Big nasty DRM is back once again; gamers protest
In June, legions of RPG fans were annoyed with EA's decision to hide the RPG-greatness of Mass Effect beneath a draconian and unappetizing layer of restrictive DRM. Although the reactions to Mass Effect's DRM were resoundingly negative, the game sold well enough that it did not scare EA away from using the same tactics again with Spore -- just as they said they would last May.
Well now casual gaming and Will Wright fans are discovering the joys of Spore, and there is a bit of backlash resonating across the more vocal core of gamers across the great Internets. With Mass Effect, the disenfranchised failed to mount any retaliatory action against EA beyond a mass of extremely long forum threads in Bioware's 'Off Topic Forum' relating their displeasure. But this time around the anti-DRM crowd is becoming a little bit more shrewd -- they have realized that forum threads alone do not lead to change, and have taken more direct measures to influence gamers to vote with their wallets, when taking into account the exigencies of escalating EA-DRM.
In what appears to be a first step of an anti-DRM coalition of gamers, Amazon's Spore page has been flooded with negative reviews of the game, the vast majority not citing gameplay concerns, but instead, issues with the game's DRM. The game currently has a 1.5 star rating, with 517 (out of 570) review giving the game one star. Amazon is such a huge retailer of software that you have to imagine that this will negatively affect Spore's sales -- or at the very least, at least inform would-be buyers to the extent that the game's SecuROM system stretches.
What's so bad about the game's DRM? Like Mass Effect, the game only allows three installations. Once the game has been installed three times, there is a good chance you are out of luck. Additional installations can be had by EA, but you have to call them up and argue a case -- a step many feel that is going a bit too far. Besides ostensibly challenging game pirates, Spore's DRM also appears to address another big concern of EA: the used game market.
In the last six months or so, some game developers have been lamenting the sale of used games. In short, they feel that they should have a finger in a piece of this used game pie, but in today's game stores, they do not. Many offline game stores make a big segment of their revenue from the sale of used games, and some game developers -- and specifically, most vocally EA -- feel that they are getting cut out. Perhaps this three installation limit addresses this issue for them.
Whether or not the second-hand game market is a concern or not, one thing is certain: the game's DRM did absolutely nothing to stop its mass piracy. The game was available about five days earlier than its official release through pirated channels. As with Mass Effect, the only people suffering from the game's DRM are the people who bought the game.
The tricky thing in this situation is that EA has no way of accurately knowing how many sales the game's DRM has saved, or cost them -- but things like the annoyance and displeasure of Spore fans everywhere is something that is much easier to judge: "You used to be able to buy a game and play it on your computers, and do with it whatever you wanted," said one of the 600 negative reviews of the game on Amazon, "...not now! Now you can only 'rent' it from them."
forums
RSS Feeds
EA said awhile ago they were going to 'minimize' the DRM in such a way it wouldn't be a hassle to people..obviously garbage.
The used game thing is valid to some extent I think..do they deserve a cut? Maybe..but if they do..so do the same types in every other industry..stores need to survive too, used game sales help..although it's not like the big ones (GameStop, Best Buy) are exactly hurting for cash..
If a person owns something, they should be able to sell it. There should not be any reselling fee. Makers of books, movies, dishes, cars, music CDs, watches, and comic books don't see any money from used sales; I don't see what some game-makers feel they do.
I have read their arguments and do not agree with their conclusions. For example, in the article linked above, a EA spokesperson says the following:
In our understanding of the business model we are actually giving away the rights to play, and if you just pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, that is not comparable to second-hand sales in the normal physical goods area where you have physical wear-out - second-hand cars, second-hand clothes, second-hand books theyre all physically wearing out, so you have an inferior quality product.
But digital goods is not actually becoming inferior in quality, so people passing that on is actually very challenging for us.
But I would argue that digital goods do become inferior over the passage of time, because the game's content becomes dated. Like, for instance, there is not a huge market for Super Mario Brothers 2, because it is no longer a new game.
I could see developers being annoyed at some shops generating big profits off of used games, but EA's strategy (also related in the linked article) of offering online incentives for people to hang on to games, instead of selling them, is a better way of go. Spore is a great step in this direction with its incorporation of user-generated content in the game.
Can't have it both ways...
Though I think those negative reviews might make them think twice (assuming it actually impacts sales).
Someone I know (
Anyway though, I think if there's enough action on this, the DRM is likely to get pulled (possibly with some sort of fix?). Though I really have no idea.
But no telling what will happen. Plans of mice and men, and all that.
Most stores that sell used games (like Gamestop) only sell used games for consoles like Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, etc. I don't think I've ever seen a used PC or MAC game for sale there, and even their selection of brand new PC and MAC games is pretty limited.
I think DRM is a pretty bad idea overall in any situation, but it makes even less sense putting it on the kind of games that are the least effected by things like the second hand market.
Here's to hoping that this protest actually does have a negative effect on sales and makes EA wake up. As of the time I am posting this, there is over 1,500 1-star reviews on Amazon for the game. That's not something to sneeze at.
For that to work, you need to have EA account which need to be registered with your cd key. So only one account per cd key. With limit like that there is no good reason to have 3 installation limit.
In addition, windows allows additional instals with time... you get a few per year.