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.

[Sifright]

Flawed approach if the defects can be read by a drive then they can be emulated. The approach has been tried before all it led to was either perfect copies of the image ( clone cd/dvd ) or the checks are cracked regardless.

[Mannix]

The problem with dongles or other physical protections is that it pretty much shuts out digital distribution which is the single largest growth sector in PC gaming. Doesn't Steam account for something like 25% of PC game sales already?

[Azisien]

Originally Posted by Mannix

The problem with dongles or other physical protections is that it pretty much shuts out digital distribution which is the single largest growth sector in PC gaming. Doesn't Steam account for something like 25% of PC game sales already?

I think it was more like 5-10% last I read, but the thing that is currently exploding is the growth of that sector. It's not huge right now, but it will be.

[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

[Seil]

Unaltered quote:

Seil, that's...that's not even remotely the same thing. I...

Okay yeah sorry, brain's hurting.

You insulted me just because I worded something wrongly while trying to add to a conversation? I could give a long-winded speech about how the only reason to to play those games would be the swag you could get, or that Atari was one of the first to do a contest like that, in order to cover my original post - but looking back at that, I worded it wrongly, and drew attention to the prizes rather than the actual purchase bonuses.

I think it was more like 5-10% last I read, but the thing that is currently exploding is the growth of that sector. It's not huge right now, but it will be.

Which is a shame, because Steam is infuriating.

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[Azisien]

Originally Posted by Seil

[COLOR=pink]Which is a shame, because Steam is infuriating.

Well, Steam isn't the only platform out there, probably just the main one. But it's a shame you find it infuriating, I find its my favourite platform for gaming right now. I think almost half of my whole library is on Steam now.

Now that's not to say I couldn't come up with problems, or suggestions for improvement. Technically under the subscriber agreement Valve could just go "fuck you" and your games are gone. This would cause an obvious siege of Valve headquarters, but it's something to worry about as the industry shifts.

I also think gifting and "trading" should exist within Steam in some capacity. Well, gifting exists, but I find it shitty. However, gifting and trading to the extent I'd like to see would require Steam hiding the game CD keys from their purchasers, which is bound to piss people off I guess. Ah well.