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Steam DRM Vs Spore DRM

Posted by Brian Crecente at 12:00 AM on September 19, 2008

Spore's digital rights management and copy protection has gotten a lot of people up in arms. The reaction has been so strong, with nega-reviews flooding Amazon and DRM creatures flooding the Sporepedia, that Electronic Arts said they're planning on implementing a patch to loosen up their current installation guidelines.

But Electronic Arts isn't the only company to ever use a built-in online copy protection system. A small company called Valve, publishers of such indie titles as Portal, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, knows all about the ups and downs of DRM and copy protection.

Back in 2004 Valve was at the heart of a hurricane of controversy surrounding the use of online authentication after their relatively new digital distribution system, Steam, ran into a hiccup and was unable to keep up with the online validations for mega-hit Half-Life 2. But things have run relatively smooth since then, with the exception of a major outtage in 2006. I talked to Valve's Doug Lombardi yesterday to ask how they've managed to smooth out the wrinkles of DRM with Steam and how their copy protection compares to Spore's.

 

"Half-Life 2 was one of the first games to require authentication to play the game and require it with an online component, prior to that you had CD keys," Lombardi said. "There was a lot of pushback about that at the time. It was two-fold. One was social engineering on the part of pirates. The other was Steam, in general, at launch time, was busted. It wasn't nearly as elegant as it is today."

"Since then we have stayed with the same system and put a lot of hardware behind it and made (authentication) more immediate."

Lombardi, and others I spoke to off the record, say that at least for digitally downloaded PC games, DRM and copy protection is here to stay. For Valve the biggest push is to lock down those "zero day" pirates. Day zero is the time between when a game goes gold and when it is available for purchase. Lombardi, and many others, are convinced that that's when a bulk of piracy occurs.

"That's the biggest problem," he said. "I'd be willing to guess that well over 50 percent of piracy occurs then."

"I think our solution solves the game zero piracy."

The key to making a good authentication system, Lombardi says, is to not stand in the way of customers enjoying what they bought. A bad system is like telling a customer "Wait, before you go on this roller coaster you need to change your shoes," he said.

As with SecuRom, Steam's validation system has a number of options that are left up to the game developer to decide. Like how often a game need to be authenticated.

"They can make it the first time on purchase and never again or they can do it every hour," Lombardi said.

For instance the authentication and rights for Spore and The Orange Box through Steam are fairly similar:

Number of concurrent installations
Spore: While EA says a change is coming to allow deauthentication of computers, currently Spore can only be installed on three computers total in it's lifetime.
The Orange Box: There is no limit to the number of computers it can be installed on. You just install the Steam client, but can only play on one computer at a time.

Spyware
Neither Spore nor The Orange Box have anything akin to spyware built into their copy protection and DRM systems. Lombardi calls spyware, or even the perception of spyware, the kiss of death in the gaming business.

Authentication
Spore: An EA spokesperson told me that Spore only checks authentication when you first install the game.
The Orange Box: Every time you play the game online Steam checks your authentication.

Number of accounts per a copy
Spore: Despite what the manually erroneously states, only one account can be created per a copy of the game.
The Orange Box: One account per a copy of the game.

It seems as we move forward, toward disc-less gaming, DRM and online copy protection are inevitable. The only question is how they will be implemented. What do you think the DRM sweet spot is?

Tags: drm | piracy | spore | steam | valve

 

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)

Korwin

Posted September 19, 2008 9:13 AM

Personally I feel steam is the best method of PC DRM. Generally the only thing that irk's me about Securom DRM is the limit of installs. When i purchase a product i should be able to un-install and re-install the game as many times as I please, i didnt fork out full price for a glorified rental. With Steam this issue doesnt exist, I simply login anywhere and use my liscense for the software. Steam's DRM works, and it doesnt cause any tears.

timbo1138

Posted September 19, 2008 11:18 AM

Quite simply: Steam. Purely for the fact that once you buy a game it gets tied to your Steam account and can be downloaded and run it on any machine you like. The only time Steam's authentication got in my way was when Half-Life 2 came out. Since then, I've not had a single problem getting a game to run, which is more than I can say for SecurROM. Bioshock and Mass Effect both gave me trouble initially, though I will say that Spore has thus far not presented any problems.

It comes down to the value proposition. Does the system give me a good experience, or a bad experience? Thus far, SecureRom has given me an experience that is *mildly* bad, in that it's been irritating and slightly inconvenient on a couple of occasions. Steam gives me a system that not only just works, but which contains a huge number of other, valuable features that enhance my gaming experience.

Dale Williams

Posted September 19, 2008 1:33 PM

I'm actually a bit annoyed by Spore's DRM. I haven't bought alot of PC game's lately. I'd figured that, like a console game, I could give it to a mate overnight and he be allowed to play it - rendering my install unusable until the copy is returned. That's the way it works with any other possession. I can lend my guitars, my consoles, my DVDs... why can't I lend my PC games?
In order to obtain a possession, you must possess it - the transferal of possession is implied by the nature of the term. I thought I was buying a copy of Spore, not a small window of opportunity to play it in.