why should Brad Wardell, the CEO of a very well run company with an excellent record for concern for their consumer (what other game publisher has created a "gamer's bill of rights"?), have any respect whatever for reclaimyourgame.com?

reclaim is just a web forum that caters to a particular point of view. its users are motivated either by paranoia or a desire to get away with piracy or both. its really not a very respectable community you've got there. 

these concerns for "privacy" are utter non-sense. you can't function as a member of modern society if you insist that no private entity is ever allowed to know basic things about you. you can't even buy telephone service or get a checking account without providing a huge amount of "private" information. unless you live in a shack in the woods and do all of your business with cash you have no ability whatever to maintain your "privacy". this is non-sensical tin foil hat paranoia.

the far more relevant case against DRM is that it degrades the quality of the product. Stardock doesn't use that type of stuff at all though. their validation system is 100% passive and runs in the background. Stardock products are generally higher quality than alot of their competition because they avoid draconian DRM and stick only with non-invasive passive validation systems. criticizing Stardock or Brad Wardell is the last thing you should be doing, they may be one of the only game publishing companies in the world trying to move the general business model of their industry in a more consumer friendly direction. 

LAWL. Forget those people Brad.

I just went to their forum and read through a post with their admins talking to each other. My advice Brad, Stay away from the negative people. Don't let them drain your energy. Be positive. Positive mindset. Let them say what they want to say. At the end of the day, it's not about who is right. It's about you believing that you are doing the right thing. You don't have to justify yourself to them. Your articles have appeared in many game magazines and web articles. They have emm.. well just their website.

As long as I can play without running Impulse and play Single Player, in my opinion, that constitutes as DRM free. It's a totally different feeling from playing a game that requires a discheck or has an installation limit.

I don't see how having an Impulse account constitutes as having DRM.

Looks like my Email, my ISP internet account, my Gamespy, Fileplanet, VPN, workplace LAN are all some sort of DRM according to this website's definition.

 Rest assured Brad, if there were a form of DRM that you secretly implemented, we'll be the first ones to sniff you out. Not some website with some self-righteous people who think they know what they are talking about.

Hi Brad

We did not email you, I pm'd you at Stardock on the 12th of April and got no response. I can send you a screenshot with that pm if you like? All our responses were trying to sort out was some questions we had about Goo.

Kathleen

So what do people think? Does having to register to download updates for demigod constitute DRM?

I kind of think it does. But it is a very, vey mild version. Nevertheless, some access is restricted to publisher content. An extra step, if you will, that the legitimate user has to go through if he wishes for the updated version. Although since the form of the restrictions are so loose, I would still hesitate to call it "DRM", since that particular phrase now has its own implications.

Still, it is their business model to "reward" the legitimate customer with patches and some additional content. And to do that there must be some way to separate legitimate from illegitimate users. In a sense, their business model is built on a form of DRM (once again hesitating to use the term) since it is based on restricting some access to new stuff. Still, it should be noted that while patches and such do require registration, the original game has no form of DRM whatsoever.

The gamer's bill of rights, which is not violated by this:

Hi Brad

I will send your an assistant an email with the screenshot of the original pm attached so you can see that I DID attempt to contact you and get our questions addressed.

For the rest of you guys, I've no need to respond any further. I have work to do and people to help.

Kathleen

http://reclaimyourgame.com/

@ vindKtiv: That was not appropriate.  They are entitled to their opinion just as you are entitled to your's.  I believe that you could get your point across just fine in a more polite manner and be less likely to start a war.

@ sarawati: I would like to apologize for the offensive poster and politely request that you hear us out.

I think that this whole debate stems from different ideas about what DRM is.  The people from Reclaim feel that any game that requires something beyond installing to play and update has DRM.  Stardock feels that having legit owners register their game for updates is a valid requirement and doesn't interfere with the gaming experience.

IMHO, I agree with Stardock.  A publisher has a right to protect their intellectual property, but does not have the right to infringe on the gamers privacy.  Registering Demigod is optional but probably a good idea.

What I don't understand is why did Stardock only got removed from the "Free of DRM" list when they annouced GOO? Is it because they only decided to realse what they have been using themselves for a while? The DRM on SOASE is no Different than the DRM on Demigod. So, why did they only get removed recently?

Reclaim Your Game....Fail.

qft

I agree with you. It was a bad call.

Reclaim Your Game has been doing an overall good job so far. Everyone is able to make mistakes now and then.

I think that most users in this thread are replying with valid points, but I'm not too fond of the more exacerbated approach that some choose to use...

Anyway, I gave myself the trouble to *finally* create an account in RYG's forum and started a thread about the subject in question there:  http://www.the-prism.com/index.php?topic=2261.msg25726#msg25726

Feel free to point out any possible incorrections from what I stated.

Cheers.

I responded to your post over there, but wanted to catch up with you here as well (was glad to see you joined, by the way). I pretty much agree with what you had to say. What can I say besides...everyone's bound to make a mistake sometimes.

Are you stupid or just trolling? It's common knowledge that Demigod and Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't have any DRM. You can copy paste it to any computer and it will run.

Having to use an account with a valid CD key to play online is not DRM, it's the selling point. Stardock's stance is "do not do anything that upsets legitimate customers", and that means no SecuROM-like DRM, but that doesn't mean avoiding to have to input a CD key when registering for an account.

Registering for updates is like registering your refrigerator for warranty. Stop being so anal.