Razor42 posted at 1:15AM Sat, 31 October 2015 - #4236101

I think perspective and as you have described rationality are pretty key assets for this situation. Unfortunately in a lot of cases both are in short supply.

The level of DRM we're talking about here is no more intrusive than itunes or many, many other online content providers. To the average user it will be pretty much be unnoticeable, to the average pirate the first hurdle ever put in place to attempt to protect this kind of product. No one thinks this is a silver bullet for piracy, but to do nothing is to just let even the most novice of individual free to exploit this content, however they please with NO barriers in doing so. To hackers and crackers potentially a challenge for their ego.

Unfortunately perception to the customer is any protection on top of No protection is a big jump even if it has minimal impact and appears rather threatening. To basically say pirates are too good we can never win. So let's not bother may work for multi billion dollar industries but for niche markets it could be the difference between survival and going under if not mitigated adequately in the long term.

DAZ3D has more to lose from piracy then say a store like Renderosity as DAZ3D it has a lot more financially invested in the development and the future of the industry. Renderosity can mitigate the loss as they really have no actual investment in content, programs or future developments of the industry.

Wait and see is the nature of most business these day when trying something new, but those that fail to move forward are inevitably falling behind. Risk and innovation go hand in hand. And other cliches... Personally whatever the long term outcome is, I'm glad that DAZ3D are attempting to make a difference into what content creators & creatives globally see as one of the primary threats to their livelihoods. To do otherwise would display more a lack of care and consideration of their contributors to just accept this as collateral loss.

As far as piss poor handling, I guess that's a matter of personal opinion, but remember this is a beta phase for DS not an official version release.

I'm not wild about the whole DRM thing however, I'm less wild about seeing mine and other vendor's products being dropped on warez sites by users wanting to increase their download ratios, and when I send the DMCA notices to those sites they're now ignored. Unfortunately it's at a point where there needs to be some type of middle ground because not doing anything is simply not an option.

It would be like you making an image that you're proud of, someone steals it and drops it on a paid gallery that you receive no compensation or credit for. Do you try to keep that from happening or you just shrug and say "Those are the breaks." ?

Is it a perfect solution? Not in the least, but ignoring the issue and doing nothing to slow it down isn't an option either.