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Spore copy protection officially explained and de-bunked
It's easier to curse the darkness than light a candle.
Actually, I might have butchered the saying, but that's the appropriate way to put it when it comes to the copy protection issues with Spore, Electronic Arts' amoeba-to-universe sim that supposedly limits you to three installs before shutting down for good. But while everyone else is cursing up a blue streak (witness the 2000 one-star ratings on Amazon.com), MTV's gaming blog and Ars Technica decided to light a candle.
MTV published some reassuring comments from an EA spokesperson who avoided some of their questions, but said the copy protection restrictions were going to be eased up in the "near future". She also said that if EA were to ever shut down the Spore servers, they'd patch out the DRM first so people could still play. How thoughtful, especially considering EA's poor track record for keeping servers around for old games.
Ars Technica's practical look at the issue was much more illuminating than the corporate platitudes MTV passed along. They poked around at how the actual copy protection works, trying multiple installs, contacting customer support, and even pretending to rent the game to get a new authentication code. They had no problem getting the game up and running, at least not related to copy protection. Ars Technica had the following conclusion:
...we left wondering if the DRM controversy might be more philosophical in nature than rooted in any real-world inconveniences.
Well, yeah, duh. But just because I haven't stubbed my toe yet doesn't mean I don't have a problem with sitting in the dark. *&!@#&*!
By EnOne at 3:25 PM ON 09/17/08
I believe Penny Arcade said it best "Don't worry: they've been programmed not to enjoy it"
By EnOne at 3:30 PM ON 09/17/08
By lol at 9:46 PM ON 09/17/08
I find myself agreeing w/ dvice editors for once :D It is a total rip. If you buy software, you are buying the right to use a body of knowledge. What's this now, we're renting the right? You should have the ability to use that software for recreational purposes to whatever degree you desired.
Overall, though, I can't say I was even horribly impressed w/ spore so I don't care too much. The game is shallow; there's a lot to do, but it's not really smooth. There is new tech, but it's nothing really revolutionary - it might be in ten years when it works well, but I expect a lot more from my games than spore delivers. You can say all you want about graphics vs gameplay, but there is no argument about whether or not smooth animation draws you into the game more. It does, period. What do I care if the game can kinda sorta make any body shape repeat the same unrealistic outdated animations?
I guess what I'm saying is that, for me, for a game to be revolutionary these days it has to be immersive. You have to pick up that game and when you first play it say, "wow, that's something I've never seen." You have to believe in that world. What spore has is more of a gimmick; a gimmick that will likely do great things for gaming in the future, but right now is nowhere near fleshed out and causes the rest of the game to suffer at its expense. Give me a world where I must legitimately survive, a single broad and fully immersive world with a completely user-generated storyline, good character development, great intuitive but still diverse real time combat, and environment and characters that you actually care about and believe in. And then make my avatar move seamlessly through that environment, make him react to impact and impetus realistically, and make the environment and npcs respond in turn. Then I'll be impressed; don't try to sell some half assed gimmick, though :D
By Duckie at 10:46 AM ON 09/18/08
@ LOL:
If you would have read anything about the game at all (and probably were into games design/programming at all) you would agree with me that Spore is an absolute beauty and a mindblowing step forward in game design, not to mention the 3d-design part.
First off, the performance:
Buy A Better PC. (Everything spore generates is done by using computing power. No predefined animation frames, just plain simple Procedural Content Generation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_generation )
Second: I dare you: Open 3dsmax, Blender, Lightwave or any other 3d modelling program and try to actually build anything that looks half as decent as what spore generates within i'ts editor. Then, get your little nephew, give him the spore builder and watch what they come up with. This is the kind of progress that really makes my jaw drop.
Third: Spore is one of the first games that gives the power to the people for content generation that automatically pops up in other people's games. It's gaming '2.0' so to say :-P
Spore just rocks. Please get your facts straight or go back to playing the 13-in-a-dozen FPS shooters or so.
Do you know the 'real' 3d editing
By Traveler at 12:49 PM ON 09/18/08
Too bad Spore isn't much of a game.
By saris at 2:23 PM ON 09/18/08
In the gaming work, the more restrictive the copy protection, the less desirable the game becomes. Who wants to play a game that you have to constantly have to battle the copy protection? I should never have to call and get a code to play a game I purchased
By CJW at 2:27 PM ON 09/18/08
Totally addicted to the game. I've forgone sleep, food and work all week to play it.
By J Rad at 10:50 PM ON 09/22/08
Seems EA is threatening its customers if they dare mention DRM. Threatening to deactivate their accounts making them buy a new copy.
on your cellphone!
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J Rad:
Seems EA is threatening its customers if they dare mention DRM. Threatening to deactivate their accounts making the...More »