Boycott Starforce

[Nija]

http://www.boycottstarforce.org/



A group of PC gamers have joined together, and decided not to purchase any PC games that use the Starforce copy protection method. This site is here to provide information about the Starforce protection method, so that you can make your own informed decision.

We will provide a list of games that install the Starforce device drivers, as well as a list of publishers that incorporate Starforce. If you wish to join this boycott, we encourage you to write the publisher, and let them know.
What Is Starforce?

Starforce is a software copy protection tool installed by PC game publishers, which is designed to prevent the casual copying of retail CDROM applications. It installs as a hidden device driver, without the end-user's knowledge or consent.
Why Are We Boycotting Games That Install Starforce?

Starforce has been reported to cause problems on personal computers, sometimes quite serious. If these problems occur, the end-user would be unware as to the cause of the problem, and would be helpless to solve the problem. For a complete list of our issues with Starforce, please see this page.


the list of games that currently have this evil, malicious code can be found here (http://www.boycottstarforce.org/games/)

[DarkFury]

Whew... nothing I currently play (or want to play) is on that list. :D (Hopefully this will stay that way...)

[DaFunkyUnit]

Whew... nothing I currently play (or want to play) is on that list. :D (Hopefully this will stay that way...)

and the games that I DO want to play, i can get for xbox. :)

[Bires]

Starforce = great evil spawned from a lesser evil.

I really wanted to buy Beyond Divinity, since Divine Divinity is so cool, but I decided against it-only because it uses Starfarce.

[Paymaster]

"For a complete list of our issues with Starforce, please see this page."

Yet there is no info anywhere on the site about the actual issues. I have a hard time boycotting a product without any verifiable information as to why.

[LegendKiller]

"For a complete list of our issues with Starforce, please see this page."

Yet there is no info anywhere on the site about the actual issues. I have a hard time boycotting a product without any verifiable information as to why.


That link above described what it was, reading helps.


LK

[Bires]

"For a complete list of our issues with Starforce, please see this page."

Yet there is no info anywhere on the site about the actual issues. I have a hard time boycotting a product without any verifiable information as to why.

Many of the problems (on the gaming forums) have stemmed from DVDroms not working once starforce is installed.

[bachviet]

It's good thing that I don't play game.

[ACE]

Doom3 wouldn't run because I had alcohol 120% installed on the machine. That's not right either.

[Memo]

You know I heard Doom3 and many other games have problems with Daemon tools but I have had no problem

[Bires]

This is just one more thing that really makes me look forward to the next generation of consoles.

[Nija]

"For a complete list of our issues with Starforce, please see this page."

Yet there is no info anywhere on the site about the actual issues. I have a hard time boycotting a product without any verifiable information as to why.
It's actually a driver that installs itself with the [Windows] games that come shipped with it, and originally it didn't uninstall when the game was uninstalled.

The drivers are what prevents the use of kernel debugger utilities such as SoftICE, Cool Debugger, Soft Snoop etc. Also the drivers prevent emulators from spoofing a drive, and thwart burning tools such as Alcohol 120%."

(stolen from /. story that can be found
here (http://http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/19/0627242&tid=206)

[Paymaster]

That link above described what it was, reading helps.
LK

Try reading my post a little closer, LK. That site says I should boycott starforce because it causes so many issues, but doesn't say what those issues are. I prefer to make educated decisions about such things.



The drivers are what prevents the use of kernel debugger utilities such as SoftICE, Cool Debugger, Soft Snoop etc. Also the drivers prevent emulators from spoofing a drive, and thwart burning tools such as Alcohol 120%."


Thanks, Nija, that's more informative than the enitre boycottstarforce site.