Things that should be done to break the piracy debate.

[Mirai Gen]

Originally Posted by Seil

And the t-shirts, the comic books, whatever.

Unaltered quote:

I also remember a time when you got actual swag in with your purchase.

Originally Posted by Seil

What, like a gold sword, crown, chalice and a Philosopher's Stone? You crazy man, you crazy.

Anyway.

It has occurred to me that an interesting way to prevent piracy is to embed a CD key in an image using stenography corresponding to the CD key provided for the player. What initially looks like nothing more than promotional art could actually hold an encrypted copy of the CD key for verification after a registration process, so that if a key is faked or somehow doesn't match, or the picture is not included, the game will have some sort of impaired function. Or if not a picture, possibly the game icon file, since nobody would intentionally delete that.

Uh, what?

I don't think image files work that way. Even if they did I don't understand what would be DRM about it; a copied CD like that would have the same data on it, and it would check with itself and agree that yes, this is in fact the right key!

The only way to verify that is via internet connection.

Aaaaaaaaaaand here we are.

[Yumil]

I had a weird idea:

Let's go back to the era of requiring a play disk. Now, now, I'm not saying just forcing the player to just have any disk in the drive(emulated or whatever)... I'm talking about a tailor made disk.

What do I mean? Well, I don't mean the data will be any different from everyone elses disk and the code to for the multitude of checks would be the same, but I'm saying they should develop a manufacturing process to physically alter the disk, in essence put defects in it that should by all events and purposes corrupt key data.

Oh NOES, they can't play their disk with corrupted data. Or can they? Thats where their unique cd-key comes in. You see, their play disk has been altered with the cd-key in mind and the defects are all fixable with it as a code

Sure, one would have to develop a process for this and it'd be pretty costly, but it kind of implements the dongle approach, which can be very effective, by making the play disk the dongle and the cd-key the key. It'd be hard to duplicate or even emulate the play disk, and if one would put key gameplay data on the play disk, it would take time to create a workaround, which gives you more sells before it is finally pirated. All that, and it's offline No need to keep paying a server bill long after the games out of print.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by DFM

Maybe I'm not reading this right but what?

Originally Posted by Mirai Gen

Uh, what?

I don't think image files work that way. Even if they did I don't understand what would be DRM about it; a copied CD like that would have the same data on it, and it would check with itself and agree that yes, this is in fact the right key!

The only way to verify that is via internet connection.

Aaaaaaaaaaand here we are.

Okay, what I'm talking about is called "stenography," which is the science of hiding data in an image. By slightly altering the colors of the image, usually so little that it's impossible to tell the difference, it is possible to store encrypted data, such as messages or even other images. The idea I'm explaining involves a one-time online registration the first time an Internet connection is detected. The user registers the game or faces limitations imposed on the game until they do, which registers their printed CD key with a given computer, user account, etc. The server stores this information for future registration attempts and first-runs. If a person wants to pass on the game to someone else, they will have to de-register the key either on their own or by calling some sort of hotline. When the server has registered their info, it tells the program the key the user entered and the game executable uses stenography to modify the icon file to store it, storing a copy in itself, as well, along with the computer's MAC address. This creates a totally unique icon file that the game then can compare to its own data. If the two match, the game is good to go. If not, the game is not good to go. If the MAC address does not match that of the current computer on a start-up check, it's considered a first run and the key has to be re-entered. At that point, the key has to match that stored in the icon AND the rest of the account info has to be good. If one key keeps being accessed for registration, it can be automatically locked. We're thinking in terms of maybe three strikes here without a de-registration due to the MAC address. If it's being put on a third computer using the same key in the period of a week, lockdown. If it's not the owner's fault, they should be provided with some way of verifying their purchase, such as a digital receipt if it's an online buy or a proof of purchase on the box. If it keeps happening, no more new key

This approach relies on a few factors:
- pirates aren't going to take more than 50% off of sales unless they're only doing it for friends at a slow pace (oversimplifying, of course)
- pirates can't bullshit keys if the icon already holds one to compare, making them have to use a fresh install and guess, and the randomness of keys means that if it's valid, they're either not hurting a valid buyer or are hurting themselves by posting what they used
- the game will not work right without the icon holding the info
- the info is encrypted, anyway, so it's not exactly easy to change
- after the initial registration, it's totally offline for the buyer unless they change their motherboard or want to de-register and re-register to update their info
- at any point, the original buyer can verify their purchase and get a new key, so long as they don't keep giving it out to others