I was reading about the new game Spore. Heard a lot about it but I never knew what kind of game it was and I afound this...
Spore uses a modified version of the controversial[46][47][48][49] digital rights management (DRM) software SecuROM as copy prevention, which requires authentication upon installation and when online access is used.[50] This system was announced after the originally planned system met opposition from the public, as it would have required authentication every ten days.[51] Additionally, EA released the game under a policy by which the product key of an individual copy of the game would only be authenticated on up to three computers.[52] In response to customer complaints, this limit was raised to five computers.[53] After the activation limit has been depleted, EA Customer Service will reset the activation count on a case-by-case basis.[54]
As a result of the protection scheme, out of 3184 of the reviews on Amazon.com, 2671 individual reviews have given Spore a one star, the lowest rating. Electronic Arts cited SecuROM as a "standard for the industry", and Apple's iPod song DRM policy as justification for the control method.[55] Former Maxis developer Chris Harris labeled the DRM a "screw up" and a "totally avoidable disaster".[56]
The SecuROM software was not mentioned on the box, in the manual, or in the Software license agreement. An EA spokesperson stated that "we don't disclose specifically which copy protection or digital rights management system we use [...] because EA typically uses one license agreement for all of its downloadable games, and different EA downloadable games may use different copy protection and digital rights management.”[57]
Despite the use of DRM, Spore has been cracked, bypassing the copy protection mechanism. The game was illegally distributed over BitTorrent file sharing protocol four days before its retail release, and has been downloaded over 500,000 times - and is now on its way to becoming the most online-shared game in history.
In response to reaction over Spore's DRM, Frank Gibeau, president of EA games, announced that maximum install limit would be increased from 3 to 5 and that it would be possible to de-authorize and move installations to new machines, citing the need to adapt their policy to accommodate their legitimate customers.[59][60]
On September 22, 2008, a global class action law suit was filed against EA, regarding the DRM in Spore, complaining about EA not disclosing the existence of SecuROM, and addressing how SecuROM runs with the nature of a rootkit, including how it remains on the hard drive even after Spore is uninstalled.[61][62][63]
If that is what they think they are mistaken. Pirates would never buy the products anyway. So you are not loosing any money there and you never will. It's simple, a Pirate won't buy it. 99% of games get cracked so for them it's not something they would do (buying the game I mean)
Where they are loosing money is with the possible customer that would of bought the game but decided against it for a variaty of reasons. Those Are the PEOPLE that matter not the pirates. So if they want to make money they have to concentrate on the reasons that prevented the LEGITIMATE CUSTOMER from doing so. Once you find that reason you must fix it.
it seems to me that EA is concentrating on the PIRATES right now instead of the legitimate customer. Therefore IMHO they are doing it wrong. It's a pointeless excercise to try and block pirates. It's been proven time and time again, whatever somebody thinks up a pirate can bring it down. Wether it's a bank or a computer system nothing is safe.
So I say forget the pirates they are here to stay. The possible customer however is not here to stay. You must fight to keep him interested. EA is not doing that. It's as simple as pie.
S
That would sort of be the whole point. Pirates defacing a review page aren't going to hold much sway with EA. Look, you're preaching to the choir when you complain about EA and its publishing methodology. It's lunacy to think that things are going to change when gamers make themselves look like the bad guys though.
The light has to stay fixed on EA for bad corporate practices and not on a bunch of thieves that are whining about any sort of DRM at all and bragging about how they're boycotting EA, when they weren't planning to buy anyway and were just going to torrent their product or not play it at all.
@Mazuo - you are making lot of blanket statements and assumptions about politically active gamers all of which are not valid. Case in point, I for one have passed on many titles due to DRM and I don't play pirated versions of them either. I want to get them but I simply will not until the DRM is removed that is why I have been an advocate of drawing attention to EA practices. Again it will not change when complaints are made directly to it. In fact doing so will more than likely get you banned from its forums and cost you a fortune in phone calls all to no avail. So the only other legal option short of buying the company is to publicly call it out and try to compel it to change by influencing the only people that matter to it - the stock holders.
Mazuo, you're sounding a lot like John Ricietello in that post. He said something very similar: 1/2 of thosae complaining about DRM are pirates and the other half don't know any better. That's both insulting and shows a huge lack of comprehension on what's really going on.
I ask you, just as I'd ask him: why in the name of <whatever deity you wish to insert here> would pirates complain about DRM? They don't care about it. They don't even deal with it. It's not on the pirated copy, so what on earth would be their incentive for complaining about it? It's not pirates that are carpet bombing Amazon reviews. It's former customers like me* and Spartan and others that are fed up with the increasingly restrictive and intrusive measures that EA and other game publishers are foisting off on us that do absolutely nothing to stop piracy and only cause problems for the honest buyer.
*Although admittedly, I've not done reviews on Amazon. I've been focussing my efforts on game forums and other areas.
You have one in this very topic. Ask him.
Also, I'd suggest you go back and actually read my posts before attributing any more positions to me that I did not take. I've repeatedly stated I'm against EA's DRM policy and against other companies following suit. What I disagreed with was the gamers' response to such mechanisms being championed in this topic.
EA is not trying to stop piracy, they try to get more control of what leggit customers do with the software.
like sell it later @ used shops.
they try also to stop casual piracy like a copy for your friend , they also wan't to stop people to lend games to friends/brother/>insert anything here<
because that's sales that they don't make. or that they might make.
Can't be for that reason. The activations actually give you permission to do that, albeit for a limited number of friends. And seriously, anyone that can't borrow it off a friend can easily torrent it. It does not stop piracy of any form.
Mazuo: I'm aware of your stance. I'm not attributing any stance or positions to you other than what you state. But you state yourself that "Pirates defacing a review page aren't going to hold much sway with EA". I'm just pointing out that if you think it's only pirates you're mistaken. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you though, and if so my apologies. I guess what I'm trying to point out is even if that particular strategy by itself doesn't get EA's attention, if it combines with other tactics/strategies, it can only help. They'd ignore it at their peril. And the fact that JR feels the need to comment on it and try to nonchalantly brush it aside speaks volumes. It looks like whistling past the graveyard, IMO.
*edit* Mazuo, reading back through the posts, it appears you're assuming that all or most of the people that didn't buy the game, but reviewed it, are pirates. Don't make that error. Many of the reviews are by people that are saying they wanted to buy the game but passed because of the DRM. That does not in any way imply they pirated it. I've stated exactly the same thing on various game forums (Spore, RA3, Dead Space, Mass Effect). I do not pirate games. This is why I have such a beef with this whole DRM scheme. Having been burned by it on BioShock, I'll never buy another game that uses it. But the publisheres are not going to know that unless they''re told. The Amazon reviews are one way of doing that, as well as informing others of the inherent issues.
i said they try to, not they succeed
i bought spore, now i'm not buying anymore ea games because of the drm sheme they use in any titles out, i also don't play anymore spore because of securom infestation if i play it .
i'm sticking to companys like bethesda or stardock that CARE about what we feel using the product they are selling to us.
with EA i'm feeling like a suspect , "you buy from us the right to play OUR game, it not belong to you, we can just take it away from you when we wan't if you do something we don't like because WE have the KEYS of the DRM" sorry but i don't like this, i'm not a pirat i own the right to play this game.
they have to rethink how they look the customers they have, instead 'they are all suspect' they might think ' they deserve something better than the pirats have' that's the only way customers have to be treated...
i'm working in a shop(and yes we have EA games to sell) , our customers are our best value. if they feel ripped off, suspected of being thief i'm not sure they comes shop here again ...
the gaming industry(with some exceptions) just think the oposite way, it's no good...
sorry for my bad english
Coelocanth, let's leave the issue of piracy to the side for a moment.
The most important point I've been trying to get across is that flooding a review site with crummy reviews is nothing more than painting graffiti on a wall. While that may seem a romantic notion to some of the little guy versus the giant, the realistic approach is that we'll get nowhere without behaving like adults and sitting down with the corporates and figuring out the best solution for both parties. I'm sure Stardock, Ironclad and lots of other companies would stand behind that position.
If EA or anyone else don't want to play ball, they'll quickly find their sales plummeting if they continue to use harsh DRM schemes that irritate their customer base without showing that they care about finding that solution. No tantrums required, yet they still lose.
And I disagree. It has a purpose and is far more than just 'graffiti on a wall'. It's put the spotlight on the DRM issue for many people that otherwise may not have known anything about it. As well, it's garnered the attention of various gaming news sites, and has also been brought to EA's attention. Now, they may publicly be brushing it off as nothing more than 'pirates' and those that don't know better, but I'm betting behind the scenes it's a different story. They'd be fools not to pay attention to it when you couple it with the complaining/outcry on other gaming forums as well as 4 lawsuits in the works.
Again, that tactic on its own may mean little. However, when you add it to other means of compaining and protesting that are also occurring, it just adds more weight.
and the debate continues. i personaly hate copyright protection because it is literly useless, and really, does not do much, besides increase the price of games (im sure part of the price would be clued in given that they have to keep on coming up with new creative ideas) or decrease how much money thay have to spend on actualy making the game better. in my honest opinions, as time goes on the quality of games and the ammount of thought put behind them is less and less, but thats me. worse comes to worse, i find a better game to play (or a game that cant be bet so easily, like WoW, EQ2, EVE Online, Warhammer Online, PlanetSide, etc.)
I agree with Coelocanth-there are a lot of people who would not otherwise know who now do, although I would contend there are still a large amount of people who do not know.
Whichever EA eadiot said half of them are pirates and half of them wouldn't know any better, he's unfortunately got it half right, in that a majority of those who bought or would have bought Spore would not have known, but this is more a symptom of Spore attempting to reach a very wide audience than anything else, other than perhaps the comparatively low computer literacy level-and I'm not just talking about powering it on.
But not knowing does not mean that they wouldn't care if they did know, either.
@Sole - The EA idiot who made the comment is the CEO, John Riccitiello.
*facepalms*
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
(That's directed at him, by the way, not you.)
Hehe i suddently turn into a full fledge pirate due to my protest against EAs DRM methods. I'll say it against to make it clear. I followed achiously and with great hope and anticipation the developement of spore and lived throught all of the dissapointing delays only to be told about the draconian DRM methods they would be inplimenting. On thus note i decoded to boycott the game and to get my self a pirated with is obviously DRM free in protest.
Previous to that only 2 other prirated games have ever fell into my hands. The latest was Gangters II about oen year ago after seeing that teh game was no longer available anywere legitly. Edios doesnt even mention the game in their library anymore. And according to them all prodduction of the gane has ceaceed thus it is imposible to buy it. Gettign a pirate copy wa smy only option. The otehr pirated game of my life was Total Annihilation wich was pass alog to me a short time after it had came out. I liked it and bought the game and it is still part of my collection.
And so far i would say i agree with and that my views on the matter are the same or almost the same as Coelocanth's views. And i hardly doubt i can be considered a pirate or even a part time pirate due. I for one cossider my self a legit palyer.
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