@hansamurai: In which case either the DRM will still be in session or it will be rendered null and void. Either way, nothing to worry about.

ChaosBahamut

finally some progress, when said patch is released I can finally buy it

MINIBOSS

The problem isn't people trying to install it on more than three machines right now, it's about 2, 5, 10 years in the future.

hansamurai

@chewychomp: Thanks for your constructive, informative, and well-planned comment. Truly, you are an asset to the community.

spiderweb1986

too bad the game is a giant peice of shit

chewychomp

@NumberFourtyThree:

[www.ebay.com]

GregoriusH

Why would they feel the need to fight used game sales? When's the last time you saw a store that sold used PC games?

NumberFourtyThree

@Ajh: LOL... people who bitch about the DRM like this really do exist! I honestly thought it was an internet meme.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

And EA talking about the statistics on that three activation thing. Of course it's only a small percentage now, but what about in five year's time? Computers crash, people buy new computers, people will run out of activations. Oh, but you can just ring up and get more they say. Well that conversation will probably go something like this;

"Hello, this is EA customer service, how may I help you Mr Piratey Pirating Pants?"

"I'm not a pirate..."

"Awfully funny last name for someone who isn't a pirate."

"That's not my name..."

"Then why did I just call you it?"

"Listen, I just bought a new computer, I need another spore activation."

"I see, and this 'bought a new computer' idea I suppose is pirate code for 'I've been browsing PirateBay all day downloading games'? Oh my, that isn't a very good reason to give you more activations..."

"Listen, this DRM stuff is ridiculous. I bought the game, I should be able to install it as many times as I want."

"That's just what I'd expect a pirate to say."

"I'm not a pirate!"

"That's definitely what a pirate would say. All the evidence we need, please hang tight Mr Piratey Pirating Pants, we're sending over the FBI to take all of your money."

GregoriusH

While this is defiantly a good step in the right direction, I can't believe it had to come to this. Someone in EA HAD to go "Hey, only 3 installs isn't actually a good idea."

Quicksilver4648

Dear EA,

I preordered Wrath of the Lich King instead. Blizzard doesn't screw me over if my motherboard goes wonky and has to be sent in for repair reformat 4 times in one year. Sorry, this drm bullshit made the decision for me. When you stop screwing consumers for single player games I'll start buying them from you again. Activation unlimited times is okay. Activation 3 times with deactivation options saves no one who is suffering from bricked computer problems.

--Ajh

(Who, coincidentally, is giving EA money for Warhammer and did not pirate spore, or mass effect, even though she really would like to play both.)

Ajh

Nice.

I still believe the SecuROM is there to prevent Anti Used Market sales.

Fun! Now I have even less to worry about and even happier with my purchase :D

Ken

@sakipooh: All it takes is a look at Steam to see that PC gaming is alive and better than ever.

DukeOfPwn

Yah maybe they just don't get that like, 2 years down the line I want to reinstall it again :| I collect shit and play many games over and many old ones ;p What if my shogo had an activation of limit of 3 times? Would I have to buy 20 copies?

And it's not just that people don't install it :| It's the idea of a limit and authentication in the first place that get so many people hot an bothered.

Dao2SKP

Just thought of: Why would anyone expect a significant number of people to try to activate more than 3 times? People know that attempting to do so won't work. Is anyone surprised such a small percentage of people attempt an activation that they should know will fail?

NumberFourtyThree

I have a feeling that those figures will look quite a bit different as time goes on. Hell all of those things have been out for less than 6 months.

juc

Too little too late EA...

PC gaming..sucks as much as ever. Even id is shifting focus tot he consoles now, So says John Carmack...due to the platform not being as profitable as it used to be, due to crap like this.

sakipooh

Honestly I was going to buy Spore. It would have been the first EA game I've bought in ten years, then they pulled all this DRM bullshit and I didn't. I didn't pirate it either, I just lost all interest in the game.

And people don't think for a second that the DRM is to combat piracy. Spore was available on nearly every torrent site at least a week before it came out. The DRM is there to combat used games sales. How could limiting installations ever stop piracy?

GregoriusH

So they say they decided to put these restrictions because they know very few people install a game that many times anyway? They forget, however, that though it won't hurt many people, it won't help themselves either. The game, like all other games, still gets cracked by pirates so they don't need to activate it. Anyone who was already planning on pirating it won't be hindered at all by such a measure.

NumberFourtyThree

This would be in the millions sold if it were a console release. It feels like a mixed opportunity. This could have been one of those games to allow a truly multi-platform community to exist. It would have been amazing. I'm happy a game like spore exists but it's seriously a missed opportunity.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

@SailorDeath:

That actually happened to me several times with Bioshock and I ended up with only 1 install left (before they increased to unlimited), and didn't even install it again (at that time) for fear of a crash and never being able to use the game again.

An install limit is so ludicrous, considering people who are pirating the game (the vast majority, anyways) would be doing so via torrents.

Strangelove

you can actually deauthizie the "floating authorizations" by deauthorizing all and then re-authorizing that happend to me just took me a mintute to fix it here's the info straight from apple
Click iTunes Store in the menu on the left side of iTunes.
If you're not signed in to the store, click the Account button, then enter your account name and password.
Click the Account button again (your ID appears on the button), enter your password, and then click View Account.
In the Account Information window, click Deauthorize All.@Scorpinox:

juniorlikespie

to be honest, I have the game installed on 2 systems. My laptop and my desktop. It's obvious why I installed it on both systems. After hearing about the 3 install policy I really was concerned. Now I don't format and reinstall all the time but problems can happen. All it takes is for either system to crash on me and bam, no more installs left. While I can understand why companies are desperately searching for ways to prevent piracy, in reality its only hurting those of us who purchase games legitimately.

SailorDeath

"de-authorize" patch? where have I heard that before... oh right, Bioshock, before they fully ditched the DRM.

Quest

Maybe like others if I know I have 3 installs total I wont try to use them all up as fast as possible.

lurkingsalt

This sounds reasonable, but only if the game automatically "de-authorize"s itself when you uninstall it. I have 2 itunes authorizations floating in nowhere land because I forgot to "de-authorize" before formatting the hard drives on those machines, and that's damn annoying.

Scorpinox

Actually the one I can't dig is the inability to have multiple user accounts on the same computer. Families like to play together, but as the youngest of several siblings having your own save in videogames was practically mandatory.

I wonder if the same exists in The Sims 3. With 2 it was easy enough to just have separate houses, but this whole focus on a unified neighborhood could easily lead to more "accidental" messing around with a person's save.

Psudonym

Not that massive? Only 400k and it's been about what, a week? This game had hype that was so ridiculous. I wonder if the game will sell slowly...because I've seen a ton of commercials on mainstream channels, and 400k is all it's managed? I do know that doesn't count the people without internet, but that number can't be that big, I mean, in this day and age?

Talleh

Why would I bother contacting EA to complain? I simply didn't buy the game.

(I didn't pirate it either, I just spent my time and money on something else).

FanDam

@Firemane: No doubt. I am sick and tired of the "Oh, 3 installs? I'll pirate to make a statement!" statement. People will make all sorts of shit up just to get a free lunch.

DukeOfPwn

@shiftkey: No it's because most people will just pirate it and not bother coming up with some sort of cheap excuse.

MehGinla

180k for Mass Effect is nice

luir

"According to EA, those masses demanding multiple installs aren't really all that massive."

That's because everyone who cares but is too lazy to complain have already pirated it.

shiftkey

Pirates will still pirate it, now they have no lame excuses except that there pirates.

Firemane

First off, it's our right as consumers to decide how to use the media we buy, regardless of what their statistics say.

Second, just because people haven't installed onto more than two computers NOW doesn't mean it'll stay that way forever. I've already used two installs because I was playing on an old computer then decided I wanted a brand new machine. What if I also had a laptop? What if two years from now I still want to play but have yet another new machine + laptop? Will Wright wants this to be as big, if not bigger, than the Sims, so longevity like that should be accounted for.

cowondinosaur

I really, really hope that they apply this to other games that they release. It would make me able to live with the protection.

That is if a deauthorization will mean that you'll get an activation back, of course.

I'm not very interested in Spore myself, but there are other EA games like Warhead and Dead Space that have gotten themselves on my do want-list.

Melonfodder

Who didn't see that coming?

munkah

@Firemane: I don't condone pirating (I buy my pc games thankyou very much), but the problem is SecuROM. If you never heard of the Sims 2 SecuROM controversy, some of the problems related to SecuROM include prevention of proper launching of games, disabling of CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc burners, and disruption of antivirus programs. Many users even reported SecuROM causes problems with their PC that require full system reformats.

It's far worst than just preventing a user from easily installing and uninstalling their purchase, although being able to reinstall software does have it's advantages when you use a custom PC (change components and apparently you're using a new PC).

Jekht

I'm still not gonna touch it, it doesn't look so hot honestly. And you've still gotta put up with some pretty lame restrictions, such as a single account per game. I don't think everyone who wants to play this game in my house should have to buy their own copy. We don't have to do it with any other game.

Fact is, they're still feeding the consumer shit and calling it chocolate.

LockeEWiggin1

@NumberFourtyThree: I know of a place that not only sells used PC games, they rent them.

Calhoun

I am much happier to accept this so long as I can deauthorize computers. What is the point in buying what is essentially a self-destructing disk that's junk after three installs? Especially since SecuRom thinks its a new computer after any major hardware change (new CPU, video card, etc.)

guitarzan2k5

@cowondinosaur: I've already installed it to 3 computers.

desktop, secondary desktop and my laptop.

Yeah fun how i can give ea the big fat "fuck you, i need more installs in-case the shit needs to be re-einstalled"

ManjiKengo

@Talleh: 400k in a week is extremely respectable for a PC game, look at Mass Effect, Spore has already surpassed it twice fold.

mikemil828

Well at least EA is listening, rather than telling everyone to FUCK OFF like they did not too long ago.

Altima NEO

When exactly did MTV become a hub for video game related news?

EA likely planned all this from the beginning. They desire a certain amount of DRM so they go ahead and put an excessive amount of DRM on the game. Then, after people complain, they cave and make it look like they're trying to compromise with people. In other words, in order to get you to budge an inch they took a whole foot, then came back to meet you at that inch. EA probably even thinks it's improving its reputation with people by doing this too.

@NumberFourtyThree: "Why would they feel the need to fight used game sales? When's the last time you saw a store that sold used PC games?"

Better yet, when's the last time you were able to find new PC games in a video game store? All my PC games come from Walmart now. They actually have a superb collection and games on-time unlike Gamestop here.

BigDragon

Just remove the whole limited install thing as the only people it's punishing are those that paid for it. I don't want to screw around with activating and deactivating, I just want to play.

Kral2

I can live with online activations...but limited installs? Get rid of that, and I'm buying the game.

paulrenzo

To all the people who ask "Where can you even sell used PC games anyway" allow me to introduce you to Ebay. It's a cool auction site on the internet.

MikeKelley

@spiderweb1986: he's right!

Danilov.-

Only 1%? Maybe true, but the most effective propaganda does not convince you of an idea - it convinces you that others are already convinced.

Vast, overwhelming unstoppable majority of Amazon reviewers who? That's just a few heckers in the back row - pay them no mind...

Regardless, I don't ask permission to install things I bought and own, no matter how benevolent my master feels on a given day...

fuchikoma

So, where's the patch to make the tribal game fun?

(On topic -- I'm very happy they're including the de-authorize upon uninstall feature. To be honest, I had always assumed this was in there in the first place -- I'm kinda shocked it wasn't.)

KingSnorky

@LockeEWiggin1: ok, i reiterate the "one account per copy" ONLY refers to your online sharing account. if your computer has multiple profiles, you will have 6 slots on EACH PROFILE. if your kids or wife plays, just set up another profile(for windows users) and you will be fine. I tried explaining this 3 times in the thread on it, and was roundly ignored, and thats theone problem with this securom thing, is people are going nuts and not being rational.

rianfrost

The concern with the install limit was only partially rooted in the act of installing it on multiple computers. There's a lot of people out there who like to keep their PCs running fast and efficient by formatting their hard drives on a regular basis and this limit would penalize them for some basic PC upkeep. Others might have issues with it starting (I know my one friends had a problem starting it up after the first day of playing, so he just reinstalled it) up or might be switching to a new computer leaving them with a problem if they have any major issues with the game.

Besides, it's the principle that I could be locked out from playing a game that I purchased for no other reason than paranoia on a big corporation's behalf. Oh, and the one other major issue is the lack of multiple user accounts on one machine. That's almost as stupid as the single character slot MGO gave me while making me pay for additional ones.

Blah8

I don't like DRM and it does nothing to stop piracy, but this "controversy" is a tempest in a teacup. SecuROM exists for executives with no technical expertise to make them feel better about their bottom line, but unless a significant portion of the gaming population is prevented from running Spore because of the installation limit, all the theorizing and hand-wringing and "boycotting" isn't going to make a lick of difference.

And no, "significant portion" does not mean a majority of posts in a (mostly) hardcore gaming message board like Kotaku.

Platforms like Steam are the future. SecuROM is on its way out whether you boycott Spore or not. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a fun game instead of making grand statement no one will hear.

Sustenance

EA is being a smart ass with their stats.

Of course the multiple installation percentage would be low. It's the first week the game is out, for heaven's sake.

Pixelantes Anonymous

@Jekht:
Securom...the baby brother of Starforce.

Darkest Daze

If it only effects ~1% then why have it in the first place!

Kungfustance

I just love how everyone in the comments try to make out that the people who complain about Spores DRM have all gone and pirated it or are pirates and use Spores DRM as an excuse just so they can download it for free. News flash, the piraters are uneffected by the damn DRM. Only consumers are affected by the limited amount of installs.

Some people might use it as an excuse but certainly not the majority. Most people who disagree with the DRM just avoid the game completely, skip it and go on to buy or play other games instead.

The fact of the matter is, de-authorize upon uninstall should be there from the get go for people who buy the game. Its not to much to ask for. Bring on the patch.

Walker

I wonder how many companies will insist in using DRM failure crap after all the "hints" gamers already gave that they F*CKING HATE DRM.

I mean, really. I thought that after the Bioshock episode, no gaming company would be stupid enough to use it.

I have lots of respect towards Will Wright and Spore, but seriously, WTF were they thinking?

We're already past the conclusion that DRM is only useful to make people who bought the game regret it, as it can't even be considered an obstacle for pirates.

Next time, I hope they come up with something like Steam. DRM is over, and should be dead a long time ago.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Well... I guess that's okay... the ability to de-authorize a game is good enough but especially the patch that would disable the DRM if the activation servers go down forever.

Yeah I think this will do well enough.

a_pink_poodle

@Walker: I agree. I complained about the DRM and simply didn't buy the game. The de-authorize option should have been there from the start as you say. I'm still quite happy to buy PC games, but I'm simply not buying anything I can't install 10 years from now or that requires me to be online to play. It's a sad thing to say, but if DRM is the cost of keeping the PC games industry alive then to me the price is too high.

MattB

oh and for the record, i was one of the mugs who BOUGHT the game.

And yes ive had many problems, whilst ppl i know pirated it are laughing at me and playing it happily no problems.

NovaBlack

oh and their service isnt comparable to itunes etc with the deauthorisation because you can burn itunes tracks to a cd and listen to them on as many players as you want.

THe deauthorisation crap still doesnt help if my computer hard drive crashes etc. and its not the point, WHY should i have to authorise and deauthorise every time. If every game did this imagine how IMMENSE a task reinstalling your OS would be! have to uninstall and deauthorise EVERY product. err.. no thanks. like i said before your whole reasoning behind the scheme is moot since its pirated.

sorry for venting my frustration. But they IGNORE the fact that it a) hasnt prevented piracy ONE BIT, and IGNORE the fact that they cant magically reverse that by keeping restrictions there for legit consumers! it makes NO SENSE EXCEPT IN HEAD UP ASS LAND.

NovaBlack

Sorry ea CANNOT win this one and heres why..

They say only 1% of users ever need to install it over 3 times... SO (taking that baffling statistic at face value)....

why exactly is the install limit there then? If its to 'prevent piracy' then clearly itCANT BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION do such a good job, since only '1% of users ever install it more than 3 times'... wow way to combat the 1% of ppl who want to install it more than 3 times EA. you go. (ignoring the fact its available for download already anyway)

Or alternatively...

that figure is pure BS, but then if it is utter BS and ppl do commonly install more than 3 times (im SORRY but taking stats from the CREATURE CREATOR OVER A 5 WEEK PERIOD IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE BECAUSE A) ITS REALLY A DEMO, and B) 5 WEEKS DOESNT REPRESENT MY WANT TO INSTALL IT IN A YEARS TIME), then why exactly is it there? if ppl do commonly install it 3+ times, then you are harming the consumer.

IT comes down to this.. you could give me 15 -20 installations i dont care, the point remains.. i will NOT buy a product that i am effectively renting. I wouldnt buy any product that i have to call up the manufacturer every time i wanted to use it, to ask if it was ok.

oh and for the record final point. Its BEEN PIRATED ALREADY EA. ITs like your locking the garage door AFTER the car has been stolen. how the **** are ANY of your arguments valid now? if you say blah blah x installs to prevent piracy ill just slap you in the face for lying and point you to the fact its ALREADY BEEN PIRATED SO THE RESTRICTIONS YOU HAVE ARENT DOING THE VERY THING YOUVE SAID THEY ARE THERE FOR!

for gods sake.

please people dont be sucked in by this. its all about preventing second hand game sales and it stinks. DO NOT LET EA BRAINWASH YOU. YOU WOULD NOT ACEPT THIS WITH ANY OTHER PRODUCT SO DONT ACCEPT IT HERE!

NovaBlack

@GregoriusH:
This person has it right. They want people to buy the game new. Realistically, there is no way to successfully fight the pirates. Can anyone think of a situation the pirates lost? these games get ripped, cracked, and uploaded as soon as they're released (sometimes before). Same for movies and music.
I'm not saying that the companies producing these things aren't fighting a noble battle or that they shouldn't be making the effort... It's just futile.

jook

So, if my PC breaks and I replace the mobo, Spore will require re-activation because the hardware changed.

Will Spore allow me to de-authorise the "old" PC configuration with the "new" one?

Will it allow you to de-authorise your previous Windows installations?

Will it let you de-authorise all your previous installations en masse?

Marlor

People need to understand that people will pirate of steal anything if given the perfect chance. The internet allows that. While total anonymity is gone, it's still enough for most users to get away with pirating games. Corporations cannot and will not go after single users who once or twice a month go to a torrent site and download a game. Instead, they go after the sites that host it, or those who seed or upload so much that its cost-effective enough. And even then all most users will get is a "cease and desist" letter.

Our society is going downhill. People will steal anything if the chance is presented and its more beneficial than harmful to do so. That being said, pirates are the scourge of the gaming industry. But so is heavily-modified DRM.

Madness

Sorry, not good enough.

It either goes entirely, or I don't buy it, EA. How much simpler do I have to say it?

Overlord44

@Madness: While I'm no fan of piracy I wouldn't go quite that far. What is morally right or wrong is determined by society as a whole and these views change gradually over time. Today a perfect digital copy can be made at virtually no cost and without depriving anyone of the original good. Given this I don't think it's surprising that many in society see it as a harmless/victimless crime. There are those that will argue semantics till the cows come home, but right or wrong this is how a significant number of people in society feel.

Copyright infringement certainly is a crime as it stands today and has some very major downsides clear to anyone who cares to see them, but the way some link it to murder or robbery (I'm not implying you are) is simply disingenuous. Personally I hope to see a solution to the piracy problem one day that is satisfactory to all, but what ever it turns out to be I highly doubt it'll involve the complete elimination of all copying. Stopping it simply appears impossible, and restricting the benefits provided by digital technology is akin to cutting off our nose to spite our face.

MattB

@ThursdayNext:
Excuse me? There are people torrenting this crap by the thousands. It's obvious that the 3 installs limit isn't doing squat to prevent piracy. That aspect has been cracked for a long time.

DimensionWarped

@Firemane: Other than Securom, the fact that the restrictions are still there regardless, and just because its a hassle to deal with.

DimensionWarped

@NovaBlack: I think you missed the point. The reason they chose 3 installs as a limit is because few (1%) of customers would be affected. However when a game is torrented it is downloaded and installed hundreds, if not thousands of times. So by using a three install limit once the original seeder has installed the game only two other theives can acquire it.

The 3 install limit was not included to limit the end user, in fact they chose 3 installs because it only affects a tiny proportion of the user base, this 1% is of course welcome to call upon EA customer services to receive extra activations should they require more installs.

ThursdayNext

@ThursdayNext: Those %1 figures only cover the small period of time EA has been using this form of DRM. The numbers will inevitably rise over the coming years as people upgrade their PCs or Operating Systems and then try to reinstall their legally purchased games.

I think it's also worth pointing out that each customer who runs into those install limits is likely someone who will not buy an EA game again in the future.

MattB

@GregoriusH:
I'm in the same boat as you, I had my pre-order from EB all ready to go and was counting down. I didn't follow the game all that closely, I just got the Creature Creator and was sold by that. Then a friend of mine told me it had limited installs like BioShock and Mass Effect. I got my 10 buck pre-order back from EB and bought 40 dollars worth of food instead.

I also agree with your used game market too, shouldn't that be what companies are combating? Gamestop bragged about making millions(billions?) in used game sales. I buy more games used than I buy new, if I can get a game for 10+ dollars off the new price i'll do that. USED GAME sales hurt game sales more than any other figure.

I'm thinking when companies bitch and moan about 'piracy' they throw in used game sales figures into the mix just to muddy the statistics.

@NovaBlack:
Yes. Renting a game for 49.99 is bullshit.

@Madness:
No, you are wrong, there's no other way to put it. If you own a VCR or a DVD burner, if you've ever taped a TV show, if you've ever taped a song off the radio, then to any corporate executive... YOU ARE A PIRATE. Course, you've probably never done that right? Still on that soapbox? Hm? Or are you too young to have ever used a VCR?

Tizlor

I shouldn't have to write anything as it has all been said. But heck, one more person saying this shouldn't hurt: I will not buy this game until DRM is dead. Seriously there have been so many attempts over the years to prevent theft that doesn't work and annoys consumers. Look at The games and movies you buy, there is that annoying wrapping that takes forever to remove if you are like me and bite your nails(my wife valiantly tries to stop me-to no avail). Then there is the stupid sticker strips that bind all the edges. Wait until console games get into this DRM business. I mean how long until consoles are required to be online to play the games?

iiqulo

I bought the CC and loved it I didn't buy the Game stick that in your data and smoke it.

Crowbot

@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): no we exist. We bought a few drm games that have screwed up our pcs when we installed them. Windows XP came with online activation every time you reinstall it. If you don't have internet you can call microsoft for the code to put in to activate, which is tailored to your hardware if I recall correctly. Then the system stays authorized until the next install. I have had to call to get it activated before because there was no internet yet. They did not insinuate that I was pirating their OS. If EA had done this, I'd be playing spore instead of typing to you about how I'm not.

@MattB: Absolutely lovely statement.

Ajh

I'll point out that of that ~1% probably 99% are people who installed the game multiple times on the same machine. Quit trying to play it off as if we are installing it on all of our friends' computers...you know damn well even the slightest change to the OS will result in getting an install taken away.

@Marlor: These are questions I want answered. I highly suspect it's part of the uninstall process...so if you can't uninstall...you're screwed. The only time this would be a problem is if your windows installation gets corrupt...or you simply forget to uninstall.

They already got my money for Spore. As it is right now I'm not buying Red Alert 3 as a result of the DRM...if it gets treated the same as Spore and this uninstall exception is put in...they might gain a customer back...especially since RA3 will have 5 installs...that allows for a bit more room for blown windows installations and simple forgetfulness in uninstalling the game. I'd be more comfortable if it were even higher...but I can live with 5 installs and a solid uninstall reclaim option.

I really don't mind installation limits...they have their place...but we MUST have a way to reclaim them, that is non-negotiable. If I had the same system with Mass Effect I wouldn't have used up 5 installs already...I would be at 1. Throughout my numerous reinstalls of my OS on this computer I always had the opportunity, if the option was there, to uninstall and reclaim the install of Mass Effect...but the option just wasn't there.

thor79

Well, I hope this means my friends who are sitting on the fence about Spore will actually buy it now.

Salen

Spore is a garbage game anyway. Bought the Creature Creator, was underwhelmed, decided to wait. Friend later told me it all devolved into SimCopter with spaceships at the end. I laughed.

Grimhound

Remember: Criticizing Spore's DRM policy is sexist.

Now stfu and eat what the multi-billion dollar company is feeding you.

lumpi

I'm still passing on Spore and any other EA games with this in it. If EA REALLY wants to start killing off the used game market, they need to, dare I say, put these restrictions on CONSOLE games. Game$top refuses to "buy/sell" used PC games, so that market doesn't really exist, but we all know that the used console game market is thriving.

Not that used games are bad; I've bought many games that have been out of print used.

Rctdaemon

Surprisingly I actually believe in DRM, companies need a way to protect their content and try to get people to buy their stuff. Its just they way they are going about it is beyond stupid, seriously they are punishing their own customers, giving pirates an excuse (whether legitimate or not) and making themselves to look like bad guys (although they never seemed to have a problem with that).

If I were an EA exec, here is what I would do. I would start by making a steam type platform, or better yet join with valve (I'm sure for such a heavy hitter they would be more than willing to make concessions to allow them to change/extend the platform). Online games are pretty easy to protect as long as you control the servers and a unified platform would allow you to extend the natural protection of online games to offline ones. Plus if they had a unified platform they could program it so that the the platform is a core part of the game, rather than the pretty obvious and ubiquitous bytes that securom patches onto the exe of a game. Then they could just make the platform so that if it detects you are running a hacked version of their games you suffer a degraded experience across all of their games. This way when you get a person into your platform it is much harder for them to get off, for fear of being discovered and punished, but not excessive, so lets say it just forces you to either buy the game at the retail price or remove it from your system (if its the latter then the system should stay degraded for about a week so that people just don't play and remove). All other types of DRM would become obsolete and be removed (as if, this would probably be just another layer of annoyance over the current pointless system). Then at least EA would look like it was trying to protect itself from piracy rather than just punishing their customers for not breaking the law.

Honestly its hard to believe that they haven't come up with a decent and equitable way to protect their products without alienating their customers. Anyone who says that piracy is causing the death of the pc gaming industry, I put it to you that its their own stupidity that's doing it - as such I have no pity for them.

Knasher

What is it with EA and their paranoia? It took me of two days of tinkering and research just to get Sims 2: Freetime to run on my computer. I kept getting a "Conflict with Emulation Software detected" message ... me and apparently several thousand of my closest friends, judging by the forums.

I did get it fixed finally, but it's left a bad taste, so to speak. So there is no way I am going to lay out good money for Spore. Not sure I will go for Sims 3 next year either.

AuntieSocial

Just another thing everyone should know, SecuROM doesn't just limit to 3 installs. It also disables CD/DVD ripping and burning software. So I wouldn't exactly call this a resolved matter...

_______

Dump SecuROM and I'll buy it. Until then, go fish EA.

axiomatic

"UPDATE - An EA representative has clarified that the above numbers cover a sampling of the people who have bought "Spore" and should not be interpreted as a representation of sales data for the game."

Yeah, sure. Although 437138 is not bad, it could have been way better. For the "must have" game of the season it seems PC gamers are deciding with their wallets that the game is just not worth it with SecuROM, myself included.

Tepoz

"A patch, coming in the "near future," will allow Spore owners to "de-authorize" a computer that has had the game installed."

Great, more trouble, another step. Solve red tape during install with red tape when you uninstall. Also, good luck "deauthorizeing" a comp with a crashed HD.

And BS on the "1%". People that have used up the installs a year or two later and want to play it again won't bother going through the trouble to install it, if EA even still has their "Spore install call center" up and running.

Kuromimi

sorry to double post but no edit button.

To the wall of text below EA what do you call a program that contacts your servers and runs 24/7 on a pc that the user is not aware was installed and also disabled cd/dvd burning? I would call it spyware/malware.

* Complaint: Consumers fear there is spyware being installed by the SecurROM copy-protection software incorporated into the game.

EA Response: "There's no viruses, no spyware and no malware…We have located a download off of one of the Torrent sites that is a virus. The thing I would say to the consumer audience is that, if you're concerned with a virus on your computer, the chances of that are infinitely higher when you're downloading off of a hacked version than it would be downloading the authentic game. We would never put any spyware on anyone's computers. That's not going to happen."

yakkowarner

For the record anyone who says it is okay it's just like I-tunes I don't use i-tunes b/c it has DRM. I'm not okay with I-tunes I never believed in that was okay either. To people saying they should use a steam like platform. No thanks! Steam is DRM as well games are removed from there.

I prefer to deal in physical media only. I don't want to be in the situation where... OMG! they removed 10 games of the server I payed for but I can't download anymore.

Also I'm not buying this unless they remove securom. Anything that has securom is just as bad as starforce.

yakkowarner

They're obviously going to increase the longevity of the game with expansion packs and some people get a new computer every few years, so there is a likelihood of people wanting to install more than three times in the future.

MPSai

And the Most Retarded Use of Statistics Award goes to... EA for their claim that

"At least for some recently published EA titles that require software activation, about 1% of users ever even attempt to install and activate on more than three machines."

Well, first of all, if you sell a million copies of a game, that's 10,000 people, which seems quite a lot. Second, you obviously don't yet see the issues this type of DRM if the game was only released recently!

L_K_M

They probably aren't that massive in numbers because neither the box nor installation make it clear you are using up a limited number of installs. It's NOT on the box and if it's in the installation it's tucked away somewhere intentionally obscure. I got no warning of how many activations are left when I installed it, that I could see.

Zunnoab

I wanted the game and then I didn't buy it because of Securom. I also downloaded the game through a torrent, but I have not installed it and will probably just delete it. It was important to me that I be counted in the numbers of people that pirated the game due to this controversy. It's not enough to not buy a game. EA will interpret that as a continuation of the market shift from PC to console gaming. In order to make a noticeable difference, you must be counted as someone who has the game but did not buy it due to it's protection. The only way to do that right now is to pirate it, simply because EA has given us no option to obtain the game legally from them without Securom.

The only way to make a difference to a company is to affect the sales numbers. And that must have some method of validation. Now, it's obvious that many people who have pirated the game have done so because they have no intention of buying it. But EA will no doubt do trending of statistical data to determine how many people they expect to pirate the game based on past games. You take the number who actually did pirate it(by connecting to the torrent and keeping a count) and then subtract out the estimate from data trending and you've got a quantifiable number of people who've pirated the game unexpectedly.

It's those unexpected numbers that have caused EA to announce a patch that will deauthorize a computer or to increase to 5 installs on Red Alert 3. Whether you support the pirating of the game or vilify it, pirating has indeed made a difference.

It's still not enough of a difference for me though. I just don't like Securom.

shizknight

Being able to De-authorize a computer is pretty much what I wanted. Now all we have to worry about is eventually when EA stops supporting their Authorization servers. But by that time the Sporepedia would probably also be off-line so there would barely be a point to play Spore then anyways.

Cybexx

@Psudonym: Ditto. My biggest concern actually. The installs thing was actually lower on my totem pole, seeing as I knew it'd be at least a few months before I used up my third install, and I had heard that you only needed to call EA for more installs.

Annoying, sure, but it's not nearly as bad as the fact that since we registered the game first on my girlfriends computer, now I'm forever barred from playing with my own identity.

If my creations can't be fired off into the Sporepedia (one of the biggest assets to owning a copy of the game,) and I can't actually manage/use the Sporepedia decently, well. I frankly have no desire to play anymore.

And I can't tell you how many stories I've heard of disappointed kids being unable to play because parents or siblings registered the game first. Where's the patch for this, eh? You'd think EA would be concerned about family households, considering they're such a big focus for them with titles like this.

P-Flute

But will the gameplay still be as tedious as SimLife?

yeahblah

@MehGinla: Nope people who pirate it have a reason, that's why Spore is set to become the most pirated game in history within it's first 2 months.

NeoAkira