The DRM system has always been a rather contentious topic among gamers. Most people don’t like being limited when and where to play games they’ve already paid for. As Discord lets developers offer their games on their channels, DRM-free games aren’t always easy to identify.
With no quick and easy way to tell whether a Discord game can be played offline, knowing what to look for is a great help. This article shows you how to check if a Discord game is DRM-free.
What Exactly Is DRM?
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. In simplest terms, it’s a way for software developers to prevent people from copying their games. Requiring a game to log in online before it can be launched theoretically prevents the same copy from being used by multiple users. Each game has a unique serial number, and the DRM system allows only one copy to launch.
Advantage of DRM Free games
So, being a useful dev tool, DRM should be great, right? Well, not quite. DRM has been known to affect the performance of games and may cause them to run poorly. Also, if a game has DRM, you must be online to launch it, even if it doesn’t have online play options.
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Fortunately, many developers have heeded players’ calls and removed DRM entirely. DRM-free games allow them to be played offline. As long as you have it installed, you can play it anytime.
Now that we know the advantage of getting DRM-free games let’s cover getting games from Discord.
Discord Nitro
Before recent changes, Discord tried to be a game distribution platform by offering games through Discord Nitro. Discord Nitro is a subscription-based premium service that offers custom tags, animated avatars, and many other useful services. Discord Nitro also used to have a game store. This was discontinued, however, on October 15th, 2019, and the games library can no longer be accessed.
The Discord Store Channel
Although Discord no longer offers a centralized game store page, developers can still sell their games directly on Discord. Discord offers developers this option by creating their own Discord Store Channel. Not many developers have taken advantage of this, though. You’ll know if you can buy a certain game directly from Discord if it has a Store tab:
The option is always available for developers. If they want to, they can always offer their games directly.
Checking If Games Have DRM
Now that you’ve encountered a game on Discord that you might want to purchase, it’s time to know if it’s DRM-free. This isn’t obvious unless you’re GOG; no one announces their games as DRM-free. The best way to find this out is to check the game individually. You can do this by:
- Check the dev channel for the DRM announcement:
A lot of developers know that players dislike having DRM on their games. Players argue that it kills performance, and some even actively avoid games that have it. Developers can take advantage of this by touting having a DRM-free game as a feature and announcing it on their channels. - Check the forums:
Another great way of finding out if an upcoming game has DRM is to check the game’s forums. Sometimes people with insider information leak bits of info to excite the player base. News that a game can be played offline can ratchet up the excitement. If you want up-to-date news about a particular game, then the official forums are a good place to go. - Check games listings:
Believe it or not, some places on the internet list DRM-free games. Although not exactly centered on Discord games, some games are released on multiple platforms. If a game is listed as DRM-free on Steam or GOG, then there’s a good chance that if it’s available on Discord, it’s DRM-free as well. - Test if you can launch the game offline:
If you’ve scoured the net and have yet to find information on a particular game, the last option would be to run it offline and see if it works. Admittedly, this isn’t the best solution you can turn to, as you need an actual copy of the game to attempt this. But if you know someone already owns it, having them disconnect from the net and try to run the game is no big deal.
A Potential for Growth
Discord doesn’t have a great record as a game distribution platform. Sites like Steam, Origin, and GOG have tighter market control. However, the growth potential exists with its Store channel options allowing developers to offer games directly to their fans.
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If you know a game is DRM-free avoids any further hassle, especially for the bare-bones Discord Channel store. Have you ever come across a game that you thought was DRM-free but wasn’t? Do you know how to tell if a game on Discord is DRM-free? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
