[WMCoolmon]

Exposition - and poll showing 3% of people are happy with DRM

Spore's Amazon.com review page

[blackhole]

EA deserves that. Will it make a difference? Not likely.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Exposition - and poll showing 3% of people are happy with DRM

Spore's Amazon.com review page

      The consumer deserves it too. Considering how many people pirate games and other software. Everyone's *****ing about DRT or whatever the hell it is but no one's *****ing about the people who've been thieving games for years and are prompting companies to enact these overbearing copyright-protection strategies. I mean yeah, it sucks for the people who actually buy games (ie me) but that's what happens when a few rotten apples (or in this case, a ****load of rotten apples) spoil the bunch.

[IceFire]

Exposition - and poll showing 3% of people are happy with DRM

Spore's Amazon.com review page

      The consumer deserves it too. Considering how many people pirate games and other software. Everyone's *****ing about DRT or whatever the hell it is but no one's *****ing about the people who've been thieving games for years and are prompting companies to enact these overbearing copyright-protection strategies. I mean yeah, it sucks for the people who actually buy games (ie me) but that's what happens when a few rotten apples (or in this case, a ****load of rotten apples) spoil the bunch.

I keep hearing that argument but it makes no sense. 

The pirated version of nearly all of these games has no DRM at all.  They are nearly all hacked and quite often before the game officially arrives in stores even.  So with the pirates not having to contend with any DRM...why on earth should the paying consumer be made to put up with it?  Its not deterring piracy AND its hurting the consumer at the same time.

[blackhole]

Exposition - and poll showing 3% of people are happy with DRM

Spore's Amazon.com review page

      The consumer deserves it too. Considering how many people pirate games and other software. Everyone's *****ing about DRT or whatever the hell it is but no one's *****ing about the people who've been thieving games for years and are prompting companies to enact these overbearing copyright-protection strategies. I mean yeah, it sucks for the people who actually buy games (ie me) but that's what happens when a few rotten apples (or in this case, a ****load of rotten apples) spoil the bunch.

It is not the consumers fault that a bunch of people pirate software and thus it should never be offloaded to their shoulders. If it is easier to download a pirated version of a game then to buy one legally, something is wrong.

I find it amusing that you defend EA's overbearing copyright protections simply because you don't like people who pirate software, when in fact EA is just plain stupid. There are better ways to deal with this. Why not allow for infinite installations, but only allow 3 instances of a CD-key to be online at any time? That would have been just as effective, and it wouldn't have been a pain in the ****ing ass.

EA made a mistake here, and you cannot simply put it off as "BECAUSE EVERYONE PIRATES STUFFZ!" So? The company still has an obligation to its costumers to provide them with the best possible experience. EA did not do that here, and in the end, lost more money because of their insane DRM then if they had used a less draconian strategy.

There are better ways to do this, and EA is simply being greedy at this point. You simply cannot tell everyone to behave themselves, because they never will. Does that mean DRM is a necessary evil? Yes. Does that mean it needs to be this incredibly stupid and badly designed? No.

As Icefire posted above, the DRM is not only overbearing and draconian, it didn't even work. The game was leaked 3 days before its release in australia, and the day before it was SUPPOSED to be released, it was already out on torrents, cracked. I found one but I resisted the temptation to download it because I pre-orded my copy like a good little customer.

My copy still hasn't arrived. I regret being a good little customer.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I keep hearing that argument but it makes no sense. 

The pirated version of nearly all of these games has no DRM at all.  They are nearly all hacked and quite often before the game officially arrives in stores even.  So with the pirates not having to contend with any DRM...why on earth should the paying consumer be made to put up with it?  Its not deterring piracy AND its hurting the consumer at the same time.

        Well, I don't think the pirates were intended to bypass the whole DRM thing in the first place. That's the real problem.

It is not the consumers fault that a bunch of people pirate software and thus it should never be offloaded to their shoulders. If it is easier to download a pirated version of a game then to buy one legally, something is wrong.

I find it amusing that you defend EA's overbearing copyright protections simply because you don't like people who pirate software, when in fact EA is just plain stupid. There are better ways to deal with this. Why not allow for infinite installations, but only allow 3 instances of a CD-key to be online at any time? That would have been just as effective, and it wouldn't have been a pain in the ****ing ass.

        I don't like overbearing copyright protection more than the next guy, I hate Steam for example and don't intend to buy any more Valve games because the damn game I bought in a store wasn't even playable without an internet connection and downloading the last 5 percent off steam. I also don't like launching a game like Half-Life 1 and instead having Steam launch and then launch my game for me like some greedy little middle man.

        I mean people are obviously trying different things to avoid pirating of their games. Maybe DRM or whatever is a piece of crap and a bad idea but it's one idea of many that's being tried and of course some ideas will suck and some will be better than others and/or more and less effective than others. And yeah, it's not the consumer's fault . . . by consumer in the first instance I meant players rather than people who buy the game and legally "consume" it. They (people who buy games) don't deserve any of this bull**** but because some players (pirates) do deserve it, everyone has to deal with it. And that's just how the world works.
       Like as an example the subway in my city is basically on honour's system, but because some people get on without a ticket they plan on installing ticket turntable things (or whatever they're called) at the new expansions. And yeah I know the stealers can't be changed. Many years back I saw a study or something that claimed out of 10 people, 2-3 will always steal, 3 will never steal and the rest might steal if they get the opportunity. Don't recall the exact figures. But its just in some people's nature to be a dumbass.

[Colonol Dekker]

DRM only inconveniences legitimate customers

So why should we be inconvenienced when haxxors are gonna bypass it anyway....

[Admiral_Stones]

DRM only inconveniences legitimate customers

So why should we be inconvenienced when haxxors are gonna bypass it anyway....

[blackhole]

I mean people are obviously trying different things to avoid pirating of their games. Maybe DRM or whatever is a piece of crap and a bad idea but it's one idea of many that's being tried and of course some ideas will suck and some will be better than others and/or more and less effective than others.

Spore's DRM sucks. We're b*tching about it. Is there a problem with that?

[WMCoolmon]

EA deserves that. Will it make a difference? Not likely.

Actually, apparently it has. I got both links from a /. news story on the subject, but forgot to post it. Here's the /. story, and here's the original article on IGN.

[Akalabeth Angel]

I mean people are obviously trying different things to avoid pirating of their games. Maybe DRM or whatever is a piece of crap and a bad idea but it's one idea of many that's being tried and of course some ideas will suck and some will be better than others and/or more and less effective than others.

Spore's DRM sucks. We're b*tching about it. Is there a problem with that?

    Nope, if I knew how much it sucked I'd probably ***** about it too.

[Shade]

Funny thing is that Stardock went in the exact opposite direction and decided to make it as *easy* as possible to buy their games legally. No DRM, no CD checks, and you can buy them online and download them if you prefer that. Guess what? Their games are selling beyond all expectations.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Funny thing is that Stardock went in the exact opposite direction and decided to make it as *easy* as possible to buy their games legally. No DRM, no CD checks, and you can buy them online and download them if you prefer that. Guess what? Their games are selling beyond all expectations.

       You don't expect corporate types to actually have a brain in their head do you?
       "Movie ticket sales are down, it must be the pirates! What should we do? Raise the prices! Raise the concession stand prices!"

       I mean hell, part of the reason why Doom1 was so successful was probably the shareware format. It's interesting to see that some company is actually trying the reverse strategy. I doubt others will really jump on the bandwagon though.

       I'm waiting for Wednesday, I'd be curious to see if Yahtzee reviews Spore this week.

[Mefustae]

     Like as an example the subway in my city is basically on honour's system, but because some people get on without a ticket they plan on installing ticket turntable things (or whatever they're called) at the new expansions.

But in that case, the people who get on without tickets simply jump the turnstile, while everyone has to deal with the minor inconvenience. To make it more in line with the case of Spore; the pirates just jump the turnstile without a second thought or ever slowing down, while legitimate customers have to deal with a turnstile that is costly to use, will sometimes not let them through, and will always, always whack them in the ass just as they pass through.

As has been said: DRM like this punishes the legitimate, innocent customer, ignoring the pirates. It's ineffective, it's unacceptable, and it's downright moronic to think it could even work. Considering you don't even seem to know what DRM stands for, maybe you should educate yourself on the ins-and-outs of the topic a little before jumping to conclusions.

[Akalabeth Angel]

As has been said: DRM like this punishes the legitimate, innocent customer, ignoring the pirates. It's ineffective, it's unacceptable, and it's downright moronic to think it could even work. Considering you don't even seem to know what DRM stands for, maybe you should educate yourself on the ins-and-outs of the topic a little before jumping to conclusions.

     "Digital Rights Management" "Copyright protection" same **** different pile.
     What's the huge backlash against the product for anyway? Because you only get 3 installs? Other than that it doesn't sound any worse than any other game I've played. Like I said the last Valve game I bought in a store required me to be connected to the internet everytime I play it, and requires me to launch Steam everytime I play it despite the fact I bought a box, in a store. But who's *****ing about Steam? People are throwing money at those games like they're going out of style.

      If people are complaining about the 3 installs; well in the time it takes you to install it three times the new windows will be incompatible with whatever game you're trying to play anyway. And with 200 GB hard drives how many times is a person going to have to delete and reinstall the same game.

Funny thing is that Stardock went in the exact opposite direction and decided to make it as *easy* as possible to buy their games legally. No DRM, no CD checks, and you can buy them online and download them if you prefer that. Guess what? Their games are selling beyond all expectations.

       Upon further looking. It's funny that you say that because I went to their website to check out what they made and one game that caught my eye was . . . Space Rangers 2. Now I don't know if that's their game or they're just distributing it, but one of the reviews I read on the game (http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1021)talks about some anti-pirate ware called Starforce which sounds pretty annoying in and of itself. Pretty annoying as in locking up your computer. Even so that SP2 sounds pretty sweet and if I feel like wasting money and playing games i'll be sure to pick it up.

[blackhole]

If people are complaining about the 3 installs; well in the time it takes you to install it three times the new windows will be incompatible with whatever game you're trying to play anyway. And with 200 GB hard drives how many times is a person going to have to delete and reinstall the same game.

You may only install the game using that CD-key 3 times, regardless of computer. If you upgrade your hardware, reinstall the OS, or do anything that disturbs the precious balance of registry entries and god knows what else, it gets invalidated and you have to use up another validation. Used up all the validations? Good luck trying to convince EA, who now assume you are a nasty haxx0r, to reinstigate your validations. If they do, you get another 3 to play around with. If you don't, you now have just wasted $50.

That sucks balls, dude.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Another reason to hate these things.  How many people have more than one PC?  I have one in my room and the rest next door.  If I want to play at night I have to install in on the one in my room.  If I want to play during the day I have to install it next door.  If I want to play it both places I'm screwed. 

[Polpolion]

Just out of curiosity, how does this game activation stuff actually work? I'm assuming it's not something simple enough to circumvent as backing up an installed copy of the game with its registry files, right?

[Bob-san]

And the other thing--what happens in a few short years? Activation server not worth it for SPORE? Maybe SPORE 2 is coming out. Hmm--let's just shut it down and all those legit customers a few years ago are screwed out of $50--and now can't even play the game!!

[Ashrak]

this guy agrees with you bunch

http://www.aegmaha.com/videos/10101