As far as game launches go, SimCity would be in the ‘calamitous’ category. My work colleague Andrew pre-ordered SimCity some weeks ago, he even signed up for the pre-release beta (which apparently didn’t work that well either). Come launch day he ignored the calls of his wife to come to bed, in order to cram some highly anticipated SimCity action in his evening, since then his perception of the game has wavered ever so slightly.

‘I had to connect to US servers..’, ‘I waited 2 hours for updates..’, ‘You gotta get the full pack to make it worth while’. Although he’s obsessed with the game, and is surely one of the more fortunate ones that have managed some considerable game time, there are others who haven’t been, in the words of Kylie Minogue, so lucky.

Considering the hype the game has generated, one would think there would be more scrutiny on the viability of always-on DRM (Digital Rights Management) gaming, or in simple terms; constantly online copy protection.

DRM is not a new concept, in fact DRM has been around since the 1970s and has survived in many guises through the years, mainly affecting the consumer’s ability to copy or ‘pirate’ a game. For those that may remember, any game from the late 80s or early 90s would prompt you to enter the second word of the fifth line of the third paragraph on page 24 of the manual.

God save me.

Although always-on DRM is quickly becoming a hotbed of discussion for gamers and pundits alike, the sole purpose of DRM from the perspective of the software producers, is the protect the marginalised profits of their releases. For others, always-on DRM is an evil necessity that prevents theft. 

Opening up for just a moment, I have played both purchased and pirated games, although my reasons for both are fairly agricultural. When I was a teen, the likelihood that I would have insufficient funds to purchase the array of games I was being marketed to, was extremely high. As I moved from a teen in adulthood, and discretionary income increases, the likelihood that I’ll be purchasing hard-copy games exponentially grows, because of my ability to become part of market demand.

Basically, my income determines my need to pirate, and given that the average age of the gamer is 32, one can argue that the average gamer has the discretionary income and is willing to purchase their games if it gives them the right to play offline. So please take note EA Games.

I feel as if the Simcity release has received enough attention in the media and social circles already, most of the emphasis has been placed on EA Games’ choice to make arguably their largest non-sports release of 2013, an always-on DRM. Recently, a despondent EA employee posted a reddit thread slamming EA’s management and their decisions. Here is an excerpt from their now deleted post:

I am deeply embarrassed by the troubled launch of Sim City and I hope you are too. When I walk around our campus and look at the kind of talent we’ve collected, the amenities we have access to and the opportunities working at such a big company affords us, I can’t imagine how for release after release, EA continues to make the same embarrassing, anti-consumer mistakes. We should be better than this. You should not be failing us so badly.

– DisappointedEA

The employee’s post has since been deleted, but did include interesting insights into the internal beliefs the company supposedly champions. EA’s motto of Think Consumers First is so far-fetched from the perceived reality of its franchise, that one can only laugh that such a motto exists. For some years now, EA Games has been fanatical about the financial health of the brand, rather the quality of its releases. DisappointedEA’s post was deleted, however the internet never forgets.

Although the best thing I’ve read whilst researching DRM, is a whitepaper published by Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko of the University of Minnesota in 2007. Which I’ve paraphrased below:

The important thing is to maximize the value of your intellectual property, not to protect it for the sake of protection, and this is the fundamental issue of DRM and it’s future prospects.

Fairly spot on.

Disclaimer: These opinions are mine.