Spore and its DRM

[Hammered]

Any opinions on Spore's DRM? Will this be the future method to TRY and tackle piracy?
Discuss...

Seems to be a lot of abuse on Amazon, and only got a 1 star rating from 1,386 people!
(see here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FKBCX4)

Also found an article about it;
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080908-gamers-fight-back-against-lackluster-spore-gameplay-bad-drm.html

 

[Sword and Shields]

I haven't had a problem with the spore DRM yet. I installed it on my main gaming computer and on my Work laptop (for when I go vacation or work trips) I think the massive amount of complaints are coming from people who want to torrent the game or who want to suppose P2P sharing.

Not everyone is like this however but I believe some are complaining for the sole fact they don't want to pay, and for the people who don't know how to disable one or two of the installs. They are fools.

 

[B4D 9R4MM3R]

You cannot actually disable any installs. Every time you install the game it is registered by EA, so they hold each record of each game installation. Once you've done your 3 it's time to negotiate with customer support.

Let's not forget you have to have an internet connection just to play a single player game.

Disgusting policy.

 

[Blayze]

Spore's DRM is malware, Spore itself is a game you pay full price to rent. This is the entertainment industry, after all. They're happy with you paying for what they produce - they just don't want you to actually get your hands on it. After all, those of us who know more than to be mindless sheep sucking at EA's whored-out teat (And paying for the privilege each time) are nothing more than filthy pirates.

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

Once you've purchased the game, you're well within your right to use a CD-key.

 

[mintsauce]

The internet is basically exploding with news about this at the moment. It's on the BBC, the Telegraph, Kotaku, CNet, Digg, you name it.

Personally, I take a very dim view of this to say the least. DRM is one of my pet hates and I would love to see Spore crash and burn because of it, even if it is a decent game that good people worked very hard to create. The cynic in me says that EA won't learn, but they can't help but at least notice the customer backlash.

Interestingly, Amazon.com have left all of the negative reviews alone, whereas Amazon.co.uk have deleted them all. A deal with EA I wonder?

 

[Virgil]

I've decided to pass on Spore. I've heard mixed reviews from people I generally trust for game opinions, and the DRM is enough to push me over to the "no" side. If I had been hearing nothing but great things about it, I would probably buy it though.

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

For the record, Sony has had a far worse history of anti-piracy.

 

[B4D 9R4MM3R]

The internet is basically exploding with news about this at the moment. It's on the BBC, the Telegraph, Kotaku, CNet, Digg, you name it.

Interestingly, Amazon.com have left all of the negative reviews alone, whereas Amazon.co.uk have deleted them all. A deal with EA I wonder?

It can't be anything else. I've never seen anything like this on Amazon, but I do wonder... Why on the UK based site only? Surely with the 1000+ one-star reviews on the .com domain it would make sense to get rid of those as well? Otherwise it undermines the entire effort.

As for tackling piracy it was leaked 5 days before release. The entire point of the system is so that the games can't be pirated, but now pirates can get the game for free (both price and of malware/DRM). You would have thought that with Mass Effect they would've learned something by now... Oh yeah, we're talking about EA. Sorry.

I just want to know how they're justifying this in the first place. This entire anti-piracy rubbish is just a farce in an attempt to try and get you, the consumer, to buy more copies of the game. Once you've used your installs either you have to buy a new copy of the game or waste money on their customer support pleading for another activation code.

I sincerely hope they start listening soon, because I'm not buying another EA game until they do (even RA3... Damn, I hate EA!).

 

[rob_d]

Once you've purchased the game

You don't purchase the game, you pay money for what basically is a service. Therefore all of the consumer rights belonging to products can be circumvented by EA.

 

[Saskwach]

My views are best summed up by the following cantankerous old gamer whom I love.
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?tag=spore
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?tag=drm
The worst part of this is that whether we buy the game to support Spore and the devs or boycott it to protest the bloody f***ing stupid piece of s**t, thunderc***ing travesty of a DRM scheme (or pirate it) EA will take the wrong message from this. If Spore doesn't do too well then gamers don't really want new interesting ideas. If Spore does well gamers clearly have no problem with stupid and insulting NEFQOIGWIEGEWOGUWGNDRM.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Well, as much as I hate the DRM, this particular scheme actually worked on Mass Effect... Even a month or 2 after it was released, there were no completely working versions of it on bittorrent (I bought the game, for the record, and haven't pirated one in a very, very long time, but I was curious as to what EA's DRM bought them). Either they would crash on the galaxy screen, or just freeze at a certain point, and you had to use the console to move on.

In other words, yes it was cracked, but it wasn't cracked sufficiently, and it would be too annoying to play. I'm not opposed to DRM that works, like Steam, and to an extent, this. What I am opposed to is that uninstalling the game doesn't give you an activation back.

Edit: Saskwach has a good point. If we boycott it because of DRM, EA will think it didn't sell because people want cookie cutter titles.

 

[dicksmcerson]

This scheme is an attempt to stop piracy
It's caused more people to pirate it

Fuck writing a huge a paragraph, that's all I have to say on the matter

 

[xslappyx]

I DL'ed the Torrent of the game, as i do with most games before i buy them, Spore is a good game well polished but without any Online play or anyway to change the way the game is played it is pretty shallow i went through from Cell to Space in less then 5 hours. Other then trying to get the rest on the body part which really isn't needed i really don't think ill play it much more, it just needs that little bit more depth or maybe a challenge to make the game have staying power. And sadly ill point out that the DRM doesn't even bother me one bit so im not sure what they are trying to accomplish it really only hinders someone that purchased the game.

From one broke gamer to another,
Slappy

 

[Theo Samaritan]

You cannot actually disable any installs. Every time you install the game it is registered by EA, so they hold each record of each game installation. Once you've done your 3 it's time to negotiate with customer support.

Let's not forget you have to have an internet connection just to play a single player game.

Disgusting policy.

Not true you do not have to be online for singleplayer, just close the registration page without registering.

As for Spore's DRM, those who say the majority of people hating it are pirates should really look deaper into things. The pirates are happy, Spore was successfully cracked even before it came out onto the shops. EA's plan of killing piracy is doing nothing but pissing off consumers and making more people feel like downloading it in order to avoid this bullshit.

I was going to pre-order it, then I saw the DRM on it. I only bought it because I enjoyed the version I downloaded (note: I hate to download games, in that before spore I simply didnt) that damn much, and I am not looking forward to dealing with EA the next time I replace my GFX card.

 

[some random guy]

Amazon.com have left all of the negative reviews alone, whereas Amazon.co.uk have deleted them all. A deal with EA I wonder?

Probably not. Maybe they were deleted because the majority of them had nothing to do with the actual game.

 

[TorqueZero]

You cannot actually disable any installs. Every time you install the game it is registered by EA, so they hold each record of each game installation. Once you've done your 3 it's time to negotiate with customer support.

Let's not forget you have to have an internet connection just to play a single player game.

Disgusting policy.

Humm, it's not a single player game. It is essential that this game connects to a massive user-created monster database. Besides, for online games I think this is the way forward for anti-piracy stuff. You don't need the CD, you can multi-install and all you need to do is create your account and register a serial key against it. Log-in and play. Simple as.

 

[mintsauce]

Probably not. Maybe they were deleted because the majority of them had nothing to do with the actual game.

Well, who's to say what the reason was? It could have been a deal with, or at least pressure from EA, or it could have been a vain attempt to try and make the ratings look better and thus sell more copies of the game. Whatever the reason was, it has backfired, as people are now upset with Amazon.co.uk as well as EA.

Also, it is quite naive and short-sighted to claim that a review can or should be deleted because it focuses on the DRM issues instead of the game itself. If I review a product on Amazon, I am reviewing my entire experience of that product, not just the game content. If you buy a DVD that forces you to watch paint dry for an hour before you can watch the feature, of course you're going to be upset and write a negative review. This is the same principle. If a game forces me to install corporate malware on my machine, then that game is getting a bad review, period, regardless of the game content. Spore might be fun, but I would certainly advise against anyone buying it, and I completely agree with the 1-star ratings.

The whole thing is just a mess. The anti-piracy measures simply make thousands of people angry and cause more piracy. When will they learn this?

 

[clarinetJWD]

You cannot actually disable any installs. Every time you install the game it is registered by EA, so they hold each record of each game installation. Once you've done your 3 it's time to negotiate with customer support.

Let's not forget you have to have an internet connection just to play a single player game.

Disgusting policy.

I do believe that is the way forward...but this does it secretly. You don't log in, and you can't put it on as many PCs as you like. A Steam like system is the future. Not necessarily an app that acts as a game organizer or store, or anything like that, but a download anywhere, install anywhere, log-in and play anywhere type thing.
Humm, it's not a single player game. It is essential that this game connects to a massive user-created monster database. Besides, for online games I think this is the way forward for anti-piracy stuff. You don't need the CD, you can multi-install and all you need to do is create your account and register a serial key against it. Log-in and play. Simple as.

 

[clarinetJWD]

You cannot actually disable any installs. Every time you install the game it is registered by EA, so they hold each record of each game installation. Once you've done your 3 it's time to negotiate with customer support.

Let's not forget you have to have an internet connection just to play a single player game.

Disgusting policy.

Humm, it's not a single player game. It is essential that this game connects to a massive user-created monster database. Besides, for online games I think this is the way forward for anti-piracy stuff. You don't need the CD, you can multi-install and all you need to do is create your account and register a serial key against it. Log-in and play. Simple as.

I do believe that is the way forward...but this does it secretly. You don't log in, and you can't put it on as many PCs as you like. A Steam like system is the future. Not necessarily an app that acts as a game organizer or store, or anything like that, but a download anywhere, install anywhere, log-in and play anywhere type thing.