Stardock is my new favorite gaming company
Stardock has awesome policies, makes awesome games, and best of all-- they're trying to change the rest of the PC game industry to actually be pro gamer instead of anti gamer.
The Gamers' Bill of Rights
This comes at a time when other publishers, like EA, are subscribing to DRM such as SecuROM. Not sure if you've heard of it or not, but it's a pain in the butt that sucks away processing power and RAM, not to mention only lets you activate a game a certain number of times. With their latest release, Spore, the limit is 3 times (Edit: They have recently changed it to be 5 times). That's it. After that, you have to call EA, personally, to get it activated, where "it is determined on a case by case basis." What does that mean? If you don't like my voice on the phone I don't get to play my game anymore? That's garbage.
Most SecuROM set ups require you to have the CD/DVD in the drive to play-- another pain, as there has been a trend in gaming over the last 10 years to not require the disc to be in the drive when you play. This is one of my top pet peeves.
Most SecuROM systems also require you to have an active connection to the internet every time you play the game, so their software can make sure you're not a criminal. Why would I want to buy anything from a company that treats me like I'm a potential thief? I'm not about to put stuff on my computer that relinquishes control of my stuff to some company that thinks that since I'm using their game, which I paid for, I might probably be stealing from them.
In conclusion: Support Stardock and other companies that are out there for the gamers. (I believe Gas Powered Games is also onboard with this). Don't support companies that are out there to make life difficult for the very people that are paying them.
The Gamers' Bill of Rights
This comes at a time when other publishers, like EA, are subscribing to DRM such as SecuROM. Not sure if you've heard of it or not, but it's a pain in the butt that sucks away processing power and RAM, not to mention only lets you activate a game a certain number of times. With their latest release, Spore, the limit is 3 times (Edit: They have recently changed it to be 5 times). That's it. After that, you have to call EA, personally, to get it activated, where "it is determined on a case by case basis." What does that mean? If you don't like my voice on the phone I don't get to play my game anymore? That's garbage.
Most SecuROM set ups require you to have the CD/DVD in the drive to play-- another pain, as there has been a trend in gaming over the last 10 years to not require the disc to be in the drive when you play. This is one of my top pet peeves.
Most SecuROM systems also require you to have an active connection to the internet every time you play the game, so their software can make sure you're not a criminal. Why would I want to buy anything from a company that treats me like I'm a potential thief? I'm not about to put stuff on my computer that relinquishes control of my stuff to some company that thinks that since I'm using their game, which I paid for, I might probably be stealing from them.
In conclusion: Support Stardock and other companies that are out there for the gamers. (I believe Gas Powered Games is also onboard with this). Don't support companies that are out there to make life difficult for the very people that are paying them.