The poll question is just to get the ball rolling. Continuing from the previous DRM + Skyrim thread, we're faced with a few facts:
A. There's going to be a Steam version. Period, end of story, this isn't discussable. What's got everybody in a frothy uproar is if Steam will be the ONLY version, or if there'll be an option for those of us not interested in Valve's services.
B. The overwhelming majority would prefer Skyrim to be DRM free, as would I. However, we much be realistic. It's not going to happen. Piracy would skyrocket.
C. <5% of respondents in the previous thread want a non-Steam digital copy, suggesting Steam is indeed a viable option
D. Standard disc checks and product keys can't be considered DRM anymore. They're cracked too easily, the product key has to get linked to another type of DRM, like the GTAIV method of online authentication.
E. There should be disincentives to pirate, such as (this game keeps coming up doesn't it) in GTAIV, where if it detected it was pirated, it would switch to drunk cam. Or in Arkham Asylum, where the batcloak didn't work.

Wut's DRM stand for?

Digital Rights Management, a marketspeak term of saying "we need to make this difficult to pirate".

One time is better for me. Or none at all.

One-time is the closest I think we'll get to no DRM, and it's not intrusive in any way either, like Steam, Spore's or UbiSoft's is.

One time only I chose then.

Steam is the least invasive form of DRM plus it comes with some services. If you still like your box copies thats cool, buy it but it will come with steamworks.

Now i could see it being an issue if you live in nowhere land and lack an internet connection; but for the majority of the worlds PC gamers (according to survey's) we have a standard 15-30mb's internet connection, i myself am running 60mb connection and i live in a city of 1/4 million the biggest little city...Also an argument against steam is one can simply go to the store buy the game at 12 and install/play before it finishes downloading on steam. Normally true except with AAA games that allow preloading. And almost everyone uses it (except the kids who buy pre-builts lawl@prebuilts)

Source for those surveys? I find those results... suspicious at best.

Voting on "SecuROM based disc check", as being forced to go online with a single player game is absolute nonsense. Console gamers doesn't have to do that, why should PC gamers?

Also, when it comes to Ubisoft, http://kotaku.com/#!5767888/the-worlds-stupidest-drm-takes-a-well+deserved-break.

Incidentally, SecuROM base disc check is what Fallout 3 used, and it certainly did fine.

Other. Non-SecuROM based disc check.

SecuROM throws files and registry keys around on my system (in such a manner to make them difficult to remove), and every time I clean them off, the next SecuROM check just tosses them back on.

SecuROM is awful. It may be simple on your end, but it can really screw with your system. Steam, while being more noticable, is entirely self contained and doesn't make permanent system changes, and for that alone, I vote steam.

These explain why I absolutely despise SecuROM and any other DRM like it. And why I definitely prefer Steamworks to them.

In reality, I'd love for no DRM, but since that's not happening, I'd rather have a DRM that tells me it's installing the files required for it, with it being extremely easy to remove said files, and is only active when you want it to be (Steamworks) than a DRM that force installs borderline malicious files on to your computer, with them being a pain to remove potentially screwing with your system, and constantly running in the background without your permission (SecuROM and most other DRMs)

Probably gonna buy on Steam, otherwise gamesas DRM has always been way reasonable, so I wouldn't worry.

You guys appear to be talking about older versions of SecuROM, 2007ish. What you're describing sounds like StarForce + old SecuROM. Guess what? Shivering Isles? It used SecuROM disc checks. So did FO3.

We don't know that. Such a defeatist attitude will help ensure that it will be that way, though. Oblivion made headlines for going against the grain and only having a simple disc check, no SecuROM, no StarForce, nothing.. it was, in fact, that decision of theirs that made me decide to buy it, and subsequently got me hooked onto the series. Let's hope that Skyrim will continue that tradition.

Securom disc check DOES NOT INSTALL ANYTHING. it is simply a check in the laucher to see if and what disc is in your drive.\

And that crap about steam not being intrusive. How is forcefully requiring services someone may not want, unintrusive? If i want steams services in a single player game, I will buy it through steam.

What you people are describing is SecuROM DRM, not SecuROM disc check. A SecuROM disc check is pretty much the same as a regular one, the only different being it actually prevents piracy since a regular one is embarrassingly simple to crack (anybody with with a resource editor can crack a normal one).

Fixed it for you.

Aside from Blizzard games i can't for the life of me remember when i haven't had total hell installing a game due to DRM (probably because their all so old). I wish they would give it the hell up already Day 1 its cracked every freaking time. Even that Ubisoft rubbish for Assassins Creed 2 that tanked sales because of having to be online 24/7 while playing got cracked. Ironically the pirates have less hassle playing the game than legit buyers. These days the biggest reason people pirate is to AVOID the drm to stop piracy.

I'd be happy with a simple disc check or a one time online check. But yeah that's not going to happen.

Other (none).

A one time check is fairly simple and if you're honestly worried about the company going under, why did you buy their game?

If it's merely checking what is in the drive then why are we specifying secuROM? Surely any form of disc check would do.
Steam isn't intrusive because when you turn it off, it goes away. A disc check isn't intrusive, just inconvenient. Every other option, from forced online activation to always-on DRM is both invasive and inconvenient.

So the only two non-intrusive choices are steam and a disc check. Hopefully we'll get both, depending on which version you buy, but if you hold me at gunpoint and say "Choose", I'm picking steam.

I vote other and say none!

CD-projekt ftw!

Other: Let me choose during install:
* Steam activation, no DVD required in drive after that.
* Product code and disc check, requires DVD in drive.
* FADE on top of that, that makes life a living hell for pirates and crackers to stay updated.

FADE being built into the game itself, with literally thousands of checkpoints that may degrade the game. It's similar to the drunken camera in GTAIV I guess. Each patch and DLC, even free ones should they opt for that, includes their own checks. People that complain about game having these symptoms - IP banned from forum access with a big BANNED banner on their name.

FONV and its Steam was released as crack in one day I heard. I don't see how that benefits anyone. Arma2 took about a week because of FADE messing with the crackers. In official patch 1.05, the Securom disc check was completely removed.

Now, I don't like Steam OR Securom disk check, but I'll go with the disc check if given the choice. For those who likes Steam, just choose it, but don't deny alternatives, please!

Yeah, that's really useful, because of how GTAIV can't be pirated. No anti-piracy check can work when the pirate owns the system the code is running on, it simply can't be done. The harsher your anti-piracy checks, the more likely you are to start hitting legitimate customers. Do you really think that a week, or a month in the case of Ubisoft's always-on DRM, is worth that? Because as soon as that period is over, pirates play the game as intended, and legitimate customers have to deal with the overbearing DRM.

While games run on a machine locally, whether it be a console or a PC, there will be piracy.