I know, after all my time being on GOG, I should probably confidently know what DRM is. What I get from it is that once you buy a game, play it once on one computer, you can't ever play it on another? For example, I own multiple games on Steam, and sometimes when I start a game up, it shows me a little code before it launches. Does this code signify DRM? If so, am I screwed once I scrap this computer an get another?

No - even with Steam, you just have to install Steam and re-download your games, to play them on your new computer.
They are not that bad.

;)

EDIT: forgot Steam after install...

It's a subjective matter, but it all has to do with restrictions.

The more DRM there is, the more restrictions there are.

No DRM: Install it, good to go!
Lite DRM: Serial Key
Common DRM: Install, connect online at least once for activation, play!
Draconian: Always online required, even for single player / limited activations period

There are pretty broad definitions of what DRM is. But basically, it's a mechanism that prevents you from using the software in any fashion you like (legally, of course). So in the case of games, if it prevents you from playing offline, installing on another computer you own, starting up without first activating on a remote server, etc, then it's DRM.

In the case of your Steam games, they're tied to your account, so you can DL the Steam client on any of your computers and install your game once you sign into your account on the Steam client. IMO, Steam is DRM because you cannot install your Steam-purchased games on an offline computer since they have to be activated on the client at least once. It's a relatively mild form of DRM, but it's still DRM.

There actually is DRM around that gives you a limited number of installations, remember the infamous "Spore".
It has become the most commonly pirated game of the time because of that afair.

Can you really prove that Spore was one of the most pirated games because of DRM? It could be one of the reasons why it was pirated so much, but saying that the game was pirated solely because of that is a bold claim that needs some evidence. The Witcher 2 was DRM-free and was also one of the most pirated games at the time. How do you explain that?

Ahhhhhh, thank you very much guys. I understand it much better now.

Though I have read that the DRM'd disc version of Witcher 2 was pirated more than the DRM-free GOG version. So to me it seems DRM does make piracy look good (at least for a select group)

In nutshell, if a game or software is DRM-free you can copy it as much as you want and install it on as many computers as you want. You can give DRM-free game or software to your friends and they can give it so on without any technical restrictions.

->> so while you technically can do this to any game on GOG, its ofcourse against the user license - but thats different matter altogether and not to be mixed with DRM.

DRM Steam uses means that you cant copy that game for anyone else. You can install it as many times as you want on as many computers you want, but you have to use the Steam platform and your Steam account to be able to play the game. To me that is ok - to some that is pure poison.

There are even stricter DRM ofcourse, like number of installation limits, which would mean that you can only install the game/program certain amount of times after which its no longer possible.

"Always online DRM" means you need to be always connected to internet to be able to play the game etc.

I think some Steam games may have that always online thing, but am not certain. In the past there were some titles with fixed number of installations, but i think those have been changed to unlimited later. But again, cant remember for sure. All the good stuff is always behind lock and key right? ;)

The DRMed disc version was THE pirated version not because of DRM itself, but because that the official scene release was indeed the one with DRM. Why would a cracking group "brag" about a release when the game was already DRM-free to begin with. And there are a few rules in the scene as well. For example, no cracking group can release the same game that another group has already released unless it's "nuked" or something. That's why the DRMed version is the only one available.

I'm getting old i had one of this security thing with my pc version of Beauty and the beast.

There's other DRM. DRM can also be extra required programs. For Free-to-play i've seen DRM that runs in the background and won't let you run the game unless select programs you might be using are disabled to prevent 'cheating'.

Then there's physical DRM heavily used today is signed licensing. Maybe that's the wrong name for it, but it uses public key encryption of 2048bits to encrypt a signature that the OS needs to see as 'ok' before it will run it. This is common for most consoles. PS2 and PS1 were based on a particular physical media for how the disc was made and is read.

For music and media the data can be encrypted/signed and then only hardware that has those keys and protocols can decode them (iPad/iTunes and Zune for example).

I think that's far too much of a stretch. Going by your logic, every anti-cheat engine would be considered DRM (including Punkbuster, which quite a few DRM-free games use).

Maybe. I've had games refuse to run when i have AutoHotKeys running in the background (my own scripts), no regards as to why i have those scripts running. Besides if someone's going to cheat, they will find a way to cheat anyways.