3 Reasons why Spore (the game) + DRM = Recipe for disaster, and the truth behind the DRM

A little late on the scene here we are, but there is a reason for that. So far, there's been a lot of mixed opinions regarding the new game that EA released called spore. Long before its release, many people were talking about it, and were thinking how great it was going to be. And now, it seems a lot of people are disappointed in it as well, for many reasons, like DRM, which we will discuss below.

First, before we start discussing the potential and problems of spore, let's just catch up with the basics (you could skip ahead if you want).
There are 5 stages in the game, each one being different from the others. You start off as an insignificant creature of mere cells, with a pac-man similar play style. Then you go on to become a creature on the land, being able to fight or to make friends and customize your "character".
After that, you get a tribe, and much of the play is still the same, except now you manage a tribe instead of an individual. Up to here, it's pretty simple, with a lot of themes that you may find in RPGs (except for the first stage).
Then we move on to a civilization. It becomes more of an RTS game but simplified by a lot.
The final stage is in space. This stage is extremely large, as you get to explore entire planets, create new civilizations everywhere, and a whole lot more.

What are problems here?

Problem 1. Everything except the space stage is way too simplified and boring. And then the space stage is a little too busy.

Stage 1 = Super boring stage with almost nothing to do except engage in pac-man like play, until you move on to stage 2
Stage 2 = Less boring stage with more activities, choices, but a lot of predictable behavior on the part of the AI creatures. There's nothing moving about randomly either, and the stronger creatures are all far away, very unrealistic.
Stage 3 = This is the same as stage 2, except now you have a tribe.
Stage 4 = The most boring RTS of all time. You barely have to do anything here. Just keep sending vehicles to the enemy cities and you win.
Stage 5 = Suddenly, you have so much to do, that you'll be overwhelmed. Actually, it's not really THAT much, but just think of random alerts every few moments, you'll have to tend to all your civilizations' every needs, hostile attacks, getting spice to sell, and it's really just too much. A lot of this stuff should be automated. You have way too much to do in this stage, and you have nothing to do in the other stages. What the game needs is more balance. Up to here, all the stages have been extremely boring. This stage changes all that, and I suppose some people would think this stage is worth playing the other stages to get to. Many people would enjoy this stage because of the busyness.

Problem 2. Customizations do nothing for your creature.

Ok seriously, this game was supposed to make every person have a unique experience, and make everything customizable with a lot of choices to be made, that would affect the outcome of your creature. Yes, there's a whole lot of parts/customizations, but do absolutely nothing for your creature. You can only choose a very limited amount of parts because the rest of the parts don't have the stats that you need to continue moving on in the game. No matter how good something it looks, if it doesn't have the stats, it's pretty much useless. The customizations have no effect on your creature, as everything is determined by stats, and certain evolutionary choices you make, which causes everything to be very limited. A unique play? I don't think so. Innovative? Sure, with the creature editor and all, but if they don't do anything, why bother?

Problem 3. The big bad monster known as DRM.

The biggest issue right now (and I mean big as in 2000+ 1-star reviews on Amazon.com, and counting) with Spore, is DRM. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. There's nothing wrong with DRM in general, it's just that most people find this particular method of DRM in Spore to be very annoying and makes things a lot harder than it should be, when you're looking for a good game to play. So how is DRM implemented?

First, you have to register the game upon your first installation and you have to verify your registration and installations. All this must be done ONLINE! Which means you cannot install it offline, unless you get the pirated version. After you register your product, you only have 3 installations for that particular product key, until you have to call EA to get another one, while they treat you like thieves. Yes, I realize they said it was supposed to be 3 machines, but it's not. Every time you change your OS, upgrade it, upgrade hardware, get new graphics cards, anything, it counts as an installation. If your initial installed computer cannot run the game, then you just lost an installation. If you get a boot sector virus, there goes another. This isn't right. People don't pay to be harrased like this.
That's not it either, SecuRom, which is the DRM method EA uses for Spore (like they did with Mass Effect), is basically a virus that auto-installs itself without telling you, or getting your confirmation/agreement. There is no way of completely getting rid of SecuRom without wiping out your hard drive and reinstalling the OS.

Is this really necessary? Does it prevent hackers from hacking the game? Not at all. In fact, this has made many people turn to pirating simply to avoid the hassle. The pirated version still came out before the official release and it's even easier to find it for this game than many games without copyright management. Nobody wants to pay $50 to rent a game 3 times.
What's more interesting is that the DRM was not meant to stop hackers. Nobody officially said it, but it's almost undoubtedly true, that the DRM is in place to stop second-hand users from buying second hand. I'm sure EA knows they can't stop hackers. that's why they're trying to stop another "leak" of money. Many second hand buyers buy for much cheaper than the original price, and none of that money goes to EA. You see, the second hand market is very large as well. It may be on par with the amount of piraters out there. Think about it, why is there only 3 uses? Obviously, this prevents people from selling their game, because the buyer would no longer be able to install the game if the seller installed the game 3 times. The buyer would also not be able to ask for more installs because they wouldn't have proof of purchase.

No wonder the public hates EA. I would say Spore is not that bad of a game, because of the space level, and inovation involved in the game. It has a lot of good concepts, but it's too simplied on the lower levels. And unfortunately, it's a little late to be a great hit. With the DRM in place as well, the game was completely ruined. Maybe EA will learn in the future. Maybe they should stop harassing magazines and other companies to block hateful reviews. I have new respect for Amazon, showing that they care about their customers by not deleting the 1-star reviews from people who didn't buy the game because of DRM. We can only hope that EA learns to do the same and fixes the issue.

Tags: Spore, Electronic Arts, Amazon, Copyright, DRM, games, BlitzTech Blog

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