Ubisoft Online Services - DRM discussion | Forums

[WhiteKnight77]

I do applaud Ubi for taking into account it's past criticisms and coming up with something not too draconian. Still, I have to question the lack of being able to play games offline if a gamer wants to, after all, Steam allows a gamer to do just that. Ubi has plenty of server downtime and their forums are rife with complaints of the servers being down.

How does Ubi intend to keep said servers from going down on a regular basis? Will Ubi keep said servers running even after a game has been on the shelf for more than 3 years? 8 years? Longer? I know that in the FAQ in the announcement forum stated that if they shut down the server they will patch said games so no disk is needed, but when can we expect said servers to be shut down honestly? Will Ubi really publish a patch to allow us to continue playing an older UOS enabled game? We have already seen Ubi toss support for games after less than a year recently. What makes UOS enabled games different?

Also, Ubi seems to have a change of heart in allowing us to install the game on any number of PCs at the same time. This is compared to the limited installs and revocation rules with FarCry 2 (I believe there is one other game Ubi released that had similar restrictions). This is good.

One question I have is, if we already have an account or are a member of the Ubi forums, do we use the same log in name and password to log in via the games? What happens if a customer forgets his log-in password? How will said customer reset his account?


Moderators note: Any post that attempts to use this or any other form of copy protection to justify you pirating a game instead of buying it is likely to be removed from public view. If you want your comment read, don't advocate or try to justify software theft.

[knowtheory]

How is this not draconian?

They're crippling your ability to use something you have purchased from them. I'm not renting the game from them.

I tolerate steam because Valve isn't evil, and they give good prices (and regular discounts).

Ubisoft is offering me nothing. They will charge the same price, lock me out of something i've rightfully purchased, gather statistics about my game usage, and then tell me 'tough luck' when i tell them that they're being jerks.

I am not a criminal, so why is Ubisoft treating me like one? I am so sick of this crap that I'm just not going to play ubisoft games anymore. A real shame too, because i really enjoyed Prince of Persia (2008). But life's too short to put up with this junk, and there are plenty of alternatives, both inside of the gaming world and out. If the major game studios have decided that locking down their content is more important to them than not screwing their users, then forget them.

Maintaining an ongoing relationship with their users benefits Ubisoft, it does not benefit their users. I want to play games, not enter into a high-maintenance long-term relationship with game developers.

[WhiteKnight77]

Please notice I said too. Also notice I have questions about server stability and future support. Why have I asked questions about this, take a look at the different forums here and all the posts about the servers being down. Look at all the posts about the lack of support, especially when it comes to patching games.

I have been critical of Ubi for their lack of support for some time now, just ask ms-kleaneasy.

I want to play games too. I do not want to have to jump through hoops to play a game. Having to keep the CD or DVD in the drive is one way of jumping through a hoop. Installing unknown software like Starforce is another way of having gamers jump through a hoop. I already have one game that connects to the internet (I like flying with real weather in Flight Simulator and it updates the weather every 15 minutes), but I can play without real weather if I choose. This is why I stated that even with Steam, one can play offline. Ubi needs to work that out so we can play no matter what. Their FAQ states that if they are playing and the server goes down, the game pauses while trying to reestablish a connection to it. I think that needs rethinking too. Let the game continue even if the server crashes. I agree, gamers should be able to play games without being connected to the servers if they so choose. Still being connected to the authentication server is miles better than having garbage installed on your PC without your knowledge like they do with SecurROM and many Ubi games use that right now. Still, I prefer that to hardware damaging Starforce.

[knowtheory]

Yes, sorry, i apologize if it sounded like i was chastising you. I am certainly not.

This is a trend i strongly passionately oppose (i'm sure you can tell), and i say that as someone who works in a digital distribution related field, wherein we seek to establish and maintain ongoing relationships with our consumers.

Content producers want to ensure their rights are preserved, and that's fine. But consumers have rights too. And what Ubisoft is telling their users, is that they care about themselves more than they care about their users. And that sucks.

[knowtheory]

Honestly the thing that's most frustrating about the way that all these "online login as the solution to the DRM problem!" services, is not just that they're trying to screw their users.

It's that they're all so haphazardly designed and cobbled together. If they really cared about getting this right for users, they would publish a standard for doing things like single signon authentication. That way a single user process could be implemented across games we play, and we wouldn't have to deal with crap like being required to login to Steam AND Windows Live AND multiplayer services.

These are problems that the web has fought over and figured out (some) solutions to. It's just insult added to injury that they're building systems this unfriendly to us the consumer.

[BTOG46]

Well, I don't have the most stable of connections, in fact it's quite erratic, but so far, using the new system hasn't given me any problems.

As for your question about servers WK, I've had more problems with Relic's CoH and the log in system they use.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">*sneaks back to testing*</pre>

[zombywoof83]

I wonder if Ubisoft know what they're really doing here. This is really problematic, and is only hurting their image even more in regards to the PC platform (not releasing the PoP DLC for PC gamers didn't help either).

I really respect Ubisoft as a game developer, and I'm really not one of those anti-DRM types, but this isn't going to work.

[knowtheory]

BTOG46:

The problem is with having to jump through these systems at all. Not just that ubisoft's system works most of the time.

What happens if you want to play a game while you're traveling somewhere? Why should ubisoft require you to pay to have internet access elsewhere - in order to use a product you have already paid for - that doesn't actually require an internet connection otherwise?

I played PoP over the Christmas holiday, and a bunch of other games, some of which, under the DRM scheme that Ubisoft is rolling out, i would have been unable to play.

It's not just the principle of the matter here. The conditions where this will be onerous aren't hypothetical or far fetched. It's fine that it works when i'm home, but you know what, i'm not always home.

[WhiteKnight77]

In a way, I am giving Ubi the benefit of the doubt on this, for now. As I said, and even BTOG can back this up, but I have been giving Ubi hell for years. UbiRazz had to watch what he said as he knew I would catch him if he misspoke. I dislike DRM just as much as the next guy, but if there is a way for me to play a game without having garbage like SecuROM (misspelled it earlier) or Starforce installed, I am willing to give it a try. Still, for me to try Ubi's step into online verification, they have to have a game that not only interests me, but has to have good gameplay and has the features that got me into that game originally (GR with multiple teams or Rainbow Six with the planning stage for instance), direct IP connections for MP and something that makes the gamer think. One other big thing is support. Game stopping bugs need to be patched out completely and not have bugs added during the patching process (think Raven Shield).

As it is, I finally tried Steam over New Years when I bought SHIII. I can play it offline. I just bought CoH this past weekend on sale too over Steam (based on recommendations of those I trust) and so far, I haven't had connection problems with their server though there was one time it told me my account was in use. That is something that Ubi needs to make sure there is no problems with whatsoever.

[BTOG46]

Originally posted by WhiteKnight77:
even BTOG can back this up, but I have been giving Ubi hell for years.

You sure have.

As for this question in your first post:

Originally posted by WhiteKnight77:
One question I have is, if we already have an account or are a member of the Ubi forums, do we use the same log in name and password to log in via the games?

In the testing I'm part of, you do use your normal username and password to log into the game, but I don't know if that will apply to all future releases or not.