I dislike copy protection because I pay for the games (and music, etc) that I use.

I prefer Stardock's methods because I also don't like to have a CD/DVD in my drive to play. Not to mention that manuals and such are nice, but being able to download games and play them NOW is nicer. All those physical materials will be gathering dust shortly after acquisition.

Ultimately if people want to pirate or crack they will and all protection and CD in the drive does is punish people who do buy. Copy protection *might* slow up piracy for a while, which is often the reason given for using it - to prevent crushing initial sales.

I don't mind internet validation, but not when it involves installing full time crap on my PC like WebTangent or Steam. I'd prefer the option to have the CD in the drive or to validate over the internet - with said validation occurring from within the game itself as a one-time simple hit per gaming session.

I put up with Starforce to play games I like because the latest versions appear harmless and easy to remove (it takes just a few minutes of googling to figure this out - yeah lots of people report problems with it but lots of people don't know squat about maintaining their PC and would have problems using Notepad - and people that DON'T have problems rarely post to say how wonderful things are - the people with problems post).

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of people who think it's ok or even acceptable to NOT pay for software, music, etc.

Hell, I am a programmer and I work with other programmers and techies - and many of them will not pay for games (or any software), music, DVD, etc. Even though they make their living off of software and intellectual property they still won't pay for it. It makes zero sense - but it's this kind of mentality that leads to copy protection.

Well there used to be a german company that did interaction like this (Massive Development) but they sold out... It was a shame, they produced Schleichfahrt (Archimedean Dynasty), one of my all time favourite games.

Let's hope nobody buys Stardock!

I am in the college student crowd. I barely have enough money for rent, and I don't have a job.
To be honest, I pirate pretty much every game that comes out. I even started pirating galciv 2, and then I remembered reading about stardock, and how they don't put copy protection on their games. I thought, what the hell, and I bought it.

Let me make this clear, I bought the game specifically because it had no copy protection. In otherwords, their lack of copy protection gained a sale.

Galciv 2 is a pretty good game too, so I don't feel like it was a wasted purchase. It's not necessarily better than a lot of the other games I've gotten without paying though.

Think of it this way though, people have a certain amount of money that they are going to spend on entertainment. They will not go above that ceiling even if 25 superuberawesomekickass games come out in one month. So really, what does it matter if they get all of them and only pay what they can? The real issue is who is gonna get that money. For me, it's stardock, because they aren't jerks.

I *think* I bought galciv 1 as well. Although I'm not sure, because if I did, I bought it hard copy and never registered it.

As a side note, I sometimes think about doing the same thing for music. I get irritated with the RIAA doing all this invasive crap. Sometimes I just want to send the artists I like a check for 50$ and download what I want.

Anyways, if stardock ever starts using copy protection, you can bet I won't be buying their games. I am a purchaser on principle.

Here's my personal opinion:

I originally "aquired" GalCiv2 from a "friend". I played it for a week, loved it, and bought it for these reasons (In order of importance):

1) It's a game I enjoyed
2) Software patches
3) Direct Download option
4) Forum access
5) I have the cash to buy as many games as I want

Note: I'm a paying customer, but I like to try before I buy. I hate that "I got it sticked to" feeling when I pay for a game that's all hyped up and actually sucks -- so I make sure that doesn't happen anymore. Galciv2 is a great game, and I would have bought it regardless of whether or not it had copy protection (yes... even starforce -- there's even ways around that protection, btw). The fact that galciv2 has no copy-protection means that more people will try before they buy, and this is a game where that actually becomes an advantage.

Quality speaks for itself.