What will stop cracked versions of Starbound from connecting to legit servers?

Why were cracked Terraria clients able to connect to the servers of those that paid for the game? Will this issue plague Starbound as well or will there be a more professional online infrastructure that prevents pirates from joining our games?

 

I guess none. Like Terraria. And despite that milions of ppl purchased it so... it's up to you, gamer, to do your job and promote such games with a small fee.

 

I believe they're adding extra security regarding just that.

 

I'm not saying that I plan on pirating the game. I already have it pre-ordered. I just hope there's some way to alienate ourselves from them is all. I'm sure nobody wants to play with a bunch of pirates.

 

Giant walrus bodyguards.

 

Pirates are awesome, real pirates that is!

 

How, exactly, would you know they were a pirate in the first place unless they went out of their way to tell you? Of all the available prejudices to choose from that seems like a pretty obscure and/or inconvenient one.

I'm wondering how they would even find their way into your server if you made it private with a password or even simply didn't publish it and had your friends direct connect.

 

Well, they are providing everybody with a unique CD key, aren't they? That IS how we are going to redeem our games on Steam, right? So can't our CD keys somehow be used to authenticate ourselves within their master server before allowing us to connect to a friends server?

And I think it is safe to assume that when the game officially releases that people will have RP/PvP/PvE servers with very high capacities ready to launch along with it. Not everybody intends to play strictly with their friends.

 

What's stopping them are non-pirate friendly servers.
And believe me, there are plenty. Pirates tend to just join games to screw with everyone.

 

for me its more, wish i had friends to play with.

i bought terraria as i already pre-ordered starbound. if i wasen't in a stable job i probably would of went the route thats less expensive.

i should think there be some security.. but beefing security up to a standard armed forces would cower is going too far lol

 

Nothing. Everything is Crackable (even DRM). Still Piracy as an good side, it also sells the game, I admit I already downloaded pirated versions of Games that I liked soo much I buyed them! (cough cough.. Terraria cough cough)

Then Starbound as Terraria is an Cheap Game, that even with Pirate Versions, It will sell Millions!

That is very unfriendly! I quite don't care if the X guy buyed the game or Not. And I must admit, I played nice with some of my friends that could not buy the game, that were using the Cracked version of Terraria... then after play in our servers, most of them buyed the Steam Copy.

It's not like Piracy is the worse thing in the World. Also, if Starbound as Login Servers for Server Listing, etc... Cracked Versions will emulate their Own Servers for sure, then I guess they MAY not mix up.

 

That is true, Wanderlust uses a similar system as the one you mentioned. If they chose to do verification like that it wouldn't be too difficult. I just simply meant, within the context of the game, how would you immediately be able to tell someone was a pirate? It's not like they all wave red flags or have certain behavior patterns.

Not to mention any kind of anti-piracy system, especially one involving a verification server, is an additional cost to Chucklefish so that's always a side of the concern as well.

That said, there are certain "admin" tools and protections in the game, and I would expect those large public servers to make use of mods and/or tools. So even if there was no special anti-piracy there would be ways to deal with unsavory types. It's possible to even have a user made verification tool for the specific server in question if it came down to it.

 

Don't them will loose time trying to add Anti-Piracy Things... Just DON'T.
If the biggest companies in the World even Add DRM, demanding always Online for Offline Games, complex scripts, and they are still crackable... DEVs waste time in Anti-Piracy is absurd.

In this topic, it's like... We just must Face It. It's how things in these days Work, for Games, Movies and Music.

EDIT: The Moderation Tools of Starbound Servers are good news to fix the biggest Terraria Issue with trolls, abusing, flood and such things. ^^

 

"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem"
-Gabe Newell

 

Do you really expect cracks in our community? Nonsence!

 

There are plenty of Things about Piracy.

One of them it's that it will only end when the GOVs implement dictatorship and censorship into the Internet. So for now, Game Studios, Hollywood, etc.. Must live with it.

 

In my opinion Piracy will actually be good for the game, cracked versions will allow for an larger fanbase. When my friends got a cracked version of Terraria, I got the actual version, Having people play the game will increase the amount of friends who will also want to play. Such as in my case, some people who cannot afford games usually get a cracked version of the game first, then follow up to purchase it. Some people who pirate the game pirate ALL games, meaning there would be no sale to them in the first place. Looking at the main examples such as Terraria or Minecraft, they are both successful even though there have been various cracked versions available. I go to a lot of servers on Terraria, and I find that there are quite a few people who want to buy an actual copy of the game when they can. In conclusion, although it brings an immediate negative effect, in the long run it brings an overall benefit to the game developers.
(Sorry, but I only have 4 games )

ON TOPIC! wait no its not...
Creating an anti-cracked mechanism will, although contradict to the above statement that will deter players, will create an urge to buy the actual game in order to gain access to servers.

 

I still dont quite get how a DRM-Free game shall get a piracy protection... which would have to be DRM again.
It simply is a fact that piracy exists, thats why the price for starbound is quite low so that you can easily purchase it.

You either invest a large sum of money or plenty of time into adding some weird and obscure ways of blocking off pirates ... or you simply accept the possibility that some of them walk around enjoying your game without paying for it.
So its like ... Investments for adding DRM <Versus> (estimated number of pirates who would buy the game now * price) - (PR and convenience impact through DRM)

Adding something like a CD Key check would require a master server most likely. And that server better shouldnt go offline ... ever
Offline methods could be cracked and become obsolet again.


I think a piracy protection is the least important issue in an indie game for you as user. It is the publishers (chucklefish) matter and they decided that they prefer risking to have a few pirates instead of annyoing us with weird DRM methods 33

 

Nothing i guess, its the dev responsibility to prevent pirating of their own game of course, and also add some basic tools or more complex if they want to prevent connection of unwanted people and stuff. But like people above said, DRM never works unless its a constantly online kind of thing that actually forces you to be online on the main server of the developer to even play (A la faildiablo3 singleplayer or Simcity). Stuff like that beyond being dumb as hell, its a major source of annoyance to their users and Tiy isn't EA who has a profound hate for their "Loyal Money Slaves", so i doubt he will ever do something like always online DRM.

Now if you really want to make a server without pirates in it, the first and most obvious thing would be to not make it Public, demand info from players like their Steam ID's (Since its sorta public to begin with, its not something unthinkable) to check if they legally own starbound and then you whitelist them so they can play in your server.

 

I don't have a problem with piracy itself, but if Starbound doesn't use CD keys or authentication then there's no proper way to ban people.
Getting past IP bans isn't that hard.

On Minecraft the multiplayer thrives partly thanks to the authentication system.
Sure, you can bypass any system somehow but having no keys for a game like this restricts people into only playing with friends.
Any big 200 person server is just doomed with no way to properly ban.

Some servers could demand your Steam info, maybe? As an option.
That'd add a lot of security.

Edit:
With all that said seeing how Starbound allows server-side characters I bet it does use some sort of authentication.
How else would you log back into your character on a server?