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USER UNFRIENDLY
Unfriendly DRM Systems
Existing DRM systems have contributed to destroying customer relationships and trust by impinging, inconveniencing and even impugning honest customers. We have all heard the horror stories. You install a game only to discover that the DRM used is trying to estimate the angle between the first and last sector on the CD and, in the process, fries your CD reader. Another example: a user cannot copy any 16 bit .exe file to a different location because that functionality has been disabled on the entire system to make sure that the latest installed (16-bit) application cannot be copied to a different system. All, of course, without the user’s knowledge.
Many DRM systems are unfriendly to the publisher’s development schedule
Add steps to the development process, extending the total development time Add complications to every update of the product Add to the testing process
Most of existing DRM systems affects gamers negatively
Disables copy functionality without querying or informing the gamer Locks the application to the computer and prevents moving it to another system Requires the user to contact customer support if the hardware the application is locked to changes ever so slightly Lacks the ability to permit using one license for multiple systems
Gamers’ and Vendors’ Reactions
A multitude of blogs, forums and news articles displays gamer and vendor dissatisfaction. Common reactions include:
Gamers feel treated as criminals when a license cannot be moved from one system to another or doing so requires contacting the publisher Customer support departments suffer large volumes of calls related to DRM preventing gamers from previously acceptable actions Vendors’ reputations are damaged when the DRM employed affects the gamers negatively
What if you could control copying and keep all your honest customers happy?
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