Pirated games have always been the most troublesome thing for stand-alone game manufacturers, and all stand-alone game manufacturers have been fighting against pirated games for so many years, and the methods of sanctioning pirated games are also one after another, so it can be said that the history of the development of video games is the history of the struggle between major game manufacturers and pirated games.
In the course of so many years of wits and courage with pirated games, many particularly interesting anti-piracy methods have been born, each of which is more creative than the other, and some are even more interesting than the content of the game itself.
CD-KEY anti-piracy
CD-KEY is familiar to all gamers, as even now it is possible to activate the game on the steam platform by purchasing a CD-KEY for the game alone, a technology that has been used in PC games for more than 20 years.
Old players must know,Back then, the genuine PC games we bought were boxed,There will generally be 2 game installation disks and a manual,There will be a game CD-KEY serial number that needs to be verified during installation,You need to scratch it open to see,You need to enter the serial number for verification when the game is installed halfway through,If there is no serial number, then the game cannot be installed。
This is also a very common anti-piracy method in the early years, but unlike today's CD-KEY, which requires two-way authentication, the early CD-KEY only needs the player's computer to verify it, so there is a software called a number teller, which uses the exhaustive method to crack the CD-KEY through computing power, which makes pirated PC games at that time overwhelming.
Physical anti-theft version
Compared with PC games, console game piracy was more serious back then, because basically the vast majority of players played console games back then, so pirated console games could bring huge losses to major game manufacturers.
CONSOLE GAME MANUFACTURERS' ANTI-PIRACY METHODS ARE EVEN MORE INTERESTING, AND THEY HAVE EVEN ADOPTED PHYSICAL ANTI-PIRACY METHODS, SUCH AS NINTENDO'S ONCE LAUNCHED AN FC GAME CONSOLE THAT USES A GAME FLOPPY DISK, AND THEY WILL ADD THE "NINTENDO" CHARACTER GROOVE TO THEIR GAME FLOPPY DISK, SO THAT WHEN THEY PUT IT INTO THE GAME CONSOLE, IT CAN MATCH THE GROOVE IN THE GAME CONSOLE BEFORE LAUNCHING THE GAME.
Sony, another console game manufacturer, has added a unique hardware to the PS1 to detect genuine and pirated discs, which detects the specific oscillation frequency of the laser head in the drive if it is a genuine game disc, but does not have this kind of reaction in the case of pirated discs.
However, this physical anti-piracy method was not long after it was cracked, for example, pirates also added the same character grooves as genuine floppy disks to FC's game floppy disks, and first used a genuine disc on PS1 to guide the machine's anti-piracy detection, and then replaced it with a pirated disc after passing. Because PS1's anti-piracy detection will only be activated at the time of boot, you only need to pass the detection at the time of boot and you can do whatever you want.
Mandatory full networking
After the popularization of the Internet, the anti-piracy technology of game manufacturers began to gradually follow, so the method of forced Internet access, which was developed based on the popularization of the Internet, was born.
The game I remember the most is "Diablo 3", when I first learned that I needed to be connected to the Internet to play, many old Diablo players were particularly angry, because the Diablo series has always been a stand-alone game, and if you need to force the Internet, then what's the difference with online games.
To be honest, I'm personally very disgusted with forced networking,Although it can sanction pirated games well,But the game experience of genuine players has also been destroyed,If you go to a bad place with a bad network, you can't even play the game,Like last year, after the national server battle network was closed, the national server players who bought the genuine Diablo 3 can't play anymore,It's equivalent to spending money to buy a game that doesn't belong to you,This is in conflict with the original concept of a stand-alone game。
Added game content that can only be experienced by genuine players
This method is actually a bit similar to forced networking, but it is much better than forced networking, allowing players to play the game even when they are offline, but it also adds some new content that can only be experienced online.
For example, the famous "Monster Hunter" series, players can choose offline solo hunting, but if you want to network and hunt with friends in a team of 4 people, then you can only do it by buying genuine games, and the multiplayer gameplay of Monster Hunt is also a highlight of the series, if you play pirated games, then you can only play alone forever, which will lose great fun.
Another example is the most popular souls game in recent years, taking "Elden Ring" as an example, only genuine players can use the online advice system, and only genuine players can experience the game's PVP gameplay and fight bosses online with friends. And now most games will be updated with a wave of content every once in a while, and pirated games will lag behind the genuine games in terms of game versions alone.
Digital encryption technology
When it comes to digital encryption technology, the most common one should be Denuvo encryption, which is what players call D encryption, and most of the current stand-alone game manufacturers use this encryption technology.
The effect of D encryption is also quite good at present, and all games that use this encryption technology are cracked for a long time, and it may take several months to be cracked, and some games are not so popular and no one even wants to crack it, which plays a great role in preventing pirated games.
Now, with the announcement of the dissolution of the famous game cracking organization Empress Group, D encryption can be regarded as the most reassuring insurance for stand-alone games, because almost no one can crack it, and players can only obediently buy genuine games if they want to play.
But D encryption also brings trouble to genuine players, because it will increase the pressure on the player's computer CPU, if the game manufacturer's optimization work is not done, then D encryption will bring double pressure to the player's computer, which is equivalent to transferring the disadvantages of game manufacturer's anti-piracy to the player's head, players who have played more games in the past two years should be able to clearly feel that the optimization of these games is worse than one another, which uses D encryption is also one of the factors that lead to this kind of phenomenon.
summary
In fact, there are many anti-piracy measures of game manufacturers, such as the previous game will automatically increase the difficulty of the level after detecting a pirated game, such as making the player never able to clear the level, so that the BOSS can directly kill the player in seconds, in "GTA4", if it is detected as a pirated game, then the player's camera will be infinitely shaking, and it will not be able to play normally at all.
However, as long as the stand-alone buyout game exists for a day, then the means of piracy will continue to be updated, and the struggle between game manufacturers and pirated games will continue, but fortunately, today's players' copyright awareness is much higher than back then, and if you really encounter your favorite game, you will basically choose to buy genuine support for the game production team, just like the "Witcher 3" of the year, even if no anti-piracy measures were taken, many original pirated players still chose to buy genuine games to support CDPR, which is the most effective means of anti-piracy, That's sincerity.