Thinking of pirating Bohemia Interactive's latest helicopter sim? Better bring your windshield wipers.

"Why does the screen go blurry like I'm underwater sometimes?" asked user "Kcannon" on the official Take On Helicopters forum. "What am I doing wrong?"

He posted the above screenshot to demonstrate the issue that he was complaining of, and the CEO of developer Bohemia Interactive promptly responded, asking Kcannon to provide both a proof of purchase and his CD key to look into the issue personally.

Kcannon didn't respond. That's because the bizarre graphical issue above is caused by a system the ArmA developer has been using since 2001 with Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. Dubbed "original games don't fade" or simply "fade" for short, their copy protection method causes pirated versions of the game to run well for a short taster period before "fading" -- gradually introducing graphical glitches and big hits to performance, making the game nigh on unplayable after a while.

"It's widely known that as soon as any game is released there are those who are looking to download it for free, who for whatever reason feel that their right is to not pay for something despite all the thousands of hours that have gone into its development," writes the company in an official press release directly addressing Kcannon's issue. "Obviously game developers have a responsibility to themselves to try to protect their company's future, but also a responsibility to the community that supports them by buying their titles.

"No gamer who has spent their hard earned money to buy a game wants to be playing multiplayer against others who didn't buy the game, no addon maker wants to have things they created over countless hours downloaded and used by people who didn't buy the game it's intended for. That's why we try to come up with unique and irrefutable ways to stop people playing our games without paying for them. That's why Take On Helicopters shipped with our unique antipiracy countermeasures."

Take On Helicopters is available now direct from Bohemia Interactive or via Steam.

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Also Read: Simcopter's Spiritual Successor Take On Helicopters Launches Today

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