A simple CD check is ancient history man. Nowadays, people have only 3 choices with most games. Install Steam or something similar(DRM that goes way beyond a simple CD check) or pirate the game or just not play the game.

CD checks were used as an example, since this thread is about starforce (which was a cd-check after all, though more restrictive than others). And for some games, the online requirements are a single online activation, and a small memory hit.
But as I said, it depends on how much people are willing to give to play something they want.

Yeah, a lack of willpower.

I agree that there is a large scope of relativism at play as well. But I do contend that a not-insignificant portion of the consumers do not fully understand what they are getting into, either.

We all draw the lines according to our levels of comfort. I am fine with a CD-key type of authorisation, for example. But I am not comfortable with always-on internet authorisation. Some people may be because they do indeed believe their purchase's lifespan to be limited and the potential downside of DRM negligible in that case. But I still believe that if you sat all the buyers down and explained to them the systems fully, you would get a number of revised opinions at the end.

And yes, I'll be by to pick up the arcade cabinet, much ta. ;)

Starforce is known for causing system instability :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce#Community_response

I'm convinced if vehicles had the same analogous activities by a third party; say some asshole needs to get in your car every time you drive and tells you how to go, people would never accept DRM. Now that I think about it though, I can't overlook GPS unit's ubiquity. Well, let's not kid ourselves. People are remarkably short-sighted. Most people never consider the implications of their actions.

I always have to remind myself that half of the IQ bell-curve is to the left, which means, at last count, there's ~3.5 billion idiots on the planet, and even the first 35% to the right I'm not convinced of their intellectual savvy.

I would like to point out that although Starforce can screw up a computer, Sony beat them to fudging the operating system by many years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

Why did people not learn from this to throw DRM in the bin?
EDIT:::
Plus why should I put up with this -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZm8vNHBSU
When I am the one actually paying for something should I have to watch this? Why do they not just upload torrent versions of films that begin with this, then they may bore the "pirates" into buying a proper version without this stupid message. (The music is nice though, so I ripped it from the advert. Ironic!)

I doubt that there was any physical damage done, OP.

To the topic of DRM in general and the direction of the discussion: I think it's important to raise awareness in the greater gaming community concerning DRM by those of us that are aware of it and do have reservations about it. I think that human tendencies would probably dictate a more negative reception towards it and less tolerance overall if more are conscious of what it entails and what it does, and how it has progressed over the years.

Once the DVD starts playing previews/PSAs/whatever, press stop twice, then press play. 99.5% of the time this will bypass absolutely everything (including the menu) and start the movie immediately. Sadly this doesn't work on blurays, just DVDs.

Coincidentally my old HDD dies after installing Rig n Rolls (Starforce) 2 years ago. I'm sure was my HDD problem, not the DRM. But it kinda left a bad taste.

Oh so true! And in one of the most ironic of ironies.... we have various collections of TV series on DVD, after seeing so many anti piracy messages driving us mad, we had to get pirated copies!

Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out on the next BBC disc I load with that damned pseudo-Python anti-pirate animation that seems to run forever. The Beeb does love to frontload their stuff with tons of preamble, even when it's not of the anti-piracy kind. None of this would bother me if they would just let the damn "disc menu" button work like it's supposed to.

It's tempting sometimes. Specifically those times when I'm wanting to yell at the television "I wouldn't be sitting through this anti-pirate bullshit IF I HAD PIRATED IT!"

Companies used to keep customers through good products and good service. Guess that got too hard for them at some point.

Hahaha, these anti piracy messages that are designed to annoy people are so comprehensively stupid .... it is probably why Aliens have not bothered to make contact with humanity, they saw that and said "oh these creatures must be so dumb, lets get outa here".

You shouldn't have to do this is the point. Its the fact that it treats the legitimate customers as if they're criminals too that's offensive about it.

Yeah, it sucks that we need a Konami Code (■ + ■ + ►) to play our legitimate purchases the way we want.