It took 10 days and over 2000 written complaints to finally see some action out of EA about their horrendous DRM for Spore. The word on the street is that EA will be releasing a patch that will allow the user to deactivate a installation when they uninstall the game.
This to me is a half hearten approach to resolving the issue on hand. For one it doesn’t address the spyware that is installed with Spore and two it just adds another step to the hoops you have to jump through to use the game you paid $50 for.
The number of installs allowed is irrelevant to the true problem with Spores DRM. The true problem is that they limit the user at all. I would hate to see this trend catch on and spread virally to other game manufactures, as it will just turn into more headaches for gamers.
EA continues to cry that only 1% of gamers activate their games on more then one machine, but once again there comments are irrelevant to the fact that they feel they can impose these restrictions on paying customers. I hope through time, if there are enough complaints, that the activation restriction will be dropped all together.
So don’t stop writing those reviews if you feel your rights as a consumer have been violated. Companies are like sheep. If one can get away with it, they all will. In contrast if a giant like EA is brought to its knees, other companies will not even try to step on peoples rights.
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Most people have the whole idea of DRM’s like SecuRom and the X amount of activations all wrong.
It’s not just a simple DRM, it installs separately to the game without your knowledge…if you un-install the game…it DOESN’T un-install the SecuRom, which makes it a rootkit (malware), so if you don’t know this, you will think it’s gone because it hides in “hidden folders†and in your “Registryâ€, not to mention disabling of some AV’s, the damage it does to some PC hardware, and stops you from being able to use legal software that SecuRom has been programmed to black band. EA deserves to be sued over this issue alone.
The other issue I have with this type of Draconian DRM is that when you can’t afford the internet anymore, you can no longer Play a Game you Paid for, and that is wrong…most games aren’t played over the Net so why do we have to be connected to it. ( It’s to Spy on PC users, that’s why it Phones Home with Encrypted Data.)
There is a lot bigger picture than what we’re seeing here right now, this is only a baby step to the end plan. This has nothing to do with piracy, because we know that the pirates will never be stopped and it is proven once again with the amount of torrented copies of Spore downloaded so far in just one month. Why is EA adamant about continuing to use SecuRom when they know it’s not doing what they say it was intended for and is only affecting the paying customers? I will not buy anything that is put out by EA or Sony anymore, even though I would love to buy Sims2 IKEA, Sims2 Apartment Life, Spore, Red Alert 3 and many more, but I just don’t trust EA or Sony. All they have done for the last 20 months is lie through their teeth to save their neck and not a bit of concern for their paying customers.
I’m a member at Reclaim Your Game: http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/ – and we’re dedicated to helping other gamers with their issues with SecuRom and get info out to educate the public.
So please feel free to visit our site and see for yourself.