The story of Spore continues on, but, unfortunately for EA, the game is now firmly in the middle of the larger debate over DRM. EA now claims to have heard the complaints of gamers, and has detailed a few changes it hopes will ease the tension, but whether this appeasement will be enough to make gamers happy is an open question. 'We're willing to evolve our policy to accommodate our consumers,' Frank Gibeau, EA Games label president, said.
Google 'spore patch 1.01 download' and grab the patches from fileplanet, which should be the first link. Once its done, just double click it and let it install. It may seem like it's frozen and nothing is happening, but just give it time. Q: Can Spore buttons be used as garage door openers? Our buttons are low-voltage switches, and they can usually be used in lieu of a standard low-voltage garage door button. Install as recommended by garage door manufacturer, or contact us for ideas on how to make it work. Q: My Spore button seems to be having some trouble.
The install limit for Spore will be upped to five, from three, and EA promises it is working on a way to deauthorize the game on your machines so you can move your installs between five computers without having to contact customer service, an expensive proposition in places like Australia where the call costs nearly $3 a minute. Talking to MTV Multiplayer, EA claimed that it was rare for gamers to install the game on multiple machines, or almost unheard of for gamers to want to put the game on more than two systems.
Here is a look at the data EA provided, although it stresses that these numbers are a sample and shouldn't be taken as indicative of total sales:
- Total activations: 437,138
- Users activating on only 1 machine: 86 percent
- Users activating on more than 1 machine: 14 percent
- User trying to activate on more than 3 machines: 0.4 percent
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If this data is to be believed, the newly implemented five-install limit should be more than enough to keep customers happy, along with the to-be-released deauthorization system. Still, the very idea of any kind of limit seems to gall many gamers, who believe this system turns their game purchases into glorified rentals. It's likely these new 'loosened' restrictions will be hit with the same vitriol.
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EA did confirm one thing to MTV: if the authorization servers are ever taken down, the game won't become useless. 'If we were to ever turn off the servers on the game, we would put through a patch before that to basically make the DRM null and void,' the company claimed. 'We're never walking away from the game and making it into a situation where people aren’t going to be able to play it.'
EA has also fixed the issue of only having one account per game, and will now allow five screen names per install. The official post details the update. 'Each Screen Name will be able to view and create content, Buddy Lists and Sporecasts that will be tied to that Screen Name. The Achievements earned will be credited to the Screen Name that is logged in at the time the Achievement is triggered,' it was explained. 'In the first iteration of this change, all Screen Names will be playing in the same Galaxy and any content downloaded by any Screen Name will be available in the Everything section.'
While these movements into less-restrictive DRM are nice, the game has already lost quite a bit of momentum, not to mention good will. Gamers made this displeasure clear by carpet-bombing Amazon.com with one-star reviews, and the install limit of Red Alert 3 has also been receiving negative press. Even worse for PR, the name Spore now has many negative connotations, very few of which have anything to do with the game, aside from the install restrictions.
After all this madness, one thing is sadly clear: gaming DRM isn't going anywhere. 'Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles,' Gibeau stated. The pirates remain in the back of the room, giggling.
Further reading:
- Wall Street Journal 'EA Relaxes Rules on Installing Spore'
- MTV Multiplayer 'Spore DRM Update - EA Loosening One Restriction In ‘Near Future,’ Offers Defense'