Spore

[Rhodite 3]

I have heard on the rumour mill that many many punters are very unhappy with the way Spore has been licensed and copy protected, can anyone shed light on this? I was quite keen to purchase this game as it is a refreshingly new concept.

[Average Joe 0]

I have heard on the rumour mill that many many punters are very unhappy with the way Spore has been licensed and copy protected, can anyone shed light on this? I was quite keen to purchase this game as it is a refreshingly new concept.

Unfortunately this is true, they implemented DRM... 3 Strikes and your out, as far as contacting EA's 'customer services', a nightmare in itself.  

Quote[/b] ]Hundreds of people have complained about the copyright protecting system on the long-awaited game Spore.

Scathing criticism of the Digital Rights Management (DRM) system have been posted by reviewers on Amazon.com.

The DRM system used by Electronic Arts (EA) restricts the number of times the game can be installed.

One of the most eagerly awaited games in recent years, it was released in the UK on 5 September and the US on 7 September.

In what reviewers described as "a draconian DRM system", the game can only be installed three times.

DRM is used to combat piracy and protect copyright, but players of Spore complained that this meant the game was "for rent, not sale".

"The DRM on this thing is less friendly than my recent colonoscopy - you get three installs. That's it. No install returned for uninstallation, or anything else," wrote one reviewer.

"I have no interest in paying full price for a game that I will be severely restricted from being able to play at a later point," a commenter said.

Hundreds of complaints have also been posted on Spore fan sites and gaming websites, including on EA's official discussion forum.

Spore screenshot

Complaints have also been posted on Spore fan sites

Developed by Will Wright, Spore involves players using tools to help their creations evolve from cells to civilised beings.

It was a much-awaited release after the success of The Sims, another creation of Mr Wright.

But many reviewers reacted with anger at the SecuROM DRM system used by EA. Some wrote that it would stop them from purchasing the product; others cancelled pre-orders.

"It's such a shame that the distributor of the game treats its own customers as criminals and attempts to do their best to prevent you from actually playing the game," one gamer wrote on Amazon.com.

"Our system works just like online music services that limit the number of machines on which you can you can play a song," an EA spokesman told the BBC. "This system is an effort to control piracy.

"You can install the game on three computers - perhaps at your office, at home or for your family. What you can't do is make and distribute a thousand copies online.

"If you feel like your situation presents special circumstances, contact our customer service and we'll talk through it with you."

Previous games like 2K's Bioshock and EA's Mass Effect have also been criticised for employing stringent DRM techniques, allowing only a limited number of installs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7604405.stm

[Dwarden 1124]

it's EA title what else You could await? ...

i know it's sad i hope Mirrors Edge don't get that pos t oo

[Messiah 2]

I have heard on the rumour mill that many many punters are very unhappy with the way Spore has been licensed and copy protected, can anyone shed light on this? I was quite keen to purchase this game as it is a refreshingly new concept.

Personally I couldn't care less, untill the day comes where I've used up my 3 strikes, where upon I'm sure I'll be in a rage about the whole affair.

What exactly is the legality on such copy protection? Surely as a consumer you have the right to play the game without restriction? I assume the EULA we all skim read to the end probably throws that right out the window.

I find it strange though. If I buy a game, then I expect to play it. For persons who are quite computer literate and tech savvy, reinstalling your OS/Getting a new pc entirely is more often that joe bloggs, then three strikes would probably last me 3 or 4 years assuming normal periods of reinstal of the OS/New PC.

Not great considering I'm still playing stuff like Theme Hospital etc.

At any rate, I'd still reccomend it as a game. Its very addictive to the point that you don't quite realise where the time has gone, and the way you evolve your creature to suit the world and the neighbours around you is very interesting on reflection, and almost without realising. I had a look at my creatures evolution history and could see how when I started off on land, I was surrounded by herbivores who were friendly to me, thus my creature evolved to fit in with that eco system, yet when my species migrated, I found myself surrounded by much stronger, larger and aggressive creatures, and then I evolved my creature to use more defensive attributes, or ways of escaping situations (speed, flight, jumping, etc)

[POPKA 0]

that's a bit lame on their behalf, it will cut down the amount of people using illegal copies though it's going to screw over more people in the long term. just thinking the amount of times i've installed and uninstalled my copy of Flashpoint, on new pc's and what not I'd probably have had to bought around seven or so copys of the game if it had EA's drm system on it.

[Shadow NX 1]

I wasnt sure of buying it but the 3 installations rule made this decission lot easier.

In case this bevcomes the trend i will avoid those titles like the pest, stuff like drm... who comes up with such ideas... i buy a game and then i wanna be able to do what i want with it ( ok offcourse not pirating and such ) and that includes several installs.

We saw pretty nicely how this ends on ArmA as downloaded version where people that had to reinstall a few times had lots of stress getting new activation codes.

[dmarkwick 261]

EA will use this experience not to learn anything about how to better treat customers, but to justify killing off the PC game market. They'll blame us all for wanting to pirate their games.

EA seem to be buying up an awful lot of smaller companies, and they've stated that SecuROM is their preferred security method, that's not going to change soon.

You can either go about deciding which McConsole you wish to buy, or start playing non-EA games and make someone else richer

I recommend Stardock games.

[Balschoiw 0]

The funny thing is that it only hits those who buy the game. The ones using cracked versions from the start don´t have that limitations and can reinstall the game as much as they like.

I certainly will not buy a game that prohibits me from reinstalling it after some time just because I´v run out of free reinstalls. What kind of nonsense is that ? If I buy something I want to be able to use it as often as I like not as often as the seller tells me to use it.

I was kind of interested in Spore but after reading this I will not buy it. Bad for the developers but that´s not my problem.

[sparks50 0]

The game is kinda repetitive anyway. Over hyped.

[Rhodite 3]

The game is kinda repetitive anyway. Over hyped.

Did you buy it?

Why did you find it such a bore?

[Colossus 2]

Ha ha ha!

EA sure knows how to treat their customers. Such acts only leads to more piracy.

[dmarkwick 261]

Ha ha ha!

EA sure knows how to treat their customers. Such acts only leads to more piracy.

It does. It leads DIRECTLY to piracy. It couldn't be more piratey if it were simply a great game with no DRM.

I know at least one person who is going to download it, assess the game to see if it's worth the money, then make a decision to buy based on that.

Then, play the game but not install the "official" protected game. He just doesn't want the SecuROM on his system, but wants to buy the game. What a ridiculous situation.

[zigzag 0]

I just found this site about spore

antispore.com

[The_Captain 0]

This is just the sort of frustrating scheme that, if I bought the game, I would immediately use some sort of modified EXE to not need the cd in the drive/not limit the installs/etc.

EA's behavior is pretty much the opposite of what Stardock/Ironclad proposed in their "Gamer's Bill of Rights": Stardock/Ironclad were notable for releasing Sins of a Solar Empire without DRM and still managing to sell boatload of copies, thumbing their noses at pirates.

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?aid=322522

Quote[/b] ]

Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.

Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.

Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.

Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.

Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.

Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.

Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Sadly, from reading a few reviews, spore looks pretty weak in terms of gameplay, so I won't really bother buying it and trying to navigate the ugly world of its DRM just to play it. I'll just ignore it...

[Dwarden 1124]

and Good old Games are kicking ...

now i wish STEAM adopt some of the Gamer's BOR and merge with GOG

tho some of the StarDock 'wishes' are too extreme (read too vague for legal backend) ...

Impulse is meh ... but still better than anythin EA got ...

and there is GamersGate ...

so who needs EA

[Colossus 2]

so who needs EA

'Battlefield'- and 'The Sims' players. Those are the key magic miracles that keeps this doomsday device going. The problem is that the consumers of these two products doesn't care who made them or published them.

I doubt you can make teens stop buying The Sims packages because the "whatever protection on that disc" irritates a relative small amount of customers. And I say small because there are X million consumers of The Sims and Battlefield that aren't that interested in technical software 'stuff'.

Boycotting Spore won't effect EA at all.

[dmarkwick 261]

Boycotting Spore won't effect EA at all.

No, but it might make Maxis think twice about their affiliation with EA...

[Messiah 2]

affiliation? They're owned by EA, maxis is a subsidiary, although I assume its name only, as its all been digested by the EA monster... same with Bullfrog, Westwood, etc.

[Blackhawk 0]

Hmm...Microsoft did this to Flight Simulator X and gave it only 2 strikes! I had to re buy it and was pissed with Microsoft games big time.

I hope EA don't do this with Red Alert 3.

Spore....Reviews have stated it as repetitive.

[echo1 0]

In all fairness - outcry against Starforce caused Ubisoft to reject and release (or at least plan to, I havent bought an Ubisoft game since Raven Shield) patches for older games to get rid of it. Then again, EA could just be big enough to force what they want on people. People can say whatever they want about Steam, but it really is the way forward.

Quote[/b] ]it will cut down the amount of people using illegal copies

Nope, DRM systems punish the legitimate users. All DRM systems are cracked, and generally the more popular the software, the quicker it gets cracked. The only illegitimate users that get caught out are the lazy or stupid who cant crack it correctly. At any rate, you just legitimize the cause of software pirates - I may not agree with stealing software for the sake of it, but I will have no qualms with "stealing" something that I already own if EA games or whoever puts some stupid DRM system on it.

EDIT: Didnt read the end of that post, I agree that its going to screw over a lot of people in the long run, just not the pirates

[Colossus 2]

In all fairness - outcry against Starforce caused Ubisoft to reject and release (or at least plan to, I havent bought an Ubisoft game since Raven Shield) patches for older games to get rid of it. Then again, EA could just be big enough to force what they want on people. People can say whatever they want about Steam, but it really is the way forward.

This might be a bit different since SecuROM doesn't directly damage your PC as StarForce did.

This might drawback in terms of gaining a force against EA's DRM policy.

Time will tell though

[Praelium 0]

Let this be a lesson to BIS: The best DRM is none. I mean, let's be real. Every game is going to be cracked. Some people download the game and buy it later, though others don't. In Spores case, where EA implemented a very limiting and and infact harmful DRM, most people canceled their legal copies and downloaded it illegal. The sad part is, that Spore was cracked before it's release.

My question is, why even bother wasting money on DRM?  

EDIT:

Quote[/b] ]This might be a bit different since SecuROM doesn't directly damage your PC as StarForce did.

That is not true. Some people have mentioned damage with SecuROM, though it may not be as common as with StarForce.

[echo1 0]

I had no problems with any DRM schemes used by BIS (either the "FADE" system of OFP or the SecurRom of ArmA). I dont mind DRM systems as long as they dont intrude to use my game like I should be able to

[shinRaiden 0]

The principal issue here is that EA is in their benevolence granting you the user a license for the privilege of either using their software, or for n sessions of using their software. This is just a natural evolution in this direction.

For me, there's two major concerns.

1 - Windows being inherently unstable, needs regular reinstalls. This by nature fundamentally destroys the foundation essential to DRM. Creating a Virtual machine exclusive for the single application is a non-viable option as the portability implied by very nature runs counter to the aims of DRM.

2 - I have multiple machines, but only play on one at a time. This should be carefully considered by all the anti-steam rabbleling mob, in that I can install all my Steam games concurrently on sll my computers, and play them on which ever machine I prefer to at the time. Additionally, I can re-install at any time that I desire as well.

[The_Captain 0]

2 - I have multiple machines, but only play on one at a time. This should be carefully considered by all the anti-steam rabbleling mob, in that I can install all my Steam games concurrently on sll my computers, and play them on which ever machine I prefer to at the time. Additionally, I can re-install at any time that I desire as well.

This is why I prefer steam as my game 'platform'. I just bought the original X-Com for $5, and now I can play it hassle free on my laptop or either of my desktops. Heck, I can even install it on a friend's machine, sign in as myself, show them the game, and then encourage them to buy it and it'll already be installed. It's convenient and it doesn't unduly hassle me.