In a post-talk interview with PC Gamer, Harrington famous that her ex-husband remembers the authentication scheme being in place earlier than they found their nephew’s newfound love of CD copying. Regardless, Monica stated their nephew’s expertise undoubtedly cemented a brand new understanding of how on a regular basis gamers noticed sport piracy.
“He was 19 years outdated. He wasn’t enthusiastic about issues like corporations, enterprise fashions, or something like that,” Harrington instructed PC Gamer. “He wasn’t enthusiastic about mental property. He later apologized profoundly, and I stated, ‘Oh my God, you haven’t any thought how helpful that was.'”
Sadly for Valve, the CD key system utilized in Half-Life DRM was pretty easy to bypass for those who knew the fitting code to make use of (as our own forum members circa 2001 can attest). Nonetheless, it is simple to see how the additional layer of safety Valve placed on Half-Life helped encourage Steam’s considerably extra sturdy DRM system for Half-Life 2 years later.
The remainder of Harrington’s GDC speak consists of much more insider details about the early days of Valve, together with a dialogue of how rights points with retail writer Sierra almost caused Valve to abandon Half-Life 2 in the course of improvement. VentureBeat has an incredibly detailed write-up of the speak in its entirety, which serves as an amazing follow-up to Harrington’s own lengthy blog post remembrances from final summer time.