Stardock introduces flexible DRM solution: Goo
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 26th 2009 at 1:00AM } 
DRM is a sticky subject in the PC gaming scene. While most publishers see it as a necessary evil, many consumers complain about the unfair restrictions imposed by some DRM solutions. Stardock's new Goo program may clean things up.Game Object Obfuscation, or Goo for short, is a client-free DRM solution. Instead of a third-party verification program, the DRM is embedded into the program itself. Activation is done through a user's e-mail address: simply tie a serial number to your e-mail address and you'll be able to use your product on any machine you own. Once validated, an online connection is no longer required.
Interestingly, this new DRM method will allow consumers to legitimately resell their PC games. By voluntarily disabling their game access, they can transfer their license ownership to someone else. Were Goo to take off, it could create a second-hand PC gaming market.
Goo will be introduced on April 7th. Stardock plans to announce Goo support from "multiple major publishers" in April as well.
[Via Big Download]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ripslymemc @ Mar 26th 2009 1:17AM
If you can sell your game after, why not?
imagine if this was implemented for mp3s. one email for every single mp3 you have 0_0 you'd have to open and verify every single of of them, too.
Crusty Magic @ Mar 26th 2009 1:22AM
This sounds like a great idea.
I get used PC games a lot from Goozex. One of the main reasons I don't purchase games on Steam very often, is because you can't resell them.
=/
aggrazel @ Mar 26th 2009 9:41AM
I'll be happy with it so long as the DRM doesn't cripple the game by hampering performance or causing bugs, or making my PC run like crap. Since I left college and got a real job I've pirated exactly 0 games, but I still crack them because half of the DRMs out there kill game performance.
FraGNeM @ Mar 26th 2009 10:48AM
While this scheme certainly makes sense to consumers, I can see how publishers would like Steam's method better -- no resale available.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 26th 2009 1:23AM
awesome. finally a DRM solution that makes sense. i really, really, really hope this takes off cause it sounds like it accomplishes everything current DRM does without all the headaches. everyone has an email account and i know i've personally only changed my main email once in the entire decade+ i've been using the internet. get this thing going ASAP, and for everything, not just PC games. this could be the thing that gets me to accept digital distribution in general
Zeta @ Mar 26th 2009 1:29AM
I completely agree with you. This solution does make alot of sense. And the email thing is also correct. I have only changed my main email once. From Yahoo Mail to Windows Live Mail.
Josh @ Mar 26th 2009 1:32AM
lulz, why not Gmail?
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 26th 2009 1:54AM
yea i moved from AOL mail (god that sucked lol) to gmail. gmail is awesome. get it if you don't have it.
wickedpheonix @ Mar 26th 2009 4:13AM
Sure, until your email gets hacked and you lose any control access to your games since you can't log in to your email.
Clinton @ Mar 26th 2009 4:14AM
i also went from yahoo to gmail, and its the best ever
Dummy00001 @ Mar 26th 2009 6:39AM
@wickedpheonix: Sure, until your email gets hacked and you lose any control access to your games since you can't log in to your email.
I presume that e-mail is used only as a unique user identifier.
And I'm pretty sure that StarDock isn't that stupid as to not allow e-mail address change. Most companies dealing with DRM activations also have special support stuff whom you can call for specially cases like that.
I believe that selling games is actually a side effect of possibility to change e-mail address your copy of game is bound to.
Scott @ Mar 26th 2009 10:18AM
I wouldn't worry about things like changing your e-mail address. We have things in place now to change your account e-mail, and we have taken this into consideration with Goo as well. :)
jcmschwa @ Mar 26th 2009 1:37AM
stardock seems to be getting things right with this.
Einhanderkiller @ Mar 26th 2009 1:40AM
I don't think the big publishers would like this system very much. Only way I'd see them using this would be if you had to pay a small fee to sell your game.
Dummy00001 @ Mar 26th 2009 6:42AM
StarDock doesn't have much from big publishers. As for indie games ... there is whole bunch of them.
StarDock itself at times looks more like indie than full-fledged developer/publisher. At least they behave like indie - and try to make friends of gamers - not like big publishers for whom we are all are just single number on accounting sheet.
Fader @ Mar 26th 2009 1:41AM
I have no problem with this DRM but it isn't going to change anything for people that want to steal the games. There will always be someone out there that is going to create a hack to remove any DRM protection they put in.
BananaBoat @ Mar 26th 2009 1:50AM
DRM is a roadblock designed to keep non-techies from pirating games. It's never going to stop pirates that actually know what they are doing, and I think they've realized that themselves at this point. The real reason they keep it is that they'd be admitting defeat if they were to go DRM free. That, and there is plenty of data (the validity of which is suspect) that shows DRM free games getting pirated at astronomical rates compared to DRM'd games, so no executive has the balls to change it as this point.
DRM only negatively effects people like me that actually buy their games. Because of this negative effect, I buy fewer games than I would otherwise, and instead of pirating them like others, I just don't get to play them period. It's lose/lose, for everyone involved, and until they realize this, nothing is going to get better.
Then again, I'm positive they want to completely shift to a rent-only business model where you get a license and nothing more. A license you can't sell/trade/etc.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 26th 2009 1:58AM
BananaBoat is spot on. i never pirate games. maybe some CD's or a movie here and there i'm iffy on going to see but never games and i hate DRM mostly because it really only makes things difficult on the honest user. this system seems about as headache free as you can get without removing DRM all together. register it and forget about it.
Dummy00001 @ Mar 26th 2009 6:47AM
Fader, the goal of StarDock is to provide a range of options to game studios. (Similarly to Creative Commons licenses.)
My understanding that e.g. on Steam everything has pretty much same DRM (+ whatever extra DRM game itself contains). On StarDock this is all left for game studio/publisher to decide.
Brad Mecoli @ Mar 26th 2009 2:07AM
Goo will be introduced on April 7th. Goo will be cracked on April 8th.
madatoman @ Mar 26th 2009 2:12AM
Actually goo will be cracked on March 25th
madatoman @ Mar 26th 2009 2:12AM
so... anyone who knows your email has access to all the games you own.
even besides that major flaw, its very easy to bypass this system by keeping the game installed (or imaged or whatever) after you sell it. it wont work.
come to think of it. steam can easily let you give away your owned cd keys. that would work. steam is the only working solution to piracy. its easy and offers incredible convenience. cd's get scratched. steam is forever. it also makes installing obsolete. games just download and they're ready. brilliant! goo is too little too late.
wickedpheonix @ Mar 26th 2009 4:11AM
Steam *would* be a working solution to piracy if it actually prevented its products from being pirated. Although it's pretty near perfect for us consumers, it won't be what I like to call "realistically perfect" until it protects developers too.
borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Mar 26th 2009 9:04AM
"...until it protects developers too."
Steam does protect them, by the doctrine of lazy assholes. Steam was the genesis to get me to stop pirating just as iTunes did. When you provide a service that makes it easier than piracy to get games, you absorb a portion of lazy pirates. When you can transfer those games to any machine, you absorb another portion. When, unlike EA, the DRM never intrudes on my conscience mind, you get yet another portion. When you get get decent games at bargain bin prices fairly quickly, there goes another portion. Hell, when you don't have to worry about seeds and leeches and have a dedicated fast transfer...woot, another portion is drawn.
Like many people have observed, you will never stop the dedicated pirate. But you can take a good chunk of business back by appealing to the lazy side of geekdom. Granted, I got a bit of ethics after Psychonauts (a game I loved dearly) tanked, but Steam appeals to me. Stardock seems to take that model and introduce yet another variable that permits legal transfers of games. Good for them.
Damn, I love me some Sins of Solar Empire.
Scott @ Mar 26th 2009 10:31AM
Impulse has your games "forever" as well. You can switch PC's, reformat, whatever, and all you have to do is redownload them via Impulse. You don't even to keep Impulse installed after that if you wish.
Nadril @ Mar 26th 2009 2:32AM
I'll stick to steam thanks. Still don't want to support Stardock.
CordableTuna @ Mar 26th 2009 4:25AM
What's wrong with Stardock?
borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Mar 26th 2009 9:07AM
It's obvious; they aren't Steam. And yet another type of fanboy wars is born. Though it could also be the annoyance of having X types of download services on one's machine too. I have three: EA, Steam, and Impulse.
Brit @ Mar 26th 2009 2:02PM
Maybe Nadril is confusing Stardock with Starforce.
Nadril @ Mar 26th 2009 3:00PM
Brit is correct. Their names are incredibly similar. This is also why joystiq needs an edit feature.
And thanks borland, but I'm not a fanboy.
Negativecool @ Mar 26th 2009 2:33AM
Goo?
I've got some better words for their god damn DRM:
CUMM: Corporations Undercutting My Money
SPERM: Stupid Pricks Exacting Righteous Morality
JIZZ: Just Ignore....(fill in "Z" words of some kind)
Tip - Just go the Steam route and quit acting like you haven't had enough time to come up with a meaningful solution to pirating...which has been around forever. Jeez.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Mar 26th 2009 3:36AM
If they have a system that lets me sell games, then I'm all for it. But I don't see how that works here. Once I activate the program if it never checks with the internet again, then all I have to do is copy the program, deactivate the copy, thus freeing up my rights so I can sell them to someone else and then I just copy the activated version of the program back to my machine.
I suspect this description stating that you don't need an internet connection is inaccurate.
wickedpheonix @ Mar 26th 2009 4:09AM
Guaranteed it will be broken within a week, especially if it's that simple. Furthermore, it won't open up a second-hand PC market because there's no guaranteed way to know if the Goo game you're buying used has been disabled or not. You're still going to run into problems either way.
Face it - there's 3 ways to do it: 1) The Steam way - you have an account, purchase games directly to the account, and play after logging in. 2) The Retail way - you have an account, you tie a CD key to your account permanently, and play after logging in. and 3) The Best way, which is no DRM at all. I bought World of Goo, and I haven't pirated a game in ages - Steam keeps throwing me so many indy games at good prices that I don't need to, and the best games (TF2, EVE, COD4) are worth buying anyways so they can be played online with no headaches.
John P @ Mar 26th 2009 4:47AM
If you were to ebay all of your games, then yes, one could not have a second-hand PC game market, because there would be asymmetric information. However, a verification page or some such thing that showed the serial number had been released from your email address might help assuage ebayers fears. This is a great option for publishers who want to use DRM, which may in fact be a necessary evil, considering the rates of piracy that developers such as Infinity Ward and Crytek have experienced in the past year. It is far less intrusive than SecuROM, obviously.
Your options are also all quite valid, but the retail way simply isn't working for most developers anymore, not to mention PC retail presence has decreased dramatically at places such as Gamestop. Also, to say that the 'best' games are worth buying is naive, because what you and I think is good enough to buy doesn't mean that Joe the Downloader agrees - in fact, he probably doesn't think that games should ever be paid for. Obviously the arguments for and against this are very complex, but I think this system is a step forward in the world of DRM.
Mike @ Mar 26th 2009 10:02AM
Thank god for Steam, eliminating your NEED to pirate games. Tool.
wickedpheonix @ Mar 26th 2009 11:00AM
@ John: Then, you would run into scams where people would disable the game during the auction, people try to pay, and the scammer re-enables the game on their computer right before accepting the money.
@ Mike: yeah, because at $50 -$60 a pop I couldn't afford to pay for all these awesome games, so I would have a NEED to pirate them. If you're going to make sarcastic comments about whether or not people "need" video games as entertainment, then wtf are you doing on joystiq, troll?
Michael Leung @ Mar 26th 2009 5:16AM
I actually like this idea.
t_m @ Mar 26th 2009 5:41AM
Sounds good in theory, but i'm not sure it'll work in practice.
Why doesn't Steam (or Impulse) offer you the ability to trade back in your games and get points that you can use for other games? It'd be pretty easy for them to implement, and it'd get around the main argument against steam (no resale).
Allow people to trade back in steam games for 10% (for example) in value.. but they'd only be able to use it on the Steam store, so it'd be encouraging sales of other titles.
Its not like you get much in the way of resale value from Gamestop or whoever... or even ebay (unless you put lots of time and effort into it).
Mike @ Mar 26th 2009 10:00AM
Gee, Stardock, where'd you get the idea? Sounds an awful lot like that Steamworks CEG thing Valve just barely announced.
Scott @ Mar 26th 2009 10:17AM
Do you think this was something that was just developed overnight. :D
Mike @ Mar 26th 2009 12:23PM
Yeah actually. Just speculation, but this doesn't seem like something that would need a hell of a lot of development time.
Danny @ Mar 26th 2009 11:36AM
This sounds okay but what is almost more interesting is that Stadock had been the one company openly against any DRM at all.
AwesomeTown @ Mar 26th 2009 7:57PM
True, but it's a lot easier to convince publishers to go with a method like Goo rather than no DRM at all.
Servius @ Apr 3rd 2009 5:44PM
If this Goo picks up and I think it will then the developers using will most likely do what Stardock does to advocate buying their games. No standalone patches. Stardock published games or any games purchase through impulse require a registerd serial number and account to receive updates and free content. So even if you crack the game, you will only be able to play the first version..which will most likely include bugs.