LGR - History of DRM & Copy Protection in Computer Games

An overview of copy protection and DRM schemes used in computer gaming, covering the most notable and interesting methods from the late 70's on up through today!

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Any time I mention copy protection or DRM in my videos, it's a given that someone will email me
asking what the big deal is.
Or, if they already know what DRM is, they're curious about old-school copy protection methods.
If you fall into either camp, or are simply bored as balls and want something to watch while you're eating lunch,
then this is the video for you!
Yes, in this LGR special we're taking a look at DRM and copy protection as it pertains to computer gaming.
And yes, I say computer gaming because I have to limit myself *somewhere*, or else this would go on forever.
I'm not really going to be focusing on copy protection on:
machines applications Video Music region
lighting at cetera
Also, this isn't all-encompassing, I'm not going to be covering every single protection scheme ever,
just the ones that I find most notable or fascinating.
And I know DRM can be a touchy subject for some of you,
so I'm not here to condone or condemn any particular method
I'm just here talk about crap now what
exactly is copy protection
well nowadays it's usually called Dr Ram
or digital rights management
this is a technological method of
controlling access to copyrighted
digital material
a system that's put in place by a
company that restricts where you
the in the user can do with digital
items you've purchased
this is something you're forced to live
with the less you forcibly modify your
software to remove it
and these practices are nothing new Ono
you gotta go back to the mid 1970s to
the out here 8800
the first major personal computer
success story a small start-up company
called Microsoft had developed an
operating environment for the system
called out here basic
this was before the days of common
floppy disk usage
or even cassette tape usage nope you had
paper tapes
for the out air a long strand of paper
with a bunch of holes permanently cut
into it like a punch card on a spools
but what happened was that someone with
access to both out here basic and a high
speed paper punching machine made fifty
copies of the program
and started freely distributing it at
the Homebrew Computer Club
so well out here was making money on
computer hardware Microsoft wasn't
receiving any royalties for the unsold
software
this resulted in the famous open letter
to hobbyists
penned by none other than Bill Gates in
which he said as the majority of
hobbyists must be aware most have you
steal your software
hardware must be paid for but software
something to share who cares if people
who worked on it get paid
of course what can anyone do to prevent
paper tape being copied
well not really much or even cassette
tapes which could pretty easily be
copied with
any high-quality tape duplicator it was
not until the widespread use a floppy
disks in the late seventies and early
eighties that i truly effective copy
protection scheme came about
on desk copy protection also known as
key discs
you see floppy disks work by attaching
magnetic values to a spinning piece of
metal coated plastic inside a plastic
sleeve with more plastic during the
manufacturing process
certain techniques can be applied to let
the software know if it's an original
disc being used
things like intentionally bad sectors
odd address marks different track
layouts
violin Crippen et cetera on computers
like the Apple to an IBM PC was largely
popular with software like to this
account him Lotus 1-2-3
though it also made its way onto its
fair share of games
in fact the very first PC gaming retail
Microsoft adventure head on desk copy
protection so he yep
PC users have been dealing with this
crap since the very beginning
it was possibly even more common to see
this kind of protection with games on
the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST
computers
this was a huge pain because not only
could you not install a game completely
to the hard drive if you had one
but it meant you could make your own
personal backups
floppy disks were fragile things they
easily get bent out of shape they're
susceptible to
magnetic fields and heat and dirt and
they sometimes just go bad if you hurt
their feelings are insult their mother
whatever
this meant that copy protected software
was actually have lesser value to
consumers
then non copy protected software because
they'd have to buy the program again if
something happened to it
and this wasn't just some issue they're
random hackers got annoyed with in their
basements it was a real problem that was
often addressed and contemporary
software reviews
this is the rarest birds that game you
can load on your hard disk because it's
not copy protected
eventually people had enough which leads
to the next method
the manual lookup or passphrase also
known as
of disk copy protection this was
probably the most common method of copy
protection amongst games
love the mid to late eighties and was
often touted on the box
as a selling point usually this method
involve the game telling you to look up
something in the manual at some point
like Disney's Aladdin here which
required you to type in a word from a
purse size line from a precise paragraph
per size place in the manual
and aggravating sometimes it was
something relating to a feature of the
games you can actually can learn
something like an ally checks where it
asks for military specifications
or tonya the fat man where you need to
enter information about the fighters
from either the manual for the
collectible trading card
still he'd used a much easier method
where you simply had to identify the
name in shape for the ship
printed out in the middle of the manual
so you have to look throughout the
entire friggin thing for some tiny
detail
then he had games like alone in the dark
which has a tiny book with a crap ton of
pages
you see these guys didn't want to just
copying the copy protection page
they made its energy at a caveat tana
pages which back then meant a lot of
time and money spent on copy machine
usage:
when this wasn't enough another very
common method was used
the code we'll one of the most famous is
the Secret of Monkey Island Style a
pirate
where you had to identify a pirate by
using some random information the game
told you
and then spinning the wheel to reveal
certain information about them
test drive 3 was kinda similar where you
have to match up cars with their keys
and other junk
of course these wheels could also be
copied if you didn't mind separating the
wheel into its individual parts
copying each piece and then cutting your
own holes
is a desperate times man another code
method
was the code sheet and while these were
simply having code wheels they were also
printed in such a way that prevented
copying by a copy machine
games like SimCity in the humans had
these red sheets with dark-colored codes
which you could pretty much see in the
right light but a copy machine sure
could not
then you had games like Dragonslayer
which had a code sheet nobody could see
not to mention you had to decipher code
by deciphering a table to get to the
deciphered game entry code which just
sucks
any and games like jet said Willie which
didn't use codes at all but colors
which would really suck if you're
colorblind I suppose
one method that was kinda cool but kinda
not is the puzzle solving method
games like King's Quest 6: came with a
guidebook to the land of the green Isles
this was separate from the game manual
and not only contain game lore but also
contain clues to a puzzle within the
game
without this book you wouldn't be able
to finish the game Space Quest 6:
had a data corder puzzle in the game
where you need it information from the
included popular Janet Tronix magazine
to solve it
these so-called feely's were nice and
all but like the previous manual and
code methods if you happen to lose these
items your game is left unplayable
plus it was a pain to have to dig out a
manual or code null every time you want
to play the game from your hard drive
still haha love these methods could be
copied if you were in genius or patient
enough
and dark red coach sheets for obsolete
once better color copiers and scanners
came around
which leads us to physical locks on copy
about tangible items which
shipped with the game the Colonel's
bequest was one of these
which came with a unique red lens
magnifying glass that was used to search
the game map for hidden fingerprints
then there was lens lock a legendarily
hated system used in the UK
predominately for cassette based games
this was a weird little fold-out saying
that had a special lens made up for rosa
presumes when you look at the game a
two-letter code was displayed on screen
but it was split into corrupted vertical
bands
what you had to do was put the lens lock
up to the screen and move your head into
GS the right position to see the code if
the Seyfert through the prisons
the problem with this was that if you
had a TV that was too big or too small
you couldn't see the code through the
lens Locsin only sees one size
also each game title came with a
different set of prisons and sometimes
the wrong lens life with shift with the
wrong game
what a pilot dick and lastly you also
had dongles
these have an awesome name but they
weren't nearly as common as the other
methods
thankfully but you did see them as early
as the Commodore PET
this was a device that plugs into some
communications port on the computer and
refused to allow the software to run
unless it was detected properly
mainly they were used for hire and
software but a few games have used them
over the years
a notable one is DJ Max trilogy which
required a special
on copy able USB thumb stick to be
plugged into even open the game
once the CD rom came around there were
large deterrent for copying was inherent
in the medium itself
most hard drives couldn't hold $600 or
more megabytes
and CD burners were insanely expensive
in the media was even more so
as a result many early CD-rom games had
no copy protection like pig in its
two-year
other games like 21st century's pinball
arcade had a simple CD check when it
loaded
but of course if you burn your own it
would still work just fine
it wasn't long before other methods were
used to verify CD-rom games like serial
numbers and alphanumeric keys
these are sampling largely painless you
got a unique
key code somewhere in the package
usually on the back from a manual or a
jewel case
and entered it when installing honestly
it doesn't prevent much copying unless
the key is also used to play online or
something
so of course more protection was deemed
necessary
like dummy files over sized CD's and
fake tables of contents
these were often placed on the fruit
have the CD rom where you have absurdly
large
fake files that normal CD burning
software couldn't handle
or fake to.see which told the computer
that the disk was well over one gigabyte
or something
no it wasn't long before CD burning
software could see right past this
and manufactures moved on to what is
most sought out today as dr. Ram
third-party systems like safe desk sec
you ROM
and starforce systems like this attempt
to prevent copying by applying digital
signatures or electronic fingerprints to
a disk during mastering
then assigns a unique number to the desk
safe desk is generally the more basic
measure has not terribly intrusive
or tough to bypass but many have freakin
Secura ROM
also known finally as suck you ROM this
has been found to sometimes conflict
with driving the elation CD burning
software on the same computer
doesn't always detect the legitimate
disc and also has certain
optical drive hardware incompatibilities
but protection technologies starforce is
probably the most infamous
there were claims that it works just
like now where in that it degrades
optical drive performance with continued
use
the software and device drivers ed under
handedly installs is hard to remove an
axis somewhat of a rootkit
and causes all manner of system
instability he was also pretty tough to
crack it first
with Splinter Cell chaos theory is one
of the most notable
at 422 days before the DRM was removed
by saltine crackers
third software crackers there are a few
examples of slightly more creative trm
methods
like stayed and gameplay altering
silliness
say is a system used in FPS games like
Operation Flashpoint in Armagh to
where the gameplay will gradually get
worse and worse if a pirated copy is
detected
eventually getting to the point where
you can't even in your gonna walk
straight
settlers trees and other notable one
where the iron smelters well only
produce pigs if you're not playing legit
then there's the most famous one
recently Serious Sam 3:
which gives Pirates an immortal
fast-moving scorpion that follows the
endlessly no matter what
another very common way of providing DRM
service is online distribution
like Steam Games for Windows Live origin
and you play
these are retail services among other
things that are combined with DRM
games are sold via the client verified
via servers
and the clients usually run in the
background during gameplay steam is
generally likes
but others especially Games for Windows
Live are generally regarded as sub-par
due to an awful interface instability
crappy patching in DLC systems login
issues etcetera
steven is an interesting one in this
respect as many people who are against
DRM will still buy stuff on Steam valve
and gave
being godly among gamers probably has
something to do with it but so do the
constant sales great community features
overall stability
easy patching and having tons of great
games in one place
but all the services steam included has
issues
steams offline game mode has to be
activated before you go offline
you can't resell any of your games you
can download games if the servers ever
go down
and the games often still have
third-party Dr Ram slapped on top of the
clients DRM
this means that even if you're okay with
steamy you may still have to deal with
one of the more common types of the RM
in the past several years
online activation accomplished by serial
number
an account with the publisher limited
installs based on hardware or all of the
above
limited installs seem to be pretty
universally hated like the ones used
in the teaches system this time is your
game to your hardware configuration
usually your
motherboard or processor once it
installs and ties this consigue to
accompany server
somewhere Bioshock got a lot of flak
when it launched
for only allowing to installations ever
and if you wanted more installs you had
to call the phone number in the manual
they didn't connect to anyone
says the wrong phone number was printed
Mass Effect required reactivation of
your installation via
EA servers every 10 days no matter what
and their game Spore
allowed only three activations ever
which required a log into me a server's
each time of this on top of the regular
sec your option and against
no.27 D is a recent example love this
stuff going horribly wrong since it only
allowed three activations
but it was so picky that even if you
changed your freakin graphics card
treated your PC like an entire new
computer using up wanna be your three
installations
and lastly we have one is probably the
least like to
all DRM systems thus far constant
internet-connected
DRM this is DRM that is always
online always connected always watching
always planning you better have a
reliable broadband connection
an outstanding router not to mention
hoping that the company's authentication
servers are online because if anything
goes wrong
you cannot play your game you paid good
money for you piece of space asses creed
two was notorious for this when it first
launched
it wasn't uncommon to find the servers
down for several days at a time meaning
no one can log in to play the single
player game at all
and if you lost the connection while
you're playing you lose the progress if
you came back to the last checkpoint
and save games were stored on the server
not your PC
not only that but sometimes the
connection just isn't that great and you
end up with lag
the other three had this issue even in
single player you have to be connected
to Activision Blizzard at all times not
only for authentication in the auction
house stuff
but also to download at essences sinks
every action online
so you can end up with lag in a single
player game
yes this is what you pay for the next
curve awful in the making appears to be
Sims city from
EA coming in early 2013 word is that the
game is set to have always online DRM
which like Diablo 3 is there under the
guise of increased multiplayer
capabilities
of course you get a deal with it even if
you just wanna play single player so
screw you for having preferences
and that's DRM in a nutshell well and
that show that last summer's 18 minutes
hopefully that answers the questions
that you may have had about copy
protection in DRM both in the past and
the present day
it's really not hard to see white so
controversial and so derided by critics
but when it works without
issue it's possible easy to ignore and
become complacent
I'd encourage you not to let that happen
just be a smart consumer
investigate what types have DRM you like
or don't like
and what may already be in your games
because you never know
someday you may have a library full
unplayable
bits and bytes