Comments on: Spore is most pirated game ever thanks to DRM limitations

By: geezus

geezus — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:15:03 +0000

I’m sorry, did a 15 year old write this? Use the word “draconian” one more time, I dare you.

By: Fiend_85

Fiend_85 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:04:33 +0000

I totally agree, I was really looking forward to Spore, i was on my amazon wishlist and I was all set to buy it, until I heard about DRM… Definitely didn’t buy it after that.

By: Rartemass

Rartemass — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:06:23 +0000

I think the best thing EA can do to appease the people that bought this legitimately is to:
1-Increase the install limit to something more reasonable like 15
2-Publicly announce the upgraded limit, and state they will never limit future products with less than the above amount
3-Offer all people with a valid copy a discount voucher for future titles of at least 20%
4-Release content updates so that there are more parts to choose from and more ways to modify existing parts

That being said there is a propensity for developers to hold back the tide of advanced technology. The music and movie industry also fall into this group. The world is an electronic place and is continually wanting more out of their on-line experience. It saddens me that we still rely on physical media to get most of our entertainment. Rather than thinking up ways to prevent piracy, they should focus on new ways to deliver games, music, and movies to the consumer electronically. Some companies are heading this way which is great, but they are few and far between.
Forget about bluray discs and work on ways to stream better quality video at higher speeds. Re-design the Internet from scratch with a focus on entertainment, rather than information.

Create a worldwide group to monitor and control content on the net. I’m not talking about censoring content or squashing peoples rights. I’m suggesting to have an approval process for all content so that it is categorised correctly. Have content denied due to malicious content (viruses/malware/spam/etc). Obviously people in this monitoring group would need to be security and technology savvy so they know what to look for. It would also need to have members from all countries and run globally (by someone like the UN for example). They would need legal rights and authority in all countries.
We need to stop thinking of ourselves as individual countries and start realising that we are a global community, one race.

I know I’ve gone a fair bit off track here but I think my points need consideration.

By: Azkanan

Azkanan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:50:44 +0000

Another fact:

Sims 1 was a good success. They thought, hey, theres some stuff we want to add…lets make an expansion. Good job. Then they made more.

Time for Sims 2. Released. Expansion packs at the ready.

Spore, this time, rather than put good stuff in, let’s take good stuff out FIRST. *THEN* add it all back in – PROFIT!

EA is finally getting an ass raping. Good. Stupid bastards.

By: ChavBoi

ChavBoi — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:25:39 +0000

I remember when I was a kid, i used to love EA, they made awsome games… but now I struggle to remeber the last decent game they came up with… SSX Tricky and that was god knows how many years ago now.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spore, and I recomend it to people… but after recomending it, I give them the .iso file… EA messed up. So, treat them like a kid. take their ‘pocket’ money, but why should that stop us (the consumer) enjoying one of very few decent games left in the world?

By: Black Lotus

Black Lotus — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:08:11 +0000

I have been watching spore for a long time now, in the beginning we as the players were promised a sandbox game with the universe at our fingertips. Wanting this great idea so much I went out and legally bought a copy as soon as possible.

Now I simply feel cheated. It is not the game EA promised, it is not a sandbox game and in fact does not put the universe at your fingrtips. Now I learn of the DRM restrictions and it is an outrage. We the paying community who support these games need to have something to make things right. If it means EA loses 25 million + dollars because of their own stupidity then I gladly give a chear to the pirates who stuck it to those idiots at EA.

By: B Shears

B Shears — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:52:50 +0000

Boycott EA. They lost the right to our money many many years before the release of Spore.

By: jedbeetle

jedbeetle — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:29:58 +0000

were the pirates able to put up their own server for creature exchange? so much of the game seems oriented around sharing your creations online with a community. you’d think that fact alone would have prevented rampant piracy. i think the implication is clear that, had EA not gone the DRM route on this one, it would have sold significantly better and been pirated significantly less.
that’s got to sting.

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:28:03 +0000

@Supernova:
Simply put, the more companies try to attack and criminalize their paying customers, the more they lose. It’s called blowback, and EA is feeling the heat both in terms of lost sales and in bad PR (embarrassing failure of the DRM that caused the uproar, Amazon review bombing, major newswires flooded with bad press, etc).

You mess with the bull, and you get the horns. EA lost.

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:08:09 +0000

Paying for games with DRM = Idiot tax. ’nuff said. :3