Spore Copy Protection Q&A

[Malgor]

Bear in mind that "changing hardware" can mean adding memory, memory failing, over/underclocking your cpu (how will this affect laptop users?), upgrading drivers, or various other scenarios - none of which you will think to uninstall before doing. In these instances, you could run out of activations pretty quickly, and off you trot to phone an over-priced and under-performing helpline, to try to justify why you have no activations left, and be put on trial and accused of software piracy - with the hope that they eventually agree to let you have another activation (and they might only give you one more).

Also, even aside from that, when I buy a game, I expect to *actually own my copy of the game* - if I want to install it on 5 PC's, then I expect to be able to. With most software (games, anyway), this is not an issue: the publisher is usually only concerned if I am making that game available to others - but if the game has, for example, an online activation system based on unique user accounts, there will be no problem with that. EA is saying I can only install on 3 PCs, but they don't care who uses them - that is nuts. Oh, and before anyone says "no-one needs to install on more than 3 PCs": I have 3 PCs in my home, all of which I use for gaming, and 2 laptops (shared, but both have most of my games on them), and PCs in 3 different office locations (again, all used for gaming, on occasion). Every game I play regularly is installed on all or most of these machines, with no problems - I don't see why EA thinks that people like me should have restricted access to their games, but if I chose to pirate the game I could play it when and where I liked.

If we roll over and accept that systems like this DRM are 'OK' in our games, what will they turn to next? I don't really want to find out, an I feel that we have to, at least, try to make EA aware that we are not happy being treated like criminals.

[wildneb]

"SecuROM limits the number of simultaneous installs of the game allowed to three. Changing hardware, wiping a hard drive, or disposing of a computer, without first uninstalling removes an install. You can make a phone call to EA's support to request additional installs, so this is only a minor nuisance".

I hope this is the case, I'd be willing to accept it if we can unistall in order to keep our activations. However I would want to be able to uninstall the secuROM as well, which I suspect you can't.

The main problem is no one can get a straight answer from anyone at EA, so we have to assume the worst - they are dodging the questions because they plan to bend us over.

Exuvo - I'm afraid I don't have time to write to companies at the moment , got alot of RL stuff going on, but if I get chance, I'll send a few.

[wildneb]

Malgor - You beat me to the punch, but summed it up beautifully!!

[Wishbone77]

Originally Posted by Zaerus

Having 3 installs total which get 'refunded' if you propperly uninstall spore. So basicly just letting the server know during install and uninstall. Only chance of loosing one of these installs is not uninstalling it before a format, hardware change or carry that hard drive over to another PC.

And even if you loose one install.. you have 2 left. The addition would be being able to spread these installs over 3 pc's.

Aslong as you uninstall everything propperly before those big changes nothings wrong.

Even if this was the case, (which I'm not sure it is, since plenty of things point to the fact that activations are NOT redeemed through an uninstall), then it is still not okay.

Something as simple as a driver update could trigger an activation. I don't know how often you update a driver, but for me, it's probably once every 1 or 2 months. Now imagine this DRM being so widespread that it's on all your installed games. Think of the hassle involved in something as simple as updating your graphics driver. You'd have to uninstall all your games, update the driver, and then install all your games again. You can't seriously tell me that you're okay with that?!?

And how you'd go about spreading 2 installs over 3 PCs is beyond me.

[flatfroggerx]

If people email The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back explaining about it it usually raises enough attention to make people aware of it, mass effect is documented on it why not spore?

BTW Sorry about that Zaerus :/

[Zaerus]

s' ok
my hopes got the better of me lol

[777788889999]

I found an article about this that was quite good and compares what you get if you pirate the game versus if you buy it. Simprograms » EA to PC Gamers: “Install 3 times? Buy another copy”

[Peteuplink2]

Originally Posted by Exuvo

Hello i have been seeing forward to Spore, but seeing now that it has this lalalalala anti-piracy protection that will force me to either buy a new spore copy or call (and pay for the phone) each 6 months i will probably not buy this game.
I have signed the petition and sent its link to all my friends who also are intrested in the game.

I have written an email that i have send to EA but i will probably get the same respones as everyone else...
The message is sent i have uploaded on to my server at: http://exuvo.no-ip.org/sporecomplain.txt

Its fairly long



I have also been trying to find any way of contacting Maxis or anyone developing the game but to no sucess.

We should probably send emails to pc game news "companies" or web pages as IGN PC: Games, Cheats, News, Reviews, and Previews and alert them to this issue and the link to the petition, and hope that we can make more people aware of this problem with EAs decision with Spore.
I could write to ign and some other places but i would prefer if someone of you guys (or girls) that are a little more involved in the subject write to them.

On Friday I sent emails to the editors of PC Zone, PC Gamer and C&VG magazines to try and raise awareness of this. I've not had anything back yet, but it was quite late in the day when I sent them and I suppose it's reasonable to assume these guys dont come into work over the weekend.

[Charca]

This is along the line that microsoft has taken,(as in when you try to update an old software)"sorry we do not support this anymore".They well make there money,then say the same thing,it just the way the world is,make a fast buck and run.

I went asda the other day and they do not sell PC games no more?
It's because the person that puts the disc in the box's,put the wroung disk's in,(2 disc box,both disc need the same code on)so people keep bring the games back for refunds.

This servise is new and needs to be tryed and tested,EA need to be on the ball and make it work well .

best regards ..charca..

[Exuvo]

I used maps.google and it said Maxis Software is located at
953 Mountain View Dr
Lafayette, CA 94549, United States

(415) 376-6434

But that information was entered by a user named "Pasi" so im not completly sure if its the real place.

I have not found any email yet. I'll keep looking.

(Edit)
From Wikipedia:
Will Wright's studio (currently developing Spore) is located in Emeryville, California.

(Edit 2)
I have written to IGN about this issue, but it is probably best if i also write to the ones Peteuplink2 did, and i will when i get the time.

[Zaerus]

I've written to Giantbomb and put a few posts on their forums, written my local EA a letter but well yeah... we all know how that'll end up going.

Might be a retharded attempt at getting their attention but how about deleting spore characters from their sporepedia. I wiped my 175 creatures [got backup incase this whole thing turns out right, but hey, it's EA so don't bet on it]
To be realistic theres no way those 2,5 million creatures r going to 0 but hey, maybe a few thousands are enough for them to take notice? -.- propably not.

if some of you do think it can be used effectively just tell then i'll include that in my preaching across the interwebs about this DRM. Hoping people take notice...
I'll be hospitalized for high blood pressure out of sheer frustration with EA before i stop trying to get some CLEAR info and spread awareness.

on another note, do any of you if it's even legal to put **** like SecuRom with it's connected 3 activation limit into a game and sell it without a customer knowing about it untill they get problems? most people don't even know what the hell they're getting into anyway.

[wildneb]

thanks to everyone who has signed the petition so far, but DON'T right profanities on it, you discredit us all. If whoever put that last comment on can remove it, DO!

[Exuvo]

If you decide to write to any places you should probably include this link: Simprograms » EA to PC Gamers: “Install 3 times? Buy another copy” , that has been posted before in this thread.

[Exuvo]

I have written a personal message to EAUK_Baker011 asking him to answer some of the questions in this thread and also about the issue with SecuROM.
Link to my message: http://exuvo.no-ip.org/sporemessage.txt

[Zaerus]

Originally Posted by Exuvo

If you decide to write to any places you should probably include this link: Simprograms » EA to PC Gamers: “Install 3 times? Buy another copy” , that has been posted before in this thread.

Yeah thats definatly the clearest article. And i'm linking to this forum aswell to show people how well customer service treated Sweet & MrGutis.

[Wishbone77]

Originally Posted by Exuvo

I have written a personal message to EAUK_Baker011 asking him to answer some of the questions in this thread and also about the issue with SecuROM.

Don't get your hopes up. I already tried that. Posted it in this thread too. You can find it here. I never heard from him, and he's never posted here since the OP.

[777788889999]

Its really bad that they dont give us any answer on this thread. That just shows how much they care about us right?

[Zaerus]

Originally Posted by 777788889999

Its really bad that they dont give us any answer on this thread. That just shows how much they care about us right?

Amen... personally, i don't think they'll release any statement about anything untill they got their greedy paws on the launch money for their glorified trail software. They don't even care about people having trouble after paying for the creature creator, Spore isn't going to be any different.

The only propper statement they could make is that they removed it. If they admit putting it in they'll loose allot of sales and propably get a load of flak. Though i don't even think they'll say anything. Not untill they have the launch money, and propably nothing concrete after that either.

i found 2 more links: This disturbing message (might b a good idea to clear your sporepedia if this is true.)
and i came across this article... which prettymuch is just bashing the players create a sense of ownership over their creature because they evolved it thing... propper way of saying it would be that a player creates the illusion of ownership over the creature, because fact is that EA already stripped your rights to own anything concerning spore when you installed. Well except for the merchandise like t-shirts and lunchboxes.

Which i hope don't come with some secret compartment containing a hidden EULA document =P

[777788889999]

Seems like Spore is getting some really bad publicity. I feel sad for Will Wright working with EA. I dont think this is what he had in mind when thinking about this game. All this just makes me angry. EA, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! STOP ABUSING US!

[Spah]

Originally Posted by Zaerus

They don't even care about people having trouble after paying for the creature creator, Spore isn't going to be any different.

Oh yes it will. Mass Effect was one thing, it was a one-off sale. You buy the game, they don't care about you. Spore will be different. They've announced that it will have expansion packs, meaning that they're going to milk the Spore franchise for all it's got. They've been milking The Sims 2 for the last 4 years. Most of their income came from the expansion packs rather than the original game. I'm afraid to think of how long they'll be suckling on this teat. Judging by the amount of third-party merchandise they're creating for Spore (t-shirts and whatnot) I'd say they'll be at it for a long time.
Now tell me, do you think they'll kiss most of their potential profits goodbye by keeping the DRM in place and allowing a chunk of their clientele to be locked out of their own games before the first expansion pack comes out? Who will buy the shirts, then? Who will buy the expansion packs? No, they need us to keep playing for years to come so they can continue to feed us a generic expansion pack every 6 months. When they truly realise what they've done with the DRM, they'll remove it.

[777788889999]

I really hope you are right Spah, I want to buy this game when they remove their DRM...

[Spah]

In fact, I bet this whole DRM thing is probably just a PR maneuvre. EA wouldn't be in the top 5 software companies in the world if they were idiots. I'm willing to bet that a few days after the game comes out and the first complaints start pouring in, they'll get rid of the 3 installs limit, claiming to be an oh-so caring company. Then, they'll end up looking like heroes despite the fact that they *still* install the spyware called Securom on your PC. I refuse to believe that the scan-every-10-days-or-you're-clusterf***ed thing that they got rid of was a legitimate fluke on their part, I think this is the same.

[Zaerus]

I'm with u on the PR maze thought. Personally believe that this whole 10-day mess was never going to happen, but was just a distraction and muzzle to everyone concerned about the 3 activation limit. Which satisfied most people who don't dig into the real problems, which in turn frustrates the people who DO know because their valid conserns get less support, thus less attention. (attention propably being "are we making money out of this?", "yes...but oth-", "THEN WHATS THE PROBLEM" *moves on*)
Ea dun deserve to get glorified for their own rigged we-care scemes. i'd rather see it being propperly investigated by several parties and sued the lalalala out of for any loose end. really wish some lawyer buys this game for his kids and comes upon the 3 install limit, which he practicly for sure wouldn't know about with all that cloak and dagger stuff going on in the EULA.

[Spah]

Originally Posted by Zaerus

really wish some lawyer buys this game for his kids and comes upon the 3 install limit, which he practicly for sure wouldn't know about with all that cloak and dagger stuff going on in the EULA.

If only Jack Thompson was a hardcore evolutionist, if only.

But really, the question is, Why So Serious? I'm so sure that EA will remove the install limit that I'm buying the game the day after it comes out. The game isn't even out yet and people are complaining about it's authentication system, there'll be a huge uproar when it comes out if EA doesn't do something. While I doubt lawyers will get involved, I DO know that several organizations (including NASA, like I mentioned in a previous post) are interested in the game, and if they complain to EA about it then their voices will be heard.

Again, even from the "All EA wants to do is make a profit" POV, they'll still get rid of the limits, as they need people to be interested in the game for years to come.


As a last consolation, if Spore CC has the same authentication system as the game, then cracking it shouldn't be a problem. I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who has a pirated copy of the full CC, and he says that not only does it work without a hitch, but it also works online with the Sporepedia.

[777788889999]

Im not sure it will be accepted by the server if you crack the game. I think you will need to have the original exe. But even if cracking it would make it work I really dont think you should have to crack games that you have paid for in order for you to play them. That's just wrong...