GameShield Activation Methods


The GameShield DRM Kit provides you and your team with a wide variety of options of how you can control and manipulate the licenses on yourclient machines.  

Controlling your users license is performed via a process generally referred to as "Activation".  Activation normally involves a "code exchange".  In a code exchange, various codes are sent and received, either automatically or manually, to and from the client and your server-side logic or your staff.

Using GameShield, you do not have to create special builds for different geographic locations (requiring separate localization). GameShield allows you to have a single build of your product for multiple simultaneous locales, meaning you do not have to create different builds for distribution through retail (off-the-shelf) versus electronic software delivery.

Click on the diagram to the right to see a few of the Activation Method possibilities you can achieve all with a single build of your game.

Click to view the Activation Methods Diagram

Activation Methods

  • Activating your Software Online Automatically with CheckPoint License Server

    Activating your software online automatically is achieved by using GameShield’s ClientProtector in your application to connect to and communicate with GameShield’s CheckPoint License Server. While no human intervention is required, an internet connection is.

    You can only perform fully-automated activations when using the CheckPoint License Server included in the GameShield DRM Kit. GameShield includes CheckPoint License Server Hosting for you as part of our service.

  • Activating your Software Manually (Online with CheckPoint License Server)

    Activating your software manually (online with CheckPoint License Server)  is achieved by using GameShield’s ClientProtector in your application to receive manual input from the user and your staff using the Manual-Activator to connect to and communicate with the CheckPoint License Server.  While no internet connection is required at the user’s location, your staff must have an internet connection to the CheckPoint License Server and physically operate the software.

  • Activating Your Software Manually (Off-line)

    Activating your software manually (off-line)  is achieved by using ClientProtector in your application to receive manual input from the user and your staff using the Manual-Activator to generate Activation Codes directly from the license. No Internet connection is required at either location. Your staff must physically operate the software.

  • Build Your Own Activator (with COM-Activator)

    If your business process includes a mechanism for authenticating users who have the right to activate your software and you have your own in-house tools and development team for providing customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, you may wish to consider building your own Activator with the COM-Activator.

    The COM-Activator is a simple COM component that can be created and accessed from virtually any environment that supports COM.  This is every high-level language in use and even includes server-side scripting languages that could allow you to integrate it into a web-application. The COM-Activator provides equivalent programmatic functionality to the Manual-Activator’s off-line features.