The Evil Version of my Beloved Skyrim?

[ReaverLord]

Hiya,

 

I'd like to relay some interesting things concerning Skyrim that I've learned about here of late. I do so in hopes it will fall upon the eyes(and ears) of them who ultimately decide how Skyrim(and other PC-based games) is presented to the consumer.

 

I would like it too if I were not banned for my comments here, as they do not promote illegalities, but rather attempt to shine light on an evident ignorance concerning Bethesda, and the gaming industry as a general whole.

 

I bought Skyrim, the Legendary Edition for my computer on September 21st, 2014. I have been playing Skyrim on my computer since it came out November 11th, 2011. You will notice the dates here contrast by a period of 2 years, 2 months and some 2 weeks difference.

 

 Yes... I was a pirate.

 

Since 11-11-11; since I first heard the convincing sound of cicada just off the walls of a freshly-burning Helgen, I have loved my beloved Skyrim. For that love, over the years, I have helped to promote its amazing uniqueness by creating mods for it and placing them here for all at the Skyrim Nexus. Mods and modders are arguably what has made an otherwise mediocre game great. We all will recall how unfinished and really abandoned Skyrim was when we started back in 2011. Bethesda allowed me to shape my own Skyrim. That is what I still love the most about her. And I love Skyrim so that last month, I chose to finally deliver to my favorite game producer it's fair due.

 

I removed all aspects of the illegality I had once coveted so amorously and popped in a brand new "official" Skyrim install disc. I installed the copy and noticed immediately the differences between it and my evil version.

 

Why, you ask, did I wait so long to do this?? Because of GTA IV and its Social Club never working on my computer. Because of the numerous programs I have bought and only used once after being able to, because I already really knew(although not for certain until last month) that which I will detail for you here:

 

Paid Version

 

• Full Game containing HD Textures, and all Addons(Hearthfire, Dragonborn, etc)
• High Speed Internet Connection to Install(Took bit over an hour)
• Steam Account with valid personal details entered.
• Always Running Steam Account
• Log in to Steam Account before you can see the Skyrim Launcher.
• Steam Account running any time you play.
• Virus/Malware-Free
• Cost $39.96 at Walmart
• Box that contains disc, graphics, clamshell, and a paper copy of the Tamriel map.
• Snow and rain lags out my I7 3770K with GTX 680, 16GB of memory, and 256 SSD machine.

 

Pirated Version

• Full Game containing HD Textures, and all Addons(Hearthfire, Dragonborn, etc)
• Downloaded 12GB of files from Internet(Took 30 odd minutes)
• Install & Play Offline with no Strings.
• Virus/Mal/Spyware-Free
• Cost $0.00
• No Box, no disc, no map.
• No lag with rain, snow, or any other otherwise overtaxing graphical display.
• Error when Absorbing Dragon Souls(Repairable using special 5kb script downloadable for free online.)

 

I'm not sure why my paid version craps out when it is snowing. All I know is, it was the last straw.

 

To be sure, I do not make these points to promote piracy. I write instead to stir those who are able to affect change toward the greater criminality, the greater tragedy, here. When it all boils down, the pirate version is the better choice.

 

I am happy and would never take back the money I gave Target for my legal copy of Skyrim. Bethesda has always deserved to get paid for their amazing game. But I can never and would never play Skyrim from what they sold me ever again.

 

Despite the unknown lagging issues, I ask the question of why for a much more compelling unknown: Why must I continuously prove my loyalty and true account? Why must I always be connected to a link that essentially only regards that I am a "paying" customer?

 

It could forever be supposed there are other reasons for always keeping an eye on me, their customer, as I play. But in world full of thieves and pirates, there is no greater regard, in their eyes, than proof of purchase.

 

"In a world where freedom is outlawed, and only outlaws are truly free... it's a pirate's life for me."

[Vaelorian]

You're asking the same question Jim Sterling has asked on his weekly talk show, the Jimquisition, for years now. And his answer is good enough for me: content control. It gives desperate game publishers a feeling that they're doing something to dominate their own content, ever since the internet has loosened their stranglehold on it.

 

It's the same reason for the whole Shadows of Mordor scandal that happened just recently, where the publisher gave strict guidelines to the reviewers on what they can and can't include, as well as demanded a final say on whether or not the video can be posted. Reviewers who did not get the publisher's approval (which is to say, did not sign the deal) had their videos content ID claimed in order to silence them.

 

As for you being a pirate? I can't say I blame you; ever since game publishers decided to axe the idea of demos, pirating first and paying if it's good later has become the most... Cautious way to go about things.

Game publishers deserve every ounce of suspicion their audience cares to give, and then some, for the way they treat their customers. Asking a game to prove itself before you buy it is business savvy, if nothing else, and I don't think it's the sort of thing that should be called out given the sad state of the games industry.

 

Let's not forget, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Ride to Hell: Retribution, Day One: Garry's Incident, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Duke Nukem Forever, Dark etc etc etc would've never happened if they were required to make demos for their games. Because nobody would've bought them after seeing how shitty they were.

 

DRM is there to control you, make no mistake; it's there to restrict you, tell you when and where you can and cannot play (region-locked games anyone?) and allow the publishers to (eventually) stop supporting it, causing it to be unplayable unless you pirate it.

 

I don't believe you should be banned for this. I believe the LL community is sufficiently open-minded to acknowledge that this is a discussion worth having, rather than silencing, considering the fact that it's effectively about poorly made DRM (and DRM in general) rather than about promoting piracy.

[gregathit]

Meaningful discussion.....not really likely.  First and foremost because game developer CEO's don't hang out here.  Any discussion is merely bitching about why the system fuck's folks over.  I don't disagree that it does....however, nothing is going to change so why not move on to something else.  DRM fucks over the paying customer more than it "prevents" pirates.  Pretty much every gamer knows this.

 

This dead horse isn't going to notice you kicking it...........

 

Bottom line, we don't support piracy or condone it in any fashion, so this conversation really has no place on LL.