Gamesindusty.biz has an awesome article on treating consumers like pirates. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of working with many types of futile DRM my experience in game development, including SecuROM, StarForce, and TryMedia — they all amounted to one simple truth: it doesn’t work.

This is why I love the free-to-play model — it completely obliterates this problem, and blows down almost all barriers to entry. But secure online play isn’t the only option out there — in fact, as the article suggests, it still poses issues to singleplayer games.  The other day my internet connection died, and I wanted to play Portal, but because Steam couldn’t connect, I wasn’t able to.

I also like Stardock’s No DRM, update-by-secure-login method, and ad driven freeware is definitely a viable option. I’m particulary intrigued by the indie music model where bands give out music for free to drive consumers to merchandise and live performances, and I’m wondering if there’s a parallel we can draw in our industry.