I think that portions of the game industry have done an admirable job providing increased value to those that purchase their product.
When I purchase a game now...
a) I can buy it online
b) I get seamless updates usually (via Steam)
c) I often get "perks" if I buy the game early
d) I often see fre DLC (free downloadable content)
e) A community to discuss the game is typically available (or fan-generated ones rise up)
f) A community usually generates new content (maps, weapons, characters, everything) for a lot of the games out there
g) And lest I forget, they usually provide demo's allowing one to try the game before you buy it.
They've managed to do something I swore I'd never accept - willingly purchase something with DRM - DRM that is for the most part unobtrusive. No more having to refer to a page of codes using a red filter or keep a CD/DVD in the disk drive.
I've spent more on computer software in the past 5 years, despite it being easier than ever to find/download pirated programs/games (and no - it's usually easy to find them without viruses/trojans etc, despite what the media says).
The only intrusive DRM that's caused me problems has come from Adobe (I purchased their Design pack) and MS (despite having legal copies of XP and Vista 64bit, now and then I get the "invalid serial#" as many others report. It's easy to fix, but a pain all the same. Oh - and GTA IV was hell with MS's DRM confounding the issue.
Last edited by guyanonymous; 02-02-2010 at 09:35 PM.
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