Adokat: Games have had DRM for a very long time. Is a CD key really the only acceptable form of DRM? Maybe it's a generational thing, but I don't see a CD key check being any less onerous than other methods. If anything, I'd need it explained to me how digital sites are worse. They give a backup of my purchase, so I can't lose some tiny scrap of paper and be unable to install my game again. Seems better to me, in terms of reliability and convenience.
hedwards: The answer to that is yes it is significantly less onerous, because I can burn a backup copy of my disc, and keep with it a spare copy of the key. Backing up is easily accomplished without the need for cracks and worrying about getting caught doing something that I have the legal right to do.
On top of that I can install whenever I like, whether or not I have an internet connection at that point. Same can not be said for most other types of DRM.
You can just transfer your Steam games to a hard drive-even a USB thumb drive, if you like. Backing up is easily accomplished without the need for cracks and worrying about getting caught doing something that I have the legal right to do.
On top of that I can install whenever I like, whether or not I have an internet connection at that point. (Sound familiar?)
Like I said, what's the difference, except that with a CD I'm still screwed if I lose the key.
To Dark Phoenix: (sorry don't know how to quote you both in the same post):
Point taken about the potential for all your Steam games to fail. But there's an awful lot of 'ifs' in your post, and you'll forgive me if it all seems extremely unlikely. At any rate, it's not a compelling reason to refuse to play games that use it, though it's a valid reason to choose a competitor, instead. I want to be clear that I'm not advocating for any particular digital retailer, just that there are plenty of DRM which are reliable and unobtrusive.
If you were in my shoes, would you have any reason to stop using games that require DRM? That's what it comes down to, for me. Thanks to drm-using digital download sites(and GoG) I rarely buy games over $10-15. This year, I'll only have made 4 full-price purchases-Dragon Age 2, The Witcher 2, Portal 2, and Deus Ex 3. Last year, I think I only bought 3 games full price. If there were some sort of appreciable downside to this, I'd be more hesitant, but the explosive growth of places like Steam (at a time when people claim PC gaming is dead) makes it hard for me to believe that they're as unreliable as you say.
Again, I'm just using Steam as the most well-known example. Even if you have this fear of using the Steam client, there's still D2D and GG. I fully understand those who don't buy games using Ubisoft DRM, but I see a clear distinction between them and these other places.
However, I still don't see the clear distinction between, say, D2D asking me to enter a CD key, and the game keys I grew up entering with boxed copies. It's all DRM. It all requires half a minute's inconvenience, and in very rare circumstances it may not work. Big deal, I'll take those chances. It won't stop me from playing a Valve title. I guess I'm lucky to be among the tens of millions of whom Steam has miraculously not screwed over.
