Stardock is to be congratulated for their “Gamers Bill of Rights” – though incomplete, it’s a good start and excellent to see a game developer recognizing the inadequacies of DRM. The most important item missing in the list is the right to easily move the game to a new PC, a 2nd PC or to lend it to a friend. It is also key to recognize that developers being asked to fulfill these gamers’ rights, need to protect their own rights at the same time – i.e. to prevent theft and lost revenue. To fulfill all of the Bill of Rights is readily possible but requires the strongest of protection mechanisms; otherwise the crackers’ task just became much easier. . At ByteShield we offer gamer and developer friendly protection that fulfills all these ‘Rights’ and many more, while exceedingly difficult to crack - see our latest whitepaper, “Is Anti-Piracy/DRM the Cure or the Disease for PC Games?‘ at http://byteshield.net/byteshield_whitepaper_0005.pdf.



Going through this “Bill of Rights” point by point:



1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund. >> we agree and ByteShield enables this because any installation can be disabled and refunded with no fear of theft

2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state. >> we agree but this is a developer decision

3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release. >> we agree but this is a developer decision

4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.>> we agree but with respect to the game this is a developer decision. However, in certain circumstances (e.g. bug fix versions, virus protection) this should happen automatically to minimize support issues (for users and developers) but with full information of what is happening supplied to the gamer

5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer. >> we agree but this is a developer decision

6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent >> ByteShield already makes this promise – see our whitepaper http://byteshield.net/byteshield_whitepaper_0005.pdf.

7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time. >> we agree and ByteShield enables this because any installation can be deactivated in combination with permitting a re-download

8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers. >> ByteShield already makes this point - see our whitepaper http://byteshield.net/byteshield_whitepaper_0005.pdf.

9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.>> ByteShield offers this but it’s implemented at discretion of game developer

10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play. >> ByteShield already makes this promise - see our whitepaper http://byteshield.net/byteshield_whitepaper_0005.pdf.

Thanks,

Christian Olsson
ByteShield, Inc.