Piracy

[fjsantosb]

Hi there!

We have detected that Exodus has just been cracked, and in our servers 8 each 10 users are using a cracked version of it (We get results for matching 'new users' and sales).

We are really worried about; although there is a lot of theories about piracy means (some waves thinks that piracy is a type of publicity meanwhile others thinks that piracy is a lose of money).
Although we are in the middle of the 2 waves, we really want to get the control of it, (we would like to know how much people on our server are playing with cracked version, so we can choose between left continues playing or close applications).

Some time ago, i read some kind of method that will be implemmented in order to get the control of that, i wonder if this methods finally have been done.

We wonder too, the general feels of the forums, regading piracy and if you have done something to control it.

King Regards, fjsantos.

[MrTAToad]

There was a secret command that Gernot implemented a while ago that may help - cant remember what its called though...

[fjsantosb]

That sounds very interesting...

Anyone remember this command?

King Regards, fjsantos.

[MrTAToad]

All I can find is that it checks the pinfo.list file - cant find the post detailing it, unfortunately.

I do remember you needed to call C/C++/ObjC code...

[trucidare]

find a lib or piece of code and we can implement this.

[fjsantosb]

It will be very interesting could to determine who is buying and who is piracy.

I will check out for some piece of code and write back.

[Wampus]

fjsantosb how has Exodus been cracked? Was there copy protection that has been removed by a hacker? Or was a full working version shared online?

I don't think piracy can be stopped for one player games. It can only be reduced.

I believe most people pirate software because:-

• They feel they are poor and can't afford to spend on software.
• It is a habit they have formed.
• It gives them a reward of feeling rebellious & smart. They feel they "win" when they get something for free.

Some possible ways to help reduce piracy:-

• Make it harder to pirate by using sort of copy protection.
• Offer additional incentives for people to have a real licensed version instead of pirated version.
• Try to make people somehow sympathetic with your software company. If they like you, they will want to reward you.
• Provide a free "lite" version or similar. If you give something of value away for free and (some) people will have a sense of reciprocity.
• Aim your game at a target audience who are not typically known to be technically proficient enough to pirate software.
• Generally make it more effort to pirate the game than pay for it. Pricing is important with this.

On that last point, Exodus only costs $1.99. Almost everyone I have talked to feels that $1 or $2 is like nothing and are willing to pay it. So...the pirates showing up on your server are Scrooge for not paying! They're probably people who would not pay for anything! In other words I don't think these people are potentially real customers that you are losing. Most likely they download cracked software as habit and will just play whatever they can get their hands on.

Good luck fjsantosb

[trucidare]

there is a lib that checks 4 variants of pirated apps. incl. appShare.
but dont remember the name :/

you can check with this lib if its cracked and show a "awwww... you cracked my app" screen if its cracked.

[Kitty Hello]

Try this:

Code: (glbasic) [Select]

?IFDEF IPHONE
IMPORT int iPhoneIsCracked()
?ELSE
FUNCTION iPhoneIsCracked:
   RETURN FALSE
ENDFUNCTION
?ENDIF

Be sure to test if it works properly. I check for the SignerIdentity key.

[fjsantosb]

Hi,

@Ragaril, Exodus has been cracked from AppStore (I suppose that it was buyed but a pirate and then he cracked), it was online in less than 24 hours after his release.

I am agree with the third cause of pirates (the feel special, they get things without pay money for them).

Regarding with the antipiracy ways I am agree, but they all require time and effort (and as you pointed they will probably will not buy after all), so I feel somewhat do you can't get them as customers, what is a pity, but is the real world!
They really don't play so much, as I say previously only 5 minutes and then logoff (almost none of them comes back, they are very busy trying other games), so we don't consider a real problem, but we would like to know who is legit and who knows (that is important), and after all, we can decide.

@Trucidare: Thanks as usual for your help, the method you referred is the one Gernot show, right?

@Gernot: As usual, thanks a lot for your support and your continuous help! I will try this methods in 2 stages: first one, I will implement to trying to difference between lgit users and pirate ones; and a in a second stage, i will decide to show a advertisement for buy a full verion 'Hello pirate'.

Thanks all,

King Regards, fjsantos.

[Hark0]

WTF!!!!!!! (No me jodas!!!!!!!) 

Are any way to "lock/kick/..." an user of Openfeint net ... if this illegal user are "detected"

 ¿?

[Hark0]

Try this:

Code: (glbasic) [Select]

?IFDEF IPHONE
IMPORT int iPhoneIsCracked()
?ELSE
FUNCTION iPhoneIsCracked:
   RETURN FALSE
ENDFUNCTION
?ENDIF

Be sure to test if it works properly. I check for the SignerIdentity key.

How check this feature?

Sorry for my dumb question... if are.... 

I'm are on 70% of development status of my iphone game project... and I are very interested on this question. I have 2 iphones... one jailbreaked and one clean... two avaliable for test my project...

TIA, Hark0

[Hark0]

On my commercial old PPC games...

I "install" a DLL on Windows path... this DLL are null, but with a name very impressive like this: "devicecpucore.dll" (really are a JPG renamed). The game check of exist of this file... if returns zero, NAG SCREEN. You know....

Only commercial/registered versions create/have this DLL. And I ONLY send a one key for device/user... one to one manually.

I think this is impossible on iphone due to filesystem works....


Please work toghether in implement an a feature ANTIpiracy for ours projects... my hardware ware avaliable for all kind of tests...

 

[Hark0]

It will be very interesting could to determine who is buying and who is piracy.

I will check out for some piece of code and write back.

Can you check via Openfeint users vs pirates via email/nick account???

[Slydog]

Are you asking how to use this feature, or to verify if it's working?

To use it, copy the above code into your project, and try (I've never verified this):

Code: (glbasic) [Select]

IF iPhoneIsCracked() = TRUE
   DisplayNagScreen()
ELSE
   SaveHighScore()
ENDIF

To test it, that would be harder.  One method is to actually release your game, and wait for somebody to crack it.
Jailbreak your iPhone, and install the cracked copy, and run it.
Otherwise, you can assume its working if it returns FALSE.
Maybe you can edit the plist file to test? (I have no idea really, and have never even seen this file).

Anybody know how to force this check into thinking it's a cracked iPhone?

Try this:

Code: (glbasic) [Select]

?IFDEF IPHONE
IMPORT int iPhoneIsCracked()
?ELSE
FUNCTION iPhoneIsCracked:
   RETURN FALSE
ENDFUNCTION
?ENDIF

Be sure to test if it works properly. I check for the SignerIdentity key.

How check this feature?

Sorry for my dumb question... if are.... 

I'm are on 70% of development status of my iphone game project... and I are very interested on this question. I have 2 iphones... one jailbreaked and one clean... two avaliable for test my project...

TIA, Hark0