The DRM for me.

Multiplayer would not really work well in a game like this anyway without losing a huge amount of the gameplay. I spend a lot of time in fast-forward myself, which would be impossible in multi, and the games still last very long.

@ Tridus, Viisari and Mansh00ter,

All three of you don't seem to get it.

So here it is once again.......sigh

In my house DRM works!  100% of the time.

It always has......right from the first paper spinning wheel thingy to electronic 3-activation limits.  Why?  Because I make it work.  Doing what I want, when I want with my systems is less important than having things ALWAYS working.  My systems ALWAYS work, they never go down........ever.  Upfront time/cost is meaningless if it means I have to spend NO TIME dealing with issues in the future.  How much is you time worth to you?  I don't even have to spend 10 minutes getting a crack for my software, because the DRM works......the first time.......every time!

My systems are setup in such a manner, that should a problem ever arise, I can even send the command from my handheld upstairs in the kitchen while pouring a cup of coffee and by the time I'm back downstairs in my chair, my system has completely re-imaged itself to a working state.

Sure I spent months getting my setup "just right", but as I already stated......up-front time/cost is meaningless, since I now get to enjoy a completely problem-free computing experience.

I have embraced DRM since the first paper wheel-thingy.  To those of you making a crusade out of your rebellion against it, I feel sorry for you.  Each time a new game comes out, you either need to download a crack or download the complete cracked-version.  I don't have to do anything.  I just insert the media into my system, and press play!

Oh and of course I smile as I take a sip of my Balvenie and think of all the time/effort some people are wasting while I'm already playing......

Have a great day everyone! 

the Monk

No, it seems pretty clear that you're the one who doesn't get it.

Well, good for you. That's obviously not true for a lot of other people. I wonder if you'd respond to someone having a problem with their internet connection by saying "it must be you, my DSL always works!"

What's the point of having a working computer if you can't use it to do what you want? We already have gaming devices for that purpose: consoles. Using my computer involves things like programming, since I'm a programmer. That means I have a debugger. I'm not going to remove my debugger because some game company is run by morons.

And actually my time commitment is pretty minimal. If it has DRM, I don't buy it. That requires no time.

My father in law isn't savvy enough to know how to do that. All he wants is to put the disk in and play the game. DRM blocked him from having that for no appraent reason. Are you honestly going to sit here and tell me that was actually a good thing for the industry? He's left PC gaming entirely because they failed to deliver on that simple requirement, due to random DRM breakage.

You also only get to do what the game companies decide is alright with your own hardware. I refuse to accept that, and I won't give my business to companies who try to act that way.

I don't have to do anything either, since if it requires a crack to actually be functional, I won't be buying or playing it. Pleanty of other games out there to spend my money on.

(And hey, if DRM actually worked that way, my father in law would still be playing. Go figure.)

So you're just fine with the fact that companies intentionally break their games for some buying customers, unless they just happen to have two computers, one of which is solely for playing games (and even then it might refuse to work)? Just.. just be quiet... the amount of stupid in that makes my head hurt.

@Monk

Sorry, but from what you described with your "console PC" you're not doing much of anything with your computer. Its not you making it work, it you do not dare to do anything not "by the book" - no wonder your system works. Its also a system where you're not really in control - not if you cannot do what you want, when you want.

Its easy to brag that your car always starts when you never take it out of the garage.

Yeah, just one problem - as Tridus said, you're not really in charge of your own computer. Step out of the envelope, and that's what the PC is all about, and your perfect system starts to wobble. If I wanted an immutable setup that can only do one thing, I would have bought a console.

Well, I do my game shopping online. Prices are a little better, or at least they used to be, plus I don't get all that annoying optical disks and boxes lying around my desk (recently for some reason I have to pay the same price regardless). Which means I download most of my games. Now, if I wanted to pirate them, I would also download the game... hmm... what an inconvenience! Not to mention that for some reason pirates often get the game at zero hour or even before its officialy released! How sorry must they feel for us poor saps waiting for the official release date so we can actually spend money on a game which might tell us we're dirty pirate scum because the DRM software doesn't like the color of our casing...

You may be willing to suck it up and take whatever crap the game publishers dish out, you may even be inclined to brag how you turned your PC into a friggin' console, but most of us would rather like to be able to use our PC's as we see fit, which includes using software we bought without it making a mess because some genius thinks that can actually stop pirates.

The other fun point in all this - how much piracy is actually stopped by this stuff? The DRM stopped me from buying this game. If I actually wanted to pirate it (and I don't), do you think it would take more then 5 minutes to find a working torrent?

None of these DRM systems actually stop piracy. They just create problems for the paying customers that are the only ones the DRM gets inflicted on.

One of the things that drew me to Stardock originally was that their bought version of a game isn't crippled compared to the pirated version. I'd expect that as a customer, I deserve to buy something at least as good as what the pirates get for free.

The_Monk maybe if we all knew what you did. But im afraid that is maybe one in 6 billion people.

Seeing your rant against ISO and CD emulation how can you say you have any experience with computers?
Last time i checked our entier Microsoft MSDN Gold Partner library came as both DVD's and as ISO's on even more DVD's
Las time i checked the Linux and FreeBSD systems i have, was downloadable as ISO files.

Tbh i cant remember the last time i used a CD burner or emulation software for anything illegal.

What piss me off the most about DRM is the fact they try and sneak it in the backdoor. The fact it aint monitored. They could sniff your home banking your emails, everything and you couldnt do a thing about it, you might not even realize it. Game publishers have been the biggest organized distributor of spyware and yet i can have the police kick down my door if i do a random port scan.

Defending the way much DRM is implemented equals those pot heads who argument that more survailance in society is ok since all the people not doing anything illegal have nothing to fear from it.

While I don't think anyone does this, you could buy the game but play the pirate version if you don't want DRM installed on your computer. So this way you could fullfill your two wishes: play the game and buy it.

Although I agree DRM is more a problem for legal customers than illegal ones.

Have you played any of the earlier Anno games? If so, how would you compare?

I really enjoyed 1701 and I'm considering picking this one up.

No, I have not played any of the other Anno games, although I wish I had picked them up a long time ago. From other comments I've read though, this game is their best yet. They have a demo you could try that let's you play the full game for 1 hour at a time.

You're right. As an example, I sold WarCraft III + The Frozen Throne to my nephew and then when I wanted to play against him I downloaded cd-key generators (that didn't work....) and read a guide on how to make your own key based on a real one (which OFCOURSE didn't work!).

So I looked up the games in a priceservice to find the cheapest retailer and bought The Frozen Throne thinking that Battle.Net only checked the cd-key in use so my nephew and I could use the same Reign of Chaos cd-key while having different Frozen Throne cd-keys (MAN was I wrong!). I ended up having to go buy Reign of Chaos to....

So in my place, Blizzards cd-key measures (which I do not consider DRM) made me buy games.

CD keys are the quintessential DRM.

In general though this DRM is easy peasy to circumvent.  Hence why you get some dodgy Asian sites that sell CD keys instead of the retail product.

The meaning of DRM has been lost...to some it means StarForce and SecuROM and to others (like you) it means cd-keys....

I wouldn't trust those sites. I knew a few but they have disappeared. I'd buy from one if they had a proven track record of being able to get me a new cd-key or banning the thief from the servers.