So it turns out that Will Wright's Spore, one of the most enthusiastically expected games of the last few years, is a pretty big success among torrent fans as well. This shouldn't come as a surprise, it's actually a good measure of a digital product's success. Is your game cool? Expect tons of people to share it with each other. Or otherwise put, if your game is bad, why are you worrying about piracy anyway? No one will want it for free either.
Anyhow, there's more to this. Back when Penny Arcade Adventures (Episode I) launched, people complained about how the game requires online activation and the key you get is only good for 3 installs. Now EA did the same thing and, considering Spore's bigger popularity, a significantly larger number of people raised their voices in concern.
Why do I need to go online to activate it? I paid for the game, why limit the number of times I can install it? What happens after I reach my activations limit? Those are just a few of the questions people ask, before heading to the nearest tracker to download a DRM-free copy of the game. And then they voice their concern where it hurts - on the game's Amazon page. Please follow that last link and look at the game's rating to see what I'm talking about.
Gone are the days of online petitions no one cares about. To paraphrase a FL author, this is "Boycotting for real". Read the comments. It's simple, it's straightforward and it's efficient. In fact, it's so efficient that EA had to reply.
To be objective, the system isn't all THAT unreasonable. In theory, that is. In practice though, very few people can be bothered to accept the rules and play by them.
"This system allows you to authenticate your game on three computers with the purchase of one disc. EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting Customer Support."
That's all fine and dandy mate, but here's your problem. People don't like the idea of customer service. Blame it on the years of holding on the phone listening to bad music, getting email replies filled with PR nonsense and lacking any useful info whatsoever or, in a nutshell, on the wasted time. So you can see how someone who paid for the game wouldn't be too thrilled at the prospect being put "on hold" in the near future, when he wants to play his game again.
Looking at the FAQ EA put up, one thing immediately catches the eye. The game disc. Their entire response is built around the benefits of not requiring the disc in order to play. That's good, we always welcome that. However, jumping from a restrictive system to another is not the answer here. In fact, forget the disc, the disc doesn't even matter anymore. The last 4 games I bought were all downloaded from the publisher's website. Stop pushing the disc. Digital distribution (which they already do) is the solution to scratched discs. Uncertain customer support in the near future is just a patch.
So all in all, the EA response falls short. It doesn't address people's real concerns (why pay full price for something I might be severely restricted from using in the future?) and doesn't come even close to appeasing paying customers who feel they're being treated like pirates. So what do those customers do then? They go and get it off a torrent, that's what.
Q: Why are Maxis and EA implementing this new authentication process?
A: This solution serves to protect out software from piracy. It has the added benefit of allowing you to activate your game on multiple machines without needing the game disc in the drive when playing the game.
Oh, the irony.
As an added note, let's break that answer down. We're implementing this because A. we're looking out for ourselves first but B. we're also giving you something that's all but obsolete.
Well, guess what - people found a way to protect themselves from EA's customer support. In fact, people have been doing it for ages, just without being so vocal about it. Different story nowadays though - consumers mature (to use a phrase that's probably dear to you) and are quicker to react when something bothers them. Especially when the hype about the product was so big. And when a company that's such a preffered target is involved. Looking forward to EA's next reply.
DRM // EA // Electronic Arts // Spore
Spore DRM updated to reflect:
We authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time."
"We'll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new content or a patch for their game."
"The new system means you don't have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit."
"You'll still be able to install and play on multiple computers."
"You can play offline."