history of DRM and copy protection

from Sins Forums
I was wondering if anyone can refer me to some references on the issues of DRM and game copy protection.  How did it began, and what motivated it.  I know that there have been various articles posted on this forums regarding pc gaming piracy. 

The thing is i used to play pc games, but then for a few years, with school going on and stuff, i stopped playing it. Then when i finally got back into it, i noticed that there were more more stringent copy protection mechanisms that were in place.  This was before the console vs pc war begun.  Well..it was more like a heated argument, and i did noticed that there were artilces written on PC gamer about it and also on Computer Gaming world.  I think it was around the time when the Xbox came out. 

i just want to know how did this whole issue of DRM became such a prevalent phenomenon in the sales of pc games. 

Thanks
8,276 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
It started a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. ;)

To get you started I'll give you a big huge tip about the very first campaign industry sponsored activity to kick it all off. Do a search for "dont copy that floppy". Remember Wiki and Google are your friends.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
People were pirating their games (copying to disks) so they created a defense agaisnt that.

People soon started cracking that, and more advance ways of protection were made.

Eventually it got to the point where they decided "Well we can't stay ahead of the crackers, best we can do is make it hell for people who actually bought our game" and online registration came up.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
But the copy protection scheme for non gaming software are not as anal as the pc gaming industry, so how did the pc gaming industry got the anal bug in the first place???
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Games sell to a much smaller market than major applications, so the execs get more worried about things that might reduce sales further. Not that they choose a course of action that will actually help with that...
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
The disc check protection schemes were always about stopping younger people (which a corporation could never really recoup losses from suing them in individual suits) passing a single copy around to their mates in school. So disc checks for games, bulk licenses and audits for corporate/institutional software.