Updated the OP with some few links and Pond86's experience which you can read above. Yes, and I agree. It's a challenge when someone is this deep into a belief as blatantly wrong as this, but at these times it's when I don't have much resources to fall back onto to at least get the opposing side to stay shut. They may claim all these links are about people who did something wrong so the DRM kicked on them, but at least I want to say I have done my part, even if they continue with their false beliefs.

And maybe if I present it in such an argument, bystanders could take a look and then be cautious of what their games have. If this or the other happens, then this thread had done its job.

Way back in 1996 I got for Christmas the original release of Bungie's classic FPS, Marathon Infinity. It came complete with its cool silver reflective triangular box, and cost $79.99 CDN.

The serial number for the game was misprinted, so entering it didn't work at all; effectively I was locked entirely out of playing the game. Bungie's telephone tech support didn't answer my call or emails. Part of me regrets tossing out the lot, as it would been a cool collectible, but I was so upset I couldn't bear to see it lying around my apartment.

And here's my other story about my encounter with DRM, from this old archived thread:

I remember paying full price ($59) for the old OS X Wine-based port of HOMM V. It used online activation tied to the servers of the publisher/developer (Freeverse Software) who wasn't actually Ubisoft (they just got the rights to do the port and distribute/sell it from Ubisoft).

A few years later, Freeverse all but shuttered their Mac development in favor of iOS, and eventually they got sold to Ngmoco. All of their Mac games (which still used online activation DRM) were all completely useless soon after, and all of their customers were SOL. The solution, according to people on the forums who contacted Freeverse support, was to buy a whole new copy of the game, at full price, from Ubisoft.

Not a game but I recall when my audio surgeon became utterly useless. I barely had purchased the box and had it for 1/2 year. Had several reformists due to issues and one day I have some audio work to do. I install it and get ready to type in the code and get online confirmation.... DEAD. Completely worthless. Sucks when older stuff is outdated and it happens with pure digital media as well.

The trouble with answering this question by saying "I've never really been burnt by DRM" is that it would imply that DRM isn't so bad then, whereas this is due more to my efforts of trying to avoid the nagative* aspects of DRM.

That said, I have bought software with DRM in the past, and I either don't use it for anything critical, or I don't allow myself to get too attached to it.

So my first example is thus rather a paltry one: I bought the retail version of Star Trek Voyager Elite Force and they hadn't included the serial key in the box. I didn't return it though because the key was only required for multiplayer access, and I was only interested in the single-player campaign.

My second example has also never impacted me directly, but that doesn't mean it hasn't caused me stress. Some retail games such as Two Worlds had limited activations, and I always had the dilemma: should I activate the game now to see that it works, and if it does, what would happen if someone had returned the game and it had been resold as new, and I'd just used the last activation? ...and I'd never know until I tried to activate the game again... which would use another activation! Talk about a dilemma!

*accidental typo, but it seemed apt to leave it as is ;)

Actually they did not pull it because they are good people. They did it because it is a very old game and it was difficult to add denuvo on it without breaking the game.

My legit copy of alpha protocol thought I was a pirate. Wouldn't let me play and made annoying sounds.

I'm trying to find links and came across this:. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/alpha-protocol-activation-retardation.2160664/

Poor guy has it worse than me. I guess.

Anyway, sega put a patch out that removed the drm. So that's good.

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Of course, whilst I'm busy patting myself on the back after my earlier post that "I've never really been burnt by DRM", I do need to admit the one cost of minimizing the impact of DRM... and that is the loss of that precious resource called "Time".

As an example, if I bought a game that required online activation, I'd have to go through the following lengthly process on my offline gaming PC: backup my current saved games, restore the previous backup image I'd created of my other games requiring online activation, install the new game, configure a temporary internet connection, activate the new game, create a new image of the computer, re-install games I was currently playing and finally, restore the saved games.

Whilst all the above effort on my part meant that if my hard drive ever died, I wouldn't lose any games, the hassle of doing this got to a point where it just wasn't worth buying any more games with DRM, especially with the backup image getting bigger and bigger.

On the plus side, I've already rebought two of those games on GOG, being Sacred 2 and Two Worlds, but I'd love to be able to remove some other games from that backup image as well such as Mass Effect, Dead Space, C&C Red Alert 3 and Bioshock.

Truth is this:

Anyone who hasn't had DRM issues isn't a gamer, they're just a game tourist. Their opinion should always be heard but not counted.

I'd agree with this sentiment. Essentially someone has either had problems with DRM already and had a bad experience they're not fond of, or they have simply not yet had such an experience, or they've had a bad experience and just not realized it was due to DRM (such as servers being down and being unaware that is the reason they couldn't play their game at a given time).

So I think in the end, either everyone has already experienced problems with DRM and had a bad experience, or they simply will at some point in the future and learn for themselves that it is a bad proposition without really needing to be convinced by other people. Experiential learning is the best teaching tool available.

I've learned both through direct personal experiences as well as observing the negative experiences of others out there, and out of that my opinion is formed and unmanipulated by even the largest mob of people who might think differently. Personal experience beats 3rd party opinions hands down every time. People who differ in opinion to mine are perfectly ok as their opinions do not affect my personal experiences or decisions, so they're mostly irrelevant, and I've nothing to gain by convincing alternative views to match my own so it's kind of moot. :)

That's a nonsense "no true Scotsman" argument.

Spoken like a true game tourist ...... then again, maybe I'm simply old and remember the days of gaming before garbage like Starforce screwed the fun.

Me too, when I got halfway through the game and suddenly I had to go dig for a certain page in the manual before I could continue playing

Honestly though, I think the undertone of the argument above is that some people seem to be under the illusion that the people who don't care about DRM-Free simply haven't had issues with DRM yet, when in reality, many people simply don't care enough about it other than the moments that it happens. Then they're annoyed, but the moment it's cleared up they're fine again and soon forget.

I agree with this. I have actually lost 2 cd drives and 3 crashed hard drives due to DRM issues. Had a 4th HD crash, but that was due to MS support not knowing what the hell they were doing.

There have been times that I needed to activate something and the net goes out due to power loss or the phone line a mile away has water in it. There have also been times that in the middle of the activation something would happen and I would not be able to play the game for several days till support would wak4e up and realize that "yes" I had a legit copy.
Hehe, I remember when you had to load the tape drive to play a game. Was no DRM there, sometimes you actually had to type the whole program in and then save it to tape to play it.

Please dispense with the personal attacks. You'll find they're a very good way to attract downvotes.

I've had numerous problems with Steam such as issues with offline mode, which contributed to me abandoning that platform. I don't think it is inevitable however that someone who plays a lot of games will encounter issues due to DRM, and I think that elitism and gatekeeping about who is and isn't a "gamer" is absurd. Games aren't some super special secret club, and you can't make blanket statements about people who play games besides the fact that they play games.