The Weird, Wonderful Ways Developers Have Tried To Stop People Pirating Their Games

thegamer.com:

PC gamers hate DRM, and rightly so. It might give publishers peace of mind, but anti-piracy software like the notorious Denuvo, if poorly implemented, can negatively impact the performance of games. It can also mean you're forced to pointlessly play singleplayer games online, and in some cases, servers being shut down can render older games completely unplayable.

In the '80s and '90s, DRM didn't exist in the form it does now—but other types of copy protection did. The difference back then was that developers implemented creative, interactive anti-piracy measures that fed into the fiction of the game. It was way more obtrusive than modern DRM, and kinda annoying, but if it has to be there, it might as well be fun.

Related: Final Fantasy 6's Intro Sequence Is Perfection

In Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, a 1992 adventure game by Interplay, players had to consult the physical game manual (remember those?) before warping to a new star system. None of the systems were named, meaning you had to reference a map in the manual—otherwise you'd be attacked by enemy ships. Overly elaborate, but it made you feel like a proper navigator.

The original Prince of Persia from 1989, developed by Broderbund, was more mischievous. Players who reached level 2 would be presented with three bottles, one of which had to be drunk to proceed. You had to cross-reference them with a chart in the manual to select the right bottle. Pick the wrong one three times and the Prince would be poisoned and suddenly die.

In horny adventure game Leisure Suit Larry 3, also released in 1989 by Sierra, the manual came in the form of a tacky brochure for its tropical setting—the vaguely Hawaiian island of Nontoonyt. When players reached the casino, a bouncer would ask