What game copy protection system would you consider benign?

[oedipuss]

In light of the recent LGP decision to develop and use copy protection, I was wondering what would be the ideal copy protection system.

Personally I'm thinking LGP's method comes pretty close, but I haven't actually used it. There could be implementation problems .

So, if you had to have copy protection in games, in what form it wouldn't bother you ?

[Delever]

Copy protection? Don't let anyone to get it!

Seriously, if stream of bytes can be read one way or another, it is not protected from copying.

[dashnak]

Simply put, none

[oedipuss]

Ok let me rephrase. "Copy" protection is no longer very accurate either.

Perhaps it's more appropriate to say method of identifying yourself as the person who purchased the game, regardless of copying.

If I'm not mistaken you can copy LGP games to as many systems as you like as long as it's you playing them.

[NovaAesa]

As long as they don't affect the performance of the game in any noticable way, I don't think that copy protection is such a bad thing.

[arsenic23]

I don't mind having to have a unique acount for any game that requires the internet for play. Other then that I noramlly end up cracking even the games that I pay for. ( Not that I'm in the habit of pirating games. )

[billgoldberg]

The only game copy protecting I like is the one that Steam is using.

Your game is linked to your account.

So if you loose the game or brake the cd, you can download it from the net and still play.

Other than that, nothing.

[eragon100]

The only game copy protecting I like is the one that Steam is using.

Your game is linked to your account.

So if you loose the game or brake the cd, you can download it from the net and still play.

Other than that, nothing.

That is EXACTLY the same system LGP uses :)

[billgoldberg]

That is EXACTLY the same system LGP uses :)

I had no idea what it was, I just stated what copy protecting I like.

So LPG seems fine for me.

[dashnak]

I dislike companies assuming that I WILL steal their horribly made games.

[ajeffreys]

In football manager 2008 they have quite a good method, where even if it is cracked people can still play the game, however after sevral hours of play the game begins to screw up if it has been cracked. I would say its pretty effective :)

[original_jamingrit]

My buddy got screwed over by a Starforce protection system once. I forget which game it was for, but what it did was run your cd-rom at different speeds (including speeds it wasn't made for) and took measurements. It's almost ruined his cd-rom. Now it takes about 5 tries when we try to boot a linux disc in it, and it pops open randomly.

The best kind, I think, is the system that LGP and Steam seem to be using.

[Kvark]

Validating when installing, updating and playing online without CD is fine. If it requires CD to play online or any validation at any other time such as at single player or LAN play, after a hardware upgrade or periodically then I either crack it or don't bother playing it.

Also I don't trust closed source software to honor their own privacy policies so I run closed source games as a different user that doesn't have access to my home directory.

[oedipuss]

The Steam account thing is nice, I agree. Not only for identifying a user but also as a central game repository. Also any method that checks the cd is flawed I think, even if it doesn't cause the problems starforce does.
But what about offline access? How could the steam model do that, or LGP's system do it better, if possible?
I guess what I'm trying to understand is if piracy protection (as opposed to copy protection) can be unrestrictive and acceptable..

[lswest]

LGP and Steam systems cannot let you access the stuff (for the first time) in an offline fashion, as it circumvents the whole idea. However, you can remember your username and password on your PC, and play offline games offline. I actually find Steam's system very nice, because I can install the games without the CD, and I can access it from other computers too, and if my account is hacked, there are ways of getting it back, unlike in standalone game systems, where (usually) once an account was hacked, you're screwed.