DRM and my brief review of Spore

spore is pretty damn boring im at the trible stage now and just before that i saw a spacecraft follow me for like 3 minutes ill be sure to wipe them off the face of the galaxy as soon as i fight through the boredom of actually getting to the space age

meh nothing too special about the space age either.  Its a great idea, its just too repetetative in the gameplay aspect.  I have no desire to spend hours making or even searching for that perfect looking whatever.  I do however see my 8 year old daughter loving all the early easy parts

The DRM makes no sense because if you don't buy the game and make an account you get no access to the customized content everyone has been working on for months and will be working on and you can't join the community in a meaningful way anyway. If you pir8 this game amd actually enjoy it I guarentee you will buy it for access to that aspect.

Me, I don't like the game but admire the idea behind it.

KP

It's the same deal as with the iPhone.  It's hyped so much that people want IT, not something LIKE it.  Because people are dumb.  And then people don't want AT&T, or DRM, and hack things.

Well, Max, when you buy a recipe book, if you don't like coconut, you can simply choose not to put it into the recipe you're making. Can't choose to not have the DRM when you buy the game though. The cookbook also doesn't lock itself and force you to call up the publisher for a new recipe page once you've taken that recipe book to three freinds' houses to cook at their place. You also don't get a covert spy camera installed on your bookshelf when you take that cookbook home and shelve it with your other recipe books.

I play most non-shooter PC games that come out that aren't bargain bin titles, including one-offs from dev houses in places like Estonia.  

Spore was the worst non-bargain-bin title I have played in YEARS.  It made that RTS Dragonshard look like barrels of fun in comparison.  Dumbing down games to reach a wider audience is doomed to failure; I think EA is going about as low as they can go in that regard, if they go any further they're going to start losing customers.

It would be a good strategy for someone to "undercut" them by making games that have a high depth and complexity.  I am convinced that that's what gamers want.  They aren't looking for dumbed down kiddie titles with cute googley eyes.

I can get my cake without coconut.

I can't get my spore without DRM without breaking the law.

wtf is up with all the coconut hate here?

coconut is quite tasty....

Coconuts are better

Here's my drawing of a coconut  (.) 

(The bit at the bottom is where it attaches to the tree)

You can imagine what TWO coconuts looks like!!!

Your analogy is highly flawed. 

1) I dont think you actually do dislike Coconut more than I dislike the newest form of Securom, even if the consumption of coconut was *lethal* to you.

2)Comparatively speaking, coconut in food dishes is a much more voluntary proposition than DRM du jour in mainstream AAA PC games, in that the % of desireable dishes forcing coconut on you are vastly smaller in comparison, and even among those you can seek out coconut free versions without breaking a law...

3)Coconut doesnt actively interfere with the operation of legal and legitimate hardware like CD/DVD drives, and completely legal software like virtualization soft that has completely legal and legitimate purposes, especially for those with OS compatibility issues.  Allergies aside...coconut isnt so actively *bad* for your system.

3 installations of a game is complete BS by any reasonable standard.  I never keep more than 2 or 3 games installed on my system at any given time, and reinstall the OS every few months just for good hygiene reasons.  Its a consumer rights issue, and literally the only way the audience who knows any better( most people just blindly install anything on their systems) to get the word out and influence the worlds largest and most omnipresent game publisher, is to start attacking them at the retail level.  Once the general public becomes much more educated about it, then  it might actually start to make a difference in their wallet.  But the only way to get to that point is to get the word out, any way possible, to the mainstream.

Yes, we need to meet developers halfway to help them deal with realistic concerns. Which is why I support Stardock with their consumer friendly business  and protection model.  But I think anyone who would knowingly install this Securom or Starforce on their PC is a fool.

Legal solutions:

1. Don't buy Spore. Spore in 2005 was a really interesting concept. Spore today is a failed concept, as it clearly targets little kids, focusing little on anything that could add some depth of exploration. The Creature Creator demo got me depressed, seeing how shallow the CC was, I could only guess how the rest of the game could be, and was confirmed by multiple reviews.

2. Wait until a DRM removal patch comes out. It eventually will.

What I cannot understand, is HOW does SecuROM 7 (the DRM software Spore has) encourage people to get an original copy of the game instead of a pirated copy. Does it:

-Prevent crackers to crack the game? Crackers are so bored with simple cracking methods so much, that they prey upon releases that use more advanced DRM. They want the challenge. It's their hobby. I play pool, they play reverse-engineering.

-Prevent pirates from getting pirated copies? How? Users weren't able to access the servers with cracked software even with older protection - or at least, they'd have to be massively lucky, and before they could enjoy their victory, they'd be banned.

-Motivate people to buy the game by any other means? If anything, it motivates people NOT to buy the game.

My 2 cents.

PS: At least it's not Starforce. That thing completely utterly destroyed my PC to the point I had to format.

"Moreover, the Starforce drivers, installed on your system, grant ring 0 (system level) privileges to any code under the ring 3 (user level) privileges."

Woot! PCIV - PC Immunodeficiency Virus!

source: http://www.glop.org/starforce/#boycott

Darn I hate these forums, edit button got lost.

About the first paragraph, before you flame me, I haven't played the game yet. 70% user reviews say it's crap, it's shallow, and then focus on DRM and 30% that it's absolutely fantastic and either say DRM is a minor minus or say they dont' care about DRM (DRM is almost always mentioned)

It is a crap game, I'm willing to bet anyone who says otherwise will be saying differently in 2 months time.

2. Wait until a DRM removal patch comes out. It eventually will.

Unless is is released by the publisher, that's not a legal option like you claim.  You are either not in a country affected by the DMCA or an equivelant, or you aren't familiar with its provisions.  ANY bypass of the DRM, even if it is for a copy you bought and otherwise used in accordance with the agreement, is illegal to make and illegal to use.

I have to agree here that Maxpower 179's coconut analogy is deeply flawed.  Without starting a whole discussion that really belongs in the DRM thread (Every game forum has a main DRM thread), see Bingjack's post, especially #2, for one good reason.

You are correct. That's an effective measure against second hand market. Though I'd only sell a game that I didn't like. The ones that are worth it would remain in my collection. That assuming I bought games that I was not sure I'd get excited about.

Clearly, that's what I meant. It eventually will come out.. If the company cares.

I thought Spore looked awesome but i haven't gotten it (yet?). But now everyone is saying it sucks. I do like the idea behind but EA isn't exactly high on my rankings. Last game i enjoyed was LOTR:Battle for Middle Earth II. I do like there sports games however, for the most part.

I guess Spore will be good to put on the Christmas list Agree?

I think the comments by Kieron Gillen really hit the nail on the head. Here's his opening point:

Spore is a four hour character creator for a polished version of Space Rangers 2.

That said, I'm finding that I actually enjoy the process of progressing a wacky new race of critters up to the space stage more than I enjoy the space stage itself (although I did complete the main story arc with my first race). It's a bit like my old hobby of warhammer - I gained much more enjoyment constructing and painting little figures and terrain than I ever did actually playing the tabletop wargame.

My main complaint with the space stage is the lack of any abstraction and automation when it comes to dealing with your empire. Initially, when your species only lays claim to a handful of stars, it's fun to have direct hands-on control of every action your empire performs, through your ufo avatar. However, as your empire scales up, having to micromanage every single action of your empire in person through the rather clumsy inferface of your ufo becomes a colossal chore. (To be fair, every 4X game I have played to date suffers from similar scaling problems to some degree)

Rather amusingly I found that spore provided me with an interesting (and probably unintentional) life lesson - war is exhausting and not at all fun. It literally took me hours to break out from a cycle of responding to incredibly frequent attacks from multiple enemy species. Perhaps it would be more fun if there were more tactical options available for the space combat, or indeed if the controls & camera were more fluid.

But enough of that. Spore doesn't really seem like it's trying to be an epic space 4x strategy game. I have the most fun with Spore just mucking about crafting luridly coloured ungainly horned bird things, and then laughing when I realised they're too short to reach the fruit on the high branches.

Parting remark : having seen all three, the most interesting way to play the civilisation stage is to take the economic route (by ensuring you finish the tribal stage as 'adaptable').

I am actually Sorry i purchased this game. I figured the DRM just needed online authentication which I was OK with because i'm always online anyways. But now i've just found it that I have a limit of 3 installs max?!? This is complete BullS**t in my opinion. lets say i reformat my comp, and I want to install a copy on my latop... I've already used my 3 installs! I better hope I never need to buy another computer ever again! It's like Renting a game! I wish i could return my copy.

Can't wait for the day that my 3 installs run out!

Good on you Stardock, Brad, GPG, And whoever else is involved in the Gamer's bill of Rights. truly makes me feel that someone is actually taking the time to figure out a way to get around Piracy without having to resort to Punishing its paying customer or to "renting" out their games. I will forever avoid as many EA games from now until they get their act together.

Because EA puts coconut in a bottle and sells it as milk. 

Most people do not know about the 3 install limit when they buy it. It is not on the box, it is not in any press review , and it is not on amazon. You have to follow the gaming business to know that Spore has DRM, and how this may or may not affect you. They make you think you buy a normal license, when in fact you don't.  That's why there are so many one star reviews on amazon.com: These are warnings, and complains from people who nearly rented a game they intended to buy.

I'm happy for you if the DRM does not make your gaming expirience less valuable, but I hope you can imagine that  there are people who are not so lucky. If I have no garantee that I can still play a game at least decades after I buy it, I don't want to spend that much money.  That's why you should write your own one star review. Not for your own interest, but for your fellow men who are being cheated on.

A lot of people are saying Spore gets boring quick, and knowing this, the publisher probably figured 3 installs by the same user would be more than enough to get full mileage out of the product.

This DRM logically leads to hell.

Imagine if every piece of software you had did this... what would happen when you upgrade your PC?

- you phone EA tech support and explain everything, give your date of birth/codes/pc specs, convince them you aren't a pirate, maybe converse via email to get authorization? maybe have to transfer to other call centers for different games, or be told to phone a different number?  or maybe that bit isn't working today, try again tomorrow?
- then you repeat that for every other game publisher whose games you want to load onto your PC?

If you've ever phoned a tech support line, you'll have $$$ flashing in front of your eyes - along with several minutes waiting for each phone call, the intense boredom of repeating yourself over and over again, and the pretty good odds that something goes wrong -> leading to a nightmare of email conversations.

To say it's completely unacceptable is to say that nuclear weapons are a 'bit dangerous', a huge understatement.

Sooner or later (I guess 'whenever 3 installs runs out') joe public is going to get really, really pissed off with PC gaming.