Spore: Most Pirated Game Ever Thanks to DRM

PogMoThoin

Spore was without doubt the most anticipated game of the year. The game itself has blown away the people who have played it, but the DRM encouraged thousands to get their copy illegally. Already Spore has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on BitTorrent, and this number is increasing rapidly.

As a comparison, Crysis, one of the best-selling PC games of this year has only been downloaded 420,000 times since it was released in November 2007.

Full story

RabidDog

I purchased Spore (Galactic Edition) from GAME on the day of release.


I installed it on one of the computers in work, tried to run it and got a message about not being able to validate the registration key at this time. So I figured it was the computer and tried another, still the same issue.

When I got home later that evening I installed it on my own PC and tried to run it:




I cannot express how angry I am over this. I had access to a torrented copy and decided to support the publisher/developer instead.


Now I have to use the cracked exe from a torrent to play.

yoyo

Online activation is one way to piss of people who baught the product only, as it stands spores "wonderful" copy protection couldn't protect it being hacked prior to release!

Nick

Zillah

Ahaha. This is what I've been saying.

mcgovern

It might also have something to do with its less than stellar reviews.

thelordofcheese

RabidDog wrote: »

I purchased Spore (Galactic Edition) from GAME on the day of release.


I installed it on one of the computers in work, tried to run it and got a message about not being able to validate the registration key at this time. So I figured it was the computer and tried another, still the same issue.

When I got home later that evening I installed it on my own PC and tried to run it:

*snip*

I cannot express how angry I am over this. I had access to a torrented copy and decided to support the publisher/developer instead.

Now I have to use the cracked exe from a torrent to play.

So it didn't occur to you that the online validation service would be non responsive on the day of release? And more to the point your solution was to keep installing it again and again on different machines?

...

Also, contact EA, they can free up your registrations for you so you don't have to be a filthy pirate.

jhegarty

thelordofcheese wrote: »

So it didn't occur to you that the online validation service would be non responsive on the day of release? .

If you can't keep your validation server online , don't have online validation...

TomCo

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Also, contact EA, they can free up your registrations for you so you don't have to be a filthy pirate.

He hasn't pirated it, he bought it and cracked it.

Canis Lupus

My err... copy of... errr Spore... errrr


Well I installed it and errrr.... copied a file into the Spore bin directory and whilst I mightn't be able to go online means Spore runs pretty well.

On the downside I'm not really impressed. It's not really what I expected but then maybe that's the problem. I think that trailer that everyone watched from last year got their little minds working and the end result was hype that couldn't be lived up to.

Dunno what I think but mainly that I could be spending my time better by playing other games.

RabidDog

thelordofcheese wrote: »

So it didn't occur to you that the online validation service would be non responsive on the day of release? And more to the point your solution was to keep installing it again and again on different machines?

...

Also, contact EA, they can free up your registrations for you so you don't have to be a filthy pirate.

I don't appreciate being called a pirate. I legally purchased this game. And I certainly don't appreciate your insinuation that I am an idiot.

And for your information the game stated that the registration key could not be validated. What I did not realise is that they obviously log attempts and consider them to be activations.

There was no information about the DRM included with the game (not that I have found), even the read-me says nothing about it. All it states is that an internet connection is required to play. I didn't know it was limited to three activations. I can't even gain back activations by un-installing it on those other pcs.

The fact is I paid for this game, yet it is I and not the pirates that who is suffering. I shouldn't have to go back to EA and beg for one more activation.

And even if I did what happens in a few months/years when I want to reinstall???

AlmightyCushion

RabidDog wrote: »

The fact is I paid for this game, yet it is I and not the pirates that who is suffering. I shouldn't have to go back to EA and beg for one more activation.

This is exactly my problem with drm. This guy has legally purchased this game and he's getting royally screwed over. This is a completely shítey way to treat a paying customer. Even if this drm had made it impossible to pirate the game then I'd still think it shouldn't be implemented because of situations like this were it affects a customer in such a way.

projectmayhem

jhegarty wrote: »

If you can't keep your validation server online , don't have online validation...

+1

I bought the galactic edition of the game and installed it on my PC fine. I decided it'd be cool to have on my Mac (note, this is two machines owned by me, I'm not lending the game to anyone or anything) to kill boredom in work. It installed fine, registered fine and now refuses to start up at any point, apparently something to do with the way the games DRM works on Macs... which is rather annoying. What if I didn't have a PC to play on?

The more we hear of DRM and piracy, the more I'm reminded of Valve. They do it much better. Online authentication attached to a specific service that allows you to have your game in an "online locker". It avoids piracy and keeps people like me happy

Stev_o

I "got" Spore and i have to say its pretty damn awful in terms of gameplay experiences i really only liked the cell stage and sure that would be made by someone into a flash game pretty easily. Creature stage is again okay but extremely repetitive. Tribe stage is the worst stage just completely does my head in. Civ stage is way to easy once you get access to Flying Units you'll win no matter what. Iv only started playing the space stage and its okay but im not far enough in it to make a decision.

Graphics aswell are goddamn awful renders look awful WoW looks better then it which is saying something.

I couldnt imagine paying 50 quid or so for this game which can be finished in less then a day hell you dont even need to complete a stage to unlock the next one you just gotta play it and the next stage will just unlock!

Pyr0

Why do people care so much about graphics these days ? Graphics don't make a game, gameplay, storyline and replayability does. Yeah the graphics are not "OMGZ !!1 LOOK AT THOSE LIFE LIKE TREES !!" but I still thought the visuals suited the type of game it was.

thelordofcheese

Pyr0 wrote: »

Why do people care so much about graphics these days ? Graphics don't make a game, gameplay, storyline and replayability does. Yeah the graphics are not "OMGZ !!1 LOOK AT THOSE LIFE LIKE TREES !!" but I still thought the visuals suited the type of game it was.

Some people view anything other than the standard art style of todays games, that is, the mad persuit of realistic graphics (which seems to mean lots of browns and greys) and the overuse of bloom, to be terrible.

I can only assume they lost the gift of sight at an early age or something.

Crash

To be honest, all Spore managed to make me do was reinstall Civ 4.

Fanny Cradock

Spore was without doubt the most anticipated game of the year. The game itself has blown away the people who have played it, but the DRM encouraged thousands to get their copy illegally. Already Spore has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on BitTorrent, and this number is increasing rapidly.

As a comparison, Crysis, one of the best-selling PC games of this year has only been downloaded 420,000 times since it was released in November 2007.

I object to this statement.

Kernel

+1 death to DRM. Power to the consumer!

Pete4779

well I would say plenty of fence sitters might have just piratced rather than risk their computers. Also, the negative reviews on Amazon were also critical of the severely dumbed down gameplay.

Strip away the graphics and you can play this game on a mobile phone version. It is limited and quite rudimentary.

Oh right, you can get it on your mobile phone.

Kernel

Pete4779 wrote: »

well I would say plenty of fence sitters might have just piratced rather than risk their computers. Also, the negative reviews on Amazon were also critical of the severely dumbed down gameplay.

Strip away the graphics and you can play this game on a mobile phone version. It is limited and quite rudimentary.

Oh right, you can get it on your mobile phone.

Yeah, I've decided this too. It's not deep enough in terms of gameplay to hold the interest.

steviec

Kernel wrote: »

Yeah, I've decided this too. It's not deep enough in terms of gameplay to hold the interest.

You decided the gameplay wasn't interesting enough to buy the game, yet it's still interesting enough for you to pirate it and play it?

Piracy is one thing, but pirating software that developers have spent years pouring their lives into and trying to claim the moral highground whilst doing so is pretty hypocritical.

It's hard to take the boycott of a product seriously when people only boycott the bit where they pay for the product, but they still acquire and use it - it hardly shows strength of convictions.

steviec

Although that said, anyone who's pirating Spore is robbing themselves of the single most important part of the game, which is the online component, populating your friend's worlds with your creatures and vice versa.

MooseJam

I'm downloading it now, I'm not going to play it cause it's sh1te but I just want to be added to the list of people forced to download due to drm, also it's good to be part of a world record lol

Stev_o

steviec wrote: »

You decided the gameplay wasn't interesting enough to buy the game, yet it's still interesting enough for you to pirate it and play it?

Piracy is one thing, but pirating software that developers have spent years pouring their lives into and trying to claim the moral highground whilst doing so is pretty hypocritical.

It's hard to take the boycott of a product seriously when people only boycott the bit where they pay for the product, but they still acquire and use it - it hardly shows strength of convictions.

Sure how does anyone if they game play will be in anyway interesting without playing it? Videos can be VERY deceiving and there's no demo to get a feel for it. Most people dont want to spend 60 quid on a game that they then find out has no depth.

But as you said they are missing out on the online part so say if i pirated and enjoyed it then id go and buy it to gain access to the online part.

Ciaran500

steviec wrote: »

Although that said, anyone who's pirating Spore is robbing themselves of the single most important part of the game, which is the online component, populating your friend's worlds with your creatures and vice versa.

There's already unofficial packs with thousands of creations taken from the official download service.

thelordofcheese

MooseJam wrote: »

I'm downloading it now, I'm not going to play it cause it's sh1te but I just want to be added to the list of people forced to download due to drm, also it's good to be part of a world record lol

You realise that by doing so you're strengthening the case for companies to invest in stricter DRM, right?

Stev_o wrote:

Sure how does anyone if they game play will be in anyway interesting without playing it? Videos can be VERY deceiving and there's no demo to get a feel for it. Most people dont want to spend 60 quid on a game that they then find out has no depth.

Wow, if *only* there were some way to find out what other people thought of the product before you purchased it, some kind of published periodical on the subject. Or maybe even a website that did that....
Or maybe some kind of place online where people can discuss games that have been recently released and how they feel about them.

Pity none of those exist, because if they did, boy would your argument look stupid......

Ciaran500

thelordofcheese wrote: »

You realise that by doing so you're strengthening the case for companies to invest in stricter DRM, right?

No it isn't, if games with less or even no DRM sell fine even after being cracked then you're sending a message that you aren't willing to buy games with this system.

Canis Lupus

Although I got a downloaded copy of the game I would like to state that I've never ever had my computer die or a game legitimately bought fail to run because of DRM.

Using DRM as an excuse to download is pretty rubbish. Look, I obtained a downloaded copy because ultimately I didn't have to pay for it. I will, if I really like a game go and buy a legitimate copy but anyone who tries to invent other reasons for downloading a game is just talking out their arse and it's a bit embarrassing when you see people trying to justify it.

Personally I don't download games anymore tho. I got a cease and desist for downloading GoW which was a bit annoying cos it lasted all of 30 mins on my harddrive before I uninstalled and deleted it cos it was ****. Still doesn't stop me getting copies from mates :P

Maximilian

thelordofcheese wrote: »

You realise that by doing so you're strengthening the case for companies to invest in stricter DRM, right?

I think this is an exception. There is a large, genuine element of protest as regards people downloading Spore. Far more so than usual. People are pissed off. A lot of Europeans illegally downloaded Assassin's Creed on the PC also in protest at not being able to purchase it online anywhere other than N. America. What other method of protest do consumers have? Pirating (as much as I disagree with it) is probably the most effective. It certainly will get attention.

The crazy thing is that the DRM with spore achieves nothing. The game was cracked before it was released. Pirates get a getter product. This deserves to be protested about.

I have no problem with DRM per se, as long as its fair. Whatever system Steam uses seems to me to be unobtrusive and transparent. My games on Steam are there whenever I want them.

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Wow, if *only* there were some way to find out what other people thought of the product before you purchased it, some kind of published periodical on the subject. Or maybe even a website that did that....
Or maybe some kind of place online where people can discuss games that have been recently released and how they feel about them.

Pity none of those exist, because if they did, boy would your argument look stupid......

I agree with you here, the "tryout" excuse is complete rubbish.

thelordofcheese

Ciaran500 wrote: »

No it isn't, if games with less or even no DRM sell fine even after being cracked then you're sending a message that you aren't willing to buy games with this system.

What? That's the stupidest thing i've ever seen.

If you were actually trying to send the message that you aren't willing to buy the game with DRM then you wouldn't buy it AND you wouldn't torrent it. Anything else is just hypocrisy.

Torrenting it shows that there is a demand there, that you *would* purchase it if the pirating option didn't exist. Why else would you download it?

So, looking at their sales and then all the torrents of the game all EA at al are going to see is thousands of potential customers that they could have if their DRM was better.

Maximilian

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Although I got a downloaded copy of the game I would like to state that I've never ever had my computer die or a game legitimately bought fail to run because of DRM.

I have had problems before. Various things you can have running on your system can cause games not to run. Like virtual drives and stuff. Also, I had real problems with Starforce in the past. Nothing that blew up my computer of course but plenty of frustration.

I can see the 3 install limit causing problems for people here though. One install on your home PC, another on your laptop. You upgrade your PC, re-install and that's it you're done. You can't decide in a year or two to re-install the game on that new PC you since bought to try out a Mod somebody told you about.

Would you buy music online if you were told you could only play it a certain amount of times or put it on only 3 media players before you would have to buy it again? I didn't think so!

The install limit is a bad idea, it doesn't work and companies need to be told that its customers are pissed off. EA are already paying the price for ignoring their customers in this instance.

MooseJam

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Torrenting it shows that there is a demand there, that you *would* purchase it if the DRM didn't exist.

fixed

robby^5

projectmayhem wrote: »

The more we hear of DRM and piracy, the more I'm reminded of Valve. They do it much better. Online authentication attached to a specific service that allows you to have your game in an "online locker". It avoids piracy and keeps people like me happy

Exactly, in this day and age where you'll rarely find a PC gamer without an internet connection you'd think more people would follow in valves footsteps.

Canis Lupus

What would ever, in worst case scenario if Valve went tits up and their servers shut down.

What then exactly?

I like steam but I don't think it's the the way forward for everyone unless it can be guaranteed that people will have access for as long as they live.

Cuddlesworth

Canis Lupus wrote: »

What would ever, in worst case scenario if Valve went tits up and their servers shut down.

What then exactly?

I like steam but I don't think it's the the way forward for everyone unless it can be guaranteed that people will have access for as long as they live.

I would assume that they could write a patch allowing offline registration for the steam client. You can make your own backups of your games from within Steam.

FYI their activation and authentication servers did go down before during a huge blackout in the States.

thelordofcheese

MooseJam wrote: »

fixed

Don't talk bollox.
You're fooling no-one with that "ohh if there was no DRM i'd buy it" excuse.
If there was no DRM you could still get it for free via torrenting.

The fact that you've already torrented as some kind of protest shows you're quite comfortable with inventing justifications for downloading games, i'm sure you'd invent another reason to torrent something if you felt you could justify it.

The price of games maybe? You don't like what the publisher has done to company/fanchise X?

Kernel

steviec wrote: »

You decided the gameplay wasn't interesting enough to buy the game, yet it's still interesting enough for you to pirate it and play it?

Huh? How do you arrive at thte conclusion that I pirated the game????

projectmayhem

Canis Lupus wrote: »

What would ever, in worst case scenario if Valve went tits up and their servers shut down.

What then exactly?

I like steam but I don't think it's the the way forward for everyone unless it can be guaranteed that people will have access for as long as they live.

Financially I'm sure Valve are just fine. Someone like EA could easily do this and be fine forever. They have a primitive service with the EA Downloader (or EA Link... whatever its called these days) that works fine. Theoretically all you need is a large file server with a lot of bandwidth, and even the smallest, puniest of companies can afford that.

In terms of physically keeping the service going, there have been two incidents where storms cut out Valves services, making everyone with steam "locked out" of their accounts. I think since then Valve have adopted backup servers...

Stev_o

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Wow, if *only* there were some way to find out what other people thought of the product before you purchased it, some kind of published periodical on the subject. Or maybe even a website that did that....
Or maybe some kind of place online where people can discuss games that have been recently released and how they feel about them.

Pity none of those exist, because if they did, boy would your argument look stupid......

Clearly complete strangers words on the internet will thus give you a great feel for the gameplay :rolleyes:

The amount of BS on the internet makes your argument void how can anyone get the feel for a game by just reading someone's opinion? If there's no demo how the f*ck are going to know if you'll enjoy the game?

MooseJam

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Don't talk bollox.
You're fooling no-one with that "ohh if there was no DRM i'd buy it" excuse.
If there was no DRM you could still get it for free via torrenting.

The fact that you've already torrented as some kind of protest shows you're quite comfortable with inventing justifications for downloading games, i'm sure you'd invent another reason to torrent something if you felt you could justify it.

The price of games maybe? You don't like what the publisher has done to company/fanchise X?

you're the one talkin bollox mate, I buy games I don't download them, I've literally got 100's of PC games, however I don't buy games crippled by drm, that would just be daft

thelordofcheese

MooseJam wrote: »

you're the one talkin bollox mate, I buy games I don't download them, I've literally got 100's of PC games, however I don't buy games crippled by drm, that would just be daft

But you will download them, out of 'protest'.....

Maximilian

thelordofcheese wrote: »

But you will download them, out of 'protest'.....

I bought the game but I'm tempted to also download it just to add to the numbers & help make a point.

thelordofcheese

Maximilian wrote: »

I bought the game but I'm tempted to also download it just to add to the numbers & help make a point.

My problem is that I really don't think it is making the point to EA that you want it to make.
They're not able to tell what's a protest download and what is someone actually stealing the game. You can make the case either way given these figures but a publisher is going to look at the amount of people downloading spore and see potential customers who've gotten the product for free because the DRM wasn't strong enough.
And i can see where they're coming from, why should they invest millions in a product have people work like slaves in order to get it released just so people can steal it?

If people *really* wanted to make a point, they'd just not buy the game. This torrenting as protest is a farce, really. No matter how anyone tries to justify it.

TheDoc

Bought this game ,drm shafted me, went back demanded refund and got one, cash. No where on the package does it mention DRM.

Its no wonder people download games, and tbh 60 euro for this game was absolute robbery.

I think im gonna stay away from spending my hard earned cash on crap overhyped tripe...and i dont care if the means of which I gain my games brings the gaming industry to its knees... I'm not spenidng anymore money on pc games because of their dodgy bugs on release, drm and anti pirating methods that blow...and all round general not any use games.

thelordofcheese

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

Bought this game ,drm shafted me, went back demanded refund and got one, cash. No where on the package does it mention DRM.

Its no wonder people download games, and tbh 60 euro for this game was absolute robbery.

I think im gonna stay away from spending my hard earned cash on crap overhyped tripe...and i dont care if the means of which I gain my games brings the gaming industry to its knees... I'm not spenidng anymore money on pc games because of their dodgy bugs on release, drm and anti pirating methods that blow...and all round general not any use games.

That was a bad post and you should feel bad.

Maximilian

thelordofcheese wrote: »

My problem is that I really don't think it is making the point to EA that you want it to make.
They're not able to tell what's a protest download and what is someone actually stealing the game. You can make the case either way given these figures but a publisher is going to look at the amount of people downloading spore and see potential customers who've gotten the product for free because the DRM wasn't strong enough.
And i can see where they're coming from, why should they invest millions in a product have people work like slaves in order to get it released just so people can steal it?

If people *really* wanted to make a point, they'd just not buy the game. This torrenting as protest is a farce, really. No matter how anyone tries to justify it.

I don't think EA can be oblivious to it. It is being reported all over on news sites. Forums everywhere have people saying they refuse to buy it & will download out of protest. Of course, the numbers can be interpreted as being just simple piracy but that they can also be interpreted as protests. I can't see EA not taking notice of that.

There are other ways to protest though, such as the amazon ratings thing.

BadCharlie

Stev_o wrote: »

Clearly complete strangers words on the internet will thus give you a great feel for the gameplay :rolleyes:

The amount of BS on the internet makes your argument void how can anyone get the feel for a game by just reading someone's opinion? If there's no demo how the f*ck are going to know if you'll enjoy the game?

That's how things used to work before we had the internet. And in my mind it worked fine then.


Back to OP, We will never get away from Pirating. Its just to easy to sit at home with our BB & click on the simple link to start the download. People want to experience the games without having to pay for them. I my self download games from time to time but mostly buy them. And I could see how you could get hooked on downloading the games. Especially since the BB is getting faster. Bring back 56k that should slow down Pirating

thelordofcheese

Maximilian wrote: »

I don't think EA can be oblivious to it. It is being reported all over on news sites. Forums everywhere have people saying they refuse to buy it & will download out of protest. Of course, the numbers can be interpreted as being just simple piracy but that they can also be interpreted as protests. I can't see EA not taking notice of that.

There are other ways to protest though, such as the amazon ratings thing.

I still say the best way to protest is just not to buy it. It's a clear and unambigious message. The other problem with the downloading as protest model is what you're essentially doing is stealing the product and going "i've taken this because i disagree with your DRM but i'm still showing enough interest in the game to download it"

Even if we take everyone who says that the reason they've downloaded it is as protest and that they just deleted it afterwards to be telling the truth, that's still a hell of alot of people who are interested in Spore. Now, from EA's standpoint they don't really have any other option but to look at new ways to make it harder and harder to copy games so that these people will be forced to by games like spore.

I know people would want a DRM free world, but lets face it, This is EA we're talking about, even if they had no DRM then people would just steal from them anyway. It's EA there are a thousand hollow excuses as to why it's ok. "they have plenty of money anyway", "They killed westwood", "Fifa-fucking-street".
What do people expect them to do? just let people steal their stuff and go "ohh, that's ok".

Like i said, if people really wanted to send a message that they're not ok with their current DRM model, not buying spore would send the clearest message.

TheDoc

thelordofcheese wrote: »

That was a bad post and you should feel bad.

I wonder do developers feel bad taking 60 euro of me for a game worth about 20.

My new motto is if i can get **** for free, im gonna get it, why should i feel bad.

Theres enough people out there still going to buy it...and with the way my income is and my expenditure, i cant afford to be splashing out on hyped games that turn out to be pants...


But this isnt a review thread, the DRM, just makes people wanna priate more. Why should legally paying customers get the shaft end, its almost as bad as eircom in fairness.

I agree with the steam scenario, i think its brilliant. You download games, cant play them cracked really. And they are way cheaper aswell.

Company of heros and exp is 45 euro in gamestop ( robbers)

29 dollars on steam, works out like 20 euro or less.

thelordofcheese

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

My new motto is if i can get **** for free, im gonna get it, why should i feel bad.

Because that's stealing and that's generally considered to be bad.

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

Theres enough people out there still going to buy it...and with the way my income is and my expenditure, i cant afford to be splashing out on hyped games that turn out to be pants...

then do some research into games before splashing out, jesus fucking christ, i can't believe you're using you're own poor judgement as an excuse to steal games.
You're supposed to be an adult, right? Then take responsibility for your own decisions, you bought a game, you didn't like it.
Tough shit. That's life. People make mistakes, just because you've bought a game you don't like that does not justify piracy in any way shape or form.
If you can't afford to take risks like that, then you can't. When people can't afford to buy something on a whim, they don't. They don't steal it and go "ohh, well it *might* have been bad". Grow up.

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

But this isnt a review thread, the DRM, just makes people wanna priate more.

No, it gives people who want to pirate stuff a convenient scapegoat for their actions.

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

Why should legally paying customers get the shaft end, its almost as bad as eircom in fairness.

Why should developers get shafted because you think it's ok to steal their product provided you come up with some half assed excuse.

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote: »

I agree with the steam scenario, i think its brilliant. You download games, cant play them cracked really. And they are way cheaper aswell.

Company of heros and exp is 45 euro in gamestop ( robbers)

29 dollars on steam, works out like 20 euro or less.

So the markup that bricks and mortar shops put on their product is justifcation for stealing it even though you freely admit that if you shop around you can get it cheaper?
what the hell is wrong with you?

Otacon

thelordofcheese wrote: »

I still say the best way to protest is just not to buy it. It's a clear and unambigious message. The other problem with the downloading as protest model is what you're essentially doing is stealing the product and going "i've taken this because i disagree with your DRM but i'm still showing enough interest in the game to download it"

Not that I agree with the downloading of it, but if someone doesn't buy it, could that not be saying that "I have no interest in this game, therefore I am not buying it".

If someone does protest the DRM by pirating it, are they not saying "I am interested in this game, but I would rather pirate it to play it than put up with your crappy DRM", meaning "You are losing my business over this" versus "I wasn't getting it anyway."