Has it always been like this?

The term DRM, which has been in gaming news quite often lately, is a relatively new one for gaming.  The concept of DRM, on the other hand, is nothing new at all.  DRM in games has been around as long as I can remember, though it used to go by the far more honest term “copy protection.”

Back then, the concept was simple: the user buys a game, and it’s theirs.  The only thing the company asks in return is that you don’t copy it to give to anyone else.  As many game publishers as there were, that was how many different methods of copy protection you were likely to run into.  Some were clever, some were crap, and almost all of them could be easily circumvented in some way.  Let’s take a look back at how some various games handle the idea of DRM way back when…

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Another video game website – how original.

Yet, the very fact that there are so many should tell you something: games are not only something that people feel passionate about playing, but an awful lot of those gamers feel passionate enough to spend their time and energy talking about games with others.  If you’re reading this right now, chance are that gaming has played a part in your life for as long as you can remember.

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When one gets word that a favorite game of theirs is going to get a sequel, it often triggers a flood of conflicting emotions. The thrill that you’ll get to once again enjoy a certain game world, or reach the conclusion of a story long left hanging. Yet, there is also fear tinged with doubt; will it be as good as the first? Will it not be as good as the many intervening years have made me hope?

Often, unfortunately, the final result still causes the same mix of emotions. Good with bad, hopes fulfilled mixed with desires denied. Sometimes, though, the source game is so amazing, so fantastic, that you say to yourself that there is no possible way anyone could mess it up. And when the day finally comes that you get your hands on the final product, you are literally stunned to discover that not only did they mess it up, they messed it up in ways you couldn’t even imagine.

In this series, I will take a look at some of my own personal worst disappointments in the world of the sequel, and try to figure out where it went so terribly, terribly wrong.

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