14 DAY TRIAL // The gaming industry isn't one that doesn't have problems, as it is plagued by various petitions or backlash coming from a lot of directions. But none have manifested so severely as the one against the DRM (Digital Rights Management) software that some companies have chosen to include along with their games in order to protect them from piracy.
This has taken a turn for the worse in the case of Electronic Arts which, after including the infamous SecuROM program alongside its eagerly anticipated title Spore, was hit with two class-action suits for the damages and problems it has brought to gamers across the world. For those who don't know, SecuROM enforced some very draconic rules on the user, disallowing him from installing the game on multiple machines or running more than one user account from a single copy of the game.
Although some companies choose to adopt different types of protection against piracy, like Valve, which uses its own Steam online service to authorize a copy of a game, other ones are still hard headed and use SecuROM as well as other such pieces of software to impose ridiculous limits to any person who bought the game, effectively treating everyone like a possible pirate.
Now it seems that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to hear your voice on the matter. That's right, you! It has recently put up a public debate, in which it wants to know just how the customers feel about the DRM programs used by the companies today and how it can change this by creating new laws and regulations.
The comment form, along with all the legal documents can be found here. This can be the chance a lot of gamers have been waiting for. Make your voice heard and tell the FTC just how you feel about DRM, in a nice way, and how these programs only affect normal customers, as they are no match for PC game pirates who crack them in just a few days or even hours after the game launches.
Let's hope that the FTC will take heed of the comments made by the gamers and that it will impose new regulations on the gaming industry in order to prevent such programs from ruining the experience of legitimate players.