Today, I feel a little edgy. Perhaps it's the fact that the holidays are now over, and my return to work is looming close at hand. Or perhaps it's because I'm beginning to come down with a wonderful case of the flu. Whatever the reason, today felt like the perfect time for another railing at an issue within the games industry. And what a coincidence that an issue to rail against just happened to fall in my lap once more. I decided to unwind today by installing my copy of Assassins Creed III, recently purchased from a Steam sale, and fire it up.But only after I had jumped through a half dozen DRM hoops that Ubisoft has been so kind to include.
I get the intention behind DRM being used to prevent or discourage piracy, I really do, and I have no love of video game piracy myself. But I can't help but feel that Ubisoft, and other companies with similar practices, are just going about it the wrong way. The blatant brick wall in between me and my legitimately purchased game is taking it too far.
Ubisoft's current DRM system essentially consists of a proprietary portal called UPlay, which needs to be running(and connected to Ubisoft's server no less) whenever your game is running. The system itself requires you to have a personal UPlay account. So if this is your first Ubisoft game, you get the privilege of going through the creation process, confirmation emails etc. If you're like me and had an account, there is still the enormous chance that you have forgotten your password, seeing as you likely haven't played a Ubisoft game since the last Assassins Creed title. I'm not sure the system could be more obtrusive if they tried
The fact that the system then has the audacity to try and sell me content is just the cherry on top.
Is this my reward for being a conscious consumer, and purchasing my game legitimately through Steam? Steam already has its own - much less obtrusive - validation system to begin with, just to add another question of UPlay's necessity. Why is every legitimate consumer being forced to pay the price for Piracy? Not that I'm overly surprised at Ubisoft's handling of the PC market, they have never been the platforms biggest fan. But the fact remains, they are simply missing the point.
People who are going to pirate your game are set in their ways before the game even hits the market. A DRM system isn't going to stop them, because everyone knows any DRM system will be broken eventually. It may take more time, but that is time they are willing to wait. So if at best you are stalling them for time, why is the burden on your paying customers? I have to believe that the number of sales you gain by converting pirates to customers through DRM is far less than the number of paying customers you alienate with the same practice. I didn't pay retail price for the privilege of proving that I own the game. Enough is enough.
To Ubisoft, the message is simple: respect your gamers, and they will respect you. Nothing more.
