I get that everyone is freaking out because of SecuRom and DRM. I admit that I could (should) know and care more about them. But honestly, I bought Spore, installed it and love playing it.
SecuRom (or DRM or both) have been on every game (or every game I’ve bought) for at least a year.

You can’t use the activation code for Sim City Societies or Creature Creater more than 3 times. Even after you’d uninstalled it. People are just now realizing this?

And none of these installations have slowed my computer at all.

But the rating has started going up. I checked yesterday and the day before when it stayed at 1. 1 1/2 stars with a grand total of 2,312 customer reviews.

Also, Adobe’s DRM doesn’t install any rootkits that futz with the capabilities of your DVD drive.

I’m not the greatest fan of Adobe’s DRM either, but it’s a whole lot more benign than what I’ve seen of SecuROM.

More screenshots of Spore DRM-anger: http://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000204.html

erm…

I WAS really looking forward to going down to Frys and picking this up tomorrow but now I’m wondering. I got a laptop that I’m using, but since I’m only “borrowing” it, I’d like to be able to give it back as clean as I got it….

Unlike EA I still believe int he golden rule.

A shame, then and now. I lost that red sheet a month later and had to stop playing.

And the game just rocks.

1) The install counter will not reset when the game is uninstalled. To get authentication for additional installs you have to contact EA-Support via E-Mail or Phone. EA-Support has a long tradition of unresponsiveness and incompetence.

2) The DRM enforces a “one account per PC” policy.

To clarify (1): A song bought on iTunes can be played on 5 compatible devices, if you want to play it on a sixth, you have to deauthorize one other, which you can do yourself at any time. There is even a master reset.

To clarify (2): In a game like World of Warcraft, you have a serial number that gets validated when you create an account, so every player must have a legal copy of the game. They then allow every user to log in from any client and do NOT bind an account to a specific installation.

I know a good bandwagon to jump on when I see one.

If EA wants to enhance their profits they should listen more to innovators like Will Wright and less to their own executive dumbheads.

Enhance community features -> engage the users -> make them create more kickass content -> profit. Lighten up this DRM thing, it wiil not matter.

The game rocks thou. I had an economy based on selling eggs of domesticated Charles Darwins…

That is what happened when the Kindle came out. A bunch of people who had never seen the kindle and hadn’t actually read the press release or the product description very closely posted “reviews” with 1 star. That kept the star-rating down for a while. Then the actual users started posting and now the start-rating is 4/5.

(Doesn’t mean that I like an overly aggressive DRM. just a comment on the review system.)

I’m sorry that copy protection forced you to sacrifice your XP. I don’t doubt that copy protection in general, and EA’s DRM in particular, have caused all sorts of problems for legitimate gamers’ systems. Certainly a few (if not many) of the Amazon posters have experienced this themselves. But as a reader of the reviews (I actually discovered this topic at the site and then found the post here about it), I’d much prefer to hear the opinion of someone who has actually tried SPORE and dealt with its copy protection measures, not those from other games. Is it wrong to think that perhaps EA learned from the mistake of BioShock, and that the current DRM is less of bother? For all I know it could be worse, but I’d like to know the fact of it, not suspicions. I suppose, though, the absence of clarity about the specifics of the DRM from EA ahead of time really is something to get upset about.

@ sirdook, 33:

Good point. I understand why the sometimes hysterical posters went to the Amazon site, as it is a great place to get heard. I also completely understand why Amazon might want to keep random people from reviewing a game that they (by their own admission) did not play. I’m somewhat surprised that Amazon has even left them all up on the site. Fortunately they’ve struck a decent compromise.

As a side note, this whole debate on copy protections seems oddly familiar to the discussion about draconian security measures at airports. “Why do they have to treat me like a terrorist/pirate?” An inconvenience that reasonable people implement in response to the few that take advantage of existing freedom. I don’t blame TSA for strip searching people and I don’t blame software companies for trying hard to keep people from stealing software.

Secondly this has nothing to do with DRM at all. Because if this kids were really pissed about DRM they’d be giving most of their time to bitching about Valve games which works exactly the same way except they check every time you fire up the game. Spore just checks once the first time you install it. This is because EA is the biggest and no one likes the biggest.

And if you think DRM doesn’t work then go find a cracked version of Mass Effect. I guarantee it won’t be much fun to play.

Who wants to take bets on how low it’ll go before it starts to eventually work its way back up?

Then, why are they still using demonized DRM? DRM of this sort still provides two very tangible benefits to the company. In any medium, whether game, music, or movie, DRM serves to prevent casual copying that reduces revenue. John Q Public won’t bother trying too hard to copy his friend’s game. DRM also serves to increase revenue by forcing what I call “overloading”. In the case of music and movies, DRM (in theory) prevents the user from using the media in multiple devices and in multiple ways. Instead, in order to have their movie on their precious iPod’s tiny screen, they must possibly purchase again. This is an overloaded purchase. In the gaming world, this isn’t as much of a problem. Instead, DRM is intended to prevent the used-media market from surviving. As someone said in another post, the angel of anti-DRM crusaders, Stardock, itself does not acknowledge the right for a resale market to exist. Limited installs, phoning home, and download managers are for this purpose. After all, a publisher makes no money on the resale market. They do not desire end users, only first users.

The piracy aspect of the DRM argument is tired, annoying, and useless by now. It is too contentious on both sides, and no one is willing to compromise. Thus, it is important to look deeper into the real reasons for DRM.

I would like the public to realize the insidious purpose that DRM is used for now. Piracy is now a reality that is accepted by companies, and their focus has once again returned to resale and media access. Personally, I feel that it is my right to resell products that I have purchased and port my data between devices should I desire. This type of DRM seeks to strip me of this right. In this way, current DRM is far more foul than even the Starforce rootkits of the recent past, at least to me. Stop letting piracy cloud the argument and bring the focus back to anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices.

I think the people who get the cracked version should send a check to EA with some kind of note like “I got the cracked version because it’s DRM free.” (Obviously anonymously since you may be still technically charged with piracy even though you’re paying for it.), Maybe when EA gets enough checks and notes vs. their sales with the “real” product they will realize how stupid DRM is. (Plus, that way those buying the cracked version pay for the game, and get what they want.). I’m thinking about doing this myself.