Witcher 2 to have a DRM-Free version... but there's a catch

evilsofa

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The good news is that when The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings is released in May 2011, the gog.com version will have no DRM at all - you'll be able to install it on as many PCs as you wish.

The bad news is that they plan to fight illegal torrents of The Witcher 2 by sending offenders a letter demanding that they either pay a fine or get sued.

I've got mixed feelings about this. I'm very pleased to see such a major title being released DRM-free, but I strongly disapprove of the lawsuit method of enforcement, which has been proven over and over again to result in lawsuits against innocents.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-22-witcher-2-torrents-could-net-you-a-fine
 
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First, I'm surprised they will offer a brand new game on GOG.

Second, DRM isn't bad as long as it's a disc check. Just don't install some hidden root kit or force users into Steam because that's only going to encourage piracy.

Steam and Digital Distribution are at an all time high but so is piracy. So how exactly is using Steam a countermeasure to piracy? It's not!

If brand new PC games were $39.99 and the digital version $29.99 or $34.99, with only disc check for DRM to block casual sharing, I feel PC gaming could recover. I think their also could one day be a pc hardware tax that is split amongst game developers, just like how the RIAA gets a portion of every CD-R that's sold.
 
I see nothing wrong with this approach, explain how this impacts innocent people?

When I first heard about GOG releasing this DRM free I figured it would be heavily pirated, it is interresting to me that they are going to try to fight it like this. I have not decided where i'll get it from yet (steam/GOG) but the GOG bundle is tempting.

I also don't see how this can be considered a catch. DRM free does not equal FREE. Now if they were giving it away free and decided to fine people then that would be a catch. Offering a product without digital protection while prosecuting illegal downloads is not a catch in any way.
 
So, we complain when publishers treat legit customers like thieves.

When a publisher treats paying customers well, we complain that they're threatening thieves.

Huh.

Just the threat of having someone actually come after you should at the very least make a very casual pirate think twice. Make an example of a few people and that number goes up. Torrents are just too easy for the mainstream to use. Sure, you can't stop pirating; the people who have their hearts set on pirating stuff will use usenet. But this method, I can totally get behind it.

I already pre-ordered my version off GoG. Figured since GoG's is CDProjekt, they'll wind up with more money in their pocket than if I went with Steam.
 
lol and I'm willing to bet that a majority of the ISP's will tell them to go pound sand when they request the customers information.

It's nice that they're releasing it DRM free, but no publisher or music/movie agency is ever going to win this battle. They need to offer people something that they cannot get from a bootleg copy.
 
The problem is that I can't pirate it.

:p joking. If more software devs do this, I definitely don't see this as being the end of the world. This will be one of the first times owners don't get the shaft.

It's not like they are the RIAA or something.
 
Good for CD Projekt. I hope this game captures and excels on all the amazing things that made TW1 one of the best games I've ever played.

It's pretty cool to see them using GoG to distribute this but I think I may have to go with Steam for ease of use. I like that they're standing their ground and not hurting those of us who will pay for the game but also taking the added measure in punishing the pirates.

To whoever commented on this "hurting innocent customers" that's the furthest thing from the truth in this case. If the game is available DRM-free from GoG there should be no reason one would even want to "legally" torrent the game. If you have poor connection go buy it retail as I'm sure it will be there.
 
lol and I'm willing to bet that a majority of the ISP's will tell them to go pound sand when they request the customers information.

It's nice that they're releasing it DRM free, but no publisher or music/movie agency is ever going to win this battle. They need to offer people something that they cannot get from a bootleg copy.

There's a bunch of extra's available with the Deluxe Edition on Steam.
 
bad news? i'm confused.. don't torrent the game and you'll be fine.

My objection to the lawsuits, which I seem not to have made clear enough, is that when companies attempt to sue pirates, they sue too many people who never pirated anything. They end up extorting thousands from grannies who don't know how to use the Internet, such as what is happening with The Hurt Locker lawsuits:

But one attorney said Dunlap accepted $1,000 settlement payment from an elderly person who provided a sworn statement that he or she never downloaded the movie, did not possess the movie on their hard drive, and was for whatever reason operating an unsecured Wi-Fi network.

"I've been contacted by several people in their 60s and 70s, often with little technical knowledge or understanding," Grimm said. "These are people who would not know how to install or use BitTorrent, even if they had heard of it in the first place. Not infrequently, there's an education process about how to secure an open wireless node, in order to protect against future lawsuits...The thing I find most discouraging is how often clients who I believe to be completely innocent decide to pay the money anyway, just because the litigation itself causes so much stress and anxiety."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20020260-261.html

Is that really the sort of legal behavior you want to encourage?
 
The good news is that when The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings is released in May 2011, the gog.com version will have no DRM at all - you'll be able to install it on as many PCs as you wish.

The bad news is that they plan to fight illegal torrents of The Witcher 2 by sending offenders a letter demanding that they either pay a fine or get sued.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-22-witcher-2-torrents-could-net-you-a-fine


Why is it bad news? If you made something and intended to sell it and then had a bunch of people steal it, wouldn't you want compensation?

I think its a wonderful idea. Sue the fuck out of em. If you want to play the game you should purchase it like everyone else.
 
My objection to the lawsuits, which I seem not to have made clear enough, is that when companies attempt to sue pirates, they sue too many people who never pirated anything. They end up extorting thousands from grannies who don't know how to use the Internet, such as what is happening with The Hurt Locker lawsuits:





http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20020260-261.html

Is that really the sort of legal behavior you want to encourage?

"I'm on an unsecure Wifi, must have been someone else" is the #1 excuse people use when they get those extortion letters. Don't believe me? Read the ACS Law leaked emails. Both sides know the routine, and both sides are usually guilty of underhand tactics one way or the other. On one side you have a stupid individual who is using security via obscurity, knowing that those companies send out the letters in mass, and he's just one man who's being picked on, "I'm innocent!". On the other side you have a little garbage startup company who's primary means of profit is hoping atleast 1 person out of 10 they send extortion letters to pays up.
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.

You don't know how this works do you?
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.

My guess is that they'll set up fake torrent sites, or better yet release a torrent with some sort of id thingy.

Anyway we won't know until we buy it as to what measures(if any) they have employed.
 
they should just do what they did with the first Witcher

simply make it so that when you want to download extra content, you sign up on their site, and then use your account there to get it

it's one way to validate your copy that isn't intrusive, and it's perfectly acceptable too, a few moments of your time to validate your copy in return for some extra content.
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.

it's not scanning your hard drive.


They're going to be monitoring torrents of said game, logging the IP addresses of the offenders and will try and get subpenas for the defendents name/address via their ISP and will then sue the shit out of them.
 
My guess is that they'll set up fake torrent sites, or better yet release a torrent with some sort of id thingy.

Anyway we won't know until we buy it as to what measures(if any) they have employed.

they don't need to setup a fake torrent. All they need to do is 'share' an existing torrent and they'll have access to the IP's of everyone else sharing it (with a few exceptions)

they should just do what they did with the first Witcher

simply make it so that when you want to download extra content, you sign up on their site, and then use your account there to get it

it's one way to validate your copy that isn't intrusive, and it's perfectly acceptable too, a few moments of your time to validate your copy in return for some extra content.

stuff like that doesn't work very well though, unless it's dedicated online content (co-op multiplayer, for example). It's not hard for a scene group to get a hold of that 'extra content' and repackage it with the original game.
 
sheesh... people really get bent about this subject. I'm glad to see them ship a DRM-free project, but I'd love to see them do something like this for shits n giggles: (Keep in mind this is all tongue in cheek. I know how easy you guys are to set off...)

Dear BillyBob2469:

Sweet! It looks like you or someone using your internet account downloaded our spiffy little game. See enclosed logs. We hope you dig it. Did you know that we released it DRM FREE for the convenience of our paying and legitimate customers on GOG?

You know, you (or someone who's in your junk enough to know your bank account numbers, pr0n habits, and facebook passwords) seemed to be interested enough in our game to violate our rights, but we can be reasonable. We aren't going to be total dicks like in (insert XYZ cases where people have been handed fines large enough to keep them walking funny for years to come)... yet. No, we just want to be square. Tell you what, just sign up at GOG and buy a copy of our spiffy and did we mention DRM FREE game and we'll call it even. We'll even toss in a 10% discount since someone over there seems to be hurting for cash. We're going to let this ride for... say 3 months or so. Then, we're going to dig up the heaviest offenders off of our list. Forget the 5 year waiting for craziness and John Doe suits. We're going to nail a handful of you sons of bitches to the wall and bleed you dry. Then we'll see how many of you unscrupulous bastards simply buy our game so we can feed our kids, pets, or perhaps our crack habits.

Thanks,

Andy Griffith.

I'd laugh my ass off.
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.

The easiest way to find out who pirates your game is to 'pirate' it yourself by seeding / participating in the torrents of said game.
 
The easiest way to find out who pirates your game is to 'pirate' it yourself by seeding / participating in the torrents of said game.

Next easiest way is to dial up your friendly neighborhood FBI goomba and get a couple of lawful intercept requests going. Start at where the tracker is hosted. Should hit paydirt if it's anywhere in the US.

Edit: I should note that I never met anyone who actually enjoyed fulfilling one of these requests during my time as a network bananatron... It's teh suck all around. Except for when its something seriously heinous... Then it's ok. F that guy.
 
How are they going to find out where the person who pirated the game lives, and how will they know that the game was pirated?

This sounds contradictory to me. It sounds like they've got some sort of online authentication thing happening in the background.

You know what. Screw that. That's worse than Ubisoft's DRM. When I buy a game I don't expect the company to be scanning my hard drive to find out where I live. That's utter nonsense.

RTFA dude.
 
it's not scanning your hard drive.


They're going to be monitoring torrents of said game, logging the IP addresses of the offenders and will try and get subpenas for the defendents name/address via their ISP and will then sue the shit out of them.

Or they're like the kid who just got the shit beat out of him on the school playground and then all the way home says how he's going to get payback the next day when everyone knows damn well that the next day he's going to do Jack shit. ;)
 
sheesh... people really get bent about this subject. I'm glad to see them ship a DRM-free project, but I'd love to see them do something like this for shits n giggles: (Keep in mind this is all tongue in cheek. I know how easy you guys are to set off...)

Dear BillyBob2469:

Sweet! It looks like you or someone using your internet account downloaded our spiffy little game. See enclosed logs. We hope you dig it. Did you know that we released it DRM FREE for the convenience of our paying and legitimate customers on GOG?

You know, you (or someone who's in your junk enough to know your bank account numbers, pr0n habits, and facebook passwords) seemed to be interested enough in our game to violate our rights, but we can be reasonable. We aren't going to be total dicks like in (insert XYZ cases where people have been handed fines large enough to keep them walking funny for years to come)... yet. No, we just want to be square. Tell you what, just sign up at GOG and buy a copy of our spiffy and did we mention DRM FREE game and we'll call it even. We'll even toss in a 10% discount since someone over there seems to be hurting for cash. We're going to let this ride for... say 3 months or so. Then, we're going to dig up the heaviest offenders off of our list. Forget the 5 year waiting for craziness and John Doe suits. We're going to nail a handful of you sons of bitches to the wall and bleed you dry. Then we'll see how many of you unscrupulous bastards simply buy our game so we can feed our kids, pets, or perhaps our crack habits.

Thanks,

Andy Griffith.

I'd laugh my ass off.

Nice one!!..:p
 
Let's face it, people do not want to pay for things if they don't have to, people are children. They have not reached adulthood where you do things because you know it is the right thing to do so they need threats and over the faceless internet they do not feel theatened.

We know that people will still pirate the game just like the others that have tried the no drm approach, word of goo was one wasn't it and they suffered. I think a few nasty letters and perhaps back it up with the law moreso for the people who upload rather than download is fine.

I know it won't affect me as I will have a bank record of my purchase should anyone ever come asking.
 
I also don't see how this is bad news. If you buy a digital copy, there will be proof of your purchase in your bank account / credit card. Those that get it illegally should get more than a fine (tar and feather seems appropriate).

I don't think I'll play the game but I'll probably purchase it just to support CD Projekt's approach to (or lack of use of) DRM.
 
RTFA?

WTF?

Read the article.

RTFA means read the fuckin article

carlos-mencia-1.jpg
 
So, we complain when publishers treat legit customers like thieves.

When a publisher treats paying customers well, we complain that they're threatening thieves.


This. I cannot believe the clowns on torrentfreak who are saying that now they aren't going to buy it, but instead download it just to prove a point. Riiiight. This is a pc primary rpg! We don't get these very often -- buy the damn thing! It doesn't have any DRM -- that is what we wanted. I couldn't care less if they want to waste money trying to sue people -- it's the threat of getting caught that will deter many.
 
See, no one asked the real question that's on everyone's mind:

How many chicks does Geralt get to bang this time around? Go go magic boner!
 
Wabe, you crack me up. I can always count on you to come in here on these topics for some off the wall comment. ;)

Let's face it, people do not want to pay for things if they don't have to, people are children. They have not reached adulthood where you do things because you know it is the right thing to do so they need threats and over the faceless internet they do not feel theatened.

We know that people will still pirate the game just like the others that have tried the no drm approach, word of goo was one wasn't it and they suffered. I think a few nasty letters and perhaps back it up with the law moreso for the people who upload rather than download is fine.

I know it won't affect me as I will have a bank record of my purchase should anyone ever come asking.

Some people will pirate anyways, but a chance of getting sued will deter a number of them who aren't full bull headed.

And the nice thing is, is that I don't have to worry about anything. I also will have the peace of mind of not having DRM induced bugs.
 
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