Posted November 04, 2014
high rated
Below is the complete e-mail I have just sent Rockstars support. Again they have SecurRom in a game and again I am better off just pirating the game then buying it. So I snapped and went on a rant.
I thought I would post this here as a few of the guys trying to pull in Rockstar might want a heads up I just set them back probably over a decade.
Below is what I sent them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
After a week of getting nowhere I though I would send this e-mail.
To the help desk recipient - please hand this on to your supervisor.
To the supervisor please hand this onto the manager.
Manager please do make sure that at least one head of your company, and preferably every shareholder reads this e-mail.
I have spent a long time writing this up, and although it is not perfect I would hate for it to go to waste.
E- mail begins
------------------------------
Rockstar you use to be one of my favourite developers along with Core Design. I enjoyed playing your GTA games. I loved Lemmings when you were DMA, there are just so many good memories of your past successes.
Then a little over a year ago I was gifted a GamersGate copy of GTA SA (my personal favourite GTA) by my brother. I was ecstatic, until I downloaded it and found that due to the SecurRom you had laced it with the game slowly ran itself down until it was nothing more then a jittery mess. It had to be the SecurRom as my DVD version ran without issue on the same machine, installed along side each other to even check. Not one issue for the DVD.
So I spent time e-mailing a very helpful member of your support team and yet we got nowhere. I still suffered with the jittery game and he could not figure out why, but I know.
So after a time I just got bored of trying to sort it out, we had been e-mailing for more then a month. So I just downloaded a copy from Pirate Bay, after all you already got your money so sod it, I want to play the game I paid for, and this way it was even without the disc.
Well after hearing that all of the GTA's had now been pushed over to Steam only, I thought maybe you had listened to my advice last time I e-mailed and finally dropped SecurRom from your games. I read a few recent reviews and although people still thought GTA 4 was shit. No-one seemed to be listing SecurRom as an issue recently, so I bought it. I registered it on Steam and downloaded it.
It took me two whole days to download GTA 4 and EFLC, but hay, crappy internet.
Then it asked me for SecurRom again, and I knew things were going to be bad. I even began drafting this e-mail in my head, with a lot more expletives.
I tried authenticating the game, but SecureRom told me it was unable to connect, so I went down the manual route – nothing. Failure to connect to the server. Even from their own online code generator I get jack, no connection.
So I look online for the problem. The solution is easy. I want anyone above manager of support to take a guess.
I already gave you the answer...............
…..........
…..........
No?
Really no clue?
Well, anyone below support manager already knows the answer. I guess that is why you included SecurRom in your game again then.
The answer.....
PIRATE IT!
That is right I bought GTA IV legitimately and the best solution I get, - obviously SecurRom's answer is as useless as throwing hay at a fire to stop it (no answer, just an automated e-mail of – go here for FAQ). The best answer I get is to pirate the game. I could have saved myself £7, I could have used that to buy something else, something not riddled with DRM.
So anyway I though this needed to be written.
If I could be asked to drive up to Scotland I would have knocked on your door to tell you, but I am too lazy and Pirating is so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o much easier then dealing with you guys. So much easier that it so nearly was a just sod it decision.
Anyway, all the time you keep adding DRM into your games people like myself will just keep writing you off.
After all, Disney – yes, DI$N€¥ the money grabbing, customer trolling mouse – just released Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and Star Wars games on GOG.com. They do not have any DRM – NONE!!!
So I have already bought all of their game (no discount required to show my support – vote with your wallet) and will now be playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis this week while I consider if I will even do you the justice of becoming another one of your dreaded “pirates of our products”.
Yes I remember you CEO or such lying about how pirates were the reason Red Dead Redemption and GTA 5 would not be coming to PC.
I would guess the fact you make it more difficult to play your games legitimately, then from pirating might actually make more sense as a reason. The problem is how do you justify that to your shareholders and other interest, how do you explain that it was your (SecurRom decision makers) fault of adding unnecessary hoops that causes people like myself to even consider the thought about pirating a game.
Yes there is the risk of viruses, but you just added SecurRom to my system. It takes days to remove all of the code from the registry, and even then it has affected some necessary files by just running. You have already added a virus into my machine and you wanted my money to do it, at least the rouge pirates give them away for free.
I have e-mailed your company before about you adding your gaming collection to GOG.com, hell I even offered to buy the GTA's (1-SA) day one when they get there, you can even have an e-mailed image to see me having done it, I kid you not.
But if you keep making playing your games difficult then people will keep weighing up their options. Today you can make $1 billion in three days, so would it really hurt you to add an extra sales avenue to your portfolio?
Anyway, the message I want to get across to your CEO's et al, and please also pass this along to anyone to whom this might matter.
The message;
DRM = more pirates.
The reason, well come on guess...... just try.........
….............
….............
….............
Okay, we will look at it another way.
If I buy a ticket to a film and the usher then tells me, if I want to get in I also need to tell him the secret combination of adding a long series of numbers together, I am going to be annoyed?
I might not mind paying the ticket price, but is the film worth the head ache?
This is even more of a consideration when I am then told there is a back door. I need not pay the ticket price (saves me money) or do the maths (no headache), and I still get to watch the film.
That is DRM and that is why it can only increase piracy.
P.S.
After my initial draft I decided to just sod GTA 4. You can keep the £7. I got GTA 1 and 2 out of it.
I can live without your games, and should I find that impossible, we know there are other more attractive routes to take. Paths of least resistance and all that.
To the support worker – If you have gotten this far, thank-you for taking the time to read this, I know it was a little extensive, but I just do not think the people in charge of the games industry know what they are doing and I fear it turning into Hollywood where they just turn out crap and tell us gamers we love it (see Ubisoft and the 30FPS fiasco). Anyway your time is appreciated, as will the effort of you passing this on.
To the supervisor and manager – again thank-you for your time, passing this e-mail up would be appreciated.
To Rockstars decision makers if you think I have been patronising then you get how I feel when you riddle your games with sodding DRM. You need a wake up call, but unfortunately even if I showed you how to change your ways your a suit, and suits need someone else to move them.
So onto the shareholders – You can force a change, so please do.
No, you will not be getting an extra yacht this year by selling DRM-free games. What you will be doing though is opening your games to an entirely new portion of the market, those of us who prefer (or in the case of some, only buy DRM-free). Allowing us to feel we actually own our game, not rent it.
Believe me all DRM is renting, a server goes down and it is gone (a regular problem for my Steam account given my poor internet connection).
I have stated before I would buy GTA 1-SA on day one on GOG.com, and you can ask for proof. Not an issue. But I will only do that if I can have them DRM-free.
You can make my dreams and that of hundreds of thousands others come true. Just release Rockstars back catalogue of games DRM-free. The SecurRom is not that difficult to remove, if it were then there would not be 100+ downloads for GTA 4. Frankly whomever thought adding DRM to your games would be a good idea needs their head examined. Remove their company card today, and for gods sake take what they say in the future with a tub of salt.
I have money, you want money, but there is now a huge void of a problem!
Thank-you very much for reading,
Good luck with all your future attempts to ruin PC gaming, (I have seen you punishing people for not buying GTA 5 twice)
[Enter my real name here]
I thought I would post this here as a few of the guys trying to pull in Rockstar might want a heads up I just set them back probably over a decade.
Below is what I sent them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
After a week of getting nowhere I though I would send this e-mail.
To the help desk recipient - please hand this on to your supervisor.
To the supervisor please hand this onto the manager.
Manager please do make sure that at least one head of your company, and preferably every shareholder reads this e-mail.
I have spent a long time writing this up, and although it is not perfect I would hate for it to go to waste.
E- mail begins
------------------------------
Rockstar you use to be one of my favourite developers along with Core Design. I enjoyed playing your GTA games. I loved Lemmings when you were DMA, there are just so many good memories of your past successes.
Then a little over a year ago I was gifted a GamersGate copy of GTA SA (my personal favourite GTA) by my brother. I was ecstatic, until I downloaded it and found that due to the SecurRom you had laced it with the game slowly ran itself down until it was nothing more then a jittery mess. It had to be the SecurRom as my DVD version ran without issue on the same machine, installed along side each other to even check. Not one issue for the DVD.
So I spent time e-mailing a very helpful member of your support team and yet we got nowhere. I still suffered with the jittery game and he could not figure out why, but I know.
So after a time I just got bored of trying to sort it out, we had been e-mailing for more then a month. So I just downloaded a copy from Pirate Bay, after all you already got your money so sod it, I want to play the game I paid for, and this way it was even without the disc.
Well after hearing that all of the GTA's had now been pushed over to Steam only, I thought maybe you had listened to my advice last time I e-mailed and finally dropped SecurRom from your games. I read a few recent reviews and although people still thought GTA 4 was shit. No-one seemed to be listing SecurRom as an issue recently, so I bought it. I registered it on Steam and downloaded it.
It took me two whole days to download GTA 4 and EFLC, but hay, crappy internet.
Then it asked me for SecurRom again, and I knew things were going to be bad. I even began drafting this e-mail in my head, with a lot more expletives.
I tried authenticating the game, but SecureRom told me it was unable to connect, so I went down the manual route – nothing. Failure to connect to the server. Even from their own online code generator I get jack, no connection.
So I look online for the problem. The solution is easy. I want anyone above manager of support to take a guess.
I already gave you the answer...............
…..........
…..........
No?
Really no clue?
Well, anyone below support manager already knows the answer. I guess that is why you included SecurRom in your game again then.
The answer.....
PIRATE IT!
That is right I bought GTA IV legitimately and the best solution I get, - obviously SecurRom's answer is as useless as throwing hay at a fire to stop it (no answer, just an automated e-mail of – go here for FAQ). The best answer I get is to pirate the game. I could have saved myself £7, I could have used that to buy something else, something not riddled with DRM.
So anyway I though this needed to be written.
If I could be asked to drive up to Scotland I would have knocked on your door to tell you, but I am too lazy and Pirating is so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o much easier then dealing with you guys. So much easier that it so nearly was a just sod it decision.
Anyway, all the time you keep adding DRM into your games people like myself will just keep writing you off.
After all, Disney – yes, DI$N€¥ the money grabbing, customer trolling mouse – just released Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and Star Wars games on GOG.com. They do not have any DRM – NONE!!!
So I have already bought all of their game (no discount required to show my support – vote with your wallet) and will now be playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis this week while I consider if I will even do you the justice of becoming another one of your dreaded “pirates of our products”.
Yes I remember you CEO or such lying about how pirates were the reason Red Dead Redemption and GTA 5 would not be coming to PC.
I would guess the fact you make it more difficult to play your games legitimately, then from pirating might actually make more sense as a reason. The problem is how do you justify that to your shareholders and other interest, how do you explain that it was your (SecurRom decision makers) fault of adding unnecessary hoops that causes people like myself to even consider the thought about pirating a game.
Yes there is the risk of viruses, but you just added SecurRom to my system. It takes days to remove all of the code from the registry, and even then it has affected some necessary files by just running. You have already added a virus into my machine and you wanted my money to do it, at least the rouge pirates give them away for free.
I have e-mailed your company before about you adding your gaming collection to GOG.com, hell I even offered to buy the GTA's (1-SA) day one when they get there, you can even have an e-mailed image to see me having done it, I kid you not.
But if you keep making playing your games difficult then people will keep weighing up their options. Today you can make $1 billion in three days, so would it really hurt you to add an extra sales avenue to your portfolio?
Anyway, the message I want to get across to your CEO's et al, and please also pass this along to anyone to whom this might matter.
The message;
DRM = more pirates.
The reason, well come on guess...... just try.........
….............
….............
….............
Okay, we will look at it another way.
If I buy a ticket to a film and the usher then tells me, if I want to get in I also need to tell him the secret combination of adding a long series of numbers together, I am going to be annoyed?
I might not mind paying the ticket price, but is the film worth the head ache?
This is even more of a consideration when I am then told there is a back door. I need not pay the ticket price (saves me money) or do the maths (no headache), and I still get to watch the film.
That is DRM and that is why it can only increase piracy.
P.S.
After my initial draft I decided to just sod GTA 4. You can keep the £7. I got GTA 1 and 2 out of it.
I can live without your games, and should I find that impossible, we know there are other more attractive routes to take. Paths of least resistance and all that.
To the support worker – If you have gotten this far, thank-you for taking the time to read this, I know it was a little extensive, but I just do not think the people in charge of the games industry know what they are doing and I fear it turning into Hollywood where they just turn out crap and tell us gamers we love it (see Ubisoft and the 30FPS fiasco). Anyway your time is appreciated, as will the effort of you passing this on.
To the supervisor and manager – again thank-you for your time, passing this e-mail up would be appreciated.
To Rockstars decision makers if you think I have been patronising then you get how I feel when you riddle your games with sodding DRM. You need a wake up call, but unfortunately even if I showed you how to change your ways your a suit, and suits need someone else to move them.
So onto the shareholders – You can force a change, so please do.
No, you will not be getting an extra yacht this year by selling DRM-free games. What you will be doing though is opening your games to an entirely new portion of the market, those of us who prefer (or in the case of some, only buy DRM-free). Allowing us to feel we actually own our game, not rent it.
Believe me all DRM is renting, a server goes down and it is gone (a regular problem for my Steam account given my poor internet connection).
I have stated before I would buy GTA 1-SA on day one on GOG.com, and you can ask for proof. Not an issue. But I will only do that if I can have them DRM-free.
You can make my dreams and that of hundreds of thousands others come true. Just release Rockstars back catalogue of games DRM-free. The SecurRom is not that difficult to remove, if it were then there would not be 100+ downloads for GTA 4. Frankly whomever thought adding DRM to your games would be a good idea needs their head examined. Remove their company card today, and for gods sake take what they say in the future with a tub of salt.
I have money, you want money, but there is now a huge void of a problem!
Thank-you very much for reading,
Good luck with all your future attempts to ruin PC gaming, (I have seen you punishing people for not buying GTA 5 twice)
[Enter my real name here]
