Software protection scheme may boost new game sales

[Anonymous]

Sunder wrote:
> The only way that this could work is if they put up some sort of
> splash screen at some point to let the luser know that the program
> isn't buggy, but that the copy protection noticed it's a backup.
> After all, if you get a copy of a game from a friend, and it crashes
> on you all the time, would you think it's because the copy is bad, or
> because the software is as buggy as a Microsoft product?

Unnecessary.  These guys know what they're doing.  The scheme is very
carefully targetted at the Warez scene.

Software copy protection is usually cracked by a small number of people
who compete for reputation.  For a copy or a crack to be worth anything
in a trade, it has to be something that the other guy doesn't yet have.
Thus the core software piracy networks focus on cracking and trading new
software as quickly as possible (the "zero day" scene).

Fade's technique makes it much harder to test a crack.  There could be
any number of independent copy protection code fragments hidden
throughout the software.  The only way to tell if you've removed them
all is to play the game in its entirety - a task requiring several days
or more.  By that time, the other guy has already released a (probably
incomplete) crack, thus reducing the value of your work to zero.  A kind
of prisoner's dilemma (a game theory of game piracy?): the likely
outcome is that incomplete cracks are released.  It's these same copies
and cracks that filter down through various kinds of markets and
networks to the general public.

This has already happened.  I've seen a number of cracked and copied
games over the past year or so that appear at first glance to function
perfectly; it's only after playing for several hours that it becomes
obvious something isn't working.  The reaction of a player at getting
"stuck" after investing several hours in a game isn't to simply toss it;
it's to search the game hints sites and forums (which are numerous and
lively) for a solution.  A shareware-style nag message isn't needed to
prompt this.

If they discover rumors (accurate or not) that only illegal copies are
affected, there's an incentive to purchase a legal copy if the game is
of high quality; and a disincentive to waste their time on illegal
copies in the future.  Most people who use pirated software probably
wouldn't use the same software if they had to pay for it.  Fade isn't
aimed at these users; it's aimed at the small percentage who would
purchase a copy if they couldn't get it for free.

It's possible a new market will emerge for "aftermarket" cracks, that
fix the gaps in the zero-day versions.  But this is only likely to
happen for extremely popular games.  The few people with the necessary
skills have little incentive to deal with a month-old game unless it's
an exceptional case.

The long term outcome might be to increase sales of niche software and
less popular games: anything good enough to attract loyal users, but
slip beneath the radar of the zero day scene.