Piracy

Hey all,

Over the last few months most of my mates at university have been playing football manager, but to my surprise they were all pirated copies!

I own an original copy myself, so that places me on the good side of the law. What are the plans of SI to stop people copying the game, and distributing it?

Losing money can only mean bad things for the future of the company.

Well when they reach euro 2008 all the crap teams will be in it and england will be in copa america!

Hey all,

Over the last few months most of my mates at university have been playing football manager, but to my surprise they were all pirated copies!

I own an original copy myself, so that places me on the good side of the law. What are the plans of SI to stop people copying the game, and distributing it?

Losing money can only mean bad things for the future of the company.

Are you looking for help with your coursework or something? What does it matter to you what SI do?

cheese donkey clump eColi frizzle chasity

Are you looking for help with your coursework or something? What does it matter to you what SI do?

u ass hat...

erm i just wanted the opinion of the creators? Honestly, i want to be playing this game in the future, not see the company liquidate.

lol ninjamark, a little bit brutal there.

You will notice there is a secuROM feature put inside Football Manager, to prevent the game from being played without a disk.

Unfortunately, with all the high-tech stuff out there, there are several things called Disk Emulators i believe? Being able to bypass this secuROM.

So, I guess we need better SecuROM.

And the company won't liquidate, the buyers are more than the pirates(that sounded weird)

cheese donkey clump eColi frizzle chasity

I was thinking that!

FM already has copy protection but unfortunately, like all copy protection it is easy cracked. SI won't be liquidated because they make a quality product and a quality product always sells. Piracy doesn't cause lost sales really, bad products do. All the likes of SecuROM and other copy protection (looking at you, EA) is cause problems for genuine customers, not the pirates.

I was thinking that!

i bet you wasn't.

cheese donkey clump eColi frizzle chasity

some... sort of... crazy code...

anyway, don't give in to peer pressure RedArrow!

two things SI could include as an anti piracy measures would be auto sacking after 1 defeat & fans protest all the time and force you out despite good form.

Oh, those also use those 'triggers' aswell I think. When you use a faulty crack that doesn't fix the triggers random stuff happens in game. I think there was one with internationals teams in one version (08 I think) and in 07 transfer fees all got messed up I think.

Thinly veiled "I've pirated the game and want to know if I'm going to continue to get away with it" thread tbh.

Oh, those also use those 'triggers' aswell I think. When you use a faulty crack that doesn't fix the triggers random stuff happens in game. I think there was one with internationals teams in one version (08 I think) and in 07 transfer fees all got messed up I think.

No the transfer fees are messed up anyway! But you're right about the international teams - you end up with San Marino, Faroe Islands, Estonia, et al qualifying for the Euros instead of the teams that win the group. Genius!

Thinly veiled "I've pirated the game and want to know if I'm going to continue to get away with it" thread tbh.

Or maybe... Do SI/SEGA have any plans to come chasing after these people and slap big fines on their asses?

Thinly veiled "I've pirated the game and want to know if I'm going to continue to get away with it" thread tbh.

you're probly right... one of the more creative ones, tbh.

A British woman who uploaded a PC pinball game to a file-sharing network has been ordered to pay publisher Topware Interactive £16,086.

These sort of class actions against the people who distributed the pirate copies are going to increase over time. That is a huge incentive to not pirate a game in my humble opinion.

I have always loved SI and there little hidden gems in the game to catch out the NOCD pirates.

No the transfer fees are messed up anyway! But you're right about the international teams - you end up with San Marino, Faroe Islands, Estonia, et al qualifying for the Euros instead of the teams that win the group. Genius!

Ahhh yeah, thats it. I think that affected genuine customer though so it wasn't a great move. I think you got it when you continued a demo save in the full version.

Ahhh yeah, thats it. I think that affected genuine customer though so it wasn't a great move. I think you got it when you continued a demo save in the full version.

You're right. It sort of backfired a bit, and someone posted on here that this bug had happened, and Miles didn't exactly cover himself in glory when he posted a response saying words to the effect of "Gotcha you nasty little pirate!!!", before it became apparent that this bug also occured if you continued a save game from the demo. Still, was very funny!

On the paradox forums you can't view a number of different sub sections unless you register your game using the code on the case.

Maybe SI could do something similar, although whether it would have much affect don't know.

You're right. It sort of backfired a bit, and someone posted on here that this bug had happened, and Miles didn't exactly cover himself in glory when he posted a response saying words to the effect of "Gotcha you nasty little pirate!!!", before it became apparent that this bug also occured if you continued a save game from the demo. Still, was very funny!

This is exactly why companies should just release games without protection. It saves money on not protecting in the first place and genuine customers can't get hurt.

Its like the EA 10 day thing with one of their new games. You have to be connected to the internet every 10 days so they can check the game is authentic. Wheras genuine customers have to go out of their way to make sure they are connected (not that a big a problem, I know) the pirates just crack the game so they never have to be connected to carry on playing.

IMO - if the product is of good quality - it will sell. Thats the reason FM sells.

This is exactly why companies should just release games without protection. It saves money on not protecting in the first place and genuine customers can't get hurt.

I sure I read somewhere that the retailers insist on it before they'll stock it.

This is exactly why companies should just release games without protection. It saves money on not protecting in the first place and genuine customers can't get hurt.

Its like the EA 10 day thing with one of their new games. You have to be connected to the internet every 10 days so they can check the game is authentic. Wheras genuine customers have to go out of their way to make sure they are connected (not that a big a problem, I know) the pirates just crack the game so they never have to be connected to carry on playing.

IMO - if the product is of good quality - it will sell. Thats the reason FM sells.

You've stumbled on to quite a contentious debate there. There's a lot of people arguing, as you have just done, that overbearing protection (such as SecureCOM) which simply makes it difficult to play the game you’ve legitimately bought, and therefore pushes people over to piracy so that they can play the game easily. It’s a valid argument. And I agree with it.

I’m very against these draconian (and ultimately useless – pirates always find a way around it) measures, however I recognise that developers and publishers need to protect their investment. If money is being lost through piracy (which it clearly is) then there are three other ways of generating money that I can see:

1) Sell your games bit by bit as, I think, EA are doing with Spore. They’re selling the creature generator for £5, then another part of the game will cost you a different amount, and so on. They’ve virtually been doing it for years with the Sims. However, there’s probably nothing to stop people pirating all the different sections.

2) Going online. As far as I’m aware it’s almost impossible to pirate MMORGs because where you need to play via the Internet, they can detect if you’re not running a legitimate version (though I may be wrong here). So, if a company ensures that their games have an online element, you virtually guarantee that you get money, either through subscription fees, or by making the game useless if you’ve pirated it.

3) Advertising. Unpopular, but I don’t see a problem with it (mostly because I work for XXXX so am somewhat immune to advertising). Almost like product placement in films, you can have ads and sponsorship in games. This would be ideal for FM, where Coca Cola could agree to have their name put to the Football League competitions, and every now and again, you could get a news item saying “Drink Coke – it’s great” or whatever. I know it sounds crappy – but if it helps SI recoup money lost by piracy, I don’t have a problem with it (as long as it wasn’t like every other news item).

Just my thoughts here.

I sure I read somewhere that the retailers insist on it before they'll stock it.

Plenty of games are released unprotected. Plenty of games are also released protected but is removed in patches which is an indication they dont work and only annoy people who bought the game.

Plenty of games are released unprotected. Plenty of games are also released protected but is removed in patches which is an indication they dont work and only annoy people who bought the game.

That's what I thought as well tbf.

I sure I read somewhere that the retailers insist on it before they'll stock it.

I didn't know about that. Alot of games are unprotected like philly says but maybe you're right here. Maybe its certain retailers that do it? Would be interesting to know.

I will keep play pirate-version of the game till i don`t see official localisation and second division for my country. I wanna and going pay for this 2 things, not more.

I will keep play pirate-version of the game till i don`t see official localisation and second division for my country. I wanna and going pay for this 2 things, not more.

SI can't just include whatever leagues each customer wants them to. Not yet, anyway.

And this probably isn't the place to declare yourself a user of a pirate version.

You've stumbled on to quite a contentious debate there. There's a lot of people arguing, as you have just done, that overbearing protection (such as SecureCOM) which simply makes it difficult to play the game you’ve legitimately bought, and therefore pushes people over to piracy so that they can play the game easily. It’s a valid argument. And I agree with it.

I’m very against these draconian (and ultimately useless – pirates always find a way around it) measures, however I recognise that developers and publishers need to protect their investment. If money is being lost through piracy (which it clearly is) then there are three other ways of generating money that I can see:

1) Sell your games bit by bit as, I think, EA are doing with Spore. They’re selling the creature generator for £5, then another part of the game will cost you a different amount, and so on. They’ve virtually been doing it for years with the Sims. However, there’s probably nothing to stop people pirating all the different sections.

2) Going online. As far as I’m aware it’s almost impossible to pirate MMORGs because where you need to play via the Internet, they can detect if you’re not running a legitimate version (though I may be wrong here). So, if a company ensures that their games have an online element, you virtually guarantee that you get money, either through subscription fees, or by making the game useless if you’ve pirated it.

3) Advertising. Unpopular, but I don’t see a problem with it (mostly because I work for the ASA so am somewhat immune to advertising). Almost like product placement in films, you can have ads and sponsorship in games. This would be ideal for FM, where Coca Cola could agree to have their name put to the Football League competitions, and every now and again, you could get a news item saying “Drink Coke – it’s great” or whatever. I know it sounds crappy – but if it helps SI recoup money lost by piracy, I don’t have a problem with it (as long as it wasn’t like every other news item).

Just my thoughts here.

I think the anti piracy in place at the moment is just about right. It's hardly a hassle having to put the disc in your machine to load up the game. You can take it out once it's loaded up.

A good point about making the sotfware authenticated online. I can see there being problems here. Similar to the row I had with sky when they were claiming my second sky box wasn't plugged into a phoneline.

And this probably isn't the place to declare yourself a user of a pirate version.

Agreed, not a good shout to be honest.

I will keep play pirate-version of the game till i don`t see official localisation and second division for my country. I wanna and going pay for this 2 things, not more.

Admitting that you play a pirated version of the game on here is a sure fire way to getting yourself banned from the forums!

tbh key code authentification (ala steam) is the way forward.

Admitting that you play a pirated version of the game on here is a sure fire way to getting yourslef banned from the forums!

Why do people never seem to get this?

Why do people never seem to get this?

Maybe they don't get the fact that this is an official forum?

tbh key code authentification (ala steam) is the way forward.

How does that work? Never used Steam.

Thats funny. I don't remember EA Games being so tight with security(however, the last game i got was FIFA 08, so it's a little outdated.)

How does that work? Never used Steam.

Steam has been hacked already. There were even programs that stole legitimate user's keycodes.

I dont like the idea of steam, I dont want 3rd party applications running and Ive also heard lots and lots of stories about people having there licenses revoked for not just 1 game, but all the steam games they have.

Even worse than that is starforce, I had that on my system and it stopped about 2/3rds of my disks burning as it was running all the time, it also destroyed peoples disk drives by interfering with it. Its so bad that I wont even install one of the trackmania games that is free because it has starforce on it. Sure starforce might stop people copying it for a week but it will drive people who would of bought the game to pirating it to get a clean install on their PC

I will keep play pirate-version of the game till i don`t see official localisation and second division for my country. I wanna and going pay for this 2 things, not more.

i'm sure they will put your countrys league in the game , send you an apology and a free copy of the game as soon as they read your post. well done for making it known.

no seriously you are ridicuously stupid...

pork PIE KEY hole

Man, this is one disjointed thread.

Anti-piracy measures have been taken. Trust me when I say Miles is passionate about catching pirates. Still, FM is annually the best-selling PC game in the UK and elsewhere, and that's with those seadogs not paying their fare. I think the game has excellent depth and is priced to sell, leading to goodwill on the part of the consumer and a desire to actually own a copy of a fine (when it is) game.

So, do not fear for the future of football manager.

it's a tough question. I think that the more protection a game has, the more it will be attractive to "pirates". ~The problem with some of the protection is that it sometimes prevents the legal owner from playing the game properly. I've never had any problems with fm or cm before that, but for spellforce2 (if i remember correctly) I had no other solution than use a no-cd patch in order to be able to play the game.

That does not prevent me from buying every game i want to play. I firmly believe the case of the english woman is a disgrace to UK law.

I dont like the idea of steam, I dont want 3rd party applications running and Ive also heard lots and lots of stories about people having there licenses revoked for not just 1 game, but all the steam games they have.

Steam is a shocking program. It's the only reason I didn't bother playing Half Life 2 for more than a few weeks (having paid £30 for it and not being able to get a refund).

Football Manager - not too bothered with what they have at the moment because it's the only PC game I play so it stays in the disc drive. If I had more good PC games it would be a bit annoying.

I hate it to be honest that people will go out of there way to pirate something that costs as little ats 24.99 at the most expensive times. For the price I cant believe people will stop it. The best way in my opinion to stop this happening is having an online authentication system after its installed or an online web login authentication server.

Both would make it a lot harder to pirate the game because you would need a lot more than just an image of the disc.

The only problem to this is the legitimate people that buy 1 copy for their household. I live with my dad and my bro lives here as well, we buy one fm disc and we manage just fine. What I proposed would screw us I guess.

. I firmly believe the case of the english woman is a disgrace to UK law.

What about it exactly? Have you read up on the facts of the case?

I hate it to be honest that people will go out of there way to pirate something that costs as little ats 24.99 at the most expensive times. For the price I cant believe people will stop it. The best way in my opinion to stop this happening is having an online authentication system after its installed or an online web login authentication server.

Both would make it a lot harder to pirate the game because you would need a lot more than just an image of the disc.

The only problem to this is the legitimate people that buy 1 copy for their household. I live with my dad and my bro lives here as well, we buy one fm disc and we manage just fine. What I proposed would screw us I guess.

actually if you all play fm on different computers, i think that would be classified as piracy

anyway, the online thing is great, I just installed Mass Effect last week but I believe it has already been broken, so not very effective either.

What about it exactly? Have you read up on the facts of the case?

have you? she illegally downloaded a game that would cost no more then 20 quid and she was fined £16000. what do you think happens to shoplifters who nick £200-300-1000 worth of gear?????

not a lot. and thats why this particular case is a disgrace to law in the UK.

The best way in my opinion to stop this happening is having an online authentication system after its installed or an online web login authentication server.

Already been done, already been cracked.

actually if you all play fm on different computers, i think that would be classified as piracy

No it wouldn't.

have you? she illegally downloaded a game that would cost no more then 20 quid and she was fined £16000. what do you think happens to shoplifters who nick £200-300-1000 worth of gear?????

Yes, but the game was downloaded 12,000 times. The company only actually sold 800 games, and in the same space of time, 12,000 downloads were made, thanks to her. 12,000 x £20 = £240,000. She got off rather lightly with that £16,000 fine if you ask me.