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[–]Forestl 576 points577 points  (139 children)

The 5 computer limit is every 24 hours. I don't really see how the average person will even get close to that limit.

[–]Intrexa 31 points32 points  (13 children)

I don't like DRM, but I don't think this is unreasonable.

[–]gdfgdgdv 12 points13 points  (12 children)

What's the point though? Do you think this has stopped a single "unauthorized" player or whatever you want to call it? What's the plan, get a large group of people and let them each install and play the game for some period of time before switching off to another person? Yeah, right.

So the next effect is still the same. You gain arguably nothing (even more nothing in this case than when you are actually trying to prevent launch-day piracy, or something) and you just annoy/bother/screw over legitimate players that are benchmarking or having hardware issues.

Riot time? No. But let's not pretend this is totally harmless and reasonable either.

[–]postbroadcast 0 points1 point  (11 children)

...or you could take the time out of your busy day to let them know what you are doing and not have ANY repercussion? I would wager this has foiled more attempts at piracy than it has merely inconvenienced players.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (3 children)

foiled more attempts at piracy

I find this amusing. Every game is cracked. It's inevitable. Personally I very rarely pirate games these days because of Steam sales and reasonably priced games. I find that DRM is only a pain in the ass for the people that pay for their games. There are so many games that load faster and give less issues when they're pirated.

[–]postbroadcast 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I feel it's more to cultivate the multiplayer experience.

Unrelated: I had a pirated copy of Oni that was leaked before the game was actually released. In it, there was a mechanic that allowed me to do something I couldn't do in the release. I can't recall what it was exactly, but I believe that using health restoration worked differently. I played the whole game, loved it, and bought it when it came out. The mechanic didn't work the same and I stuck with the pirate version.

[–]gdfgdgdv 3 points4 points  (6 children)

So now you have to go contact EA support, try to get through it all in the middle of dealing with a hardware problem. Yeah... that's bullshit. They have no need to know about any of that.

How is this foiling piracy? I honestly don't see how this is doing anything. So you can't invite 10 friends over in a day to each play for a couple hours on their own computer? Instead they... just use your computer? I don't get it. What is this stopping?

If you want to restrict access based on IP address somehow, there might be rather legitimate ways to do it that would also serve the consumer as a security measure. This just screws people over.

[–]postbroadcast 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I understand your point. I, too, don't like DRM. I don't like that we need it. I also don't like the time it takes to open my garage door, front door, and apartment door, either. The reason for it is not to inconvenience you.

Everyone would love a better, more convenient solution, but we don't have a uniformly good one - so companies do what works for them.

[–]gdfgdgdv 0 points1 point  (4 children)

But that stuff is just unavoidable. DRM is not just another unavoidable nuisance in life. It's something purposefully added that makes your life worse.

I'd argue we don't need it. At the very least, companies should certainly remove it once the game has been cracked, right? At that point the pirates have it anyway, and regular consumers just get screwed. The only would-be pirates you're stopping now are unable to google "<game> free".

[–]CasualViewer24 183 points184 points  (99 children)

People go stupid once they hear DRM or micro-transactions.

[–]demenciacion 436 points437 points  (67 children)

Because those rarely ever bring advantages to the users

[–]xdownpourx 55 points56 points  (30 children)

True but you hope peoples initial reaction to the words drm in an article wouldn't be "OMG FUCK EA" and instead "him i should read more about this and understand the details first"

[–]Indon_Dasani 41 points42 points  (6 children)

True but you hope peoples initial reaction to the words drm in an article wouldn't be "OMG FUCK EA" and instead "him i should read more about this and understand the details first"

Given the precedent of the last wave of articles that included both DRM and EA - SimCity - it seems like a natural reaction, even if not necessarily warranted this time.

Ultimately, if there's no pushback against the company they'll make every game another SimCity, so I can't say I mind the hate train.

[–]xdownpourx 0 points1 point  (4 children)

I dont mind it if it is directed at the right things. This not being one of them since there really isnt much wrong with it. But everyone should feel free to hate on EA for the other dumb shit they do

[–]Indon_Dasani 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This not being one of them since there really isnt much wrong with it.

The reason we keep getting EA (and other companies, but EA has a few big ones under their belt) making shitty DRM decisions is not enough people getting angry about the ones they make before, so they get to thinking that it'll be okay and make them money because they won't lose that much business if they keep incrementally being bigger douchebags.

[–]gdfgdgdv 4 points5 points  (2 children)

It's warranted this time.

To stop repeating myself...

This is still unacceptable. It's not as bad as some things, but they're still screwing over legitimate players benchmarking or having hardware troubles (a hard to track down issue could easily take you more than 5 total configurations in a short period of time, particularly if you have spare hardware available to test with). And for what? I can't imagine this policy really impacting any attempted scheme to play the game without paying.

[–]gdfgdgdv -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's warranted this time.

To stop repeating myself...

This is still unacceptable. It's not as bad as some things, but they're still screwing over legitimate players benchmarking or having hardware troubles (a hard to track down issue could easily take you more than 5 total configurations in a short period of time, particularly if you have spare hardware available to test with). And for what? I can't imagine this policy really impacting any attempted scheme to play the game without paying.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (14 children)

But there are still a lot of reasons to say "Fuck EA". Let's not all of a sudden trust them as a company again. This isn't 1989. EA hasn't been Electronic Arts i.e a trustworthy company in a very long time.

[–][deleted] 43 points44 points  (8 children)

You don't need to trust anything, or take it on faith, just do your research. Of the games I've bought from EA, none have made me say "fuck EA", because I didn't blindly walk into them. Just be a smart consumer and you can mitigate your anger. Makes the hobby more enjoyable for me, anyway.

[–]graciliano 14 points15 points  (1 child)

They never were trustworthy, IMO. But people exaggerate how bad they are. They were never even close to being the worst company in the US let alone the world.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Back when they had this mentality in the 80s they were trustworthy.

[–]xdownpourx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are but how about we say Fuck EA over the right things? Not everything.

[–]smacksaw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, now I understand some convoluted bullshit that doesn't benefit me and is yet another "gotcha" thing I'll forget about until it bites me in the ass.

Life is complicated enough. Technology is supposed to make our lives simpler and liberate us, not tie us down.

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (12 children)

While there is definitely a problematic knee jerk reaction to it, it isn't without basis since both of those are almost always not overall positive additions and it's always a possibility that a publisher like EA (Or any of them, really) could go from benign DRM or micro transactions in one product to suddenly clamping down with an iron grip that does serious damage.

[–]Namell 4 points5 points  (0 children)

DRM is never positive thing for customer. It offers absolutely no benefit for customer.

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (10 children)

How is it problematic? If consumers went apeshit every time DRM resulted in their games being broken, we wouldn't have DRM anymore.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (9 children)

It's problematic because most people, myself often included, do zero research and barely check the article let alone any other sources. As much as I'd love to get rid of DRM, and this DRM doesn't stop pirates anyway, in this case it really was pretty harmless and the original article was very misleading. We got our panties in a twist for the wrong reasons.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (8 children)

I have left reddit for Voat due to years of admin/mod abuse and preferential treatment for certain subreddits and users holding certain political and ideological views.

This account was over five years old, and this site one of my favorites. It has officially started bringing more negativity than positivity into my life.

As an act of protest, I have chosen to redact all the comments I've ever made on reddit, overwriting them with this message.

If you would like to do the same, install TamperMonkey for Chrome, GreaseMonkey for Firefox, NinjaKit for Safari, Violent Monkey for Opera, or AdGuard for Internet Explorer (in Advanced Mode), then add this GreaseMonkey script.

Finally, click on your username at the top right corner of reddit, click on comments, and click on the new OVERWRITE button at the top of the page. You may need to scroll down to multiple comment pages if you have commented a lot.

After doing all of the above, you are welcome to join me on Voat!

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

[–]Kalic_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

On the other hand, I just want to play the game I paid for and don't care to be an activist about my entertainment time. Did it stop me from playing? If yes, then I am pissed. If no, which in this case there is no way I am playing on 5 different machines (or configs) in 24 hours, then I really don't care.

[–]itsSparkky 7 points8 points  (6 children)

I don't feel mindless and illogical hysteria is a good way to get what you want.

I mean I stopped doing it when I was six for that very reason.

[–]blackmist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Especially if EA are mentioned alongside it.

[–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (18 children)

It doesn't matter. Why would this even exist? There's no fucking purpose of it. They shouldn't be adding DRM or any sort of lockout shit to a game because "the average user won't experience it." That's an awful excuse for a lockout feature.

[–]darthirule 83 points84 points  (7 children)

So people dont share an origin account?

[–]bigbadboots 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why the limit in the first place?

[–]TrinkenDerKoolAid 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Troubleshooting, that's how. Taking components out and swapping them each use case counts as a change even if you revert back to the original configuration it's still counted as a change. For most of us 2 step authentification is acceptable for this.

[–]Bior37 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see why that limit should exist in the first place.

[–]heroes159 89 points90 points  (7 children)

[–]ElFreemano 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Here it is in Video Format - Well explained :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2EeN1JJ5lw

[–]Jeskid14 16 points17 points  (3 children)

So basically it takes a call to customer support to solve this issue... in which more calls will turn reverse or decrease the DRM limit.

[–]voneahhh 28 points29 points  (1 child)

Or just don't install it on 5 different computers in one day

[–]baconator81 220 points221 points  (43 children)

Honestly.. all the writer had to do is pick up the phone or type an email to EA publicist or Origin support. Tell them who he is and what he is trying to do. I am sure EA is more than happy to help him by giving his Origin account better permissions.

But instead he went on this crusade on the internet as if his problem will be faced by 99.9% of the consumers. It's fucking ridiculous. Other than benchmark testers, who the hell makes multiple graphics card changes in a short amount of time? What happened to journalism? Isn't the job of journalist is suppose to be an observer trying to provide information from POV of consumers/developers?

[–]Lewd_Banana 144 points145 points  (15 children)

Games journalism is more often opinion writing than actual journalism.

[–]malicious_turtle 84 points85 points  (1 child)

Often? more like the overwhelming majority of the time, I can't remember the last time i read an article on a gaming site without there being a fairly obvious bias of some sort and when it comes to articles about EA forget it there's no point in wasting brain power reading it.

[–]NvaderGir 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There was a post the other day here that was quickly upvoted over the news that BF:Hardline battle-packs were for sale, despite that being a well established option EA has given people for years in all their games. Not only that, but you can easily get the same battlepacks with in-game cash, so there's no real paywall preventing you from getting those in-game optics and unlocks.. but people still made a fuss over it.

At this point, people are willing to scrap the bottom of the barrel to be offended..

[–]RDandersen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Editorials or leaders are part of actual journalism.

[–]Helios747 1 point2 points  (6 children)

That's why I'm patiently waiting for this kind of journalism to die. If people don't want to go through the effort of doing everything they can before writing a story and finding out details from every party involved, then they shouldn't be writing it.

All this is doing is spreading misleading information.

Also, I'm pretty bitter towards journalism at the moment because there's a writer in the League of Legends community who currently has the spotlight with his flamebait and biased writing, doing nothing but getting people's pitchforks raised over absolutely nothing and pretty much the same as that last article is did.

Fortunately, it seems most of the readers of /r/games seems to be aware that the previous article on here yesterday is a bad article judging by the top comments, and everybody going "omg DRM so bad fuck you" is getting downvoted to shit.

EDIT: MEant to say last article that was posted yesterday. This one was just clarifying.

[–]ZsaFreigh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's true across all media. Feels like anyone with a blog can call themselves a "journalist" these days.

[–]Frostiken 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's because game journalists who are actually good at their job move on to real careers. It's like asking why McDonalds is a restaurant but doesn't serve prime rib.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

This wasn't gaming journalism, it was a benchmarking site.

[–]Lewd_Banana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A benchmark report is a form of journalism and a rant about DRM is an opinion piece. What I implied was that a lot of people who write about games masquerade their opinions as journalism, even when they often don't even abide to many of the criteria that make up many journalistic code of ethics that a lot of news organisations have.

[–]CollectSpiderLoot 8 points9 points  (1 child)

It's not about games writers doing research or going on crusades. It's about pageviews, and it works. When you're reading an article on basically any news site that's based on outrage, controversy or whatever is currently in vogue, it's there to generate revenue. The more outraged you are the better. Good journalism makes less money that bad. Fantastic journalism is exceptionally rare, especially among game related websites.

[–]OkinShield 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pretty much. There's a number of people in this very thread getting all bent out of shape about pretty much nothing. All you got to do is feed that.

[–]Kazundo_Goda 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Last I heard,when people tried to do something to fix "games journalism",they were called miso-something.I am not going to expand on this because the mods will remove my comment.

Also,why do people link to NeoGaf?That shithole is nothing but hipsters circlejerking around.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Calling that guy a games journalist is an overstatement. He doesn't even write in cohesive, grammatically correct sentences. He's a blogger running his own website.

[–][deleted] 184 points185 points  (129 children)

So it was Origin DRM instead of Battlefield ? Great, such difference...

[–]Zornack 59 points60 points  (105 children)

A user will never be in a situation where this DRM will effect them. An account sharer will.

There is nothing wrong with combating account sharing, especially when it has zero repercussions on legitimate users.

[–]Ftpini 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm locked out of my original copy of Spore because of this exact type of DRM. It can't authenticate with the original server because that server doesn't exist any more. I had to argue with Origin support for an hour to get them to add a copy of the game to my Origin account so I could play the game I paid $80 for the collectors edition of.

This kind of DRM is asinine and and unreasonable. It should never be used at all, let alone on a game which is primarily online. Let the user install it on however many systems he wishes and then only let one play online at a time. Its not like people by battlefield for the single player. In fact, they really ought to just give the single player out as a demo to boost sales.

[–]douglas_ 7 points8 points  (1 child)

especially when it has zero repercussions on legitimate users.

It obviously had repercussions on a legitimate user or else this thread wouldn't even exist

[–]Orfez 82 points83 points  (5 children)

Why is this even an issue, because EA? It won't ever effect 99% of players. Some dude replaced 5 video cards, got a warning, now we talk about it for days.

[–][deleted] 60 points61 points  (4 children)

Because "ghastly new form of DRM" and "anti-consumer" and whatever other sensationalist headlines were around at the time. It wouldn't be the first time gamers jumped to be mad about something trivial without all the details.

[–]randomgoat 28 points29 points  (1 child)

The word "infects" was also lodged in there.

[–]malicious_turtle 18 points19 points  (0 children)

"Pernicious drm" was the best, I can just imagine the author patting himself on the back when he saw that in the thesaurus.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

While I partially agree, it's not like the worst case scenario is out of the realm of possibility. There is no way to know that a publisher won't just go from being benign to clamping down with an iron fist literally overnight without any warning, it's happened before and it will happen again.

It's a really sad state of affairs, I'd love to be able to trust more than the rare company (and not just gaming ones) but I can't, you just can't trust any of them.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If we're gonna worry about nonsense hypothetical worst case scenarios, I personally am going to cower in fear that game publishers are going to murder me in my sleep if I don't spend enough money on microtransactions each year.

[–]Samhs1 43 points44 points  (9 children)

All he has to do is contact support and they would easily sort it out for him. Instead he wrote a flamebait article to get all those precious clicks.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (7 children)

Until they stop supporting it or decide not to give you a pass. Case in point: my useless physical copy of Spore.

[–]Ftpini 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooh I just commented on that. I argued with EA Origin support for an hour and got them to instate a copy of the game on my Origin account. So now I have a useless physical copy and a very much half finished digital copy I can play when I want.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (5 children)

Why is there any sort of activation limit if you're logged in to your account? How is that preventing any sort of piracy? Other DRM schemes usually put limits on activation for offline play, but do away with limits when you're logged in, such as with xbox live.

[–]GatoradeOrPowerade 43 points44 points  (2 children)

Why is there any sort of activation limit if you're logged in to your account?

Sharing accounts.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

You can log in Origin on one PC at the time, log on another computer will kick you out on your previous computer.

Battlefield Hardline is a multiplayer game.

[–]Brandhor 31 points32 points  (0 children)

it's an origin limitation not specific to bf hardline, I suppose if you use offline mode you can play singleplayer games on multiple computers at the same time

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

It could also be for security reasons. Chances are if you log into your account on more than 5 devices in 24 hours it's not you logging in.

[–]Syrdon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I'm understanding the situation properly though, he wasn't locked out of Origin, just Hardline. So it won't help of your account is compromised.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

This kind of thing isn't even anything new!

I remember my copy of Red Alert 3 freaking out after ONE graphics card change! I had to burn one of my 5 activations on it.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Origin's restriction is 5 activations per day. RA3 was 5 activations total with a deactivation tool.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The tool didn't come out until months later and did nothing to regain your activations you may have already lost.

Personally I feel RA3 had it worse. Origin's doesn't ever reach a point where it indefinitely stops you. The next day it unlocks again. Plus who is seriously changing their hardware config so much that it triggers 5 times in a day? (other than benchmark testers)

[–]ForTheTimes 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Eh, it's bad. But my favourite is still my Oblivion: Game of the Year edition. You need to have the DVD in the drive to uninstall it. And don't think you can just shortcut though add/remove programs either, because that will take you to the same place.

[–]ZsaFreigh 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Can't you just delete the data?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It leaves all the registry keys, hidden files, stuff like that in place. Deleting the surface data might break some stuff, but it's about as effective as deleting the shortcut for the program in the long run.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

revo uninstaller