i have one winxp/ubuntu dualbooting computer for a game machine. i have grabbed a few games and i realize how much i hate serials. i grab the first one. i have the original box, the original cds, but the booklet is MIA. anyone want to guess where the serial is :P

i found a keygen online for it but it seems like they put the serial number in the item you are most likely to lose first. and i wonder....do serial numbers really act as much of a copy deterant or simply an annoyance for their customers? are there people who would illegally download a multiple cd game/dvd game and then go "oh sugar! it asked me for the serial and now i will give up"?

It would only stop the innocent copiers, those that have very limited technological experience.

It's mostly an annoyance to the consumer IMO... almost as much as typing out sentence 4 of parapragh 3 on page 257 of the instruction booklet.

You guys remember the old days with inventive copy protection? Remember MI2 with its mix'n'mojo wheel? Or what about Interplays LotR where you had a companion booklet where you had to read some of the in-game text? Or what about Microproses ingenius copy protection that broke your diskettes if you used them on any other computer than the first they where used on? That where the days

I don't see the need for serials in non-online games.

I doubt it, most illegally downloaded games have a crack or a keygen with them, and usually the one downloading it is knowledgable enough about these topics

exactly. the best part of windows (other than it's accurate timeleft for completed installation bar) is it comes with a sticker you dont lose (usually put straight away onto the case) for the product key.

i remember wheels and the manuals, but i dont remember the one that broke the diskettes. how would it know? wasnt the game diskette read-only? usually only the save disk could be written

How can software break a floppy disk?

If the disk isn't set to be write protected then it can erase it, otherwise I don't think it can do a thing...

What if the software required a successful test write to the floppy disk in order to run?

Then make backups? I don't know that it would make sense to require it to try and write to the disk beforehand

So that nobody copies to friends/ use one copy for more than one PC?

I had an old version of Lotus 1-2-3 that restricted that to 5 backups somehow. Never figured out how it did it nor cared enough to even try

It was in response to The disk would have to write to the disk to stop it from being used on another computer. If locked, the software could just not run until a verification program could lock the software to a single PC.

And... a lot of old and current software protection schemes don't make a lot of sense either

Actually though it wasnt a form of copy protection per se, but

Liesure Suit Larry 1 - and the 7 questions it asked you in an attempt to verify your age. Classic indeed.

Or Larry 3 where you had to get 5 of 7 question right to see tits Any less and parts would be censored.

OT: Yeah Lakersforce, that was the rather anticlimatic bit about makin it with the 'tute in the wrong manner (unprotected) and acquiring a deadly form of VD, only to die where you stand. Memory serving that little bit in the game was totally censored out entirely.

i could only imagine the customer service reps handling all the calls of people who accidently formatted the disk.