Will Wright's SPORE makes customers angry (DRM inside)

[domkop]

Taking a quick look at the Amazon.com page for SPORE I was amazed to read the opinion of so many angry customers, the reason behind all the madness and turmoil comes down to Electronic Arts' (excessive) use of DRM, which uses SecuROM.

Such a scenario happened in the past with MASS EFFECT but after so many complaints from actual buyers EA have decided to remove the copy protection.

If you don't quite understand what this is all about: EA limits the installation of SPORE up to three times. Afterwards you are required to phone EA (calling is not free, of course) and beg them to give you the right to one more installation, but then the odds are good that you will be regarded as a naughty (one-eyed) pirate, and you should expect lots of questions as to why you need to 'rent' the game again. Whereas people who downloaded it for free are by no means bothered by this hassle.

I think this is just insane and EA should be ashamed of treating their customers as junk, and if this is indeed what we're heading to with Linux -LGP introducing their new game copy protection- I believe I will no longer use my PC as a gaming platform. Or playing open source games is the only alternate way.

Would you buy a product that is so crippled? How can we avoid such drastic measures on our side?

[niniendowarrior]

We all have a clear stance on copy protection. It sucks and it doesn't work. What you have to note though is that EA doesn't see it that way. Angry customers? Guess what? Red Alert 3 will ship with SecuRom too. They don't listen.

In my opinion, we've all badgered, whined, and screamed that copy protection is foul play... treat us like thieves, bla bla bla. All of it, true, but it doesn't change the fact that EA doesn't see it that way and will probably... never.

[Dragonix]

Angry customers? Guess what? Red Alert 3 will ship with SecuRom too. They don't listen. << But you can have it installed on 5 pcs similar. And when you uninstall it, you can install it another time. You're even allowed to play on a small lan (up to 5 pcs) with only 1 dvd (and when they uninstall it, again, you can install it on another 5 pcs). Seems quiet fair. Though, EA sucks ==> I won't buy it.

[Svartalf]

Apparently the people buying it actually LIKE what EA is doing to them...

[xav1r]

Another PC game i wont be buying then. Thank you EA for making me save my money! Seriously, who would buy a product that comes with a pair of handcuffs that you have to wear before you can use it? That's what copy-protection schemes boil down to, and it's BS.

[me262]

Oddly enough, this is what Windows has been doing since Windows XP.

I am for SOME form of DRM, to make the companies at ease, and to prevent mom and pop from copying it (see Steam thread), but this type of implementation isn't it. This is Microsoft's way of thinking, "licensing" a user to play instead of a user owning a copy.

[Dragonlord]

Huh? Who runs a windows copy he activated? For sure I do not ( except on the laptop where it is OEM activated ). Next to all use an anti-activation crack to get rid of this step. Did this with all my legit copies. Phoning home to M$? I would die first before doing that :P

As mentioned somewhere, it takes a large crash in the games industries due to DRM before they wake up. They are like potatoes... eyes open just after they hit the dirt

[Svartalf]

They are like potatoes... eyes open just after they hit the dirt

ROFLMAO! Lovely analogy, that...

[xav1r]

Huh? Who runs a windows copy he activated? For sure I do not ( except on the laptop where it is OEM activated ). Next to all use an anti-activation crack to get rid of this step. Did this with all my legit copies. Phoning home to M$? I would die first before doing that :P

As mentioned somewhere, it takes a large crash in the games industries due to DRM before they wake up. They are like potatoes... eyes open just after they hit the dirt

Dragonlord, your humor is just so deliciously funny.

[domkop]

Actually, I don't buy Windows games (I used to) or use that operating system for any task whatsoever. However, my brother wanted me to dual boot with XP because he's such a hardcore pc gamer, his favorite game at the moment being AGE OF CONAN: HYBORIAN ADVENTURES and I have to say this is one title I'm drooling over, sometimes I wish I had that for Linux as well. It was also his plan to purchase SPORE some time in the future but fortunately I managed to talk him out of it. All I'm saying it was my duty to warn him about and protect him from these abusive methods.

Obviously I don't play that many games, if compared to my brother. Yet, when intentionally leaving all the shiny pretty little things behind and not having to buy a new game every month I think I have grown more appreciative of the very few titles I was given the right to play on my Linux box, with even more in-depth gameplay time allowed.

So treat me or my brother like a thief and we'll be glad to disappoint you, EA. Especially on an OS I don't give a monkey's nuts about. Besides Tux has bigger nuts.