Spore Copy Protection Q&A

[Exuvo]

Originally Posted by zbro

im really confused here what does authenticate mean ? and why cant it just be on cd? can someone explain this to a 13 year old please

Im 15 and i alredy know most things about computers (i sit here 8 hours a day minium and have a linux server and im a pc gamer), but if i dont know something i use Google and search for it, try using it the next time you wonder over something.

Authenticate is proving or verifying that you have a legal copy or for example, when loggin in to something it authenticates you by checking if the username and password you entered is the same as the username&password stored in the computers database.

[Zaerus]

... where does the inability for EA to understand that gamers update their pc and key software (drivers, OS updates, etc) regulairly come from? Who invented that such changes count as a 'new pc' and how in ANY way is that going to make things easier for the customer VS pirates?!

(And might the miracle happen that someone from EA reads this: Quit whining how you don't need a cd in the drive. That's not even an issue for the vast majority of the people vs your install limits... i can keep my discs longer then your 3 licenses are ever going to last.)

As for never ever uninstalling spore again. Dude how is that even an option. Don't you upgrade your pc from time to time and more frequently update your system software like drivers for example? Aslong as that gets seen as a 'new pc' and thus borks itself on 3 activations, i ain't buying noir recommending anyone to buy this game. Even then though i'd love a crack because SecuRom is just way too intrusive. I installed my antivirus and firewalls for a reason, and don't like things getting through without me knowing what and where. Call me a controle freak but this is the internet, it's just not friendly. EA's just violating that safety the second you install their securom infected software. I trust EA as little as any hacker to be honest. In which i don't think i'm alone.

Edit*

I just got mail back from EA. Which IS in dutch so i don't think allot of people can read it. but anyway it mainly reacts to my problems with mass effect. Which, i've read countless times are the same as spore:

"Al onze spellen maken gebruik van "Securom" en hebben een installatie limiet van drie.

Op u verdere vragen kan ik op dit moment geen antwoord geven. Wel kan ik u vertellen dat u mail is doorgestuurd naar ons hoofdkantoor en daar verder in behandeling zal worden genomen. "

Which says 'All our games use SecuROM and have a 3 install limit'.
and that 'further questions will be sent to the Head office'

Those questions include:
- Why does securom stay on my system after i remove your software
And howcome i need to rely on the internet to help me remove this
instead of having the usual uninstall, or just poofing with the game.
- Why am i not notified of any 3 installation limit
- is it true, and if so could it still change, that spore has this 3 install limit aswell.


To be honest... i didn't expect such a direct and clear answer. So definatly props for comming clean on that EA. Though unfortunatly this is enough reason for me never to buy a single EA game again untill those limits are removed.

[Lethn]

In that case I hereby boycott ANY of EA's games from here on out and I will gladly pirate until my modem fries and to the fanbois who seem to think this is a joke, let's see how well you take it when you run out of installs and have to ring a customer support line that will cost you money and take forever to get through.

This is an insult to legitimate customers everywhere and I advise everyone to boycott Spore if they want EA to stop using such pathetic methods of hindering real customers, the only thing that SecuROM really does is protect against casual copying, they should know by now if they had any sense that crackers actually love the challenge of taking down pathetic protection like this. Boycotting is pretty much the only way we're going to beat companies like this unless we have a very rich person on our side, it was done with SOE and it can be done with EA too.

[orifice]

If we keep the pressure up they'll probably relent.
But if they don't......Well we have options, don't we (ahoy there ya scurvy dogs we be wanting your treasure!)

[Watashiii]

After seeing the trouble that people have when buying mass effect and the people without any trouble when downloading it illegally, I'm really considering to forgo the "content directly for spore" option and just go with the pirated version

Afraid of getting arrested? Well, you should be if your EA security spyware notifies them of any strange activities they spot on your computer. With the pirated version, you don't have to be afraid of that

Also, it would be really funny if the spyware thingy worked as well as the EA download manager in the creature creator

[5xkwsk]

I only want EA to confirm all of this, not to just let us the customers ponder about what to do about it all.

[Peteuplink2]

Originally Posted by 5xkwsk

I only want EA to confirm all of this, not to just let us the customers ponder about what to do about it all.

To be honest I think there's more chance of Elvis Presley being found on Mars than there is EA answering us on this forum...

[Peteuplink2]

Originally Posted by zbro

im really confused here what does authenticate mean ? and why cant it just be on cd? can someone explain this to a 13 year old please

Authenticate means that the software will connect to EA's servers and check to see if you have a legal copy of the game.

Personally I have no problem with this, what I have a problem with is the way EA are doing it.

[Zaerus]

I just want to post a link that '777788889999' posted on another thread in the forums.
So thanks 'RankStankMcYank' for making a video about her concerns.
and thanks 777788889999 for pointing this one out to me. It's definaly usefull for bringing people up to speed.

link to vid: Spore + SecuROM = Death

Here's a girl that fortunatly found out IN TIME what's hindering spore from being the awesome product like intended by Maxis and Will Wright, Due to EA's over the top 'protection'. (read: malware infection)

Also, in 6 minutes she explains some of SecuROM's biggest problems pretty damn clear. i highly recommend checking it out. (especially if you don't know what all the fuzz is about here)

+ 1 more link from 777788889999 with an interresting take on how to combat piracy: PC game developer has radical message: ignore the pirates

for people wondering why im copying links from other threads:
so that anyone looking has more chances finding them, and so we have a central place with all the links to support our cause.

[Peteuplink2]

I've just sent this to EA, I'll let you know if I get a reply:

Hello.

I have a question about the copy protection on Spore. There have been a lot of stories flying around that EA are only going to grant 3 activations of this product when you install it to your machine.

Before the game authenicates it has to be activated. So when you install the game it activates and then the software authenticates to show that it's a legal copy.

This is great if you only have to activate it once and can authenticate as many times as you like, but if the software detects a change in your system (it could be something as small as changing a driver) it asks you to activate the game again because it "thinks" it's running on a different PC.

EA in their infinate wisdom have seen fit to only grant us 3 activations, so if you change a driver, you use and activation, you get a new sound-card, you use an activation, and then if should you need to change something else, or re-install the game, you use up your last activation, meaning you have no more activations left and you need to buy more from EA.

This is where the system is wrong. If we've bought a legal copy of the game and paid full price for it, why should we have to suffer and pay more to EA to get more installs when someone with a pirated copy can install the game as many times as they like for a fraction of the cost?

Could you please reply to me and tell me if the information I have recieved about the Spore copy protection is correct, and if it is correct are you going to alter it to make it fairer to people who have bought a legal copy of the game?

[Marcolon]

Nobody EVER said you have to PAY to get more activations

[Zaerus]

Originally Posted by Marcolon

Nobody EVER said you have to PAY to get more activations

well.. the message you get when your activationlalalala 0 is apparently this:

“The game can not start. For security reasons, only a limited number of machines can ever be licensed by a single purchase. This limit has been reached. Please purchase another registration code, reinstall, and then try again.”

(keep in mind thta the 'limited number of machines' can be 1 and the same pc with some minor changes)

Aaand...ever seen the rates their customer service charge? doesn't take long to figure out howmany minutes would justify an entire game purchase. And with all the info they want from you i can see 3 phonecalls costing that much. (0.45 euro/min here = 0.67 USD/min)
I know it says in my mass effect eula that those costs shouldn't stack up to a new copy purchase, but somehow i fail to believe that's going to be enforced. Assuming that same sentence hasn't been removed in the Spore EULA.

What if you dont have your receit or whatever they want anymore/ you fail to justify that you're NOT a pirate? then you're definatly have to buy a new license to keep your disc from being a shiney decoration to hang on your wall.
(just for the record, try imagening how long THAT phonecall would run and howmuch damage that would do to your wallet ONTOP of your already bought, full price, Spore copy)

[Malgor]

Well, I have done the research, and spent weeks trekking around the web on this issue. My original stance was "let's hope we are wrong, and it will all work out", but that quickly changed to "EA has screwed up, but I'll buy it anyway, and hope they fix it - and then fight them if they don't". Now, I am sorry to say, I am adding my voice to the many here, and on other forums (such as Amazon, Gamespot, etc) who are *not* going to buy Spore.

I am a big supporter of Will Wright, and of Maxis, but EA seems determined to screw themselves over, by screwing us over.

I would urge everyone here to do the one thing that we, as customers, can do about this - *do not buy*. EA obviously only cares about one thing: its income - so the only way to drive this point home is to hit them there. Perhaps, if the sales of the most hyped game in recent years, which has recieved such acclaim, are amongst the lowest ever seen for a major release (as opposed to the highest of all time, as expected), then maybe people will start to question if SecuROM is really such a good plan.

If you really *must* buy Spore, then please consider waiting a little - even just a week or 2. A lot of weight is given, in the industry, to day 1 and week 1 sales figures. If those don't stack up, someone is going to be wondering why - then the "SecuROM is BAAD, m'kay?" message might actually penetrate EA's collective thick skull.

In short: EA, count me out - I don't endorse malware.

[777788889999]

Malgor, I copied your signature text. We can all do it to show in red how we think about this. Im also not going to pay for this game due to the circumstances.

[Wishbone77]

Agreed. I'm not preordering, and I'm not buying the game on release either. I think I'll keep checking up to a month after release. If they still haven't gotten the message then, I think I may skip Spore altogether.

[Wishbone77]

Originally Posted by 777788889999

Malgor, I copied your signature text. We can all do it to show in red how we think about this. Im also not going to pay for this game due to the circumstances.

FYI, no you didn't. You don't even have a signature.

[777788889999]

Originally Posted by Wishbone77

FYI, no you didn't. You don't even have a signature.

I put it in my signature text, but I see I dont have one... Is there some box you need to tick to use a signature?

*EDIT* Ofcourse I saved it, in case you wonder... =)

*EDIT AGAIN* Now it just popped up! =) hehe

[Marcolon]

Hey whats up with Malgor, Wishbone and 777788889999? Not buying Spore. Then this forum is the wrong place for you to be.

And the wrong thread for this subject

[777788889999]

Originally Posted by Marcolon

Hey whats up with Malgor, Wishbone and 777788889999? Not buying Spore. Then this forum is the wrong place for you to be.

And the wrong thread for this subject

Hey, we like this game but we are protesting about its copy protection and I believe its the right place to do so.

[Zaerus]

Originally Posted by Marcolon

Hey whats up with Malgor, Wishbone and 777788889999? Not buying Spore. Then this forum is the wrong place for you to be.

And the wrong thread for this subject

ermmm... dear sir, have you not READ this thread at all?

They (add me to that), are people who want to play Spore VERY much. Just due to EA's policies involving some really BAD protection that's going to burn whoever owns a legal copy of Spore. (which the majority won't even know @ purchase... untill they're face 2 face with it)

So that's prettymuch the reason people like us are on this board. Hoping for a change that'll allow us to play this (awesome) game 2 without having to agree on buyin 3 installations per disc.

And notice how this thread is called Spore Copy Protection Q&A, so it belongs here =]) only problem with this is that there's allot of questions and virtually no answers. Let alone any concrete ones that tell us what we've been complaining about.

So Marcolon, are you actually okay with just having 3 installs that run out with trivial changes to your system and getting malware via silent installs that effectively take over your pc like malware tends to do? Bypassing any anti-virus and firewall (meaning they're making openings that skilled hackers can use to get to you?)

All that for buying a full priced game?

ps. not trying to get you out of your purchase of spore, but just want to see howmuch you really know about this issue. And if you do know about it what moves you to accept it regardless.

Sorry if this sounds a little 'agressive/pressing', i mean the best with this and respect your decisions + oppinions.

[Peteuplink2]

Originally Posted by Marcolon

Hey whats up with Malgor, Wishbone and 777788889999? Not buying Spore. Then this forum is the wrong place for you to be.

And the wrong thread for this subject

I'm another person who is NOT going to buy Spore unless EA remove the SecuROM "protection" from it.

It pains me to do this because I have been following the progress of Spore since it was first released and I've been really looking forward to playing it. I've never wanted to play a game as badly as I wanted to play Spore, but thanks to EA and it's use of SecuROM (a piece of software which I think should be outlawed), I am not going to buy Spore when it's released.

Should EA see fit to change the copy protection to something fairer and less invasive then I will buy the game, but until then I'm not going to buy it.

[Marcolon]

Originally Posted by Zaerus

So Marcolon, are you actually okay with just having 3 installs that run out with trivial changes to your system and getting malware via silent installs that effectively take over your pc like malware tends to do? Bypassing any anti-virus and firewall (meaning they're making openings that skilled hackers can use to get to you?)

All that for buying a full priced game?

What the hell do you think!? That i like this stupid idea of SecuROM!? I dont get why the F*** EA doesnt listen and remove this lalalala! I just asked a question because Wishbone earlier was going to buy it. And its the wrong thread to discuss signature!

But im going to buy it anyways because i LOVE spore and have since they first told us about it! Still nobody has ever said you have to pey for more Activations. You dont have to call them. Contact can also be E-mail?!

p.s And i have a Mac so i dont know if SecuROM Malware works on Mac but i dunno :S

[Lethn]

Quite frankly I think the only way to make EA Games listen to us is to force them to give up such garbage protection, they should not only do this with Spore but ALL EA Games, Spore is the one game I have actually considered buying legally off EA for a long time now and now they have ruined their chances.

I think we should do everything we can to make people aware of what EA are planning and that people won't stand for it, I am sick of this cloak and dagger lalalala that publishers CONTINUOUSLY try to pull on us.

I think I will also go around other Spore community sites and encourage people to do the same.

[flatfroggerx]

Surrrrrrrrreeee Marcolon, have you ever emailed EA?

Enjoy 2months of waiting and constant emailing because their email filtering robot keeps passing you with stupid information not to mention their tech support lackies are clueless.

Wow this thread sure sped up today. Scanning through it all quickly I have this to say:
1)EA saying its activated upon install. This flies in the face of their press release which says EVERY TIME YOU GO ONLINE TO DOWNLOAD NEW CONTENT. For spore and most people this will be always.

2)I wasnt aware the creature creator was a "disc", its all digital download.

3)Yes Multiple computers as long as it is 3 or less and you don't change their configurations so you don't ****y the protection off. If you do get in line.

4)I've never "lost" or "scratched" any of my games, seriously if you cared about your games you wouldn't just throw them around.

5)EA Downloader they scam you on, you HAVE to pay an extra £2.50 to redownload after 6months. Not to mention the entire service is lalalala, those who remember the spore creature creator fiasco it was finally available to download on the 18th in the early hours of the morning not the 17th like they said.

6)"If incase that you have
installed the game in three different computers, you will be able install
the game again after 14 days. You will also be able to install the game once
after that then you will have to wait again for another 14 days." I can only assume its talking about EADM it doesn't exactly make sense. If its talking about securom 14 days from when? when i first installed or when it was last activated?

7)Regarding the newer games it will be almost the same but instead of waiting
for 14 days you will have to contact us for a new installation license. <<< thats waiting 28+ days not 14.

Why you need to give your personal information other than account, cd key, name and email address I do not know. DoB and address is bull. I bet EA signs you up to all sorts of lalalala with it too.

9)zbro, Ben and exuvo have it right. A simple way to put it is: Authenticating is when you log in with a user name and password i.e when you log into the SPORE servers to upload your creatures. Activating is where the game (in this case) needs to talk to server to enable the game to run, if you don't activate the game wont run.

10)You wont be arrested for pirating 1 game, WORST case is you get a letter saying please dont do it again.

11)5xkwsk, this is confirmation from EA, read the replies to the emails. EA WILL NOT go full out into the public and say HI PC GAMERS YOU ARE BUYING SPORE BUT YOU ONLY HAVE 3 ACTIVATIONS ITS LIKE A RENTAL BUT YOU PAY FULL PRICE. ENJOY. That would kill sales something ridiculous.

12)Marcolon, partially true but yes you do in all but 1 case: if you think about it, premium rate phone number, pay to redownload via EADM. Only case you dont pay is if you email, as I said enjoy the wait.

13)Marcolon: Hey whats up with Malgor, Wishbone and 777788889999? Not buying Spore. Then this forum is the wrong place for you to be.

And the wrong thread for this subject

No, its the right forum and right thread, YOU are in the wrong forum and wrong place if you are just going to sit here and tell regulars to go away.

14)p.s And i have a Mac so i dont know if SecuROM Malware works on Mac but i dunno :S <<<, Macs get their own version of the same lalalala, enjoy .

I think thats it, I'll read again in a bit. BTW I have a simple request for people who have emailed EA, what was the timespan on your emails from initial sending to the reply from robot reply and customer service reply then final email to or from them.

[Dante288]

I could not agree more, this flawed ''protection'' has got to go if I am to ever buy an EA game ever again. As long as its here Spore will never be the great game that Maxis and Will Wright imagined