Ten Most Annoying DRM Methods
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Again this isn't strictly DRM, but no conversation of gaming copy protection history would be complete reminiscing on the days when it was all about the manual. Any older PC gamer will remember when they had to whip out the documentation every few hours just to get the game to trust them again, and most recall being thwarted by Leisure Suit Larry's infamous trivia-based age check (an even more difficult task now as the questions were designed for today's fifty year-olds). Not as annoying as Lenslok, manual-based protection was however significantly more pervasive. There's no telling how many gaming man-hours were taken from players who had lost their manuals and were instead relegated to guessing the name of the mustachioed man on page 14.
And then there's BioShock and Mass Effect with SecuROM activation limits at #5:
Today, the Sony-owned SecuROM is the DRM method of choice for publishers including 2K Games and EA. And for seemingly every game that uses it, the process of customer annoyance and public outcry is the same:
1. The game comes out
2. There is immediate forum backlash, usually directed at the limited number of times each game can be installed before refusing to function
3. Each publisher tells the world again why DRM is necessary; claiming that it only hinders a vocal minority
4. Each publisher loosens the policy somewhat, causing the forum trolls to schism and deflating the attack
BioShock, one of the oldest games in this cyclical legacy of SecuROM complaining, recently added a fifth step removing install limits after the product has done the majority of its sales. It remains to be seen whether other SecuROM-protected products including Spore, Mass Effect, and the still unreleased Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 will follow suit. In the meantime, consumers will continue to deride SecuROM's migraine-inducing install limits, and this tiresome battle be fought over and over.
#1? StarForce, of course.
