The Role of Morality in Digital Piracy observed: “Respondents with high moral judgment capacity did not have significantly more negative attitudes toward piracy”. This is explained by the fact that piracy in general is not punished, or at least that punishments are not enforced by the law, and thus that the act of pirating do not seem morally wrong.
This observation is confirmed by our own, as there is a clear distinction between the act of pirating and shoplifting among the students we surveyed.
Indeed, in the case of game piracy, 80% of the people surveyed answered that they did not felt guilt from the act of pirating a video game. The result is similar when it comes to music and film piracy, as respectively 70% and 75% did not felt guilt in the act of pirating music or movies.
However, when it comes to shoplifting, the rate of people confessing to having shoplifted decreases drastically when compared to piracy. Indeed, only 5% of the population surveyed confessed that they ever shoplifted, whereas a majority of people admitted to having pirated something.

So, as we’ve just seen, DRM restrictions really do have an impact on whether people pirate games or not.

[Flo]

The fact that like we are on steam, do u think DRMs incentivize users to go to other platforms for games? Like Steam already seems to be so big , are other alternatives useful?

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Flo:

The fact that like we are on steam, do u think DRMs incentivize users to go to other platforms for games? Like Steam already seems to be so big , are other alternatives useful?

In theory there would be large incentives to buy games, movies, e-books from DRM-free sites as, for example, many gaming sites that sell DRM-free games, such as GOG (which sells Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry 2, etc.) have most games priced >€9.99. Overall, all sites that provide DRM-free products do sell at a lower price and have the main advantage of not having DRMs.
But why are DRMs so disliked?
From what has been explained above, it may be clear, but what provides the most insight is asking; what are the perks of DRM-free movies, e-books and games?
Very simply put, it has five perks with one serious risk, that being security, as the games that are provided for lower prices could have gone through malware or modifications that will endanger the consumer. However, away from this one negative factor, we can see that DRM-free products are sought after because of the main perk of individual freedom, seen with increased accessibility, better preservation, ownership, and compatibility. The first and last point are similar in that DRM-free products do not require specific equipment and software, thus allowing them to be available on a wider range of devices. There's an improvement in preservation, as people can store whatever they bought and not have the risk of it becoming inaccessible with time. Additionally, ownership is concretely provided with no fear of losing what they bought, which can happen with an expired licence, and notably allows people to use their DRM-free content however they desire and at whatever time.
In reality, however, for those who don’t know about DRMs, which was 17 out of 20 of our surveyed population, it demonstrates that people would not need to find alternative sites because they don’t know about DRMs or don’t mind them. This factor of not minding DRMs could be explained either because of a lack of knowledge or the socioeconomic background of individuals allowing the luxury to buy only DRM content and not needing to consider the benefits of DRM-free content.

In conclusion, it can be seen that for those who know about DRMs and who also may not have the means to pay for DRM content, they will have every incentive to deviate from DRM content to DRM-free sites. This however is a small population of individuals, allowing the prominence of DRMs, as can be seen with Steam being ranked 7th compared to 237th for GOG, such a ranking being measured by traffic. To those who read so far, type in the chat if you think DRMs should be addressed more and properly explained to the majority of individuals.

[Flo]

But like I remember playing a spiderman game on PC when I was like 9 years old. It is still possible with DRMs to sort of "save" the game for the future? Do DRMs change our way, if it is possible, to archive video games?

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Flo:

But like I remember playing a spiderman game on PC when I was like 9 years old. It is still possible with DRMs to sort of "save" the game for the future? Do DRMs change our way, if it is possible, to archive video games?

Such as for books, movies, or even music titles, there have been conservation initiatives among certain players since the very first consoles and games, in order to have the possibility to keep playing them for the years to come.
However, this effort is not confronted with the same obstacles as buying books and keeping them on a shelf. In fact, while the conservation of video games in the form of floppy discs or CD-ROMs may face issues of physical degradation, today’s video games market has shifted towards digital formats. As a matter of fact, an estimated 89.5% of video games sold in 2022 were digital downloads. This evolution nonetheless does not mean that physical games have thus all been archived and are still easily accessible today. According to the Video Game History Foundation, 87% of video games released before 2010 have been lost or are at risk of getting lost.

This issue can be partially explained by the fact that even today, the value of video games is one of short-term entertainment products destined to have a certain playing time and be untouched after that. It might not even come into people’s minds that their favourite game will also be someone’s favourite game in the future if it remains accessible to them.

DRMs come into play for more recent video games and require them to first check the authenticity of the copy the player has installed. It therefore requires an outside connection with external servers. Video game companies have unfortunately first profitability objectives and will take down old and less used servers in order to focus on providing their most recent game with the best environment possible.
In the US, the DMCA Act of 1998 made it difficult to make legal backups of games from a conservation perspective. There have been certain exemptions granted to certified conservationists to circumvent the authentication principle, while others resort to piracy as a solution. For example, in its 2018 exemption, the Library of Congress allowed the preservation of server-based games like MMOs, permitting conservationists to offer these types of games if they had legally obtained the file. We can see that there is a slow-increasing effort to allow legal video game archiving while being restricted to a small part of the current market.

In the end, video game companies have the final say on whether they want their games to persist in time. This is especially true when observing the efforts made by Nintendo which initiated a lawsuit against two websites that distributed ROMs (certain type of file used for video game copies) for games from their older platforms. Certain games also suffer from the fact of their property right being distributed among several entities. Older games published by a certain company that may have been acquired by some other company, while also taking into account several other entities participating in the game’s development such as certain licences as for instance Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the 1997 game 007 GoldenEye on the Nitendo 64, end up taking a substantial amount of time to legally preserve.

[Moin0]

Originally posted by Moin0:

Originally posted by Flo:

But like I remember playing a spiderman game on PC when I was like 9 years old. It is still possible with DRMs to sort of "save" the game for the future? Do DRMs change our way, if it is possible, to archive video games?

Such as for books, movies, or even music titles, there have been conservation initiatives among certain players since the very first consoles and games, in order to have the possibility to keep playing them for the years to come.
However, this effort is not confronted with the same obstacles as buying books and keeping them on a shelf. In fact, while the conservation of video games in the form of floppy discs or CD-ROMs may face issues of physical degradation, today’s video games market has shifted towards digital formats. As a matter of fact, an estimated 89.5% of video games sold in 2022 were digital downloads. This evolution nonetheless does not mean that physical games have thus all been archived and are still easily accessible today. According to the Video Game History Foundation, 87% of video games released before 2010 have been lost or are at risk of getting lost.

This issue can be partially explained by the fact that even today, the value of video games is one of short-term entertainment products destined to have a certain playing time and be untouched after that. It might not even come into people’s minds that their favourite game will also be someone’s favourite game in the future if it remains accessible to them.

DRMs come into play for more recent video games and require them to first check the authenticity of the copy the player has installed. It therefore requires an outside connection with external servers. Video game companies have unfortunately first profitability objectives and will take down old and less used servers in order to focus on providing their most recent game with the best environment possible.
In the US, the DMCA Act of 1998 made it difficult to make legal backups of games from a conservation perspective. There have been certain exemptions granted to certified conservationists to circumvent the authentication principle, while others resort to piracy as a solution. For example, in its 2018 exemption, the Library of Congress allowed the preservation of server-based games like MMOs, permitting conservationists to offer these types of games if they had legally obtained the file. We can see that there is a slow-increasing effort to allow legal video game archiving while being restricted to a small part of the current market.

In the end, video game companies have the final say on whether they want their games to persist in time. This is especially true when observing the efforts made by Nintendo which initiated a lawsuit against two websites that distributed ROMs (certain type of file used for video game copies) for games from their older platforms. Certain games also suffer from the fact of their property right being distributed among several entities. Older games published by a certain company that may have been acquired by some other company, while also taking into account several other entities participating in the game’s development such as certain licences as for instance Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the 1997 game 007 GoldenEye on the Nitendo 64, end up taking a substantial amount of time to legally preserve.

Here's my bibliography, if you want to know more about the subject.
Bachell, Alasdair, et Matthew Barr. « Video Game Preservation in the UK: A Survey of Records Management Practices ». International Journal of Digital Curation 9, no 2 (29 octobre 2014): 139‑70. https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v9i2.294.
Colangelo, Timothy. "Digital Rights Management in video games: their impact on performance and the legal structure connected to them." (2020).
Darroch, Calum. "Problems and Progress in the Protection of Videogames: A Legal and Sociological Perspective." Manchester Rev. L. Crime & Ethics 1 (2012): 136.
Haydock, Christopher. Challenges In Preserving Video Games. 2018. https://doi.org/10.17615/zbe1-mf73
Karthik, J., P. P. Amritha, and M. Sethumadhavan. "Video Game DRM: Analysis and Paradigm Solution." 2020 11th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT). IEEE, 2020.
Kuehl, John. "Video Games and Intellectual Property: Similarities, Differences, and a New Approach to Protection." Cybaris Intell. Prop. L. Rev. 7 (2015): 313.
Moshirnia, Andrew V. "Giant Pink Scorpions: Fighting Piracy with Novel Digital Rights Management Technology." DePaul J. Art Tech. & Intell. Prop. L 23 (2012): 1.
Newman, James. Best Before: Videogames, Supersession and Obsolescence. Routledge, 2012. https://books.google.fr/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7Pi7qqXMlLAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=video+games+drm+delisting&ots=REmSZOHxFw&sig=ubce9xuopcr4SIMBwYZTPPlQL0g&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=video%20games%20drm%20delisting&f=false
NordVPN (2023) DRM-free definition, NordVPN. Available at: https://nordvpn.com/cybersecurity/glossary/drm-free/ (Accessed: 13 November 2023).
O'Donnell, Casey. "Production protection to copy (right) protection: from the 10NES to DVDs." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 31.3 (2009): 54-63.
Smith, M. (2012) 6 places to buy DRM-free games [muo gaming], MUO. Available at: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-places-buy-drmfree-games-muo-gaming/ (Accessed: 13 November 2023).
Tam, Kar Yan 1., et al. The Role of Morality in Digital Piracy: Understanding the Deterrent and Motivational Effects of Moral Reasoning in Different Piracy Contexts. 2019, p. 604‑28. ProQuest, https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00545.
Wang, Jingguo, et al. « Same Coin, Different Sides: Differential Impact of Social Learning on Two Facets of Music Piracy ». Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 28, no 3, décembre 2011, p. 343‑84. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222280310.
Wu, Dan, et al. « Optimal Piracy Control: Should a Firm Implement Digital Rights Management? » Information Systems Frontiers, vol. 22, no 4, août 2020, p. 947‑60. Springer Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-019-09907-z.

[Kage Goomba]

1: Nintendo already does - its their online store/digital system.
2: DRM - Digital Rights Management

Basically its a system that ensures the copy of any given game is actually yours.

Steam is a very much a glorified DRM package (as often people hate to hear this) - any time you pick a game you wish to play - Steam validates you are the owner of the license and permits access.

Now the DRM you hear people scream about - is just an additional layer of doing the same thing - its all anti-piracy measures.

The kind of DRM you can expect on consoles is normal - and often people take it for granted in terms of it being relatively seamless.

The DRM you hear people scream about is the kind of PC's (Windows/etc) and tends to cause severe bloatware/problems.

However majority of the issues are due to users doing things they shouldn't be doing - however - I tend to agree - we could always use less bloat.

In terms of Nintendo - their online network is already VPN'd - so its moot to discuss what impact it has - as you can't even tamper with it in the first place.

The Arena of DRM is more fraught with peril on PC's these days.

Could it break things? we shall see - but honestly I'd not sweat it.

In the end DRM is an annoyance we have to live with due to piracy - frankly we are better off not dealing with it at all as there's no stopping it. No I don't support piracy - I just support systems that run smoothly and not top heavy with bloatware.

"Why we cant have nice things syndrome" basically.

You'll see me complain about DRM - but only in as so much when games don't launch correctly - beyond that I submit to the "DRM" like any good little goomba - albeit grudgingly.

[talemore]

Steam uses DRM which is a time lock.
Denuvo changes password on the program.
It is program being filed with a crypto password. Denuvo does not only plant a key but a door as well.

The door will signal the key to open the door when connected to internet.

It is why Denuvo is planting itself in the background. 2 softwares work together to ensure that you do not have both the door and the key. It is constantly checking the key. You can not move the key to another computer since the door stays on the other computer.

Steam spy on you. Denuvo spy on you as well. Which is why it is political.

You don't see people complain about steam for a reason that Denuvo is a competitior.

If the devs could have it they would skip epic games and steam and straight up sell the game on their own platform. Because with Denuvo they wouldn't have to bargain with Valve or Epic games which means it's all about who they prefer to deal with.

Digital copies are distributed in a way that they don't even need to have any real sales on the copies as each copy can be brought digital you created a 1st world problem. Underneath all the BS a money laundering is going on. Denuvo would ensure that each copy is not the same copy sold over again.
Example X website allow me to buy their copy. But that copy is distributed from their site. Which means even if I own the copy on steam they own my copy and they have sent request to steam to verify my copy as a real copy. Steam self has not verify any sale of the copy and no evidence can be made that this copy was real to begin with.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Flo:

I just came across an article saying that Nintendo and its Switch are planning to adopt this DRM system called Denuvo, what exactly are DRMs though?

First time I ever heard about that. If they indeed go this route then I'm never going to ever buy a Nintendo product ever again. As simple as that.