Honest Consumer Get Bit By DRM – Goes to Piracy

Revisions:
4-6-10: Initial Release.

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Today I was doing some reading on the Internet, and I came across the article below. I ask you to read it and come back here, it is a short read.

http://consumerist.com/2010/04/insane-pc-game-drm-drove-me-to-piracy.html

In summary, the gamer had purchased a copy of Red Faction Guerrilla.   Installed the game, and played it for awhile before the hard drive died on him. He got a new hard drive, reinstalled the game, and because of the DRM protection, he was unable to play this game. After duking it out with customer support and getting absolutely no where, he ended up downloading a pirated copy, which in fact ran better and allowed him to play online!

In these situations, is it legal or illegal?  The user did buy the game, but due to DRM, it forced him to attend to other means. What is even more interesting is that some game  studios (Ubisoft, EA Games) where in order to play a single player game, you have to be connected to the Internet.

To the poor gamer who can’t afford online access, he just bought himself a new paperweight. The funny part is that Ubisoft came out with Assassin Creed II for PC (which has 24/7 DRM protection), and let’s just say that the game got cracked almost instantly. What is even more ridiculous is that over the course of several weekends, there were Denial of Service attacks on Ubisoft server’s, thus rendering the games of legitimate players useless while the pirates played hardcore in their basements laughing.

Is DRM necessary?  Yes and no. The problem with it all is that it punishes the legitimate players because the illegitimate ones are engaging in the rampant piracy.  Why else do you think we are seeing more and more PC games with the LAN feature missing? >_>

So what would you do if your DRM game forced you to go buy another copy?  Would you do it?  This is why if you have to be a smart STD. Research your games, and make sure you get games without DRM. Either that, or go get an executable to remove the DRM for you.

[STD] Why Some Gamers Are Smarter Than Others (Financial Wise)

Gaming Cabinet

Define STD: STD for The Underground Blog is short for Savvy Tech Dude/Dudette. The STD story is my attempt to share some insight into some of my practices, as well as others as to how they are using technology to make their life better, saving money, or perhaps bettering the environment. (Hopefully, I can find a female contributor… 🙂 )

Frequency of Story: When it feels right.

Personal Comment: I really love the STD idea, and with topics so broad, I can go anywhere with this series. The question is, how far down the rabbit hole do you and I want to go? 😛

In the meantime, I encourage all forms of interaction. Please sound off in comments, I’d appreciate it. If you have an idea, or want me to consider something different, I will. If you want to spread the word, be my guest. As time goes along, I’m asking for people to contribute, or if you want to be interviewed (I’ll protect your identity), then we can dig deeper. Please consider my offer, thanks!

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[How To] Find Free Streaming Erotic Videos

Hi everyone. On the forum, and via PM’s I have gotten from the forum, they have asked if I had anything else up my sleeve related to adult erotica.

Now the blog is getting larger, we are reaching a wider audience, and I know a good amount of hits besides tutorials with consoles or games is online entertainment, so to speak.

We all are familiar with this thread I believe: IRC – How To Get Free Porn Passwords

Now I am going to be doing the last of these series, and this will be the last post ever on this kind of subject material because it is not something The Underground want to boast about all the time. Having it in our tool bag is nice, but it is not our main tool, if you get my drift. :p

Believe it or not, there are ways to find your sexiest adult streaming videos online for free, without you having to pay a dime or use passwords (Thanks Sloth). How do you do it? Where are these sites? Google may be your best friend, but I understand it can bring up a lot of fake sites, or sites with passwords, or heaven forbid, virus/trojan related websites.

With the help of some forum contributors, I have a small list of websites that can fuel the urge within you. However, there is only one caveat: I need participation.

No, no, and no, not that kind of participation GN. Similiar to the IRC thread, I’m going to post the list once I have 50 unique commentors or requestors for this kind of material.

After all, I could totally be wrong. Perhaps you guys know your porn already, and are keen on seeing something new. I totally agree with you. Hence, why let the cat out of the bag, when I can keep the cat in the bag and move on?

So here is the deal:

1. Get 50 unique commentors requesting the list.
2. Unique count is kept tracked daily.
3. When 50 unique commentors have been verified, I will post the list

In the previous IRC thread, I’ve gotten some wicked comments, from I suppose wives and GF’s frowning upon me for providing such information. Well guess what? You can’t stop your husband or your BF from this. I’m sure they have a secret stash of porn somewhere, or they fantasize, or dream, or illicit, or beg favors from you or perhaps from other sources. Zing!

Bottom line: It cannot be stopped. I am just one fish in the sea, but there are millions of other fish in the sea you got to stop. Can you do it Wonder Woman?

Maybe she can, I mean, she has a whip right? 🙂

These are the rules. It can be as fast as a day, or as long as a year. I don’t know. The community, which is you, will dictate how long before I can post the list and move on. Good luck, I’d be waiting to see what the interest is.