This is why DRM is evil and why I buy games on gog.com if I have a choice.
Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
341–350 of 543 posts
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#342Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but his account will still be closed. That wouldn't be a problem with NFTs as they could just go to another game provider, show their proof-of-ownership and download their games from there. Such import functionality already exist to some limited degree right now with GoG, Steam and Co., but all of them require that your account with Ubisoft is still working. NFTs would work even if Ubisoft disappeared completely. F…
OPs point is that all of that can be done without the use of NFTs - the reasons Ubisoft are doing this are commercial not because of technical limitations. Just saying NFTs will solve it even if Ubisoft goes rogue completely ignores other things that would need to happen too - ie how do you avoid double redemption and multiple installs?
How? Which digital sales system still works when the shop I bought it from goes down (as happened with GameStopApp and Desura)? Even DRM-free doesn't work in the modern landscape where games are getting updates years down the road. Trying to sell a DRM-free game, while theoretically allowed, is also not really practical.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#343I feel a bit disappointed by the number of people suggesting that an NFT would somehow help here. An NFT is just a fancy signed receipt. I can mint an NFT saying the OP owns a bunch of Ubisoft games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed. Ubisoft could mint an NFT saying he owns a bunch of games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed . (He probably still has the receipts from when…
>no technological problem // What about proving ownership, on the balance of probabilities, to show tortuous damages in a court? Seems like a list of receipts that's somehow certified would be beneficial to that end? Probably first we need legislation to make digital purchases resalable, and to require DRM free versions to be made available if a product is EOL-ed. Companies world copyright against the populous who ar…
> What about proving ownership
A receipt?
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
OPs point is that all of that can be done without the use of NFTs - the reasons Ubisoft are doing this are commercial not because of technical limitations. Just saying NFTs will solve it even if Ubisoft goes rogue completely ignores other things that would need to happen too - ie how do you avoid double redemption and multiple installs?
How? Which digital sales system still works when the shop I bought it from goes down (as happened with GameStopApp and Desura)? Even DRM-free doesn't work in the modern landscape where games are getting updates years down the road. Trying to sell a DRM-free game, while theoretically allowed, is also not really practical.
If GameStopApp wanted to allow you to transfer them they could have - hence it being commercial rather than technological.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lack of DRM wouldn't help if you don't have any way of getting the copy or getting past the license check.
Doesn't DRM-free literally mean that you get a full local installation without any reliance on online licensing or any other digital restrictions?
You still need to download it. There are plenty of situations in which you might not have downloaded it yet or might have lost/deleted your copy, knowing you can download it again.
Also, I think the DRM people are referring to here is the kind that consists of rootkits, monitoring software and similar or, in simple cases, refuses to run or gives you some kind of penalty when it detects certain other software.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, but where do you download the game? Even with licensing, you couldn't play offline? If so, what's stopping someone from just keeping the state of the blockchain such that the offline client thinks you own the games but you actually don't. Doesn't seem like it'd work to me without a central authority.
You set up a server and allow any wallet with the license in it to sign a valid request to download and launch the game. > Even with licensing, you couldn't play offline? That’s a good point. The GOG DRM-free model wouldn’t work here. Someone smarter than me could likely give you an answer.
> You set up a server and allow any wallet with the license in it to sign a valid request to download and launch the game.
Who will pay and maintain the servers? Blockchain here is not a solution but added overhead.
Also. What prevents me from leaking my license so anyone on Earth can download and play it for free? Note that this is the same issue that any DRM-free model faces but with incurring costs. Can licenses be revoked?
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but his account will still be closed. That wouldn't be a problem with NFTs as they could just go to another game provider, show their proof-of-ownership and download their games from there. Such import functionality already exist to some limited degree right now with GoG, Steam and Co., but all of them require that your account with Ubisoft is still working. NFTs would work even if Ubisoft disappeared completely. F…
No, that would require the other game provider to accept your Ubisoft-minted token. Since they already don't with a very centralised system that makes this very easy, having an intermediate token adds _more_ friction. NFTs are a bunch of worthless bullshit.
> No, that would require the other game provider to accept your Ubisoft-minted token.
Game providers already accept games from other shops. I can import my Steam games into GoG right now. That feature exists. The issue is that it's very limited due to digital game ownership being a mess.
> having an intermediate token adds _more_ friction.
It adds no friction at all, as you could hide it completely within the client. But it would allow adding a "Backup" button that could backup all your game ownership into a tiny file instead of having to download TB of game data in the hope that you can reinstall them later (which rarely works with modern games due to mandatory updates).
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#348I feel a bit disappointed by the number of people suggesting that an NFT would somehow help here. An NFT is just a fancy signed receipt. I can mint an NFT saying the OP owns a bunch of Ubisoft games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed. Ubisoft could mint an NFT saying he owns a bunch of games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed . (He probably still has the receipts from when…
But if he creates a new account and transfers the NFTs (that function as your proof of ownership of a game in this case), then you're good to go again. Since they can't be deleted. It's a different story if your NFTs are banned of course, then it wouldn't matter if you transfer them to a new account.
Ubisoft is already making NFTs (for cosmetics in this case; same tech though) where they control who can own or transfer NFTs. So...no., this doesn't help.
Ubisoft doesn't need NFTs to let people transfer their games to a new account, and they don't need to let people transfer their games just because they've given you a fancy commemorative memento of the time you gave them money in exchange for not owning a game.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea would be that these tokens-as-licenses would not be revocable. If you hold the token, you hold the license and rights to download and play. This would need to be defined and enforced by the publishers own ToS and/or some hypothetical regulatory body that acts in users best interests - if they break this, such as blocking a specific license holder from access to the game, there would be grounds for a dispute,…
So in order to actually enforce your distributed blockchain license you need two centralized groups (download provider/regulator) to acknowledge it? Still don't see what blockchain adds.
In this context it doesn't add much, except perhaps a public ledger cryptographically verifying the purchases and license ownership.
Re: Ubisoft deleted account with hundreds of dollars’ worth of games for inactivity
#350I feel a bit disappointed by the number of people suggesting that an NFT would somehow help here. An NFT is just a fancy signed receipt. I can mint an NFT saying the OP owns a bunch of Ubisoft games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed. Ubisoft could mint an NFT saying he owns a bunch of games and give it to him, but his account will still be closed . (He probably still has the receipts from when…
> but his account will still be closed. That wouldn't be a problem with NFTs as they could just go to another game provider, show their proof-of-ownership and download their games from there. Such import functionality already exist to some limited degree right now with GoG, Steam and Co., but all of them require that your account with Ubisoft is still working. NFTs would work even if Ubisoft disappeared completely. F…
Why would one store honour an NFT issued by another one?