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| Mass Effect PC - Is Piracy The Better Choice? |
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| Wednesday, 07 May 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Though by no means the most draconian of DRM schemes to
date, a bit of a firestorm is brewing over the DRM infested activation
system coming with the PC release of Bioware's Mass Effect. Mass Effect PC will require an online connected activation courtesy of SecureRom servers every ten days. Apparently, for forever. Now, while it's clear Bioware and EA will go out of it's way to insure they avoid the activation debacle that hounded releases like Bioshock, it is also clear that when you purchase games these days you're not actually buying a consumable product that you "own" in the sense that you own a towel or a pair of shoes. As a result, there is a philosophical firestorm brewing on Bioware's forums . At least there was, until the forum thread was locked. All in all, we really don't blame Bioware's forum moderators for locking the thread. The issues at hand are quite easy to decipher without having to read 13 pages of angry rant. EA/Bioware's philosophy is an understandable if flawed one in our view. They have a product that cost significant time, effort, and capital to develop. They have an ethical obligation to their company and it's shareholders to protect that asset. What seems to have fallen through the cracks here, is customer-centric thinking along with a realistic appraisal of what does and does not work. DRM Systems do not work. Name a system that hasn't been easily cracked by the stereotypical pimply nerd teen within days or weeks of an implementation. You can't. They inconvenience legitimate users. They turn product purchases into merely permission to use an asset. They are always (as in ALWAYS) defeated within a very brief timeframe of their implementation, turning a huge capital investment by a content producer into the cyber equivalent of that film "The Money Pit" . And, they can easily make legitimately purchased content become a "cyber brick". Do you think this cannot happen? Microsoft's "Plays For Sure" anyone? "Plays For Sure" was an ironic choice of words for a system that has now left millions of people with content that, come September, will no longer play. There are those that will buy the game, certainly. Mass Effect is a great game. But we saw evidence in the forum thread we mentioned of a flawed (in our view) way of thinking about the issue. Some, most notably Bioware's probably overworked forum administrators, imply that we should "trust" EA and Bioware. Trusting them in the sense that they have a vested interested in not letting bad scenarios play out. And naturally, they certainly do have a vested self interest here if they have the vaguest clue about basic customer service. The implication however, is that trust in and of itself is a virtue. And it simply is not. There is an implied trust during a financial transaction, but that trust relationship is over once a transaction is final. Once you purchase any other sort of physical asset, it is yours. Your car, your microwave, and your HDTV do not have to continually ask for permission to exist from a manufacturer. Yet at least. This has not been the case with electronic media for quite some time, and perhaps it's time to stop being so complacent about this widely accepted norm. Sure you cannot pirate a copy of a Honda or a Samsung LCD. We're not this naive. But, and this is the fundamental point content creators DO NOT GET, consumers do not care about this distinction. At all. Customers want an experience they can accept, and nothing more. Apple's iTunes system is a prime example of a bad DRM system that consumers love. Like or dislike the "Jobs Mob" as you see fit, but they have created a seamless experience from beginning to end for their customers. More to the point Apple turns a blind eye to the fact that much of the music on their customers iPods probably did not come from iTunes at all. Probably because it's none of their business. Customer experiences drive iTunes success, not it's inclusion or lack of DRM. This isn't trust. It's lust. The irony here is that Mass Effect PC will likely do well. But it will do well because it's an outstanding game and not because its DRM laden Iron Maiden of an activation system protects EA/Bioware from anything. DRM is the modern equivalent of a Rube Goldberg Machine . There will be objectors, and we'll be among them. We'll simply not give EA/Bioware our money. The ones who take the further step and simply pirate the game? Well some of these people weren't goint to give EA/Bioware any money in the first place. In two decades of being a participant in this medium we call the Internet, we've personally not seen any anti piracy measure that actually worked. DRM's batting average is ZERO, and would get it kicked out of Major League Baseball in a flash. But some of these evil DRM averse pirates, and this is a growing and vociforous minority, would have been loyal EA/Bioware customers otherwise. Isn't this the more disturbing trend? Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           
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