The Walking Dead (and other games) DRM - suggestion
I know this is long, hopefully someone at Telltale would have the patience to read this, maybe this could be helpful.
Like many others here I was initially not able to play the game. The general feeling when getting this is "why did I pay for the product?" Admittedly, I did get a quick response from their support, but still, when one prepays for a game (before there are any reviews), it shows confidence in the game and company, a confidence that gets lost in this frustration.
The main problem I see is that the code that handles verification is not handling errors correctly. My particular problem was a wrong password that was saved in the registry (not the first game I got from installed). However I got a generic error that says the game cannot communicate with the servers.
The code should handle different errors much more robustly. I know (as someone heavily involved in the software industry) this is a boring task, but it's one of the most important things the developers could do to keep customer satisfaction. The game (and others) should have very user friendly dialogs allowing the player to input a different username and password. The 'forgot password' option should also be readily available right there.
Furthermore, there was no indication whatsoever the game requires activation, only after I ran it. This is very bad user experience. It goes like this:
You get the email or pay on the website and get a download link.
me: "Great!"
Wait for the full package to download and install
me: "Great!"
Run it, get ready to play, oh wait, now prove you really purchased the game,
me: "Say what?"
and then get problems communicating with the server
me: "Hey, I can communicate with the website just fine on my browser, work damn it!"
If you decided to DRM your game, try to be explicit about it. When I get the download instructions, it should say it'll require activation, same thing in the download link. Then when the game runs, don't tell me to "click anywhere to start", tell me sincerely that the game is now going to be activated. And by the way, if you really want to be nice, do this while install is in progress, so when I get the actual game interface, I don't feel there's an invisible barrier preventing me from playing something legitimately purchased.
I could go on, but I think you get my main point. Improve your overall experience and you'll get much less traction. Those of us with the technical skills to troubleshoot such problems would like to play a game to get away from it all, not handle more issues. Those who don't come from technical background would be even more helpless with the current UX.
Thank you for your attention.