How about that? It seems that people don’t like DRM. The highly-anticipated “Spore” has been released to a mob of angry customers, thanks to digital rights management that basically limits the game to being installed on a total of three different computers.
So let’s say that Spore is one of your favorite games and you play it year after year, new computer after new computer. When you try to install it on your fourth new computer, you apparently won’t be able to without calling up EA and providing your proof of purchase and the reason why you’re trying to install it on yet another system. Or let’s say you’ve got four computers right now and you want to legitimately take the disc between all four machines to play the game. Apparently that’s not allowed.
The DRM is provided by SecureROM, which has been a touchy issue in the past on games like BioShock and Mass Effect, to name a few. Those games’ DRM policies were eventually eased up in order to appease angry customers, so it’s possible that the same may happen with Spore. It’s just odd that EA would keep trying to get away with stuff like this when it turns current and prospective customers off so much.
The “DRM mob” is actually just one angry 15 year old in a grubby back-bedroom, who’s compulsively spamming Amazon’s boards and reviews.
2 down, one to go. :(
Apparently I should be able to ply the game with out the disc though, so I might have to try that. who came up with the magic number three anyways? Computers are every where why not a number that might not be met with your laptop, your desktop, and only ONE install left for emergencies…
DRM which cripples a PAYING customers ability to use a product only encourages theft.
End of story.
How about the little side-effect of Spore’s DRM disabling CD-burners. Mine’s a paperweight now. The costs outweigh the game’s fun.
I was looking forward to Spore after watching some of the videos and seeing the sporn creatures. However, like many others, I will not be buying this game now.
I switch hardware on a regular basis and really don’t like talking on the phone all that much.
slysoft
Well, here’s what i did… Upon reading here that you could download the game from any torrent site because the SecuROM DRM had already been cracked, i knew that something was wrong.
One could buy it and one could just maybe never install it using the original disc… ;P
DRM is a reversal of the value proposition. Instead of rewarding paying customers it punishes them with a system that guarantees that should they upgrade any unspecified component(s) in their computer (a fantastic feature of SecuROM)the game will de-activate and require re-activation.
If your OS gets corrupted and you need to re-install that’s another activation. If you needed the space and un-install the game only to install it a later point well that’s another activation.
Upgrade your OS to Windows 7 when its released? Well that’s an activation right there.
Here’s the facts, PC gamers constantly upgrade their PC’s to stay on top of the performance trend. Frequent hardware upgrades require OS re-installs. The computer I use today will be upgraded at some point in the future. PC’s aren’t consoles, they are not static and they change, their OS changes, the hardware inside them changes. PC’s are open systems and the owner is free to do whatever the hell he wants/needs to in order to get what he/she wants from their system.
Why should we have to pay again for the same product I already have installed and activated if I change my computer’s memory/Graphics card?
The only problem I have with the DRM is the 3 installation limit. 3 is too low number since they don’t provide revocation tool.
When you first install the game, you are left with two installation. Then if for whatever reason you need to reinstall it (corrupted files, need to free up space for other games but later you want to play it again), you’re down with 1 installation left. Then maybe later you upgrade to Vista and you install it on Vista and that is the third and last install.
My personal experience with Mass Effect, I used up two installation just on the first night. I installed it by choosing recommended setting which install to HD with biggest free space which turned out to be my data disk. So I had to uninstall and reinstall to my program disk.
The whole thing stinks, I hate having loads of applications running full time draining my system resources and slowing my pc to a crawl.
Added to that having to call up EA and no doubt having to wait 1/2 an hour for an inept employee to make me irate whilst spending a fortune on some premium rate call…..
No, I can do without that in my life….pity though……. I was looking forward to Spore
So what is the best way? There are two constants: the game publisher wants to protect their IP and the consumer doesn’t want barriers to legit usage. The 3, 4 or 5 unique install does not work so what does?