Spore Copy Protection Q&A

[777788889999]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yeah, absolutely right! I want to enjoy the game that Ive bought. EA is for some reason punishing people that buy their games. This sadism cant be tolerated. There is no reason what so ever to put this kind of copy protection on a game since it only creates bad will for the company and DOES NOT PREVENT PIRACY. In fact this way of turning customers away only encourages people to pirate games. Note to EA: Dont get angry at the people making cracks. They are doing a lot of volunteer work to support YOUR customers when SecuROM wont let them play they games they bought! I belive that because of your copy protection you and us are now dependent on cracks.

[Marcolon]

Originally Posted by flatfroggerx

Surrrrrrrrreeee Marcolon, have you ever emailed EA?

Uhh... Yea i have emailed them the exact same question as Longer up in this thread. If it was true about thoose activations!

[Marcolon]

Originally Posted by 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.

Btw Where the hell did all this hostility come from. You ask one simple question and suddenly people hate you.

Sorry for the double post

[Lethn]

I think it was more the sarcasm that came across with it Marc, if it was an honest question I doubt he'll be angry for long, a lot of fanbois tend to use sarcasm like that so it's better to establish the context better

[777788889999]

It feels really good to see more and more people copying the signatures to join the protest. I think when EA sees that their whole forum have a red glow about it something may happen. If it doesnt, we just wont buy. This is democracy. Good work everyone!

[wildneb]

I'm with you guys. Will not be buying spore unless this is resolved.

[A1or2Ply]

Originally Posted by Marcolon

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

You may want to take a look at the post by ButMadNNW79 Posted:Aug 8, 2008 9:33 PM here (EA Spore forum)

[wildneb]

does anyone know if it is possible to remove my creations from the spore server? I have made backups in case this is resolved, however, I don't want my creatures featured in this game if not

[777788889999]

Originally Posted by A1or2Ply

You may want to take a look at the post by ButMadNNW79 Posted:Aug 8, 2008 9:33 PM here (EA Spore forum)

Thanks for the link! So this is the US forum then I guess? That post also shows how idiotic SecuROM is. But EA also said that trying to play the game on another user account on the same computer actually counts as another activation.

[Marcolon]

go to the US sporepedia theres an option to delete them

[Cyberfrog]

What is the forum? 50-100 people? A drop in the ocean.

I'm not saying "give up". Speak your mind; I intend to do the same, but if I said I for sure wouldn't buy Spore it would be a lie. But I won't pre-order.

[Dante288]

I realize the utter ignorance of EA, however I have a fraction of a hope that if enough people speak out against SecuROM they will allow the thought that SECUROM IS BAD, into their thicker-than-the-earths-crust skulls . So please, everyone please speak out against SecuROM here and just MAYBE they will hear our plees!

[Kris015]

Kris015

There you have it... I'm gonna buy Spore anyway! but here is a tip EA... Remove SecuROM or you will lose lots of costumers!

I hate SecuROM!!! BUT LOVE SPORE!!!!!

[Dante288]

If they don't remove it you realize you will be infected by a virus. Thats all SecuROM is.

[EAUK_Aurora]

I have merged this thread with the sticky at the top of the forum discussing SecuROM.

I have no information about reasons why measures have been implemented, other than information that you already know with regard to piracy, or any up to date news but please be assured that your concerns are passed on in regard to this matter.

[Kris015]

Originally Posted by Dante288

If they don't remove it you realize you will be infected by a virus. Thats all SecuROM is.

I don't care I NEED SPORE!!! (Smileys means i'm going mad... Couldn't find a good Smiley for this situation)

[Lethn]

Thank you please let your managers know that legitimate customers everywhere will NOT stand for SecuROM or these kind of activation methods being installed on our computers.

[Dante288]

I second what Lethn has said. It is nothing more than a hindrance and malware that should be removed.

[777788889999]

Originally Posted by Kris015

I don't care I NEED SPORE!!! (Smileys means i'm going mad... Couldn't find a good Smiley for this situation)

Dont you care that you might buy this game and not being able to play it after a while (or maybe right away if SecuROM decides it: YouTube - How anti-piracy screws over people who buy PC games) and at the same time pirates will play the game without any problems what so ever?

[Spah]

I'm facepalming right now. Not because of what EA is doing, but because of you guys. Have any of you thought this situation through before you came to the conclusion that EA is evil and is simply looking to deprive you of your precious video game? Have any of you put yourself in the position of EA to actually try to figure out why they'd want this? Ok children, gather around and I, being one of the only people here who seems to know anything about business practices, will explain some things to you.

A lot of this is repetition of what I said on pages 10-11 (I think) but I'll repeat myself.




Claim 1: EA is just looking to take our cash and will forget about us when it gets it.

Answer: Yes, yes it is, it's a business, it's what it does. However, Spore is not a game, it's a franchise like The Sims. Most of the revenue won't come from the game, but from the dozens of generic expansion packs that will follow in the next few years. Why would EA sell you the game and then dump you if it can keep you happy and playing and subsequently sell you 5 Spore-worths of expansion packs. The way the DRM is going, a lot of people will be locked out of their games by the time the first expansion pack is released, resulting in EA losing the majority of it's potential profits.


Claim 2: EA does not tell people about the DRM, tricking them into renting the game instead of buying it.


Answer: If EA doesn't tell people about it, then it expects people to never find out. How much flak do you think EA will take when suddenly 32 year old John Doe finds out about the install limits while playing the game on his office PC? It's one thing to drive nerds like us to boiling point over the game, and it's another to do so to the casual gamers who are oblivious to the situation. The game has attracted the attention of NASA for Christ sake, do you think they would allow NASA to get installation errors from the DRM?


Claim 3: EA is filled with greedy corporate fat-cats who want to rob the common gamer. That's why they implemented the whole 3 install limit DRM thing.


Answer: I'll tell you why they did it. EA devised a security system that would install Securom to the gamer's PC and phone home. It knew that compared to the traditional Serial Key and CD check this system would look evil, so they announced a system even more evil to overshadow the Securom spyware: the 3 install limit. While the casual gamer (that is, the main targeted audience of the game) remained oblivious to the entire security system, Securom and the install limit, the people that would otherwise be complaining about the Securom spyware are instead complaining about the 3 install limit. EA tested this 3 install limit on the PC release of Mass Effect, a game that had already payed for itself with Xbox 360 releases, therefore they had nothing to lose from abusing it's PC players.
A short time after Spore is released and complaints start pouring in, EA will officially remove the install limits. The people who knew about it will rejoice, EA will look like heroes. All the players who badmouthed the DRM system will run to the stores to buy the game, so no damage will be done. Everyone who knew about the Securom spyware will dismiss it with the words "Well, it could have been much worse". The casual gamers still remain oblivious to the whole thing.
The situation is resolved, and EA lives long and happily ever after.

[Dante288]

Securom is a virus that takes away some of the control of computer administrators, can cause malfunction in games, drives, and other softwares, cannot be removed with the game, it functions like nothing more than simple malware, and you think people will run into the shops to buy it if they know it is there? No, stupid people who have no idea what SecuROM is will do that, then they will experiance the problems it presents and then they will also complain. You also seem to forget, when it is installing it gives very little information its even being installed.

[wildneb]

Thanks, just deleted my creatures - also just found this gem floating around the net (see my signature)

[Dante288]

LOL I thank you wildneb, that made my day. Fear the robots/cyborgs!

[Lethn]

Spah, I can tell you now, NONE of these protection methods that EA uses actually work what would work is if they made it like steam where you only had a digital download option and had to register to them and buy it directly, I actually would be quite cool with that, for one thing you would not really need to install SecuROM or any other 'protection' software because they KNOW whether or not you have officially bought it from them and can only use a key they have personally given you.

Yes EA is only in it to make money, yes EA is just a greedy corporation, but what money are they making by putting copyright protection on legitimate customers that doesn't even work? Do they seriously think this is going to do anything? Do you even think that?

And if you think this is all some sort of sinister PR scam that's going to convert more followers to give their money to EA think again, I don't trust publishers for a second, I have never trusted them since SOE decided to trash the original Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG and I won't be satisfied until they have completely stomped this kind of stealth garbage from games altogether.

[777788889999]

Spah... did you read that the older EA games have a 3 install limit but that you get installs back after 14 days after you used them up. EA will not lift the curse from Spore after 6 months or anything. It will just change a bit, maybe. In that case activations will be given back, but thats only if. There is nothing that points towards removing the restrictions. As for business idea, here you go : PC game developer has radical message: ignore the pirates Now wouldnt that be much better for everyone?