TFC/Eagle Dynamics New Digital Rights Management for DCS World

Flight Sims
1

Hello Everyone,

Just a few things to think about that does not apply to everyone nor includes everyone that has purchased TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW Products.

Remember, Internet connectivity is a privilege, not a right

Paying DCS Customers:

A Person or Persons that have legally purchased, activated TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW Products which is installed on a Mobile PC/Laptop before arriving to said examples below.

A Person or Persons that use said Mobile PC/Laptop for Offline Single Player without connectivity after their work shifts.

A Person or Persons that uses said Mobile PC/Laptop for Offline Single Player without connectivity at their Vacation Homes.

Workers:

A) Paying DCS Customers that are working in remote locations with limited to no connectivity, providing Hurricane / Natural Disaster relief to rebuild the nonfunctional infrastructures that provide these commodities. (Power,Water,Telephone,Cellular,Etc.)

B) Paying DCS Customers that work in land development in regions with limited to no connectivity, to create the first infrastructures that provide these commodities that are not present. (Power,Water,Telephone,Cellular,Etc.)

C) Paying DCS Customers that work in Offshore / Remote Mining / Drilling of Natural Resources in regions with limited to no connectivity.

D) Paying DCS Customers that are Active duty, Reserve duty, military personnel / contractors deployed to theaters of operations with limited to no connectivity.

Customers:

A) Paying DCS Customers that have vacation homes in regions with limited to no connectivity, that nonfunctional infrastructures are being repaired by Workers due to Hurricanes / Natural Disasters. { See A) under Workers}

B) Paying DCS Customers that have vacation homes in regions with limited to no connectivity. ( Ski Chalets, Hunting / Fishing Camps, Hiking and Mountain Bike Terrain)

C) Paying DCS Customers that have vacation homes in Tropical / Caribbean / Island regions with limited to no connectivity.(Beach Homes, Resorts,etc.)

Summary

  1. Currently, with the TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW Digital Rights Management. Paying DCS Customers: must have connectivity every 3 calendar days for Offline Single Player Modes. If connectivity is unavailable after 3 calendar days, the legally purchased AV-8B N/A VTOL module will not function in Offline Single Player Modes.

  2. With the proposed retroactively applied TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW Digital Rights Management. Paying DCS Customers: must have connectivity every 3 calendar days for Offline Single Player Modes. If connectivity is unavailable after 3 calendar days, all legally purchased TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW modules will not function in Offline Single Player Modes.

  3. Person / Persons effected by the current and proposed TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW Digital Right Management

a) Paying DCS Customers:(See above)

b) Workers:(See above)

c) Customers:(See above)

Proposal:

  1. Paying DCS Customers: Once activated, use of legally purchased TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW modules will function in Offline Single Player Modes unlimited.

  2. Paying DCS Customers: Will be required to re-verify legally purchased TFC/Eagle Dynamics DCSW modules to function in Offline Single Player Modes unlimited during the following.

a) Any and all connections when logged into username account.
b) Software updates
c) Software version changes including reverting back to prior versions.
d) Purchases of additional modules
e) Installation of previous purchased modules.
f) To process Clean or Repair functions.

LAN and Multiplayer:
LAN and Multiplayer are not part of the proposal because to function beyond activation connectivity is required. At such point the re-verify procedure would preform automatically being connected to username account.

Happy Simming,
Monnie

2

Hi @MonnieRock

Weā€™re a flight sim and gaming forum for a bunch of friends, not really a personal soapbox. You obviously feel strongly about the subject but Iā€™d suggest you take it up with TFC/Eagle Dynamics direct - weā€™re not affiliated with them in any way, so not sure what you want us to do. Iā€™d guess you just want to use our forum to publish your thoughts as a type of campaign against this?

Youā€™re welcome to engage with the members here to chat about the existing topics etc but it sort of looks like you just want to publish a sort of manifesto on this subject as your ā€˜helloā€™?

I guess we could all chat about DRM and freedom etc, but it usually devolves into a cyclic argument of if piracy is function of freedom or a way for a business to provide a better product etc.

As for DCS and the new DRM, as I understand it (not really followed it that much) they seem to be reviewing it and decisions arenā€™t finalized. Dunno, been flying the Harrier. I remember that people didnā€™t really like Starforce/Proactive for lots of reasons as well. Machine activations seemed very unpopular. Internet connectivity seems very unpopular.

Anyway, perhaps try posting this at SimHQ, reddit, Facebook and other things like that, which have a wider audience - youā€™ll probably have more luck there.

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Iā€¦Iā€¦Iā€™m justā€¦impressed with the post formatting. I donā€™t even know how to do that.

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I am also not sure why this is posted here. The way itā€™s structured makes it read like a direct proposal to the developers, which this forum is not.

For me, the new DRM method is fine, itā€™s already widely implemented in many different types of software, from engineering to visual design to games and simulators. Most models these days are moving to software as an service and it looks like DCS is slowly becoming that too. I think your proposal is too focussed on the edge cases, and thereā€™s probably enough data to suggest that DCSW is not a very popular piece of software for people operating in those conditions.

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Yeah, I think ED is moving in the right direction. Maybe re-think the 3 day window. It should be able to make the software look for ownership when installing the module, and leave it at that. They will figure it out, Iā€™m sure. As I am sure they will accept input in that direction. Not sure they will read it here thoughā€¦ :wink:

6

I agree this is probably not the right place to post this.

As for the topic: In many of those situations Iā€™d probably say: if not being able to play DCSW in that situation is a problem then your priorities are wrong. Seriously, if you are in a hurricane area or something DCSW is the least of your problems.

Other ones are valid though and ED has already stated that they are thinking about it internally because of feedback they received about it.

Letā€™s just wait and see before starting big campaigns. At least thatā€™s my proposal.

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I view both DCS and to a large part, a good Internet connection, as entertainment and take upon myself to provide facilities for both. If I chose to live in a location, or am unfortunate enough to live in a place where the Internet service is poor, I donā€™t blame anyone else. I do sympathize for those stuck in that situation, and wish that everyone had the means to realize their dreams. Iā€™d love to own a King Air B200 as well.

8

According to O.P. resoning also this is true.

Remember, playing computer games connectivity is a privilege, not a right.

So entitlement to me reaches very close to Zero.
Iā€™ve had the chance to live a whole year without internet and I survived.
Beside that with nowadays Smartphones the type of connection required by the new DCS DRM isnā€™t draconian at all, but itā€™s a simple minor annoyance.

I actually refure to believe that a major part of the gaming community is affected by lack of internet connection on a product that only sold via internet.

Where is the real problem?

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Scenario: You play DCS on Thursday night. Friday morning you go out of town on a trip. You donā€™t get home till late Sunday/early Monday. You decide to unwind by doing some DCS on Monday night but your ISP has an outage because of a storm.

Result: you canā€™t play DCS despite having used it the last time you were home.

So thatā€™s why I think 3 days is too short. A week or two makes perfect sense.

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Exactly. And I wouldnā€™t be surprised if ED extends the 3 day period, as Wags already replied that they are evaluating.

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Thank you everyone for your constructive, professional, mature input.

Everyoneā€™s opinions matters !!

Some commented that this was not the place to talk about the new and proposed DRM.

This is a place to talk about the new graphics engine?
This is a place to talk about new maps, updated maps, 2.5?
This is a place to talk about new modules?

All of those things will be effected by the new DRM if you are offline for more than 3 days

Once again, I appreciate all the constructive, professional, mature responses.

Happy Simming,
Monnie

12

Not if you want the developers to listen, no.
And your post looks more like a suggestion to Eagle Dynamics, than a discussion. Just a friendly piece of advice. :slight_smile:

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I think the point was that since it was your first post and it read like a manifesto rather than a discussion, it was thought to be

Another question that I had, was the main body of your post a quote of EDā€™s new DRM policy, or was it your thoughts on the subject, since it wasnā€™t indicative either way. IMO, itā€™s an important point of clarification if you wish to legitimize your statements.

Regardless, itā€™s good discussion to have and your opinion is welcome. Letā€™s discuss.

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Chipwich,

When TFC/ED made the first announcement of the DRM change, there was a thread that got started where users were giving their opinions. As the discussion continued, it was suggested they need some feedback as to why 3 days was not enough.

At that point I made a Poll, to compile just raw numbers to help TFC/ED( instead of looking through hundreds of posts). I suggested people on only vote in my poll but, place all comments in the discussion thread that was ongoing.

I believe it was 2-3 days later, ED closed / locked the discussion thread. I updated my poll post and welcomed comments in my Poll thread since the primary discussion thread was closed / locked. The Poll thread was getting roughly 0.90 views per minute.

2 Days later, ED merged my Poll with their previous discussion thread. Currently, it is all merged together now. Since merged, the original discussion is open again. As of this writing 19,678 views and 505 replies.

They asked for feedback, examples of why longer than 3 calendar days, and input. So I drafted an outline showing just that. My thoughts on the topic as you asked. I understand the need to protect IP and have zero problems with that. But, I also know that not everyone has a 24/7 connectivity and some people only use DCSW as a Single Player Application. Even TFC/ED admitted before Single Player was their largest client base. Ironically, the people that this effects the most are offline and can not add feedback.

This outline was drafted with all the facts I have received from the topic about how the Current DRM(only on the Harrier AV-8B N/A VTOL currently) functions. People were asking over and over the same questions e.g." If I do not have internet for longer than 3 days, will DCSW Harrier stop working?" That is why I made the whole outline. Everything is laid out. References of new DRM: C0ff and Wags posts.

Worth noting that, Official TFC/ED personnel have stated they will retroactively implement the new DRM to all DCSW Modules.

I am not on a soapbox. I am not on a ā€œMissionā€

Opinions matter. Just as a personā€™s opinion might be " This is unimportant to me" carries the same value as another personā€™s opinion of " This is important to me" I welcome all opinions in this discussion.

What is important to me is, to have the information to make an informed decision/opinion/purchase.

If this is important to someone, who might have not been up on the topic, there is a window in which TFC/ED will consider the responses. As I am sure many have users accounts over at ED Forums, that is your window to speak up. As well as, if it is unimportant to you, engage in the discussion too.

Once again, thank you all for participation in this ā€œdiscussionā€

Happy Simming,
Monnie

15

Monnie,
I still donā€™t understand what it is you want to discuss?

What happened on the ED forum is of no interest in a discussion here. Letā€™s not transfer discussions between these boards and others.

You, and others, have made their point about the 3 day period to ED. Good. ED will be able to make an informed decision.

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If you were an existing member, hadnā€™t cut and pasted in something Iā€™ve read from you in four other places now, didnā€™t have a prepared infographic and not even read other topics here after registering then Iā€™d find that a bit more credible.

I feel like you didnā€™t even buy us dinner first.

Anyway, yep DRM.

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Yeah it seems people associated with ED (their community manager Sithspawn for example) have already reacted saying they will overthink the 3 days thing again.
Nothing is set in stone yet and they have acknowledged 3 days seems to be a bit short.
So actually Iā€™d say they have already listened to concerns such as the one posted by you.

So, good job and thank you for that!
Now it is time to wait and see what the reaction is.

And now just compare:
ED reacted to those questions within a day or two.
I still have questions posted on their forums with no answer in years. Youā€™re pretty good there!

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My apologies to ask but, how does one quote a post in a reply here?

Still learning this system and hope to be here a while. And buy Dinner !!

Happy Simming,
Monnie

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Mark the text and click the ā€œQuoteā€ dialogue that pops up.

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Thank you so much Sir