Copy Protection
The eternal arms race
Copy protection evolved from simple checks to elaborate schemes as publishers battled pirates, sometimes inconveniencing legitimate customers more than crackers.
Overview
Copy protection began simply—intentional disk errors that legitimate copies included—and escalated into an arms race. Publishers implemented code wheels, manual lookups, hardware dongles, and later online activation. Crackers defeated each scheme, often within days. The collateral damage fell on legitimate customers who struggled with protection while pirates played unencumbered.
Fast facts
- Motivation: prevent unauthorized duplication.
- Methods: disk errors, manual checks, dongles, online DRM.
- Effectiveness: rarely stopped determined pirates.
- Side effects: often hindered legitimate users.
- Modern forms: always-online DRM, Denuvo.
Protection methods
Evolution of approaches:
- Disk errors: intentional bad sectors.
- Manual lookup: “Enter word 3 from page 12”.
- Code wheels: physical decoder devices.
- Dongles: hardware keys required to run.
- Online activation: server verification.
The cracking response
Protection versus circumvention:
- Scene groups: dedicated to defeating protection.
- Crack intros: demoscene art preceding cracked games.
- Speed challenges: racing to release first crack.
- Preservation concern: protected software harder to archive.