Finally, EA has listened to all of the complaints and is being reasonable now. Apparently, they are upping the amount of activations to 5 and are developing some sort of method to de-activate their games on computers you have them installed on. Woohoo!
Source
Spore
Game » consists of 9 releases. Released Sep 07, 2008
Simulate the development and progression of an alien species as it evolves from a single-celled organism to a sapient level, rises up through various stages of civilization, and eventually becomes a space-faring species.
Good news on the Spore DRM fiasco!
"http://www.giantbomb.com/spore/61-14139/ea-relents-changes-spore-drm-too-little-too-late/35-16159/#4"I thought it would be nice to post it here anyway, since their new system applies to all of their PC games, not just Spore.
I have to say the DRM fiasco with Spore should of hinted to EA that no, we the customer, do not approve of their somewhat underhanded and rude choice to include DRM and assume all gamers are illegally downloading PC games.
If EA weren't so money hungry, and lets face it they are, they would realise that by promoting more of their games through Steam would perhaps help their public image amongst PC gamers aswell as decrease the amount of piracy they believe is hurting their sales.
DRM is a necessary evil but when it stops legit customers like myself playing a game is infuriates me. I do not want to have to justify my install habits to a EA tech rep on the phone, especially while there charging me a fortune for the call. It is my game, I brought it and as long as I don't distribute it to anyone then i'll do what I like with it.
The deactivation tool should have been made available from day one, commercial software has it so why not games. They should also make a deactivate tool for their other games as well such as Mass Effect and the forthcoming Red Alert 3.
"Good, but not good enough.not good enough?
I will continue to pretend that ***** doesn't exist."
try uninstalling your games in the future before you pull of a reformat :P - you backup your files, see the limit as...backing up....
its a start to combatting piracy, it might not have worked fully but its a start at least :D
DRM might not be the way to go, but through trial and error we'll find a way around piracy soon ;)
"DRM is a necessary evil but when it stops legit customers like myself playing a game is infuriates me. I do not want to have to justify my install habits to a EA tech rep on the phone, especially while there charging me a fortune for the call. It is my game, I brought it and as long as I don't distribute it to anyone then i'll do what I like with it.
The deactivation tool should have been made available from day one, commercial software has it so why not games. They should also make a deactivate tool for their other games as well such as Mass Effect and the forthcoming Red Alert 3."
You don't own the game, wtf?
You bought rights to play it ¬_¬
i can see the anger, we all can, but howmany years was put into making this game again?
EA made the choice because they don't wanna see maxis get owned by piracy.....however like people have been posting its clearly backfired on them
Piracy sucks.....i hope its delt with soon, DRM might not be the way to go, but its a start.....
I really don't see how the copy-protection is stopping anyone from playing the game. This sort of limit also (by the way) has also applied to music purchased on itunes, yet I've never heard any uproar about that.
"I really don't see how the copy-protection is stopping anyone from playing the game. This sort of limit also (by the way) has also applied to music purchased on itunes, yet I've never heard any uproar about that.I can't say much about Itunes because I don't use it and I wouldn't use it because of their DRM.I see nothing wrong with a company wanting to make gobs of money by providing something that people want and protecting their investment. EA's goal is to make money, and they just happen to do that by making games. Making phat loot is the sole goal of EA and there's nothing wrong with that (since we can't all get rich by smashing chests and killing monsters).I'm not saying that drm is the the right way to go, but they have to at least try something (since they have a responsibility to the shareholders of the company). If what they try doesn't work, they need a new scheme. I remember getting games on my C64 (yea..that long ago) where you were asked to go to page 4 of the manuel and read the 3rd line of the 2nd paragraph. What did we do? we photocopied the book. Then you had to put a CD in the drive...what did we do? Made mirrors. It's a neverending battle becuase of the general lack of respect for intellectual and physical property that exists in humanity."
I can understand why EA thinks DRM is necessary but what I don't like about it is when it stops me from playing the game I legally purchased. I don't mind if EA makes a bucket load of money by let's face it releasing the same old **** but I do mind when it's at the my expense.
Their whole attitude towards PC gamers sucks, I don't license or rent my game from EA, I brought it, it's mine.
I don't install any game onto several PCs at once, I will make sure it's installed on one only, when I get a new computer it will be uninstall and then installed on the new PC. EAs current SecureROM DRM allows you to activate it but not deactivate it once you've uninstalled it, commerical software has this function so why not games. If the hard drive where it's installed dies then I have to reactivate it, if I get a new PC I need to reactivate it, based on that 3 and now 5 activations is going to run out quite quickly for some people. When at the end of the activations i'd have to ring EA tech support and justify my install habits to a rep all the while being charged for the phone call.
I see no problem with the DRM but! its how they implimented it is the problem, the 5 activations and abbility to remove it from a computer and thus adding that activation back is a great great great thing and is how DRM should be.
I think the thing to do here is to vote with your $. If you don't like something about a product, don't buy it. Then take it a step further, contact the company and tell them why you aren't buying it. They won't care about a single sale lost, but as those sales count up they'll pay attention. Try this: make up a petition and convince retailers (or stand outside the store) to get people to sign. Collect a bunch of signatures (like 20-40k) and send a copy of them to the company. Send them to ALL major game companies. Let them know that you don't like DRM or how it's managed. If enough people do this, the system will change. I'm not saying that the system will change to something better for the consumer, but it will change.
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