Spore DRM
 

With spore coming out very soon, I've started to take interest. However, the DRM issues really worries me. For those who don't know how the DRM works, this is how it works for the creature creator:
- Spore is "authenticated" at install
- Spore will not need a disk to play
- Only THREE installs are allowed
- Uninstalling does NOT give you back an install
- Reinstalling counts as a new install
- EA will allow extra installs on "a case-by-case basis by contacting Customer Support."

The big issues I have are:
- If I'm buying a game, I want to OWN THE GAME, not just 3 "rights".
- Shit happens, sometimes you need to reinstall games or reinstall your system.
- Since authentication is needed to install, in a few years when EA drops off support for the game, all you own is a useless disk.

I fail to see how this will stop piracy. The DRM will be cracked, it ALWAYS is. In fact, I will go as far as to say it's going to ENCOURAGE piracy.

Personal thoughts?
Will you still buy spore?

How will Digital Rights Management (DRM) work with Spore Creature Creator?

I'll still buy Spore. My family has been awaiting it for quite some time now, and I doubt this will stop me.

Someone will find a way around it, they always do. And hopefully they will soon, as we have 4 computers over here, and 4 people who want to play it.

Nope, I won't buy. I wasn't that interested in Spore to begin with and limiting me to 3 installs treats me like a thief despite the fact that I buy what I use.

I really hate EA.

I'm going to download it 3 times just on the principle.

My issue is that I generally do NOT pirate games. I've done it for old games or games in which I have another version of it. However I can NOT buy this game. The more time companies spend trying to stop piracy, the more people will turn to it.

Effecting technical users is one thing. But when it starts to effect the average use, you're asking for problems. Does anyone else smell a Sony DRM 2.0?

JUST when I thought EA did something good.

I guess their only chance is Mirror's Edge...

Don't count on it. They ruined UO.. :(

i was actually planning on buying it when it came out, but since i heard about this shit... i will wait the 2 or 3 weeks until the DRM is cracked and download a copy. fuck DRM bullshit like this.

You don't own the game, you own the right to play the game. If you want to buy the game, contact EA with about $10,000,000. Deal with what you get and EA's customer support.

If I want to play Spore 10 years from now but CAN'T because they pulled down there Spore servers, that's bull shit.

No, I don't think people should pirate video games. But I'm not paying for SCAMWARE. And no, I don't think that's a term yet, but I'm sticking with it.

I'll go with it. Scamware fits IMO. Frankly if I want to reinstall BF2 I can do so and I don't need EA's mother may I. Same for many of the older games I like. This trend towards restricting the number of reinstalls from a single KEY is a bad trend and it's going to impact the games I'll actually play as I won't steal them....I simply won't play.

I'll buy it when it comes out and a patch to crack it will come out sooner or later so no worries here. Hopefully they will released it on steam as well

I've got a good idea. I was planning on doing this for Mass Effect (which you need to have an internet connection to play), but I'll probably do it for spore too.

I'm going to buy the game, keep the receipt and not open the box. THEN I'm going to download a cracked version of the game without all the DRM bullshit. I'm then going to mail the unopened box and a copy of the receipt back to the publisher with a letter saying something along the lines of:

"I liked your product and wanted to support the developers making a great game, but the DRM was annoying. I downloaded a cracked version of the game which is superior in that it isn't annoying to install/use, and no longer need the retail version. You can have it back."

That's my plan.

Basically, my stance on piracy all depends on what is a better product. If the best product is the retail one, I will buy it. I like having music on CDs, and it's typically higher quality than the MP3s you download. Therefore, I buy CDs for a lot of the music I listen to. The retail version of windows comes with a lot of extra bullshit that you don't need that gets installed automatically, and, worse, sometimes rapes you with Windows Genuine Advantage. A haxed version does not. So I won't buy a copy of windows.

Basically, I agree with Mooga that this DRM crap will encourage piracy. I'd like to actively encourage developers/publishers to stop it by sending them a direct message.

Download .flac's and burn them.

:twisted:

It's EA. They have their own "steam clone" which is TOTALLY ASS. When they first started it, you would randomly lose your "key" and not be able to play your games anymore...

They were going to do that for Spore but the public out cry cause them to remove the "you must register every 10 days online to play" bull shit.

I'm sure there are people who see no problem with the DRM. Mainly, people who don't know any better until it bites them in the ass. There is at least one horror story online about a guy who used up all his Mass Effect installs before he could get his game working!

bioshock did the same bullshit, but they removed the "X" number of installs a few months later, and, released a little tool to let up some installs instead of calling them

I usualy only torrent older games, not newer ones. I was gonna buy Spore, but now I think I'm gonna be one of many people who's gonna pirate it.

I purchsed a copy of mass effect. I was unable to get it to run on my pc. At all. General Protection Fault. After 3 weeks of waiting for a patch or a fix from EA, i said fuckit, got a cracked version from usenet, worked fine with zero crashes the whole way through the game 2 times.

As of now, EA has not given a fix for the GPF error, nor patched it to fix it. There are sparatic fixes for it that work for some users, but fail for other users of the same hardware. When it comes dwon to it, all EA cares about is getting the game out "on time" regardless of bugs. In the end, we end up being the beta testers, only without the intentions of fixing the problems that arise. Just the intent to start working on the next game that has been hyped so much people will get pissed if its pushed back.

I expect the same from spore, once it released, probably full of bugs that didnt get fixed so they could release it on time ea will send their programmers over to sims 3. Completley forgetting about spore and hoping their tech support from india will do a good enough job of stone walling people with problems.

Seriously. Fuck EA games. I will NOT be buying spore. I WILL be getting a cracked version.

Fixt. (for me)

Nope, I always keep my keys safe for future use. And even if a game is easy to find (The older Doom games for instance), if it's pretty old, I'll just find a torrent.