I prefer to punish the publisher for their DRM choice by not buying.

And that's a valid choice. I don't buy, play, or follow Ubisoft products any more for that reason.

But I've come to accept that (for now at least) some sort of DRM is almost inevitable, unless I want to restrict myself to CD Project products, which I don't, as much as I like those folks. Steam doesn't bother me at all, for example.

Not really. If you want to reward the development studio, regardless of the crazy DRM their publisher has slapped on top of their product, buying is still the best way to go.

My problem isn't that there is DRM, my problem is with the types of DRM.

While I can understand the complaint of having to be constantly online and the problems presented if your line goes down or whatever...that's what PC gaming (and I think all gaming eventually) is going to. I've been involved with PCs only since '97 but that's been a drum the industry execs have beaten the entire time I've been playing. Where I live, we only received an option of broadband internet connection 1.5 years ago so I understand from the perspective of the old dial-up crowd but for the rest of us, I don't see it as much of a problem really.

I also think that maybe people are mis-reading the whole auction house for cash thing (or maybe I am). The way I understand it, if *I* find an uber-rare, awesome item, I can throw it up on the auction house and let *you* buy it for a price I deem fair. Blizzard will take a little bit of the action, but it's money that *I'll* earn for playing their game. I don't see that as a problem at all. In fact, I think it's pretty friggin' awesome! It's not like you have to buy that crap...I think people just get too worked up over stuff.

My problem isn't that there is DRM, my problem is with the types of DRM.

Right, and to a certain extent I agree. See my comment about Ubisoft. A single-player game that stops working if my connection has a hiccup is a no-go for me. A license that deactivates if I change my video card is a no-go for me. Ubisoft has done both of these. Consequently, they and I are done. But it's meaningless if I just refuse to buy their game and play a pirated version because I don't like their DRM. I need to stay away entirely. (At least, IMHO.)

I've got no shortage of games to play anyway. My love of indie bundles and Steam sales has left me with an absolutely colossal digital library, so if I give one publisher a pass, it's no biggie.

> I've got no shortage of games to play anyway. My love of indie bundles
> and Steam sales has left me with an absolutely colossal digital library,
> so if I give one publisher a pass, it's no biggie.

This is a growing theme I'm seeing.

One, I wonder if this is hurting new business because there is a glut. For example, Diablo III will not be a day one buy for me.

Two, how many of you all plan to spend vacation time to burn through the growing game stack?

I did it for each of the Mass Effect releases and I can see doing it now for the stack of stuff sitting on my hard drive.
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TAZ