Richard Hyams (2008) Copy Protection of Computer Games.
Full text access: Open
In this dissertation we look at the effectiveness of copy protection for computer games distributed on physical media such as CD and digitally, over the internet. To set the scene a history of computer game piracy is described and the threats to today's computer games in terms of piracy are reviewed. A demonstration of how to obtain a pirated game is performed to show how easy this has become since the growth of the internet. Copy protection techniques are then described initially from an historical perspective and then by looking at the state of the art for both physical media and online distributed copy prevention. Each is reviewed by looking at the capabilities and shortcomings along with the possible methods of attacking each type of protection. We find that at present with the new techniques that online distribution bring that it is far more effective than physical media protection. The technique of making the consumer bind their game to an account which allows them to play online has been particularly effective. Finally it is demonstrated that online copy protection is effective in the real world, by investigating how long it takes for a copy protection to be bypassed for a number of computer games released either on physical media or online. It was found that none of the games released online had any pirated copies available online leading to the conclusion that this protection had not been bypasses yet. It was however noted that most of the computer game titles with large sales were released both online and on physical media and therefore the attack will be towards the physical media copy protection rather than online and so until games are only distributed online can we be really totally sure of the online copy protection effectiveness.
This is a Published version This version's date is: 15/01/2008 This item is peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/a8bd498c-2fba-bc1b-9bac-0a843ad4db02/1/
Deposited by () on 24-Jun-2010 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 15-Dec-2010
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