Q3a CD-Key, Seems to be working atm

IGN News

But one wonders for how long, although if it keeps warez users and hackers at bay for a few weeks, thats probably long enough as most will just go out and buy it rather than wait.

Graeme Devine from ID says:


Okay. First off, don't run crack executables on your client! All it's likely to do is grab your CD key and send it off somewhere. Authorization is server side, not client side. We will pursue and close down cracked servers with all available resources.

Secondly, CD keys are "leased", so if you log on through a dialup, play, then disconnect your modem and log right back on, your CD key will have to timeout on your previous IP before you can play again. This timeout period is currently set at 5 minutes.

Hacker attempts with invalid keys are outnumbering real keys by a factor of 2:1 or so. Obviously this is somewhat validating the use of CD keys.


Interesting stuff and fair play to ID if they have found a workable system to do this.

TwoShedsJackson

perchance you forget to turn off the ol italics on the last sentence there

Spoonman

I think Half-Life was the first game to come up with a secure CD key authorisation.