Sep 08 2008
Spore DRM Revolt
After seeing a story about Spore’s DRM on Digg, I dropped by Amazon to see how bad the reviews were and I was shocked. Very few people actually write reviews there for video games, but there have already been 667 reviews (as of this posting), and almost every reviewer has given the game a 1-star rating.
The DRM Electronic Arts deployed on the title is controversial because you need to activate it over the internet and there is a limit to the number of times it can be activated. If you format your HDD or something, you’ll need to re-install and re-activate it. If you activate it more than 3 times, you need to call EA and ask them for additional activation options and they apparently request proof of purchase (receipt) and reasons for why you used up your three activations.
No DRM system is perfect, but this sort of DRM is silly; it’s like putting down $50 to rent a game. It’s a good thing this is a problem with current games and not old ones; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve installed Age of Empires or RollerCoaster Tycoon over the years.
I wish companies would just go back to requiring CD-keys and be done with it. It worked just fine for me as a user and didn’t restrict me to the number of times I install the game.
Companies usually complain that piracy is the main reason PC game sales are low every year. It’s true that games are commonly pirated, but other reasons include DRM and frankly a lack of innovation in gameplay. It’s all about who can make the best graphics… what happened to addictive gameplay?!
I was initially interested in getting Spore, but at this point, I have no reason to check out the game. $50 is too much to simply rent a game. Poor options in gameplay and DRM are the two reasons I’ve almost abandoned gaming altogether.
Update: After some additional searching, it seems some sites are censoring reviews for this game. Gamespot and ebgames are censoring (deleting) anti-DRM reviews. Ha! EA’s reach is far.
It looked interesting, but I’ll pass on this one as well.
I thought it looked pretty cool, too, but now after hearing about this ultra-crazy DRM initiative from EA–who I already hate to no end–I’ll skip on Spore, and any other game they publish. DRM, I think, has gotten out of control. I understand that copyrights need to be protected, but not in this way. I think it’s extreme and only ends up causing more piracy in the end, because people become frustrated with it, and rightfully so.
[…] I mentioned recently, Spore had that digital rights management in it and is one of the reasons I declined buying it. […]