Command and Conquer 4 requires always-on internet | Hacker News Reader

Command and Conquer 4 requires always-on internet

arstechnica.com

16 pointsscotth13 comments

Do they really think that this will allow DRM that will take more than two days to crack?

The only way they can truly use this to effectively DRM the game is if all game logic was handled server-side (as in an MMOG), which for a popular game like Command and Conquer would require a gargantuan and costly server farm.

I don't think this is about DRM, it's about content protection; they want to do "interesting" (read $) things with achievements, but can't trust clients to do offline attestation.

(I say this only because we've worked on content protection systems for other game titles from other publishers where protecting achievements was the goal, not preventing unauthorized copies. I don't really know what CC4 is really trying to do.)

Still, titles like this should require warning stickers. "Will not play on airline flights."

Steam's DRM is actually useful to me for multiplayer games -- losing your license is a pretty compelling cheating deterrent! They also devilishly only make bans randomly several days after you are caught, to dramatically slow the iteration cycle of someone trying to evade the detection system.

this won't stop anything....the pirates will just setup a few servers in china and make all those achievements free.

Earning achievements on a Chinese server probably won't win you whatever prize money EA establishes for in-game achievements.

I don't know. I didn't do any work on CC4. I'm just pointing out that there are issues besides copy protection that might lead a product manager to mandate always-on Internet access.

Again: I think it's a dumb idea.

This kind of makes me want to pirate a game when (not if) it is cracked.

It will probably end up being a simple patch to install as well like the no-cd patch for games like starcraft

Why would it make you want to pirate the game?

How many times will you be using a computer that is powerful enough to run C&C4 but doesn't have a persistent internet connection?

The current crop of DRM is horrible (and in my opinion, makes pirating less ethically sketchy), but an always-on internet connection doesn't really seem to be that horrendous to me. Provided that they don't start charging a subscription fee or devaluing players who don't play one (granted, a reasonable concern given EA's track record), the internet connection idea seems to actually provide some benefit to the user, and would probably not be all that intrusive.

If implemented correctly it might make moving around your legally purchased copy to a new computer much easier, for instance, and could probably help cut down on the cheaters present in a lot of online games these days.

I have problems with my connection pretty often and mostly that's when i play games - when i'm offline.

as the article mentioned, on a laptop.

And I thought you couldn't sink lower than the limited installs spore-style. I guess this is an new era of dumb.

Always-on internet?! The creators are out of touch with reality.

I wonder what we're going to do about this in ten years, when the servers have been switched off and everyone has forgotten C&C 4 except a few retrogamers.

Many flash games that I play require an always-on Internet connection.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com