SPORE

author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=1860.msg30717#msg30717 date=1221080508
It is, but Securom has been out longer than Spore and nothing else has generated this kind of shitstorm before.

I wouldn't mind if the reviews did something about DRM, but I'm not holding my breath. The Mass Effect/Spore initial DRM outcry changed how the DRM was handled, but it'd take something huge (bigger than nerdrage) to get them to drop DRM.

Something like no one buying the game, or sales being hammered hard because one of the most major online retail outlets gives it an average review score of about -5?

Spore's still going to sell well, but if it were a game with less inertia keeping it going, that review bomb would be huge, and might very well make a company drop the policy that makes consumers so angry.

author=Quiversee link=topic=1860.msg31002#msg31002 date=1221185028
I have 1 thing to say about that DRM thing. It's a lie, about Spore I mean, just Spore. I have installed Spore on 3 computers, and I had to re-indtall it on one due to accidentally installing it to a portable drive. 4 activations input. 4 different drives. No problems.

I agree with GRS that a game should be rated on gameplay and not a stupid DRM. Spore earns a 4.5 outta 5 from me just because I enjoy making things and I think gameplay is rather fun. I do admit though that on all the files I made, only 2 of them I decided to leave the creature stage. The only thing I see wrong is that no matter what you do, all the attacks of vehicles look the same in the civ stage.

So now I wonder, why on earth does this DRM make so many bad reviews that lead to 1 star total rating? I bet half those DRM nuts dont even HAVE 3 comps to install it on but it doesnt matter cause I think the DRM is a lie anyway, either that or I'm just a super lucky guy and the fourth install was a fluke, but I dont really care which.

To a lesser degree, it's the same reason people don't buy perfectly functional clothing that's produced in sweat stops. They have a moral objection to some aspect of the production methods or underlying functionality of the product, and an attack against the stockholders' wallets is the only thing that works when trying to correct a company's bad behavior.

I'd be interested to hear what version of the game you got where the DRM failed to knock you back. Was it the downloaded version? Because I'm pretty sure the downloaded version uses a different scheme than the disc version--I think it's more tied to the account under which you bought the thing. Also, activating twice on the same computer would still only count as one install regardless of the drive, as long as the configuration of the computer was the same--the way these things work is to make an image of the hardware and decide it's a different computer after enough of the components change (a different motherboard or CPU is an automatic failure, I believe).

I've had to deal with these things before, so I've got first hand experience on this--it's how it worked with RPG Maker XP, and having to call the company to get software I payed for "reactivated" when I hadn't done anything wrong is definitely not a good way to stay in my good graces.

One can't help but sympathize with people who buy a product and find that people who stole it got a better product.

Yeah, the Civ stage has become a road block for me largely because of how shallow it is. As a longtime Civ 4 player, it's hard to deal with something that has so much more potential than that...

...but this is Maxis. I'm sure an expansion pack will come along eventually, and hopefully that'll add some depth. Which doesn't make up for the lack of a fun experience in the Civ stage now, but might make up for it later.