Interview RPG Codex Interview: Might & Magic X - Legacy

[Infinitron]

Anti-DRM activists really need to get a life.

To paraphrase Skyway: Fuck DRM. Fuck anti-DRM. Support good games.

 

[Zeriel]

I can live without Steam/DRM too, I think Steam is a load of bullshit, and I only load it up when I play multiplayer games. My point, though, is that if you want to steal something, steal it. Don't justify it as sticking it to the man, some virtuous stance against injustice. I sure don't. I pirate things because it's easy and there's no downside. Then pay $$ for the few games that I want to see keep getting made.

 

[IDtenT]

I'm a Jew.

 

[janjetina]

This game having DRM means that I will not spend my money on it. I will install and play a cracked copy.

Pray tell, what stops you from buying the game and then using the cracked copy with a good conscience?

Lack of good conscience, I guess (though that's in fact what I usually do when I like a game that has some sort of copy protection that is not overly intrusive according to my criteria - I buy a game, but always install a cracked copy). I want the publisher to lose money because intrusive malware is a part of their product. Once a version that contains no malware comes out, I will buy it.

 

[mondblut]

Especially with grid-based movement which makes everything take twice as long.

LOLWUT?

With the world cleared of monsters, hold the "up" button in WoX, and you'll hit the opposite edge of the world in about 20 seconds. Unless they insist on keeping the slow-ass seasick swaggering motion that pretends to imitate walking, which has nothing to do with grid-based movement, is borrowed from free-movement shooters and works exactly the same whether the grid is there or not.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, presumably promoting DRM use by purchasing games that use it would prevent a good conscience.

Political consumption is bullshit.

Politics period are bullshit, but there's really no other way to influence things more powerful than yourself. I mean, I could become a terrorist and murder some proponents of DRM, but that'd be a one time affair and not really a worth while endeavour.

Besides, where the fuck do you think this game came from if not political consumption? WTF do you think Kickstarter is? If all the money that went towards Wasteland 2 had instead gone towards horse armor DLC, we wouldn't be seeing this shit right now.

 

[Grunker]

Well, presumably promoting DRM use by purchasing games that use it would prevent a good conscience.

Political consumption is bullshit.

there's really no other way to influence things more powerful than yourself.

Political consumption isn't a way to influence things. That's why it's bullshit. It doesn't work.

You really want to make a difference here, there's consumer politics, parlamentarism or other channels. The ultimate pinnacle of consumer arrogance, individual idiocy and buying into market-hoax is "voting with your wallet."

Don't pirate to send a message or avoid buying DRM because you don't want to support it. Pirate because you don't want DRM or whatever and don't buy DRM because it's personally frustrating to you.

You want to change something, seek other venues that your personal consumption of goods.

 

[Tramboi]

His point is valid : how kickstarting games is not "voting with ones wallet"?

 

[Infinitron]

His point is valid : how kickstarting games is not "voting with ones wallet"?

You pledged for Wasteland 2 because you wanted a turn-based top-down post-apocalyptic RPG from some of the makers of the original Fallout games, not because you were supporting an ideological/political cause.

"Voting with your wallet" is an emergent property, it's not something you do intentionally.

 

[Grunker]

His point is valid : how kickstarting games is not "voting with ones wallet"?

You pledged for Wasteland 2 because you wanted a turn-based top-down post-apocalyptic RPG

This.

 

[tuluse]

The real problem with "voting with your wallet" with regards to anything that's not a commodity item is that you're actually voting on like a 100 different things which you may or may not care about/agree with/etc. You have no idea if what you intended to "vote" on will be heard, if anyone is even listening, or if they'll even hear the right message.

I don't care much for blobbers, so I probably won't buy this game, does that mean I'm against DRM?

 

[Tramboi]

Yes but giving that much money for a game, moreso a preorder, is a statement of some sort (at least for me).

 

[Damned Registrations]

The real problem with "voting with your wallet" with regards to anything that's not a commodity item is that you're actually voting on like a 100 different things which you may or may not care about/agree with/etc. You have no idea if what you intended to "vote" on will be heard, if anyone is even listening, or if they'll even hear the right message.

I don't care much for blobbers, so I probably won't buy this game, does that mean I'm against DRM?

How is this any different than voting for a political candidate? Nobody you vote for is going to epitomize your ideals precisely, and you have no idea if they'll think you voted for them because of the shit you agree with them on or disagree.

I consider voting in any regard to generally be a waste of time anyways, and personally pay for things on the basis of thinking whoever is getting the money deserves it more than other parties might have. I don't think ubisoft really deserves money here with their shit DRM policies, but Limbic sure as hell does, assuming the game is what it says on the tin.

And you've no idea how many people were primarily interested in a post apocalyptic turn based rpg vs how many just wanted to fund an indie dev making an oldschool game in a genre declared dead (without crippling DRM, shocker). It's not like Wasteland 2 was the only game funded through kickstarter, or the first game to make it's promises.

A HUGE reason kickstarter and preorder alphas are so successful is because people have been growing sick of publisher bullshit for a long time and want to cut them out of the loop. If the exact same pitch for wasteland 2 had been made by Bethesda, it probably would have gotten just as much if not more money from Bethesda fanboys. But it also would have lost a lot of the backers who want nothing to do with that company or any like it. They're not all buying in for the same reasons.

 

[Grunker]

Yes but giving that much money for a game, moreso a preorder, is a statement of some sort (at least for me).

It's a statement no one hears, and even if they heard it they wouldn't understand it.

How is this any different than voting for a political candidate?

Your vote is directly (directly) tied to him being voted in or not.

 

[Damned Registrations]

What difference does that make? My purchase of a game is DIRECTLY tied to a company going bankrupt or not.

 

[Tramboi]

Yes but giving that much money for a game, moreso a preorder, is a statement of some sort (at least for me).

It's a statement no one hears, and even if they heard it they wouldn't understand it.

As with most political votes in biparty democracies

Don't you think Ubi heard it a bit for M&M X?

 

[tuluse]

What difference does that make? My purchase of a game is DIRECTLY tied to a company going bankrupt or not.

This is probably about to go straight to /gd/ but I'll answer. First, let me preface this only applies to US politics. Now, in the political system in the US rarely are decisions actually made by voters. What I mean by this is that platform for the candidate is informed by the groups of people who are interested enough to get in early, then filtered through the primary voters. That plus the candidates own personal ideology is what creates the choices the general vote is for. You'll notice at each step there is inclusion in the process. It's up to you to get involved, but there is nothing stopping a person from doing so. This is why issues that affect a small percentage of people, like gay rights, gets so much attention because the people get themselves involved.

With the traditional publisher model for making a video game, there is no inclusion. The dev makes it, and then consumer decides whether or not he will buy it and that's all the interaction there is.

So in a sense you're right. If your only involvement in the political process is voting in national elections, your vote is probably near useless at voicing what you want to happen the same as "voting with your wallet".

Kickstarter has changed this model significantly by including more people, who are interested, earlier in the process. This is one of the reasons Fargo has given for liking it so much, and I'm inclined to believe him.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Putting all that aside, politics wasn't the point I was originally making to begin with. There's a moral difference between finding violent gifs funny and enjoying them because they're there, and paying someone to produce such a thing and thereby incentivizing their creation This is different in degree, (nobody is risking their lives to make DRM filled shit games, alas) but not in principle. There's a clear difference between benefiting from a thing and creating/funding a thing. A more extreme example would be inhumane medical experimentation. Using that information to save lives is different than paying someone for that information. The later explicitly condones it.

 

[tuluse]

If you find DRM morally reprehensible and don't want to support it that's fine. Just don't imagine you're making some kind of statement that will be heard.

 

[Koschey]

Character is what you are in the dark.

 

[Crispy]

I could understand if one objected to the more tangible disadvantages of DRM clients like UPlay and the like such as their potential impact on download performance, their slight impact on system performance -- hell, even the color of their system tray icon offending your sense of style. But to turn your back on what will obviously be a quality old-school game, one of very, very few seeing the light of day in today's popamole-dominated market, solely because you feel it's too morally intrusive or objectionable, being DRM-protected as it is, seems just too self-defeating for me.

What exactly is it? Is it the perception that some kind of tracking of your behavior is going on? Is it that you can't stand something like Steam knowing how long you've been playing one of their games?

What exactly are those of you who conscientiously object to UPlay, et al, afraid of? Or ashamed of, shall I say?

 

[Damned Registrations]

It's a matter of principle, not tangible effect. The thing is, by the time the tangible effect is bothersome enough to be a serious problem, it'll be far too late to do anything about it. Consider DLC. Horse armor is bullshit, but it doesn't really detract from the game in any severe way. But here we are now, years later, and now games are being released that have more content in the DLC than the game itself, and have total costs of 120$+ Uplay isn't the worst thing out there, but it's a stepping stone on the way to what Diablo 3 and Simcity and SC2 have done.

It is the very idea that it is permissible to sacrifice game quality and irritate every single paying customer for the sake of irritating some pirates as well for a few days (after which they actually have the superior product) is what is offensive. It's like going into see a mechanic to have your car fixed and see him do some fucking intricate scientology ritual before getting to work. It didn't hurt anything really, but the guy is clearly a fucking idiot and it would be far preferable to find someone who didn't do that shit. Even the guy next door who rubs his lucky charm multiheaded cock statuette is preferable to the even crazier guy.

 

[tuluse]

Well I'll just say this. Steam doesn't irritate me. In fact it's reduced my irritation because I haven't had to search for a cd-key in years thanks to Steam.

I suspect with the always online requirement removed, uPlay will give a similar experience.

 

[Crispy]

I don't see the correlation between DRM and DLC. M&M X hasn't mentioned anything about DLC, why would UPlay's presence therefore dissuade you from enjoying it other than the conscientious decision?

I actually dislike UPlay but for different reasons. As "game-tracking, ooh let us categorize all your achievements" retard-ware it does a pretty bad job. It's slow, it's clunky and it's ugly. Steam IMO is only marginally better, with its performance fluctuating over the years. Those reasons could dissuade me from purchasing/playing games under their protection if the attraction to the game weren't strong enough. But in M&M X's case I'm more than happy to bear with it because of the very bright prospects of the game itself.

UPlay isn't going to affect the gameplay of M&M X at all, as far as I can tell. After that, all we're left with here is a moral choice, to which I say you're just beating yourself up over it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I had exactly zero problems with UPlay when playing Assassin's Creed III*. The registration was quick and easy, the program loaded up fast enough and didn't slow down my computer or anything. I had about the same experience with it as I have with Steam, really.

*