While I'm skeptical that it will actually work, I think it's an interesting alternative approach.
Think of it this way: DRM is effectively a way of monetizing the inconvenience of pirates. With traditional DRM, an unscrupulous person has two options: either buy the game immediately, or wait until it is cracked and then maybe deal with malware or crack-induced bugs.
The Puppygames DRM adds a third option: download the game directly from the creator (no malware or bugs) and play the full game, but with the inconvenience of only playing it offline. This makes the game less likely to be cracked at all -- there's little glory in cracking a game that practically comes pre-cracked -- and a crack is less likely to see wide distribution when the creator is a more reliable source. So maybe more people will experience the minor inconvenience of playing offline, and maybe more of them will pay to have the inconvenience removed.
Think of it this way: DRM is effectively a way of monetizing the inconvenience of pirates. With traditional DRM, an unscrupulous person has two options: either buy the game immediately, or wait until it is cracked and then maybe deal with malware or crack-induced bugs.
The Puppygames DRM adds a third option: download the game directly from the creator (no malware or bugs) and play the full game, but with the inconvenience of only playing it offline. This makes the game less likely to be cracked at all -- there's little glory in cracking a game that practically comes pre-cracked -- and a crack is less likely to see wide distribution when the creator is a more reliable source. So maybe more people will experience the minor inconvenience of playing offline, and maybe more of them will pay to have the inconvenience removed.