I think publishers are pretty much taking internet connectivity for granted these days.  It is a major inconvenience for people who don't have access to high speed internet, but really, how much of the consumer base are we talking about?  Probably not enough for publishers to be concerned with.

I believe the paradigm shift from physical media to digital distribution is the main stimulus for the move to online DRM.  When games were primarily sold on physical media, disk checks were always adequate.  But even some of those were pretty horrible (StarForce).  Most are moving to an online method that's either reasonable (Impulse GOO),  just ridiculous (Ubisoft), or somewhere inbetween (EA).

I think online activation is here to stay and we'll just have to live with it.  Situations where servers go down or internet access is a problem will become a pitfall for PC gaming.  But, even consoles are starting to use online activation so it may be the way of the future for all gaming.

Impulse games use a myriad of DRM schemes.  When talking about GOO, it only shows up on Stardock or Stardock partner games.  I recently bought a couple puzzle games on Impulse that had no DRM at all.  GOO runs in a stand-alone mode that I've used several times to activate Stardock games after reloading Windows.  My games live on a D: drive so I don't even need to start up Impulse at all.  

When talking about Impulse and DRM, Impulse is really just a front-end for the download store more than anything else.  From what I've experienced, the DRM is always carried by the games themselves.  I think that's one of the great things about Impulse and why I don't use Steam.  Steam always has to run and acts as a DRM client in the process. 

I'm pretty happy with GOO.  I mean it's pretty painless as far as online DRM goes.  I'd be really happy if all or at least most of the DRM'd games on Impulse used it.  Though, that's probably just hoping for the moon.

You can "Download and Archive" in Impulse. Granted, that uses much more space because it archives the entire game but storage space isn't too expensive anymore.

Have Jeff send you his laptop. Then you can install the game, patch it and send it right back to him. But joking aside, I'm not sure when GOO personalizes the game. If it is pre-install (and not pre-archive) you could send Jeff your downloaded and archived Version (you need to deinstall first to get the current version of the game though). Only problem: Jeff would need to log into Impulse once however to validate his account though. So a internet connection is still needed, but because of the little bandwidth and time needed it might just be feasible.

No, that does not work as the archive needs to be reactivated upon restore unless the game was already activated on the same machine and the activation files remain.  About the only point of the archive & backup is to compress the gamedata if you want to free space when you aren't actively playing. All I was really suggesting is someway to back it up without ANY dependence on system it is installed to or ACTIVATION to a server as those are not guaranteed more than a few years from now.

There is already an offline install method available.  That would require the person without internet to get a thumbdrive mailed/given to them with the offline installer, they then run the installer to generate the unique hardware hash for ONE machine, send it to the friend with internet who can then use this info to download a offline install package, and finally send it back to be installed. One problem with this method is last time I checked there is no way to patch the offline install package, thus every new version requires a complete redownloaded.

Realistically most of the major releases from Stardock do get cracked and released on the net on release day even with zero day patches (i.e. Gal Civ 2, Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod, etc.), all I am looking for is a way for a legitimate user to archive for the future.  Given that I need to be using Impulse to patch the game it is verifiable I have a legit copy, it seems very easy for them to allow an archiving option that avoids the need to reactivate.  Even if this means that my personal info is encrypted and embedded in the archive (i.e. if they need the ability to track any user to dissuade from sharing), but as I already said Impulse seems easy enough for the hackers to break the day it is released anyway.  Also Impulse doesn't even prevent casual copying as once activated it is good to go on that machine and no longer calls home, so the issue I am talking about really relates to archiving for future use in the years to come. 

Sorry to rant, but I dislike the movement towards "software as a service" leases, no matter how much of a baby step the particular DRM methodology is taking forward it is still the wrong direction.

That's basically the RIAA's approach. Sue anyone with a mp3 on a server for 10 gazillion dollars. How's that working out for them so far?

Just went back over some old posts and replies and saw the responses of the other posters on this thread.  Thought others who are interested in this topic or new to impulse(like I was) would like to read.  Basically just bringing this up on que for people to see.  I also hope at some point Stardock can respond to this thread. 

Nonsense. You erroneously assume that threats of jail time are an effective deterrent, and even that the point of incarceration is the same. If that were the case, there would be no murderers or pot smokers or tax evaders.

The reality is that piracy is an expected reaction of the marketplace to conditions that attempt to manipulate it. For example, if the government were to suddenly make it illegal to drink alcohol, the marketplace would react by opening up secretive pubs for patrons to illegally imbibe the stuff. Oh wait, that already happened once! You see, the reality is that the market will try to consume whatever its participants want to consume--laws and other methods meant to restrict it simply cause expansions of the grey and black segments of that part of the market.

Use of force (or threats thereof), such as jail time, only alter the nature and supply-chains of markets, not its consumption patterns. Our current situation is a result of consumer perceived disparities due to the availability of new digital distribution methods. Hence, the grey market expanded (i.e., consumer piracy, which by-the-by, has existed for decades and is not in any way a new element ... anyone who used BBS' enough during the 70s and 80s can testify to this).

What will "solve" it? Lower product prices relative to broader market access (i.e., global vs. regional) and the less-expensive digital distribution options (look at the vastly increased sales of games currently experimenting with this on Steam for an excellent evidential basis), as well as better product quality (primarily through increased consumer participation in product development cycles, as with Elemental, alongside more refined iterative-development processes used by developers). 

Many companies treat consumers badly, in the current environment, ironically in the name of higher profits--ironic because higher profits would be achieved through strategies better aligned with the consumer marketplace, not through Statist-centric methods such as lawsuits, hostile DRM and lobbyist pursuit of new laws meant to expand copyright enforcement.

After all, how are consumers supposed to react when they are restricted in often abhorrent ways--regional coding of products, attempts to enforce untenable product use/installment options, and even the occasional and ethically bankrupt use of technology to gain advantage over consumers, pirate or not, such as Sony's Rootkit fiasco.

No, neither jail-time nor DRM are the answer, though the majority of companies already know as much. DRM is not really an anti-piracy tool, after all, it is a method meant to extract more money from consumers by maintaining "title" monopolies, via copyright, and by increasing primary market sales alongside a simultaneous reduction of secondary-market product exchange (i.e., used, or consumer-to-consumer). That is, DRM is about short-term profit strategies that come at a cost to consumers--and most of us don't find it agreeable.