Activation - Any other ideas?

Ask here if you experience technical problems with X³: Terran Conflict, X³: Albion Prelude or X³: Farnham's Legacy.

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Scarecrow
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Post by Scarecrow »

Egosoft did not decide on the copy protection. The publisher (Deep Silver) did that.

If you want to talk to the people that decided on Tages then you should contact Deep Silver.

You should probably contact the company that you bought the game from first though.

Complaining to Egosoft about the CP is like complaining to Ford because a music cd won't play in the cd player that comes in the car.
st4tik
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Post by st4tik »

You can complain to Ford about a CD that won't play in their car. Ford will then complain to the vendor they got the CD player from and in the mean time provide you with a working CD player. Your analogy is faulty.

I also agree with Sleepin, if someone could provide us status as to the status of the Activation issue with the egosoft game I purchased I would appreciate it.
Scarecrow
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Post by Scarecrow »

Nothing wrong with my analogy.

You're assuming some thing is wrong with the cd player.
sleepin
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Post by sleepin »

Scarecrow wrote:Egosoft did not decide on the copy protection. The publisher (Deep Silver) did that.

If you want to talk to the people that decided on Tages then you should contact Deep Silver.

You should probably contact the company that you bought the game from first though.

Complaining to Egosoft about the CP is like complaining to Ford because a music cd won't play in the cd player that comes in the car.
There is nothing wrong on Steam's end. The game purchased, downloaded and installed fine. I've already contacted Steam about getting a refund for the product.

If Egosoft wants to keep a revenue stream for their products then they obviously need to get involved. I don't see how you've made any relevant suggestions at all. Sorry.

I've contacted Tages yesterday and I've just contacted deepsilver's public tech support crap.

Here are more contacts below that I'll be emailing and if you have a few minutes to spare you should do it too. It sucks that a paying customer has to put up with this.

Cathy Tische, vice president of sales and marketing for Deep Silver
Cathy.tische@deepsilver.com

Executive Producer & Managing Director
hannes.seifert@deepsilver.com

US Tech support
techsupport@deepsilver.com

I searched on google for: *@deepsilver.com to find those people.

There are quite a few "support" email addresses listed under support @ deepsilver.com as well.
sidraket
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Post by sidraket »

Oh wow, i totally thought it would be up by now.

Ive seen developers push their publishers to stop doing idiotic things like this before.

Besides with things like steam now why even have a publisher?

When i bought x3 reunion the disks were corrupted and it wouldn't install, i exchanged it with every copy the game store had and it was all the same, ended up having to get it on steam when it came out there.

I don't know if the publisher was the same in that case, but it seems like maybe egosoft should dump those people.
GIGAR
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Post by GIGAR »

Some interesting stuffs can be read from Stardocks customer report;
http://www.stardock.com/media/stardockc ... t-2008.pdf

Some interesting quotes from the document:
So what are the issues people have with DRM?
 Legitimate complaint: They don’t want the copy protection to interfere with their enjoyment or use of the software or game.
Broadly speaking, Stardock’s position is that companies/individuals have every right to protect their intellectual property any way they want. However, we feel the most effective way to increase sales is to protect IP in a way that doesn’t seem to punish legitimate customers.


This is just 2 highlights that I find interesting and quite disturbing.
in a way that doesn’t seem to punish legitimate customers.
I find this especially true.

Please note: I am NOT saying that I think people should pirate any games in any way - What I say is that you should read the report and tell me that what is inside is not true. Can you? :)
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Maian
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Post by Maian »

I bought TC through Steam as well, and needless to say, this is just plain stupid. Did Egosoft had to sign a deal concerning DRM with the publisher even over Steam? Steam already has its own DRM - anything more is just completely anal!
hellboy1975
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Post by hellboy1975 »

Personally I've contacted Steam, Egosoft and Tages about the issue, and haven't had a response from any of them. I will now also contact the publisher.
shadowlaw
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Post by shadowlaw »

Really discouraging to see the server is still down.

It is offensive that there is still is no word or reply from any of the involved parties (developer/publisher/tegas) on an ETA or any form of attempted communication on their behalf to Tegas.

I've read my fair share of magazine and newspaper articles citing DRM as a driving factor behind piracy and now I can absolutely understand the frustration that encourages this behaviour.

For those who are trying to excuse Egosoft from the situation it really cannot be allowed. If a company were to employ a consultant to make a mission critical decision for a client on their behalf then they will bear the brunt of consequences as they are the ones resposible for deeming the consultant fully capable of doing the job for them.
Last edited by shadowlaw on Thu, 1. Jan 09, 23:42, edited 4 times in total.
nastilon
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Post by nastilon »

Tages Company New Year's Eve Party 2008

Susie the office secretary, drunk off red punch and wearing a short skimpy skirt, casually walks over to Rick, sales person who sold the version being used for X3.

Susie: "HAI RICK how r u!?! im so drunk right now! do u think we could go upstairs and cuddle?"

Rick: "OMG LEIK im so trashed! i did 5 keg stands!!"

Susie: "thats so manly i luv a man et can drink"

Rick: "I sure as hell am glad i don't have to work tomorrow. hell im glad i gave our tech guys shots of whiskey tonight."

Susie: "wut if the server stops working? people buy games this time of year and they wouldn't be able to activate them"

Rick: "hey! it doesnt matter we already got OUR money for licensing it out! heck woman lets go upstairs, i wanna show you something"

Susie: "ooooh sure rick ic an't wait!"
jbharman45
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Post by jbharman45 »

I purchased the DVD version of the game yesterday at Frys Electronics. I didn't open it until doing some research on whether the game was worth the time and the effort. After convincing myself that it IS, I have now spent 7 hours trying to get the DVD recognized by any machine whatsoever. I have removed drivers, codecs, virtual cd drivers, etc. and basicly hosed my machine to try and get it to run and it still just spins in the drive, runs the HD ragged and essentially locks up the machine. I can't even get to the point where I can read the DVD, let alone actually try and load it. Is this DRM or just a bad DVD? Any ideas? :evil:
shadowlaw
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Post by shadowlaw »

jbharman45 this thread might help: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=219999
kiwioz
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Post by kiwioz »

i bought the game on Steam

if i buy the DVD do i still have the TAGES issue with authorization???
sleepin
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Post by sleepin »

Just think. You get to do this again if you reinstall the game when the activation servers are down and if you've done a google search for it, it seems quite often.

Here are the contacts of one of my previous posts on the publisher (Deep Silver) if you want to complain:

Cathy Tische, vice president of sales and marketing for Deep Silver
Cathy.tische@deepsilver.com

Executive Producer & Managing Director
hannes.seifert@deepsilver.com

US Tech support
techsupport@deepsilver.com
Rapier
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Post by Rapier »

On a personal level, I can sympathise with the frustration this must be causing. Anyone who's read some of my threads in Off-Topic will know I'm the first in the queue to complain when things go wrong. That said, I always try to remember the words of Socrates (presumably translated):
Socrates wrote:To be angry is easy. To be angry with the right person, at the right time, about the right thing, and in the right amount, that is the challenge.
If you have a problem with a product you bought not being as advertised, you need to contact the vendor. Ranting here will do little more than help you release stress. This forum is hosted by Egosoft, but it doesn't read every thread and it is very rare there will be an 'official' response to a topic. Rest assured though, if the problem is noticed, appropriate action will be taken, though as has been mentioned, Egosoft have limited clout with TAGES. It's also very unlikely that Egosoft would be allowed to make announcements about the situation that haven't already been made by TAGES, that's simple company relations. If you want to contact Egosoft, the details are easy to find on their main website.

If you want to vote with your wallets, you have every right. I moved my bank account four times last year because of poor customer service. However, you do have to bear in mind whether you can get an equivalent product elsewhere. In this case I can't think of an equivalent product, so you need to decide how much you're prepared to sacrifice for your principles.
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GIGAR
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Post by GIGAR »

Rapier wrote:In this case I can't think of an equivalent product, so you need to decide how much you're prepared to sacrifice for your principles.
The problem is, that in the current state it would not matter wether we bought the game or not.
This isn't a pre-order :)
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sleepin
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Post by sleepin »

Rapier wrote:On a personal level, I can sympathise with the frustration this must be causing. Anyone who's read some of my threads in Off-Topic will know I'm the first in the queue to complain when things go wrong. That said, I always try to remember the words of Socrates (presumably translated):
Socrates wrote:To be angry is easy. To be angry with the right person, at the right time, about the right thing, and in the right amount, that is the challenge.
If you have a problem with a product you bought not being as advertised, you need to contact the vendor. Ranting here will do little more than help you release stress. This forum is hosted by Egosoft, but it doesn't read every thread and it is very rare there will be an 'official' response to a topic. Rest assured though, if the problem is noticed, appropriate action will be taken, though as has been mentioned, Egosoft have limited clout with TAGES. It's also very unlikely that Egosoft would be allowed to make announcements about the situation that haven't already been made by TAGES, that's simple company relations. If you want to contact Egosoft, the details are easy to find on their main website.

If you want to vote with your wallets, you have every right. I moved my bank account four times last year because of poor customer service. However, you do have to bear in mind whether you can get an equivalent product elsewhere. In this case I can't think of an equivalent product, so you need to decide how much you're prepared to sacrifice for your principles.
So you don't think Egosoft cares if people stop purchasing their product because it was made unplayable by DRM that the publisher supposedly implemented?

I hope Egosoft takes notice because if you think about it, they'll be the ones losing first. Just keep passing the blame off I guess. I'm sure Deep Silver is just going to pass the blame off on Tages and no one will do anything about it. Isn't that how things operate?

Maybe I don't understand how the game industry works. Once the developers at Egosoft are done they sell everything in one lump sum to a publisher who then profits from individual sales?

I can't see how Egosoft does not have some responsibility here if they are still profiting from individual sales. I mean c'mon! People cannot play your game once they've purchased it! Help your customers do something, please.
kilaan
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Post by kilaan »

Just an FYI, this is not the only game affected. I bought Stalker:Clear Sky from steam and am having the same issue. Seems like all of Tages server authentication servers are down.
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Rapier
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Post by Rapier »

I don't speak for Egosoft, but I'm pretty sure they do care. There isn't much they can do about a temporary problem on someone else's server on a bank holiday though. By all means give them a share of the blame, but we should try to keep it in proportion (that's a general point, not a response to a particular post). We should also remember that this is a temporary problem and will probably last less time than a postal delay would if you bought by mail order.

I'm not going to get drawn into a discussion on the pluses and minuses of different ways of protecting IP though. I would suggest other people avoid this too as it usually leads to bad things happening.
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sleepin
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Post by sleepin »

Rapier wrote:I don't speak for Egosoft, but I'm pretty sure they do care. There isn't much they can do about a temporary problem on someone else's server on a bank holiday though. By all means give them a share of the blame, but we should try to keep it in proportion (that's a general point, not a response to a particular post). We should also remember that this is a temporary problem and will probably last less time than a postal delay would if you bought by mail order.

I'm not going to get drawn into a discussion on the pluses and minuses of different ways of protecting IP though. I would suggest other people avoid this too as it usually leads to bad things happening.
I understand. I hope they do care and someone from Egosoft is at least willing to attempt to make communication with Tages or Deep Silver. Even if it doesn't fix things faster maybe it will push someone like the publisher into dropping Tages.

Hopefully the same happens with Stalker: Clear Sky. It seems as though some people have been waiting over 72 hours now. I was as going to purchase both X3 TC and Stalker Clear Sky as I just finished the previous stalker right before making this purchase. Now that would have made me happy.

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