Anti-pirating

[jakey1947]

This is just a general discussion about ways to combat pirating because why not, it annoys all developers great or small... except free game developers, pirating that does nothing.

In creeper world 1-3 the map exchange is based of self hosted servers which have on database connected to the rest of the world which seems normal but the problem with this is that people that downloaded the game illegally or got it off a friend still have access to the servers.  If the servers for the map exchange, corporations etc. were based off the steam data base this wouldn't happen because no validation is available but without stopping the player from being able to play entirely with a valid or non-valid game. another thing is even with the servers based off steam people can still download and play the game offline.

One way to combat this is to create a system that detects weather the person who downloaded it is playing it legally using the mac address and a connecting to the place it was bought from. e.g. on launch the mac address is scanned by this system. if it is the first time that computer has had the game launched then it is sent to the servers to see if it has been validated using the downloads ID or sends a request to the steam network to see if it is running off steam properly with a user id that is saved on the database. if it isn't it prompts the player to either log into steam with a account that is valid or into the host that they bought it from.

most people should have a problem with that because there isn't a way for them to download the game without internet so logging in on the first time launch shouldn't be an issue. it could also help sync achievements between computers when the game isn't bought on steam

[J]

The game already stores the key used to unlock the game. This key is sent along with every score submission so it might be possible to check if it is pirated or not. Now it is used to check if a player has submitted hacked scores before (reports are somewhere else on this forum).

The best way to counter piracy is to publish your own pirated, but not fully functional version of the game on the pirate sites before someone else does. (like crashing to desktop after reaching 5 minutes in an exchange map)

[Karsten75]

While it's great to propose some anti-piracy measures, other considerations should be factored in.

Virgil has an objective goal to NOT have excessive DRM.

The game is designed to be played even when not connected to the Internet.

A game license permits installation on multiple machines in the same family or household.

Not all game sales are tied to Steam.

More complex anti-piracy measurements ae typically more complex and probably requires substantial investment in implementation and support costs.

However, the less said about anti-piracy measures in a public forum, the better. If anyone should discover a weakness or a pervasive license hack, the best thing is to either send Virgil a direct PM, or to email support@knucklecracker.com.