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Starforce accused of posting pirate software links News
PC News by Games Industry.biz
Anti-piracy software firm Starforce has been accused of posting links to pirate copies of Stardock's PC strategy title Galactic Civilizations II on its official website, in the latest in a series of PR blunders for the controversial company.
The post, which has since been edited to remove the links to pirate software, was made in response to public comments from Stardock which argued that applying draconian protection measures to PC software was an ineffective way of reducing piracy.
Unlike many PC titles, Galactic Civilizations II has no copy protection - but Stardock has reported strong sales of the game, and believes that its decision not to place heavy restrictions on how people use the software has encouraged additional sales.
Instead, the company provides each copy of the game with a unique serial number which can be used to install multiple copies of the game (as long as only one is being played at once), to download regular updates from the developer, and even to re-download the entire game if the original CD is lost.
Moscow-based firm Starforce, however, clearly disagrees with Stardock's assertion that its lack of protection hasn't encouraged piracy - and while it has now removed the pirate software links from its site, the text of the original post remains.
"Right now several thousands of people are downloading the pirated version only from that web-site," the post reads. "Is it good for the sales? Unlikely."
Stardock responded to the astonishing move on the part of the copy protection firm in a remarkably measured fashion, by contacting the owners of the torrent website to which Starforce had linked and asking for the Galactic Civilizations II torrents to be removed (a request which was honoured within hours), and then by posting a follow-up explanation on their website.
"Our primary weapon to fight piracy is through rewarding customers through convenient, frequent, free updates," the firm explained.
"If you make it easy for users to buy and make full use of your product or service legitimately then we believe that you'll gain more users from that convenience than you'll lose from piracy."
The decision to post links to pirate software on its website isn't the first time that Starforce has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent months. The firm's software has also been the subject of calls for a user boycott of games using it for copy protection, following widespread reports that it could reduce the functionality of PC systems and even damage some hardware permanently, even after the game it was ostensibly protecting had been uninstalled.
The Starforce software's silent and unauthorised installation of a special device driver on users' systems drew particular ire from users, who reported problems ranging from crashes when audio CDs were placed in their drives to software issues that made CD and DVD burners unusable.
Starforce responded to reporting of the boycott and of the technical problem with legal threats, with one memorable example being a letter sent to Cory Doctorow, author and founder of the popular BoingBoing website, in which Starforce PR manager Dennis Zhidkov threatened to press charges, claiming that BoingBoing's reporting had violated "approximately 11 international laws" and claiming to have reported the site to the FBI for "harassment."
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Comments: 1-50 of 50 in total
Poster
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Well this is all i am going to say, to all those who hate starforce, if you wanna get back at them buy this game. Maybe then games devs will stop using starforce protection in their games when they realise the bad publicity straforce brings them.................:)
Plus it will be the biggest F*&K you to the makers of starforce |
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bunch of bloody idiots.
I praise Stardock for their move - it's gutsy but good and good for the industry. Starforce are just parasites living off the game industry's fears of declining revenue due to piracy. GET OVER IT. Spend more money on the games than paying tossers like Starforce and you'll be okay (if the games are good) especially with a seiral based login system for updates online. |
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jack_klugman
13/03/06 @ 16:41
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Starforce responded to reporting of the boycott and of the technical problem with legal threats, with one memorable example being a letter sent to Cory Doctorow, author and founder of the popular BoingBoing website, in which Starforce PR manager Dennis Zhidkov threatened to press charges, claiming that BoingBoing's reporting had violated "approximately 11 international laws" and claiming to have reported the site to the FBI for "harassment."
StarForce as the new Jack Thompson? |
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I bought the game because it's a great 4X, and because of the great reviews, but also (and specially) because I want to support developers that get IT.
I won't post the usual StarForce diatribe. I only wish the bastards would roll over and die already (economically speaking). If only idiots like UBI weren't supporting them with their games (which is why I haven't bought any of them since Silent Hunter 3). |
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"Our primary weapon to fight piracy is through rewarding customers through convenient, frequent, free updates" (www.galciv2.com)
What a mature and laudable (and rare) attitude to their market. They gained a sale with me through this, and I wish them the greatest success. ah paketep, see we're of a mind... ;) |
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GordonJ@work
13/03/06 @ 17:07
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Only £18 for the 'limited edition' tin on play.com.
Buy it now, I just did :) |
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Reet. Im going to chip in here:
1. If you dont copy protect your game, in most european countries you dont have a leg to stand on in court if people do pirate your game 2. It makes sense to copy protect your game to stop "casual" piracy 3. Starforce is the best copy protection software around 4. It seems that the pirates had trouble getting around starforce and so started a lot of FALSE accusations against it. 5. Unfortunately due to internet rumour mongering people have started to believe #4. 6. Starforce offered a LARGE sum of money to anyone who could show them their machine was "broken" by starforce software, no-one claimed the prize. But yet because of #4 and #5, the damage has been done. Everyone knows of "someone who's had their computer broken by starforce", lots of people claim it's happened to them, but yet none of them claimed the reward for proving their machines were broken by installing it?!?!?! Suspicious? I think so. In my mind, the reality is, the pirates couldnt get around it easily, they started a bullshit campaign full of fulse rumours, and after a while people believed them! So we had a system which the pirates had trouble getting around, and due to internet rumourmill we now have comments like "Those SF bastards" and "Your damn righ Starforce = NO FU-&$NG WAY" To my knowledge there has been no PROOF of starforce breaking anyone machines. But yet the damage has now been done against them. Makes me wonder whether the problem with pc software sales nowadays is that no-one wants it anymore, or no-one wants to BUY it anymore. Which is a shame, the pc used to be a ground for inventive games, and a ground to try out new ideas. Now it's just a graveyard for rts and console ports as no-one buys them any more (although i suspect everyone plays them). If this carries on, next time you're complaing about the lack of inventive games, look at your pc games collection, how many have you honestly bought? My guess is for a lot of you, not many. |
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I've read this, and started to wonder if my problems installing oldish games in this computer is due to starforce... because, you know, Trackmania Nations really needed the damn thing installed.
edit: smelly, you are forgetting two of the rules: the applicants had to pay their trips and hosting in Moscow at their own expense and replicate the conditions in a computer provided by the company. Considering the problems caused by it are mostly random, that's quite a tall order.
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most recently on 13/03/06 @ 20:17
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"1. If you dont copy protect your game, in most european countries you dont have a leg to stand on in court if people do pirate your game"
If you copy and distribute software which is at odds with how it is licensed - surely you would be in breach of copyright. This sounds like some pro DRM fud shit... though IANAL so who knows... ...and surely you don't need reason 2, since if reason 1 were true - reason 2 would be redundant. |
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People do pirate games... dvd's & music CD's too. They were pirating games in the 1980's but somehow the computer entertainment industry has "struggled" on to become the mammoth it is today - as in, it's size, not because it's anywhere near extinct! It's healthier than ever, which inevitably attracts the money men who want to squeeze every last penny out of the consumer. Piracy is a big problem today, but the growth in piracy is a result, not the cause of, the stupidly high prices for games - which in turn are the result of the greed of publishers and the other leeches.
The simple truth is if there was no demand for PC games(or dvd's or music CD's) then they wouldn't keep making so many and charging so much. They are making a fortune week in, and week out, and companies will keep making PC games for a long, long time to come so get real... Starforce is fine if it stops piracy, but you can clearly see the drivers are running as a service every time the pc starts, not "just when needed" which is what StarForce claim - coming up with your own generic CD/DVD drivers which deviate away from Microsoft and/or the CD/DVD drive manufacters drivers could screw up it's operation and leave you really confused as to the cause, that is obvious and I didn't even hear about their cash prize so I'm guessing a few million other people may have missed it too! |
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Starforce looks like a protection racket ... if you dont use Starforce we will post links to pirate sites with your game.
The whole copy protection industry is quite frankly a fraud, piracy does not lower sales much because if people are going to buy the game they WILL buy the game, people just pirate what they would not buy in the first place. But that is the tune the copy protection industry plays ... like P2P is having much higher effect that some years ago using floppys and CD burners did, the sales are dropping because most games today are overpriced crap. |
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"The percent of users that had compatibility problems with StarForce is 0.3%." - yep, users that actually knew it was caused by Starforce and told them about it and that they are telling us about... the rest cursed for a few hours/days, maybe bought new CD/DVD drives and/or wiped their HDD and reinstalled the o/s... then had the same problem cos they reinstalled the StarForce game...
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Not suspicouse in the least. Starforce leaves behind it's programming even if you uninstal it. It prevents other programs from working, aplication designed to clone CDs.
Now obviously if you went to Starforce they'd tell you that that is exactly what the program is desinged to do and you agreed to that the moment you installed the game and clicked YES in the terms of use agreement and therefor you are not allowed to claim any rewards since your PC is not broken. Hell, there's creationists out there offering rewards to anybody can proove evolutin and disprove the existance of god. Nobody has meat there requirments so therefor no reward is given out and thus evolution is a lie, or so they claim. Or in short, it's just a bullshit PR scam.
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most recently on 13/03/06 @ 22:51
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1. If you dont copy protect your game, in most european countries you dont have a leg to stand on in court if people do pirate your game
ummm... no. the onus is not on the copyright owner to somehow "lock down" their intellectual property. if you create something, you own the right to not have your copyright infringed automatically. to think that you somehow gain more legal protection via copy-protection and DRM system is pure fallacy. 2. It makes sense to copy protect your game to stop "casual" piracy sure, copy protections are likely to decrease 'casual' piracy. whether or not it is worth a publishers time and money to implement a [costly!] copy protection system is debatable, however. 3. Starforce is the best copy protection software around not really. it is an annoyance to many legitimate gamers, and its 'protection' very easily bypassed. 4. It seems that the pirates had trouble getting around starforce and so started a lot of FALSE accusations against it. yes, there have been many rants and rumours about starforce bandied about, but not all of them unfounded. 6. Starforce offered a LARGE sum of money to anyone who could show them their machine was "broken" by starforce software, no-one claimed the prize. the rules of this 'generous offer' were a little disingenuous. the requirement is for irreparable damage to occur to a system; such a state is not in line with the majority of complaints relating to starforce's 'malware' traits. the pc used to be a ground for inventive games, and a ground to try out new ideas. Now it's just a graveyard for rts and console ports as no-one buys them any more you're kidding right? look at your pc games collection, how many have you honestly bought? currently, i own 47 purchased PC titles. that, of course, doesn't include the games that i have since parted company with - i shudder to think how much money i've spent on games over the years. and since i do choose to support game developers by buying their games, i prefer not to be beaten over the head with a beluga sturgeon every time i want to play a game, so i would urge publishers to listen to their customers and not annoy us with burdensome copy protection schemes! |
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@Stardock: I salute you. First you came up with some of the best software I have ever seen (WindowBlinds. WindowFX, Object Desktop - guys, check those out, trial downloads are free) and then you shun this whole anti-piracy racket. And as far as I know, StarDock is not that big a developer - apparently the whole company was working on this one game. Even then they are not stupid enough to dream up some sort of intrusive, disgusting, crippling protection of their game. Kudos.
Anyone who is reading: StarForce FUCKS UP YOUR PC. I was in the middle of playing Splinter Cell CT when I switched to a DVD-RW from a plain DVD. Guess what - the game disc was NOT recognized, and I haven't been able to play the damned game ever since. Thankfully PoP:TT is running fine, but what about the 30 quid I spent on SC? From then on I boycotted all Ubisoft PC games, and I urge everyone to do the same with ANY game with StarForce protection. Too bad, the latest StarForce hasn't been cracked yet (good work by the way) - otherwise downloading torrents would have been nice, if only to get a Starforce-free version of the game. The point is, WHY SUFFER FOR BUYING LEGITIMATE COPIES?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 14/03/06 @ 05:50
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ummm... no. the onus is not on the copyright owner to somehow "lock down" their intellectual property.
I said Europe (that's not just england). Go to germany (for example) and look at their copyright law, if you dont attempt to protect your software, the law sees it that you didnt care enough about your own copyright. The stupid thing is, Xbox games are the easiest thing in the world to copy, as is getting a machine softmodded. Theres no intrusive mechanisms that prevent legit owners using originals, and yet the Xbox software market seems to have done ok. (Looks at the LOSS microsoft has made on the xbox), yes, you're right, it hasnt harmed them at all has it? Sure, it mayve promoted hardware sales (which they make a loss on) but it obviously doesnt promote the software sales (where they make the profits). Ditto to the argument on music cd's (but in saying that, that's probably more down to modern chart music being shite anyhows, and they've gotten around it by charging people to download music now too). the applicants had to pay their trips and hosting in Moscow at their own expense and replicate the conditions in a computer provided by the company. Considering the problems caused by it are mostly random, that's quite a tall order. 1st part is true, but considering the prize was $100k surely worth the trip if you REALLY had a problem?... 2nd part isnt - you had to demonstrate on your own pc. 3rd part, if it's is random, how can you be sure it was starforces fault? Seems to me, that people just dont like the fact that drivers end up on their machine, the uninstallation of which on the uninstall of the game are the fault of the software companies btw. But sure, if someone can HONESTLY say to me, they installed starforce and their drive stopped working, then they uninstalled it, and their drive worked fine, then I'll stand corrected. |
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On-topic: lame of that Starforce forumadmin, he should have known better.
On Starforce: I have around seven games or so using this copyprotection. Never had any problems with it, I don't have Daemontools installed no, don't have the need for such tools. The only things that bug me is that with the older Starforce-versions you have to restart your PC after installation and the CD/DVD-recognition sometimes takes a while on my DVD-drive but that's it. So yeah, I HAPPILY enjoy games as Space Rangers 2 and other stuff from Ubisoft/CDV/... . That whole boycott thing is the most stupid thing I have ever heard, with such actions you're hurting the game devs a LOT more than Starforce imo. |
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insane_cobra
14/03/06 @ 08:44
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@smelly: A slight correction, the prize was $10k, not $100k (source: http://www.star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=261&id=707). But it has to be said they also offered to cover the trip and lodging expenses.
However, if you read the contest rules again, you'll surely notice this part: "After the installation and start-up of StarForce protected product the problem with (CD/DVD read-write malfunction) must exist and BE REPRODUCED IN ANY OTHER CONFIGURATION." Capitalized emphasis mine.
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most recently on 14/03/06 @ 08:47
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reality_cheque
14/03/06 @ 08:44
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@smelly: "1st part is true, but considering the prize was $100k surely worth the trip if you REALLY had a problem?".
I do not have the funds to get to Moscow. Even with 100k 'prize' for having a f*cked PC. Plus, I cannot get time off work; 100k is not enough money for me to be able to give up working. How do I claim my 'prize'? This sort of 'offer' is illegal in the UK, because of a company that made a similar offer with unachievable limitations. However, because this company operate out of Moscow, they can get away with it. "I said Europe (that's not just england). Go to germany (for example) and look at their copyright law, if you dont attempt to protect your software, the law sees it that you didnt care enough about your own copyright." A direct quote from a report by the Foundation for Information Policy Research :Transferring songs from a copy-protected CD to a Walkman or computer could be illegal, as could watching a DVD on a computer running Linux. Does this sound like the law in Europe "sees it that you didn't care enough about your own copyright"?. This was due to be implemented in all European countries by 22 Dec 2002, INCLUDING GERMANY. edited because I forgot [quote] doesn't work here :(
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most recently on 14/03/06 @ 08:45
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@Ryuken : Congrats on your smooth flight with StarForce. However, just because you haven't had any problems with it, doesn't mean that nobody else had. When you will have $150 worth of games lying around expecting you to detach your new drive and replace it with the old one, a PC randomly rebooting everytime you try to play a game, the PC NOT shutting down or booting up at all if you left the game disc in, perhaps the talk of boycott won't sound so stupid to you.
As for damage to devs - what are we to do if the devs are bent upon hurting legit buyers to stop the fraction of sales they lose to piracy? I don't care if Ubisoft survives or not - I want my PC to survive first. A working PC is vital to playing games, don't you think? |
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I said Europe (that's not just england). Go to germany (for example) and look at their copyright law, if you dont attempt to protect your software, the law sees it that you didnt care enough about your own copyright.
No it doesn't. German law is quite clear in that the rights of the author are automatically granted. Saying that copy-protection is somehow required to afford copyright in Germany is false, and indeed contradicts German copyright legislation (Art 12, 1). |
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3rd part, if it's is random, how can you be sure it was starforces fault?
The problem here is that it cannot be denied, either. I've had lots of problems with computers in the past 10 years. Know how many of them could be replicated? Only a couple of them, yet for most I could pinpoint the problem to certain drivers, bad versions of software (as in "bugged") or incompatible codecs. I knew people that had pretty much the same configuration as me, but could use those things without a problem. edit: ... and as insane_cobra said, the grand prize was for someone who could make the problem occur in several computers. For most of the times, I can't duplicate certain errors in one computer, let alone six or seven.
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most recently on 14/03/06 @ 10:03
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So far the only starforce-protected games I installed on my PC are Trackmania Sunrise (plus the eXtreme expansion), Trackmania Nations and a recently purchased original Trackmania (which I intended to update to Trackmania Original); I prefer to play games like Prince of Persia or Splinter Cell on my Xbox.
tmSunrise and tmNations both play like a dream. The original Trackmania though, either in its 2003's form, the PowerUp! updated form or the most recent tmOriginal form, still refuses to run. Apparently the older SF version protecting the 2003's version is imcompatible with my PC, prohibiting me from playing the game at all - some protection huh? |
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MrGrumpy.au
14/03/06 @ 11:36
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@Talha, its for your own "peace of mind" knowing that you're still classed as a pirate/digital terrorist but you are slowly moving away from the darkside. ;)
So by Starforce anyone that has problems or boycotts games with the Sf protection scheme are nasty terroroist pirates, that have nothing better to do but make up drive performance/application failure issues. /shurgs Oh well I'll stick to playing my ~289 fully purchased PC titles (from 1988 - 2001) and my fully purchased 138 console titles (from 1997 - 2006) and continue to be referred to as pirate scum, good way to destroy the PC market as a whole..... Idiots! What are they saying? It's no matter what you do we're still not going trust you. [I'm definately Grumpy tonight!!! :D] /shrughs Cheers
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most recently on 14/03/06 @ 11:39
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@Talha: you probably remember Hylis' response to this question:
"Starforce will be in it. It prevents for too many manipulation of the exe, the datas, creating cracks for our other games and in some way limit cheating. I know it is not really cool, but so far, it is the best we have to do all this..." Quoted from here
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most recently on 14/03/06 @ 12:10
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re: Bitkari
3. Starforce ......and its 'protection' very easily bypassed. Rubbish. I purchased a legit copy of GTR Racing and GT Legends. If SF is so easy to bypass why are there nocd cracks for these or most SF games? The consensus on most sites who host files like these tell the average punters don't even bother it's SF protected just use the games cd. |
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"As for damage to devs - what are we to do if the devs are bent upon hurting legit buyers to stop the fraction of sales they lose to piracy? I don't care if Ubisoft survives or not - I want my PC to survive first. A working PC is vital to playing games, don't you think?"
Well, I am maybe a bit selfish when only looking at my PC which has no remarkable problems with Starforce. Then again, there are so many issues with all kinds of software that never get resolved. The Daemontools issue is probably intended I guess, but I can't believe that Starforce and the publishers that use their technology really want all those other problems some folks are complaining about. Of course, user-friendliness is mostly neglected in this bizz, but that's not only through malfunctioning copy protection measures. And in case you were wondering; not all the devs/pubs are called by the name Blizzard or EA. Valid protection is a must for most titles, Stardocks statements about added value are bold but not everyone can rely on successful desktop software to back things up when a game bombs for a certain reason. |
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Rubbish. I purchased a legit copy of GTR Racing and GT Legends. If SF is so easy to bypass why are there nocd cracks for these or most SF games? The consensus on most sites who host files like these tell the average punters don't even bother it's SF protected just use the games cd.
I don't bother trying to "crack" my games to remove the need for the original cd, merely make a disc image from the original, and install and run the game from that image. The actual disc remains in pristine condition - unlike the pile of abused gamecube discs scattered throughout the lounge :( This works as-is for most games that I buy - except starforce ones are a bit of a pain, and require the disabling of any IDE cd/dvd drives. |
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@Bitkar: News for you mate - what you are doing with your CDS, while makes perfect sense, is frowned upon as a less than desirable practice. Yes, it is the new digital age and we cannot back up OUR OWN PURCHASED DATA, thanks to shit like StarForce.
@Ryuken: Glad you could see my side of the argument. But the thing is, many people use Daemon Tools for backups, and that is how that software is advertised. @Mr Grumpy: For once, I am willing to share, complement and even multiply your grumpiness. Amen. @JonFe: Thanks. |
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The Smircher
15/03/06 @ 11:53
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Hmmm, I was thinking of getting GCII....but now I'm now definitely going to get it if only to support StarDock's mature stance on copy protection.
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KillStarforceDead
01/10/06 @ 20:03
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DRM Stands for "Digital Rectal Manipulation"! If courts require Game Developers to have DRM in order to defend themselves in court, then the laws have to change. The truth is that Copyright is enough notice served warning not to steal their software, so the idiots claiming this are obvious plants by Arrogant Bastards working for DRM software industry! No where in the agreement for Egosoft's X-3 does it mention Starforce and I have no problem with some DRM that doesn't damage our hardware software. But Starforce uses KGB tactics that are irreversible. DRM is not the way to sell software and hopefully other people will buy games like what StarDock offers just to show these ignorant bafoons in game publisher boardrooms that their spending our money for nothing!
I am a victim of Starforce's lying dragonian oral manipulation of my ass and I hope they eat shit and die! I hope they get hit with lawsuits to wake their asses up so they can see the shit fly in their face! These scum bags besides changing out device drivers that make CD/DVD burners uselessly slow on many Super Multi and Multi drives, instant reboot for merely having a no-cd hack (to save spins and noise on CD/DVD drive spins) and other crippling effects, should have their balls clamped in a vise, their tongues drilled with a corkscrew and their eyes popped out of their heads dangleling while all their blood drains from their bodies! I'm so glad someone has reverse engineered their scrappy DRM software to expose their arrogant lies and deceit! mwaa.... ha... ha... hee heee now you know what it feels like to be DRMed to death! BOYCOTT STARFORCE FOREVER
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most recently on 01/10/06 @ 21:15
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Comments: 1-50 of 50 in total
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