Garry’s Mod catches pirates the fun way

[Fox_McCloud]

I thought this was a rather ingenious way of doing anti-piracy.

http://www.gamepron.com/news/2011/04...s-the-fun-way/

A few hours ago, Garry Newman – the creator of Garry’s Mod – asked, quite innocently, whether anyone was unable to shade polygon normals.

He received a few comments, mostly jokes, but a quick look at Google suggests that there are indeed a few people who are experiencing problems with their game.
…you can hear Newman’s chuckling from here. Not the normal response to a wide-spread bug report, but this is no normal bug. It seems that the developer has deliberately enabled an error in GMod, which will only affect people who have pirated the game.

People started discussing the error on the game’s own forums, wondering why their game simply wouldn’t work:

Not long after posting the request, the user found themselves permabanned from the forums for using pirated software.

Making the situation even sweeter, the number which appears in brackets after the error statement is in fact the gamer’s 64-bit steamid.

Y’see, Steam keeps a list of which accounts have actually forked over the $9.99 for a legit copy of GMod – so it’s a simple matter of checking ids and turfing out the pirates.

Just another lesson on why piracy is bad, supporting indie developers is good, and why you shouldn’t mess with the nerds.

[EliteTemptation]

Excellent!

[MattArch18]

Clever Girl..

[Exit_]

That is awesome. Really creative and hilarious solution.

[real4xor]

Ubisoft hires a million bucks security thing to make the most annoying DRM that makes them fail miserably, even with their paying customers.

Sum indie dev creates a fake bug and kills off lots of pirates with it, amusing their paying customers with it.

Epic.

[Sgt.Gotee]

I like it.

[McBerns]

Originally Posted by Demoman

Bloody Brilliant!

......

[smellyfir]

Good, hope they're banned from steam. Pirating is bad, pirating from Indie devs is terrible.

[AlecJ32]

If pirating Garry's Mod is considered a violation of the EULA for Steam, valve should disable their steam accounts. Eat it, you game stealing ♥♥♥♥♥s! That's what you get for damaging the industry for the rest of us.

[Rikachu]

At first I read Garry Newman as Gabe Newell.

Similar names...

[ddrkreature]

I think we have found a good simple method to prevent piracy. I vote all the other methods get thrown out and use Mr. Newman's sceme.

[freeloader105]

I like it. GMOD is a game which shouldn't be pirated!

[Excygy]

Gmod can come with already a ♥♥♥♥load of free content from the internet, so why not pay a mere 10$ for this game with infinite possibilities

[real4xor]

Originally Posted by ddrkreature

I think we have found a good simple method to prevent piracy. I vote all the other methods get thrown out and use Mr. Newman's sceme.

nah, leave the other methods in as scare tactic. "whoooo, u better watch out, this gaem has drms!!!".


But still get them with a trick like this after they "break" the DRMs.

[Naughtypuppy]

Originally Posted by Fox_McCloud

I thought this was a rather ingenious way of doing anti-piracy.

You might find this worth reading.

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t...ad.php?t=42663

Titan Quest did the same thing, but with disastrous results. Pirates may not be paying for games, but they sure can badmouth what they think are bugs pretty effectively.