This question is for those of you actually selling games, keeping track of registration codes, customers, etc...

I am still working on a good registration system. The jury (me) is still out on whether it is a good idea or not to lock the game to a single PC. After reading all the recommendations in another thread, I do agree that it is better not to lock it down.

I found a post by princec in another thread (More shareware warezed) about how he can buy a book and share the book with his friends and family if he chooses to. It is "his" book once he buys it and he can do whatever he wants with it. That works well for a book since it is physically a single entity, but software can be reproduced. So letting people distribute their full version of the application to their friends does not quite compare to princec giving out his copy of the book.

Anyway... I have a few methods in mind for registration. However, each method has its pros and cons. I'll spare you the pros, but here are a list of cons:

* One registration method requires you to be connected to the internet. The connection might be needed for a few seconds either the first time you run the game, or every time you run the game. This essentially is to make sure only one copy of the game is alive at any given point. So if you distribute the game to your friends, all of you can't run it at the same time.

* Another method requires me to generate a different (unique) binary everytime someone buys the game. I am not sure how I would send this binary to the customer though. I guess I would create it automatically, and then create a link only for that customer to download as soon as the credit card info is entered (i.e. the sale is closed). After the game is downloaded, the binary and the link will be deleted.

Disclaimer: I am not saying I have the ultimate registration system or that I can design one. If you see any flaws, please let me know. If you do know of the ultimate system (none is not an option), then also let me know.

So based on your experience, what kinds of "maintenance" headaches would these methods create?

The one I am leaning towards is the one that generates unique binaries. In the most basic sense the binary would be "watermarked" in a way. This means each binary will be unique per customer in some ways. I have no idea if this is feasible or not, but it sounded like a better thing to do than coming up with a key generator which might be easily cracked.
This also works better for another app I am writing that has plugin modules (not a game). It prevents you from copying plugins from one installation to another.

Please let me know what you think.
Thank you!

I'm also trying to decide what to do : keycode, keyfile, nothing, internet check...

Personnalized exes... ok, but then what? What's the difference with a personalized keycode or keyfile?

Method 1a), one-time connection to register, is very common and largely painless. Works well for me, haven't had any trouble. Method 1b) I expect would get very annoying.

2) is damned difficult to actually do. Not impossible, just more hassle than it's worth.

In terms of bang-for-buck in keeping honest people honest, a personalised one-time online registration seems to be the most cost/hassle effective method.

Cas :)

I like the idea of connecting to the net. It encourages people to buy the software.

I must say that I refuse to buy any software that forces me to go online to register.

Mostof the games I buy i use in a different computer than my work/net computer. I DO NOT WANT to have to carry the freakign thing from one place in the house to another just to connect to a web server to validate my game. Offer some HW locking scheme were I can email you a key and you enter it or something, but forcing me to go online is just asking me to not buy your game.

Also, not in the US or UK, but in other countries, there are may homes with computers but that do not have net connection. I know a few people that buy games at the office, and then take the setup file and the registration code home to play, you will be also losing them as customers.

About the second idea, it is a lot of work, there are some things you can do to make this easier, such as setup file names (like gamesetup_somecustomerinformationhere.exe) and use Inno Script or other scripting languages to write some registry settings. There was also a installer (can't remember the name, but I do remember it was expensive) that had a feature sorta like this.