All this after a few months of great looking and playing games from EA. Now the big issue with the DRM takes EA back a big step. They take a few steps forward and then they do this and step right back to the big bully gamers see them as.

JorgieX

This is non-news. We thought the shit was hitting the fan, when in fact no shit hit any fan whatsoever.

Simple_Man

Wow, you'd expect people on a BLOG to actually READ what's posted. Read before commenting saying nonsense.

bakalhau

@tzaketh: I believe they're not AS evil. Still have a fair ways to go though.

ChaosBahamut

Considering the line is there BEFORE the jump...no, I don't think people know how to read anymore.

Turambar

@Michael McWhertor: I read the article I'm still surprised the Spore DRM concern is still this huge. Most things like this die out pretty quick.

digipen89

Last time EA was in the news about DRM, I quit spending $$$ on EA. Period.

And still holding....

bar10der

@Michael McWhertor: Honestly, that doesn't surprise me.

chronubis

@Michael McWhertor:

Nope. Don't think they did.

Vecha

@Michael McWhertor: Well the thing I was more worried about was the "silent locking and deleting of threads" concerning DRM that are apparently going around in their forums. Doesn't exactly paint EA in the best light.

Lightman

@Michael McWhertor:
Reading is overrated >_>

twesterms 2nd

@Michael McWhertor: why read the post when you can just read the title and start flaming?

PATSCRU

@twesterms 2nd: Hating child rape is pretty popular too, you know.

Lightman

So no one read the post?

Michael McWhertor

To all those going 'Fuck you EA'.

May I present Blizzard to you. The kings of 'oh shit, someone noticed this thing was broken, SILENCE THE HEATHEN' of all Message Board kings.

Komrade_Kayce

what's funny is the good majority of the little snots that are complaining don't even have to worry about the DRM because they'll install the game more than 3-5 times. They're only complaining because they're little snots and it's the popular thing to do.

twesterms 2nd

Wow, way to go EA, that will fix your bad PR for sure.

Neo-Senku: The World's Finest Pervert

I doubt EA will ever do anything to take any DRM protection off of the game, they want to protect their asset and this is the best way they know how.

tec2030

don't be suprised if gamers start disappearing.

gadjet

It's ridiculous that all the threads concerning DRM were just deleted (at least that what I'm gathering from the linked thread). That is some serious Big Brother bullshit there.

Lightman

wow, piece of crap Ea.

Mr.DuckSauce

EA is just digging themselves into a hole....but then again, they've been doing it for a while. I wonder what will happen when the shit finally hits the fan for them?

Alaron

Wow.

Does anyone STILL not believe EA is an evil monolithic corporation?

tzaketh

wow how lame is that, in EA the forum IS you

azneagle44

I posted a comment bringing this up in the last Spore-related story on Kotaku. It's nice to see someone was paying attention. That particular blob of red text came from the moderator sporemasterjoe, who was deleting and editing posts of other people without notice. He was the only moderator logged in at the time that appeared. It's possible someone was hidden, but I don't think that feature exists yet (the report post feature doesn't even work yet).

And don't forget, the original concern was that "at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore" could mean that your EA account would be banned thus potentially stripping your access to Spore and consequentially any other game sharing that EA account. Hopefully this is all just misinformation, although someone is "working on it" which makes me think the original warning was accurate. Ok so people can be real idiots on forums, but stripping their access to a game for forum behavior goes way too far, so let's hope that it's pure misinformation...

BigDragon

@Killtacular: and yes, I did read the whole post... but the fact that it was even threatened is not a good sign at all.

Killtacular

Maybe I'm late to the party here, but this is what gets me:

"Please do not continue to post theses thread or you account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore. "

So your choice of conversation in a forum can now cause a product you purchase at the store to become worthless? Now DRM has gone too far.

Killtacular

Yes, this certainly won't make the negative feelings worse.

AnEternalEnigma

So, nothing.

Wolfers

I tipped this in about 30 or so minutes ago.

I feel like a superfluous happy camper because I contributed to Kotaku. :3

RPharazonius

well i just got the offical "visit our warrenty area for a refund" due to the issues that i have with my video card. using a ati hd3870 and there been known issues with the game. i've read atleast 6 others with the card unable to play the game at a certain point.
sucks that they wouldn't just support this and a couple other popular video cards.

FotoGi

Well EA wouldn't be the first to threaten to ban people for talking about something unpleasant :| My guess is that companies still try to do what they can to put a positive image about themselves out their and people who may challenge those images aren't welcomed to their playground. This is the cruel dark circle of commerce.

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

I can not stop laughing at this. And how close EA is coming to being communist Russia. At least it will match up with their release of C&C RA3, with the good 'ol Red Army as their allies.

Do NOT talk about EA's DRM, do so and your game is gone. Install it 3 times? Game is gone. Use their game in a way they dont like? Game is gone.

Is the next step for a game with a certain rating, shut itself off and uninstall if you try and do something beyond it? I'd like to play a game within the boundaries the game defines, I can't fly in mirror's edge, but I can make a penis monster in spore. But if I do, I'm not allowed to play anymore.

Talleh

Ouch

HELLSRIDER

Gasoline does not put out fires.

SAGA

@Lightman: But that totally doesn't apply here, it happens to everyone, dontcha know?

ZeroBlade

@tzaketh: At some point, you have to accept that every corporation is evil, just some are more candid about than others.

ZeroBlade

This just in:
CrazyLady15 says that EA threatened to evict her and kill her cats.

When approached for comment, an EA representative said, "No, we totally didn't say that. And tell her to stop calling us. It's over!"

Born2Shill

@dry-roasted-peanuts: It's not remotely true now, but how long until the day it does happen? It's something I never even considered a possibility until this day.

Killtacular

I never really understood most of the EA hate; I sure do now. This is absolutely the dumbest, most mean spirited, just plain WRONG move I can think of right now.

Screw you EA

Filthy_O_Bedlam

@Killtacular: Is that it isn't even remotely true a good sign?

dry-roasted-peanuts

EA is sounded like Sega when Medieval Total War 2 went to hell and the gamers revolted there.

I think PC gaming is going to have an evolution where smaller companies start doing better then bigger companies due to things like DRM.

I hope Spore puts EA in the Red (I don't know how much they spent on it)

arstal

@LaserJudas:

This.

Absolutely true. And because they're not violating anyone's rights here, that's why they can't be arrested for it.

If I run a board for a Christian Youth group, I reserve the right to ban someone for posting about how all Christians are sheep and the theory of evolution explains it all.

Likewise, if I run a board for Atheist Libertarians, I reserve the right to ban someone for trying to convert the unbelievers.

This situation is regarding an EA product, however-- so the discussion pertains to the topic of the forums. Which means it's much less warranted. Still completely within their rights, however. Doesn't make it any less of a dick move, and I won't be buying any new EA games. It's within our rights to make our feelings about this heard, and then vote with our wallets.

As of now, EA ranks higher than Gamestop on my list of evil companies.

tzaketh

All this complaining for a game that's slightly above average.

Oh, AND hyped to death.

Average game + more hype than you can shake a stick at = poor reception

e-friend

Add to this all the problems with the first patch to Spore. EA is stumbling at every step with this game.

PS. Internet routes around failures. Move the discussion elsewhere. It's incredible companies still think this sort stuff works.

Pixelantes Anonymous

How does "Big Brother" even fit into this discussion, folks?

They OWN the boards, therefore, they, and only they, get to dictate what they will, or will not, allow to be discussed.

How is that difficult to grasp? Their boards, their rules. Remember: on the Internet, you don't have any First Amendment rights.

LaserJudas

Haha, you guys don't read!

It was just a case of some forum mod blowing his stack. But no, go ahead and continue throwing your frustrations around. You seem to enjoy raging pointlessly.

Swamphunter

@Michael McWhertor: Perhaps - since you now know people don't read the content of the post - the responsible thing to do would be to change the headline, "Spore Fans Threatened With Banhammer Over DRM Talk - No Not Really".

If you're trying to break into sensationalist media, then by all means keep it as is.

Born2Shill

Jesus EA.

You have enough money from the goddamned Madden games, get off your DRM-high horse. And shell out to Maxis cause they made you a great game that you fucked with the usual EA-ing.

HotFootMcCook

So what other games are going to have this SecuRom, DRM stuff in it? I'm getting really interested in Red Alert, but if it has SecuRom or DRM then I'll unfortunately have to give it a pass.

Quilt

@Komrade_Kayce: huh, never really followed the blizzard scene, but first ive heard of that.

TheIrishNinja

Sounds like EA wants to be taken to small claims court.

y2julio

@tzaketh: No I believe EA is a naive corporation...Google is the evil corporation :p (But I love 'em anyways!)

PyreBorn

Well regardless of the situation (being only forum related, I mean) it still sucks... Still not sure how that's supposed to decrease the number of drm-free torrents of the game, though.

DarkTetsuya

@LaserJudas:

Yes, their boards, their rules. They have the right to run those boards in anyway they want. Fair enough. But to simply kill the debate instead of engaging in it is a Big Brother tactic no matter who owns the means of communication. I could install cameras all through my house and watch everything everyone does here and it would be no less an authoritarian action just because I own the house.

GregoriusH

EA surely aren't stupid enough to ban over that - They KNOW that will be definite suicide.
If EA does that, all of their PC market and a lot of their console market will leave them, leaving them with the uninformed, the uncaring, and the Sports nuts.

toejam316

Wow, this makes me want to get a pirated copy of spore even though I bought it. Screw you EA if you think you can bully us..yes...US the people that keep you in business.

I will never buy another EA game again.

sakipooh

by the sounds of things EA need to come up with (or partner with) a steam like service....ditch securom and go with something everyone can get behind....

but it won't matter anyways...if it's popular it will be hacked...and it's sad really, because these guys are so good at what they do, it doesn't even seem like a challenge...when was the last time you wondered IF a game could be copied....

the only thing i can see is appease your paying customers and do all that you can to offer incentives for "going legit"...such as online play [with another layer of authentication of course :)]

if you're a serious business you appease your customers and try and attract new customers...not censor and threaten them....

drlard

Wow.... what assholes.

Sorry for the language, but that's a pretty damn good way to describe it. On the forums I moderate, I've banned hundreds of people before and never gave it a second thought. Big whoop, can't post with the same email address attached to their profile. Who cares?

But to risk deactivation of your property which you just paid for? Sorry, that's just bull****

EA should be utterly ashamed, and it's because of customer service like this that everyone roots against them whenever they try to acquire a new company, a la Rockstar.

NoFunShogun

@Quilt: From what I've heard, every PC game from now until EA gets the message will have DRM like this.

Rctdaemon

what is everyone up in arms about, this has been the best DRM ive ever seen, honestly. ive installed it on 4 computers, and none of them need the disc, so whats the deal? can someone enlighten me?

otis123

@otis123: Moral objections to stuff that I didn't want installed installed on my computer.

Ajh

@Komrade_Kayce: when did this happen??

Ajh

Pathetic...just pathetic.

Yas

@Simple_Man

I dunno, the non-news of my not buying a game I eagerly anticipated uhm... well, I'm pretty sure I was going somewhere with that. EA vs. my bucks... Yah, I'm not even a dead pixel on their screen. But if they don't figure out how to handle this publicity annoyance, they may end up having a couple of dead pixels. Whether they will be able to perceive them is another thing.

yobbo

@Killtacular: Well, I'd put this about at the same level of concern I have with game publisher putting out the "USB Electric Testicle Shocker Anti-Piracy Dongle".

dry-roasted-peanuts

@Michael McWhertor: Guess it's more fun to rant and rave about straw-men than read. Ugh.

ayrkain

That's why people should never go to official forums in the first place.

Asbestos_Underwear

@TheIrishNinja: Of course it's the first time you hear about "it", because "it" didn't actually happen.

mizeriq

@Michael McWhertor: Judging by how busy I've been the last few days, I'd say no one is reading anything but the byline.

Spoony Bard

Ok, guys EA is now company non grata around here.

Crowbot

wow.. spore is SO tainted.

joeloliol

Did I mention I hate EA? Can't remember.... Yeah, I hate em.

Mikit0707

Go all the way, EA, all the way!

*rubs hands*

lumpi

Yea, the Bioshock forum cleaned their SecuROM criticism quite effectively as well.

Remember kids, EA knows best what's good for you!

lumpi

"Hey guys look, I know I am a vomlpete and sad B, but you don't have to tell me and everyone how bad it is, you know... I make a living out of it."

Yeah well, if you don't want comment on your errors, shut down your forum you dumbass. It's clear people won't like you, DRM cuts the legit user's rights, not the pirate's. Piracy 1 EA 0, no wait, make that 12000 to 0.

Phibius

@Anaralia:

Quit with the rationalizations. If you were standing up for your beliefs, it wouldn't even be on your computer.

sqlrob

@otis123: Right. Now go install it on another. Then 6 months down the line when your mobo gives up the ghost, try installing it again. Oh wait you can't because you got screwed over by DRM. I however, a person who pirated the game, have no such problems installing it on as many computers as I want.

You paid for a substandard copy of a game, I got a superior copy for free.

For the record, if they ever remove the DRM, I will be buying it immediately. I actually feel really dirty for pirating it but I also feel I must stand up for my beliefs.

Anaralia

@Phibius: Actually last figures I heard it was Piracy 500,000 EA 0

Anaralia

@Komrade_Kayce: Uh that only ever happens when a detailed description of an exploit is given. They can't have people running around in their online games exploiting the shit out of them just because they don't want to hurt their customers feelings by deleting their topics. Their are literally tens of thousands of topics on the wow forums detailing bugs and problems.

Anaralia

It's really a shame about all this DRM stuff. I gave up PC gaming a long time ago and moved to console only for the ease of use and consistant experience. I recently looked at Spore and thought it seemed worth my time, but I remembered about all this mess and it made me steer clear. I was standing in the store, holding the box wondering if I would like to dip my toes back in the waters of PC gaming and spend 40 bucks on spore, but all the gamers complaining about problems with it put me off. So there you go EA, you almost reeled an old PC gamer back in, but let me off the hook yourself at the last moment.

shufflemoomin

@otis123: because so many of these "haters" would rather "hate" than find truths. See: Vista-hate, Crysis-hate, and ohIDK, Metal Gear Solid-hate.

wait, Metal Gear Solid-hate is pretty justifiable IMHO.

rainofwalrus

I <3 Spore Creatures DS. Yup. Still an EA Fanboy.

rainofwalrus

I am sick and fucking tired of being held hostage by gaming companies. When someone buys a game they enter into a legal contract with the publisher of the game and in as of right now the only accountability in that agreement rests solely on the gamer. The customer.

The EULAs are prohibitive and grossly one-sided, publishers aren't accountable for shitty games being pushed out the door too early, we have spy-ware installed on our machines without either our knowledge or permission, we're at the mercy of forum moderators who can decide when and where conversations will take place, if at all (I recently posted in a thread on the Witcher forum called "CD Keys in Canada" and was told by a moderator that I was "off-topic" and posting in the wrong place. Wha?! Not to mention the post itself was rude, confrontational and basically told me to shut up and go away.) and then when we contact these fucking extortionists we have to prove to THEM that we're not thieves simply so that they'll fulfill their basic fucking obligations! And to top it all off, we have to be on our guard so that we don't get sued for simply using the materiel we PAID for.

I'm at the point now where all I want to do is hit back. I'm so angry at being victimized by these motherfuckers, gaming companies and publishers in general, that all I want to do is fire back at them.

I'm thinking that gamers as a whole, all over the world, should file a class action lawsuit against every gaming company we can think of and demand that they reimburse us, retroactively with interest for every broken, unfinished game released too early, for every game releaseed without a manual, for every game that came without a serial key, for every game that had game-stopping bugs, for ever game that sucked ass and failed to live up to the promises that were made to us during the "hype" phase and for every single other failure and victimization that gaming companies have inflicted upon us.

I'm fucking pissed!

... although I feel better now for having ranted about it.

Werrick

hahaha...

"No one really has a problem with it... it's minor... maybe 1% of users..."
*Amazon gets re-filled with hate*
"Ok, so maybe we were a little rash... we'll scale it down a bit..."
"OMG! IF YOU GUYS DON'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT, IMMA SHUT YA UP!"
"I mean... that is, on the message boards... we're not gonna pull the plug on you or anything! heh heh..."

EA's gone a bit crazy lately...

fuchikoma

I don't understand the hatred against DRM in this case. Don't get me wrong, I hate EA and I'm all for removing DRM. But the specific hatred towards this has spiraled into something that it shouldn't. Since EA has rights over this game (as it IS their product), they have to right to lay the smackdown on people talking shit about their practices.

Boba.Fett

@Michael McWhertor: It seems like you wrote the headline to be as inflamatory as possible, why are you surprised?

TheMageling

Loved the original idea about Spore - I hear it's been over simplified though - and now I really HATE Electronic Arts. Trying to pull bullshit like this "this never happened, look the other way" message

TatumGebrony

@Lightman:

EA truly knows how to piss people off. When will it end? Oh wait! They're EA. It seems they won't stop pissing people off until they've owned every 3rd party developer and exclusive deals with anything and everything.

Guts4

I myself after reading the drm stuff officialy lost interest on getting spore or even getting any other EA game as I already didnt had that much interest in EA
dunno, its just wrong what they're doing and I wont conform

trw5q

@bakalhau:
It's the basis of how hack journalism works. It's called the "Drudge Effect." Post whatever ridiculous headline you want, and people will overreact to it even if the text of the article is saying something completely different. Not that I think this headline was meant to have such an effect on purpose, but you can see how it would happen. People love to hate on big corporations.

nickymouse

"Reopening the SecuROM/DRM wound with new threads on the official boards may put users 'at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore.'"

Yes, that sounds like it would quiet the dissenters.

But seriously, it doesn't seem that bad. If they prohibit personal attacks on EA staff, I don't think they're crossing the line. It's not like you can "Crecente is a douchebag!!" every time kotaku posts something you don't like. Why should EA have to put up with flamers on there own boards?

nickymouse

dude, they did (and do) the exact same in the Sims forum starting from back when they switched to SecuROM

fizzlefist