Not this trope; lolcat: Copy Protection

It's actually Digital Piracy Is Evil.

Pulled for being a lolcat. Previous:

Suggestion◊.

I like that one!

That works for me.

Way too in-jokey. Has no humor unless you know what it is all about.

Huh? This is not a humorous pic, but a straightforward example of the trope at hand.

For clarification - is it from the video game version? I've only ever seen it as a board game.

Yes. Once mice and sVGA graphics became standard, most popular board games got a PC version to make some quick cash. Regardless, such "enter word X from page Y" or "turn the wheel to A and read number B" screens used to be extremely common; this is just the clearest example I could find.

And it's not entirely all text. Sierra made a number of games asking for word X from line Y of page Z in the manual, but most of them are no-frills dialogue boxes.

edited 27th Dec '11 6:43:56 PM by Stratadrake

Yeah, it looks like Fast Eddie didn't know there actually was a video game version of Stratego (I didn't either) and thought it was someone's original parody.

I...uhh, don't understand that picture. What the hell is a code wheel?

We could use a screencap of what Zoe says when you are playing an illegal copy of Spyro: Year of the Dragon, if there is one.

Vote for Stratego pic

Good idea, but it looks like the text is too small for it too work.

Also, from Metal Gear Solid◊.

edited 26th Jan '12 11:44:37 PM by abk0100

I never encountered that message. Is that a good thing?

Kings Quest IV's Copy Protection dialog is a no-frills "input word X from paragraph Y on page Z".

I really like Space Quest IV's version, though:

edited 27th Jan '12 9:57:59 AM by Stratadrake

Is there any pic where the text isn't written in an annoying font? Or for that matter, a pic which doesn't rely entirely on the text in itself?

People that are asking for a picture that doesn't rely on the text are clearly missing the point of the trope. You might as well ask for a unicorn with no horns.

Also, what you call "annoying font" was pretty much par for the course for videogames during the era that was this sort of thing in common use.

Sheesh, kids these days.

Anyway, the Space Quest and Stratego pics are very good.

edited 27th Jan '12 1:51:10 PM by Catbert

Apparently it was an easter egg, not a real copy protection. Somewhat higher quality version.◊

I like the pic with the actual pirate.

But it doesn't demonstrate the trope, just Digital Piracy Is Evil.

Maybe I could get a shot from KQ 5's copy protection dialog (which randomly pops up at one of 2-3 points during the game), or Space Quest 5's "What sector, captain?" dialog.

And, ^^, the smaller version has some nasty resize artifacts.

edited 29th Jan '12 10:58:00 AM by Stratadrake

I thought the font was annoying when I grew up too, thank you very much.

By relying on the text I meant an example that wouldn't lose anything at all by being simply quoted. But maybe I just don't like any of the examples so far.

The clearest examples of copy protection will end up relying on text as a rule. The more clever ones (at least from Sierra), will border on JAFAAC in the sense that the answer being All There in the Manual is in no way referenced by the screenshot in question. So pick your poison.

Can I pick none?

Even the proposals so far that "rely on text" use a heck of a lots less text than the massive Wall of Text trope description.

edited 29th Jan '12 12:12:08 PM by Catbert