99.8% of gamers don’t care about DRM, says EA

I have to admit, I didn't actually know they provided one. Although the amount of time I spent looking for how to remove it, and the fact that it never came up once shows it ain't exactly well advertised. And yes, you only have my word, but if you go find my blog, I've got quite a few links up there to places where people have had similar experiences, details of how SecuROM works, etc, etc....

Comment by cyberspice1 at 8:10am 24th October 2008

it is difficult to comment on your example as I only have your words to go on and that contradicts my experiences also hear a lot of things in PC support that are later found to not be quite as 'correct' as people say the one question I would ask is did you use the tool provided by securom on their website? - http://www.securom.com/support/SecuROM_Uninstaller.zip

Comment by jjg007 at 10:42pm 22nd October 2008

Here I am having played Crysis warhead for the last Month or so and suddenly my game stops working. I did not reinstall! WTH? What I did do is upgrade from a 8800 GTX to a GTX 280, the first 280 was an XFX one and was faulty, the Second was an Asus and is running fine. Now suddenly my game stops working. I also loaded new Nvidia Drivers, how can a graphics card upgrade and new driver download exceed my installation quota, even though I never uninstalled it? Trying to call EA support has been a true nightmare! I have e-mailed them (no reply yet), Skyped them(no answer) and even phoned them on 3 different numbers(left messages no returned calls yet) from South Africa! I am now looking at a crack just so that I can at least play my legal game I bought! THANKS EA!

Comment by Nictron at 2:15pm 22nd October 2008

Here I am having played Crysis warhead for the last Month or so and suddenly my game stops working. I did not reinstall! WTH? What I did do is upgrade from a 8800 GTX to a GTX 280, the first 280 was an XFX one and was faulty, the Second was an Asus and is running fine. Now suddenly my game stops working. I also loaded new Nvidia Drivers, how can a graphics card upgrade and new driver download exceed my installation quota, even though I never uninstalled it? Trying to call EA support has been a true nightmare! I have e-mailed them (no reply yet), Skyped them(no answer) and even phoned them on 3 different numbers(left messages no returned calls yet) from South Africa! I am now looking at a crack just so that I can at least play my legal game I bought! THANKS EA!

Comment by Nictron at 2:15pm 22nd October 2008

Here I am having played Crysis warhead for the last Month or so and suddenly my game stops working. I did not reinstall! WTH? What I did do is upgrade from a 8800 GTX to a GTX 280, the first 280 was an XFX one and was faulty, the Second was an Asus and is running fine. Now suddenly my game stops working. I also loaded new Nvidia Drivers, how can a graphics card upgrade and new driver download exceed my installation quota, even though I never uninstalled it? Trying to call EA support has been a true nightmare! I have e-mailed them (no reply yet), Skyped them(no answer) and even phoned them on 3 different numbers(left messages no returned calls yet) from South Africa! I am now looking at a crack just so that I can at least play my legal game I bought! THANKS EA!

Comment by Nictron at 2:15pm 22nd October 2008

Here I am having played Crysis warhead for the last Month or so and suddenly my game stops working. I did not reinstall! WTH? What I did do is upgrade from a 8800 GTX to a GTX 280, the first 280 was an XFX one and was faulty, the Second was an Asus and is running fine. Now suddenly my game stops working. I also loaded new Nvidia Drivers, how can a graphics card upgrade and new driver download exceed my installation quota, even though I never uninstalled it? Trying to call EA support has been a true nightmare! I have e-mailed them (no reply yet), Skyped them(no answer) and even phoned them on 3 different numbers(left messages no returned calls yet) from South Africa! I am now looking at a crack just so that I can at least play my legal game I bought! THANKS EA!

Comment by Nictron at 2:15pm 22nd October 2008

actually 007... It ain't a case of tinfoil hat. I HAVE had problems with SecuROM. I've had to spend 2 hours wiping SecuROM off both mine and my dad's computers because it was causing perfectly legitimate discs to be recognised as backups. Then I had to spend even more time finding no-cd cracks for all the games. I've also been treated like a criminal by EA and ... blah blah blah, repeated myself enough on that one! THAT is why I'm anti-Stupid-DRM.

Comment by cyberspice1 at 2:10pm 22nd October 2008

it is not an issue of seeing all people as pirates, it is just an unfortunate fact that most people will take something for free if they can get it and will not even think about any consequences to the games producers or programmers or even the pc games market as a whole. I have been working with computers for 14+ years now and have rarely ever seen any issues with securerom, I see far more problems with standard software and junkware that people have deliberately installed on their PC so no I just can't accept that this is a valid argument , get that tinfoil hat off your head and if you are really that Pnoid buy a seperate hard disk for a second installation of XP! if you really want wipe it after you finish a game. yes people can get torrents but sorry that is a poor excuse as they are battling them anyway and if they can they will stop them , also if you want to risk downloading a file that has been ' altered ' by somebody with no guarantee as to how they have altered it or what they may have included that is your choice but hopefully some people may have the sense not to do it. ALSO I have every intention of purchasing Far Cry 2 and have no concerns whatsoever regarding the DRM and the only people that I blame for having to install the DRM software is the people who pirate software NOT the company who quite naturally wish to protect their intellectual property and investment

Comment by jjg007 at 5:50pm 21st October 2008

it is not an issue of seeing all people as pirates, it is just an unfortunate fact that most people will take something for free if they can get it and will not even think about any consequences to the games producers or programmers or even the pc games market as a whole. I have been working with computers for 14+ years now and have rarely ever seen any issues with securerom, I see far more problems with standard software and junkware that people have deliberately installed on their PC so no I just can't accept that this is a valid argument , get that tinfoil hat off your head and if you are really that Pnoid buy a seperate hard disk for a second installation of XP! if you really want wipe it after you finish a game. yes people can get torrents but sorry that is a poor excuse as they are battling them anyway and if they can they will stop them , also if you want to risk downloading a file that has been ' altered ' by somebody with no guarantee as to how they have altered it or what they may have included that is your choice but hopefully some people may have the sense not to do it. ALSO I have every intention of purchasing Far Cry 2 and have no concerns whatsoever regarding the DRM and the only people that I blame for having to install the DRM software is the people who pirate software NOT the company who quite naturally wish to protect their intellectual property and investment

Comment by jjg007 at 5:50pm 21st October 2008

@amaan An excellent point and probably closer to the truth. I'm sure EA, for all their looking like an ostrich with its head in the sand, are perfectly aware of what sort of impact DRM will have on pirating, hey, they work in the industry. So, shall I buy that secondhand game and download a cracked copy? Where would I stand then? @Eddyboy Lol, what a great post. :-D

Comment by Barbaresco at 11:08am 21st October 2008

You can't share creations with other people on the net without a valid spore account - which you can only get by buying the game. Let there be no mistake, Spore is a shit game on its own and it's only the unique user content that keeps people (attempting*) to play through it. *It's full of bugs and I don't mean the kind you create.

Comment by luttman23 at 8:36pm 19th October 2008

It worked for Sony ... wait ... no it didn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal And sony owns SecuROM? Duh!

Comment by _irad_ at 11:51am 19th October 2008

Are you suggesting that everyone complaining about DRM is complaining because they want to pirate games? Believe me, if I was all about pirating games, there's no way I'd be making so much noise. Pirating PC games is as easy as doing a google search, downloading a few files, and copying and pasting a couple of files, no matter what DRM they come with. If you choose to do that, you get your game without the associated crap, therefore it doesn't bother you, therefore no reason to complain. Most people on here are complaining because they want to pay for games, but don't want invasive DRM on their system.

Comment by cyberspice1 at 3:11pm 18th October 2008

I understand the points you were making in your first post, (and there's a large element of truth to many of them) but I agree far less with your second post. Clearly DRM is NOT making any impact on piracy - as the people who hack games see the hacking as a sport unto itself - it would take a physical element of protection to stop this, as I can't see how a software one will EVER work. Also, your other point about other industries installing invasive software: So? Because companies X and Y invade your rights it makes it OK for everyone else to as well? Sorry, I don't see things that way. As cyberspice already said, altering the core functioning of someone's PC without their knowledge is illegal in many places - and if it isn't here then it damn well should be. EA, and companies like them, are treating all their customers as potential thieves. The film industry has issues with piracy too - and I've yet to be body-searched for cameras walking into a cinema...

Comment by antonyg at 1:11pm 18th October 2008

Gone are the days of buying a game a playing it, I made an error the other day of not reading about a game Pay 34pounds and pay a subscription to play it 140 odd a year, Could not return it as I took it out of the sealed rapping GAME said, never mind. I can understand protection for their games, but why so much hassle for the rest of us who do actually buy them.......

Comment by moose19721 at 11:21am 18th October 2008

In the beginning there was a Plan to introduce (DRM). And then came Assumptions. And the Assumptions were without foundation. And the Plan was without substance. And disapointment was on the face of the Customers. And they spoke among themselves, in forums, saying "It is a crock of shit, and it stinks". And the Customers went to EA's Complaints Dept and said politely: "It is a pale of dung, and none of us obide the odor of it". And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying: "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none can abide it". And the Managers went unto their Directors saying: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength". And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another: "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong". And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents, saying to them: "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful". And the Vice Presidents went to President saying unto him: "This new (DRM) will actively promote growth and vigor of this company, with powerful effects". And the President looked upon (DRM) and saw it was good. And the Plan to introduce DRM became Policy. This is how DRM happened!

Comment by Eddyboy at 10:00am 18th October 2008

QUTOE:"John Riccitiello claims that DRM is only a concern for 0.2% of gamers" I think if the word 'only' is replaced with 'NOT', then it reads: "John Riccitiello claims that DRM is NOT a concern for 0.2% of gamers"; it would then, in my view, be a more accurat statement - One should not tend to believe marketing hype, for it is designed in most instances to suggest something that is not true - Remember the governments statement on WMD and the 40 minutes fiasco!! - enough said - lol

Comment by Eddyboy at 9:42am 18th October 2008

Fella, you need to check the Steam forums, unfortunately Steam includes EA's DRM :/

Comment by CSQuake at 10:34pm 17th October 2008

no DRM doesn't prevent piracy but it does make it that little bit harder and if it was such a non issue you wouldn't all be making so much noise and no I don't believe that this is because people posting on here are deperately unhappy becuase they cant purchase the game! so what about c@rp installed on the pc, so does itunes and load of other junk that people install and for that matter which anoys me MUCH more, stupid directx 9 tries to install for every damn game i put on even though I already have the latest version sorry but you can't hold securom in the same section as spyware, adware, virus as it doesn't really steal your information or try to sell your bank details also when you say you boycott pc games, do you own an 360 or ps3, do you boycott all their games because you cant back them up of copy them multiple times or even because you have to update the system before playing them???

Comment by jjg007 at 9:40pm 17th October 2008

When buying games from ea store you only have access to download the game for 6 months and the option to extend this for 'more money'? What happened to buying a game and owning it for life? I'm glad steam havent opted for this! EA are idiots with no clue as to what the community wants/needs.

Comment by Hamfunk at 8:14pm 17th October 2008

EA should ask itself how many of the 99.8% are *aware* of its DRM. If I installed a keylogger on your PC, would you be any less angry once you found out about it? Not noticeable != ok.

Comment by Rhyses at 7:49pm 17th October 2008

Whether you agree or not, these are the facts, DRM does not prevent piracy, DRM such as SecuROM installs on your computer without your permission and is difficult to remove, even when you have uninstalled the game that it was bundled with, therefore making it illegal in many countries and States of America, People ARE boycotting games or pirating out of spite due to DRM, therefore losing EA business, EA are not at all helpful to those customers who have problems with DRM, neither are SecuROM. This is an unacceptable and something needs to be done about it

Comment by cyberspice1 at 7:31pm 17th October 2008

Sorry but again the vocal 2% are comming out with the usual ' I would buy the games but...' what a load of pure bovine! I am a pc gamer and I am happy to pay for what games I can and I put up with DRM because it is no where near as intrusive and as much of a problem as you guys make out ! if you want to buy second hand then don't expect the game publishers to support you, they don't make money from you so why on earth should they spend money on you?? having said this I purchased a second copy of far cry which was missing it's CD key and after 3-4 emails confirming things I was able to obtain a replacement CD key , the same with the one ocasion where I had problems activating windows, one quick call and all sorted out ! I have kids and if they break a DVD it is my problem, why should I expect to be able to copy it I can't do that to the Wii or PS2/3 games and I don't bother doing it to dvd's if they break it then I will either replace it or if it is broken too soon then it is just tough they will have to live with consequences of not washing jam off or leaving it face down on a set of keys.

Comment by jjg007 at 7:15pm 17th October 2008

I run a specific games rig - no internet connection, so I don't have to mess with firewalls and anti V ect. I buy all my games, cos I like to have the box, manual and 'own' the disc ect - but before I buy any game these days, first thing I check if if it's got online activation! - If it has, then it goes back on the shelf, cos it's pointless me purchasing it. However it doesn't mean that I don't have these games running on my rig - it's just that, in these instances, unfortunatly, the games creators do not receive any monies from me! - lol So, I concur with many other posters - this attitude of EA and other companies does nothing more than to deprive them of the very revenue/profit they claim they are trying to ensure they receive - how can they be so blind; someone should loose their job over that decision I would say. So in my view, one could say that EA have just become the biggest promoter of piracy of PC games without realising it (someone give them a guide dog - lol). In contrast: when one sees companies like Stardock who have no protection on their games (except for registration (optional) if you wish to receive any updates) - this is perfectly acceptible to purchasers such as myself and is very much evidently supported by people who do pirate from the posts I've seen on forums. EA - wake up and smell the coffee - you are actually damaging your business by your current attitude to your paying customers!!!!!!

Comment by Eddyboy at 7:07pm 17th October 2008

Afterreadi ustoy it eems they said " We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 per cent of users wouldn't notice," The qoute does not say gamers don't care, it says gamers don't notice!

Comment by PerpetualOmega2 at 5:38pm 17th October 2008

Hey you guys.. i've already started my boycott of EA!! I did not purchase Crysis Wars nor Spore. 2 games i had planned on buying. But after this no way. I've got to reformat my system to get rid of the SecureRom that has crippled my computer. So, i won't be reinstalling the Crysis game i purchased. We don't spend thousands of $$$ on our systems EA for you to hijack them. We do other things besides play your games!!! So..., .2 % of of PC gamers don't know or understand the real consequences of your SecureRom DRM.

Comment by code7master at 3:45pm 17th October 2008

At a rough guess there are 50 post on here against DRM, by my calculations using John Riccitiello statistics there sould be at least 24,950 posts on here supporting DRM, statisticly speaking of course...

Comment by Scawp at 3:39pm 17th October 2008

DRM only manages to slow your rig (thus wasting power),it can also prevent a game from being loaded (when loaded on my asus DVD RW Toca Race Driver 3 will refuse to boot occasionally.The solution required me to purchase a DVD rom - thus perpetuating the watefulness of DRM).And to cap it all,if you've any software to hang ISO files on your PC then only devine intervention can help your hard drive - thank you Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars for getting me to reformat my hard drive.And then have to re-re-format the sodding thing.One more point - selling these games on to the second hand market pretty much invalidates the game purchased by a innocent customer, eg Sim City 4 Rush Hour expansion,it wouldn't let me register the game as it was previously registered to someone else.Who published that ?EA of course.Electronic Arse - do yourself a favour and check out the reviews of Spore on Amazon.

Comment by Digiman6 at 3:07pm 17th October 2008

DRM only manages to slow your rig (thus wasting power),it can also prevent a game from being loaded (when loaded on my asus DVD RW Toca Race Driver 3 will refuse to boot occasionally.The solution required me to purchase a DVD rom - thus perpetuating the watefulness of DRM).And to cap it all,if you've any software to hang ISO files on your PC then only devine intervention can help your hard drive - thank you Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars for getting me to reformat my hard drive.And then have to re-re-format the sodding thing.One more point - selling these games on to the second hand market pretty much invalidates the game purchased by a innocent customer, eg Sim City 4 Rush Hour expansion,it wouldn't let me register the game as it was previously registered to someone else.Who published that ?EA of course.Electronic Arse - do yourself a favour and check out the reviews of Spore on Amazon.

Comment by Digiman6 at 3:07pm 17th October 2008

Theres something about my computer crashing or slowing down because of new software I've paid full price for that makes me smile and allows me more time to ponder living. When I see pirates with their libraries of great fast running games with security measures removed I feel sorry for them.

Comment by samcboy at 2:15pm 17th October 2008

Is this the sort of guy that goes home and is so tight with his cash that he cant even afford a family since 0.2% of women can handle such a .... Since 0.2% of kids these days probably have a computer that might not be an issue for him but hey maybe that's the 0.2% he knows about because they're the 0.2% putting money in his pocket. if 99.8% (eg everyone else) tells you to .... off you'd think that you might get a clue at least 0.2% of the time but hey not all statistics are perfect right .... Time to review your reports mr CEO and fire the idiot that produced that last one.

Comment by Wardy at 12:31pm 17th October 2008

I know I could crack games, but I still buy an extra copy for my laptop. I hate the fact my son has to swap game disks and will eventually ruin them. I have vowed not to buy Spore, and if the same happens with Sims 3, then I wont start buying them either.

Comment by Chronicfathead at 11:57am 17th October 2008

It's obvious EA doesn't care about how any PC gamer feels about it's DRM policy. They don't care about this lawsuit. They own 6 out of ten spots in the PC top ten and 10 out of 20 overall, in spite of the DRM so the claim has some merit. But why continue to go thru this? Why?!! It aint worth it for a handfull of games and this small market! The the console market is big enough and diverse enough to absorb EA without it crushing competition and dominating the market as it seems to be doing on the PC (maybe that is their goal on PC?), EA is big enough not to be bothered by the loss, and the PC gamers don't want the games or the DRM that comes with them anyway! Sony is doing it with their MMOs. All future Sony MMOs will be for the PS3 only! EA could do the same thing. EA's games are very console friendly, DRM is not even an issue in console circles, and sales are in some cases ten times better on the console than the PC! So why be here?!! Why?!! It makes no sense. I have never seen gaming come to this where gamers and developers are turning on each other. Hopefully EA will come to their senses and move on it would definitely be a step in the right direction.

Comment by Warrior24_7 at 1:38am 17th October 2008

"I play sims and i care about DRM :P" ... may you burn in simulated hell for all eternity...

Comment by NewParadigm at 6:24pm 16th October 2008

99% of all statistics are a lie...

Comment by NewParadigm at 6:22pm 16th October 2008

@richardcreedy developers do know, CEO's and suits dont!

Comment by conholster at 4:41pm 16th October 2008

Piracy doesn't seem to be a problem for Steam either. There are real consiquencs to being caught pirating on Steam and real advantages of using Steam. I mean I wanted to play CS:S at work a while ago. Download steam, login, download CS:S play. Go home and carry on playing. Really there is nothing neater. While doing all this Steam manages to avoid most pirate activity. Sure you "can" pirate around steam, but the few grands worth of stuff in my acount i'm not risking it happening.

Comment by reashlin at 1:56pm 16th October 2008

obviously I'm another one of the .2% that noticed it then, is that because I'm particularly observant or is it because I now have a DVD drive that doesn't read optical media??? Securerom "support" have denied all knowledge of any problem, EA have been more forthcoming, admitting that they are aware of this problem but haven't yet been able to fix it. Am I the only one that thinks securerom (Sony) + disabling my samsung drive = dodgy Maybe if I buy Sony DVD drives I don't get these problems... And I know it's been said before but it's been proven the securerom doesn't stop people pirating the games so why are we, the legitimate paying public, the ones that suffer??

Comment by mightysi at 12:55pm 16th October 2008

I'M Refusing to buy or even acknowlege the drm riddened sims3. I serached the site for this servey and where the hell was it. I admit I WAS a sims addict and regaly serched the sims site where the hell was this survey it must have been up for hardly any time at all. EA are gunna lose a lot of money cause all the people i know are boycitting EA games.

Comment by braywen at 1:02pm 16th October 2008

when will developers learn that drm doesn't stop piracy

Comment by richardcreedy at 12:24pm 16th October 2008

i wonder how long it will take for someone to write a SucurRom dedicated virus which makes use of the opening it creates in peoples systems. wonder how EA would react if every computer which has paid a 'offical' copy suddenly went down because of the DRM they force on you

Comment by minimad127 at 11:02am 16th October 2008

Many companies are trying to tell you that piracy is the reason for them having to introduce DRM etc. If I walk into a shop or go online and buy a second hand game, EA has potentially lost another sale as they make nothing from that sale. By removing the second hand market EA become the sole provider and therefore can make more money. Piracy on the other hand is done mainly by people who don't want to buy the game so EA loses nothing(generally speaking). p.s Battlezone 2 was awesome.

Comment by amaan at 9:57am 16th October 2008

If he writes another word i'll eat my head! haha

Comment by Lightning_Pete at 10:01am 16th October 2008

I'm with mega_bite on this one, a good old fashioned boycott is whats needed after John Riccitiello's stupid comments. I think he may have been playing down the percentages tho because there were probably shareholders and potential shareholders at that thing. So it's obvious to me that the only thing thats talks to EA and John Riccitiello is money...not customer satisfaction.

Comment by davelister at 9:19am 16th October 2008

I'm with mega_bite on this one, a good old fashioned boycott is whats needed after John Riccitiello's stupid comments. I think he may have been playing down the percentages tho because there were probably shareholders and potential shareholders at that thing. So it's obvious to me that the only thing thats talks to EA and John Riccitiello is money...not customer satisfaction.

Comment by davelister at 9:19am 16th October 2008

I think we should show them.

Comment by mega_bite at 8:59am 16th October 2008

my bad 99.8%!!!

Comment by Scawp at 8:51am 16th October 2008

Because 98.8% of us have downloaded the DRM-free version from bittorrent :-p

Comment by Scawp at 8:48am 16th October 2008

He pulled those numbers out of his .... The company has clearly failed to recognize that DRM is unacceptable. It does not achieve its goal of reducing piracy and causes headache for legitimate users. Increasing the number of copies that can be installed does nothing to solve the problem of DRM. DRM is flawed in that it doesn't matter what the number is that is allowed. The DRM would have to work PERFECTLY for it to work at all. It doesn't work perfectly and thus legitimate customers are the only ones who suffer- that is unacceptable. Illegitimate users suffer no negative consequences due to DRM being disabled before they even get it! I'm not purchasing any EA games. This might have almost no effect on EA's bottom line- but none-the-less allot of users like me eventually add up.

Comment by jack_mt2009 at 5:10am 16th October 2008

EA is treating it's games like a "consumable" goods. It used to be that game studios like Sierra and Maxis would build a *community* around a game and the replay value that game had to it's community. Given that Spore has only been out less than 6 weeks, EA is probably right that only 0.2% of users have run into the re-install/activation limit. But given how common it is to have to re-install Windows due to viruses, spyware or hardware issues, if only 0.2% are effected long term by a 5 re-install limit then it is a very damning statement on the long term re-play use that EA expects Spore will get. Or put another way, EA itself has rated Spore as a game that most gamers will no longer want to play after their 5th re-install of Windows or upgrade to newer computers. Given this message that EA has written between the lines and the fact that pirating is the only way to get a DRM-free version of Spore, it almost seems like EA is taking steps to legitimize the worth of pirating! If pirating was really impacting EA's bottom line then they would include a dongle like other major software packages do. Instead, cheap tricks like online activation are really about the re-sale market which really is having a larger impact on EA's bottom line than pirating is.

Comment by fluke at 5:11am 16th October 2008

proud to be one of the many in the "0.2%" cabal. bite me EA

Comment by bulletproof at 2:32am 16th October 2008

I'd love to buy Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. They look really good -but I'll wait till you lose the DRM. Maybe in 10 years they'll show up on Good Old Games www.gog.com. Yes seriously I'll wait. Buy a clue EA. When pirates get a better product why should your paying customers be treated like crap? I won't pirate your games but I won't purchase them while they have this DRM either.

Comment by maxnormal at 11:20pm 15th October 2008

Who are the people EA asked? If its a survey of ppl who use EA website/forum, then its most likely to be children whos parents are buying their games for them, and as such will probably know nothing about DRM. Not only are EA treating gamers like thieving scum, they think gamers views are worth nothing aswell.

Comment by smiffy at 10:59pm 15th October 2008

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/steal_this_comic.png

Comment by Aratahu at 10:37pm 15th October 2008

Put that in your pipe and smoke it EA

Comment by Cool_CR at 10:17pm 15th October 2008

99.8% of people have not been asked whether they are ok with DRM.

Comment by CSQuake at 8:44pm 15th October 2008

I can't say I blame EA wanting to protect its investments, really. To be honest, I've been on both sides of the fence on the issue, but with my many years of software, and more accurately gaming ownership, I can list why I conluded why I chose not to purchase Spore as well as many other games following this sort of registration. I have both purchased games over the years, and I have pirated games over the years as well. I've certainly purchased more than I've pirated. My reasons for pirating mainly were to determine if I liked the game, if it would work on my system, etc. This has saved me from spending money on games that simply had too many bugs that were really worth buying. Some of them I purchased anyway because I felt they would still be a good time killer. For instance, I purchased Sierra's "Lord's of Magic". Do I feel I purchased a good product? Absolutely not. For such a great game, it had errors that were never resolved, and once the company obtained my money that was the end of the line for me. I still like to break that out, but again, the multiplayer is why I purchased it, so that's out of the question for how badly it played. Anyone remember Activisions' Battlezone? How about Westwood's Red Alert 2 (yes the title that EA currently owns). I purchased both of those, and yet were no servers available back when I stopped playing Battlezone, so that game went to the obsolete bin, and Red Alert 2 is much in the same condition. Sure, there are ways to get around the lack of EA's supporting this title, but the game still has bugs...do you think any time and effort is being placed in resolving these? Absolutely not. Yet Red Alert 2 is one of the more popular games at the LAN parties I attend. I must say the money I spent on my copy of Virgin's Subspace holds alot of clout now, anyone play Continuum? The list goes on...Gangland, Restricted Area, and I can go on, but the bottom line is, the company and the consumer have different ideas of what they are selling. Game companies are in this to make money, and hey, they should be...they have to eat. I'm in it to buy a game that gives me entertainment, and I'd like that entertainment to include my friends, because if it doesn't, I'm not purchasing it. However, the company's response to the game's age is that I should "keep a computer to meet the system's requirements", and while that is a novel idea, it's one is not realistic. I'm not interested in keeping multiple systems around with different operating systems and hardware to play a game expecting my friends and such to do the same. Not to mention that I am buying a "copy" of a game, and if I want my friend to play with me, he has to buy a "copy" of the game, and oh my, if this is an online game, (i.e. MMO), then we have to pay a "subscription", and then if the service disappears, I have a useless client and a load of money thrown in the fireplace. When I bought "Risk", "Monopoly", "Sorry", or even something new like "Last Night on Earth" (all of which are board games), I don't have to pay a subscription, worry about licenses, have tech support issues, etc. Can you imagine how popular Monopoly would be if you bought the game, but had to pay a "banker fee" so that a banker could watch the money in your game while it sat in the closet? (I hope I'm not giving board game companies ideas either ;) ). Take all those issues, then you take the cost of what it takes to run those games. The above listed games are all slated to run on some form of Windows. Do you think that this operating system has became cheaper over the years? Do you feel it has become more stable for gaming? I certainly don't fault game companies choosing this platform due to the market share it holds...heck this is why I built only one additional computer for myself, so that I can play those games on occassion. I look at what id Software does, and how they open source games later on, or at least their technology, and that at least gives me some way of supporting a product like that on my own by either taking the time myself, or finding others who can take a look to determine why a product behaves the way it does. It seems to me that when these games become outdated, that these companies would do the same. The funny thing is, that while some of these games run on another platform, like say Mac OS, imagine what open sourcing these old games would do for these companies? Why if I wanted to run these classics on something like say Linux, I could spend time and port the game, and hey, the company could investigate the changes and offer their games on newer platforms! This would be a great way to increase their market off of something that was really scheduled to go to the trash can. Having said the above, its easy to see why I can't possibly purchase Spore. Right now, the DRM would not be an issue for me...it really wouldn't. However, a few years down the road, that activation feature could be something that I can't address much like some of my older games that I have. I'd also like to mention that over the years, I switched my primary computing over to the Linux platform, and I've had much better results on playing games and getting support for the games that I play there. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Neverwinter Nights, Doom3, Defcon, and Uplink are some of the games I play for fun there and haven't had a problem getting support from them. Don't think that these problems don't exist on that platform either. I was saddened to see Loki games go under, and I've had my own set of issues with S2 Games' "Savage" running (but in their defense, they did give the game out for free, however I purchased four copies for me and friends). This doesn't just exist in gaming either, as I'm sure many of you have had issues with software companies. I can say "theKompany" is one company I will never do business with ever again for their horrible treatment and support of their users. But I can say that I've had alot less woes out of the games that I do use on that platform due to companies striving to support their users in an effort to get their support on their next project. I want to be clear also, that if EA happens to read this that I'm not mad or irritated at their company..far from it. In fact just today I played Road Rash '95 with a friend and we had a blast playing it...that game and the versions that existed before it mark some of my fondest memories of EA. I'm simply saying that there is not enough there from a support aspect to warrant me buying this game. Linux versions would help, and while I realize that I can get Spore running on Linux through a Windows emulator (WINE), it still involves breaking DRM to get that to happen. I can't justify that as I will not be supported if I have an issue with the game (at least for the cost of the game right now). I will say that I do use WINE to play some of my older Windows games for Linux, but I would hands down much rather play a native version over using the game over an emulator, but its understandable at the current model these older game companies use, that they can't make that happen (hence the open source idea). I will certainly keep an eye out on what the plans are for the future, and I hope EA can continue to create and sponsor good games, but that they can perhaps make them for Linux and with some options that alienates their loyal userbase. Haz

Comment by Hasues at 6:51pm 15th October 2008

Comment by Cogwulf: "the EA survey was of people who play the sims and 99.7% of people who play the sims dont know what a DRM is"

Comment by combatus at 7:40pm 15th October 2008

I dont do DRM. I dont do EULAS. I dont do what corporations want me to do. If there isnt a hack readily available on the internet, then I think about doing the work to create my own. Music, for instance. I have a HUGE collection of legally purchased music - on reel-to-reel, vinyl, cassettes, even a few ancient 8-Tracks. Do I listen to my music on my computer? Of course. Do I listen to my music in the car? Of course. DRM means nothing to a person determined to use HIS THINGS as HE SEES FIT. Games? Gamemakers generally dont support Linux - but I play their games on Linux all the same. Who cares what they support, or what they approve of? And, DRM still means nothing. Wake up, America. Just reject DRM, it isnt hard to do. Dont buy it, dont play it, dont support it - AT ALL.

Comment by Runaway1956 at 7:27pm 15th October 2008

Like people before me have said, DRM only affects paying customers and pirates get around it easly. EA must take courses in how to alienate its audience or somethin' Secretly installing a program to disable these legitimate programs is clearly an imoral act and only powerfull and rich corporations, such as EA, can force onto the industry. People will look back at DRM acts and laugh at how "oxymoron" they really are. Pirates still ok Consumers lose out

Comment by EnzoLuca at 7:01pm 15th October 2008

lol who the hell did they survey?? the statistics department? what a load of tosh.

Comment by tiff_lee at 7:18pm 15th October 2008

Like people before me have said, DRM only affects paying customers and pirates get around it easly. EA must take courses in how to alienate its audience or somethin' Secretly installing a program to disable these legitimate programs is clearly an imoral act and only powerfull and rich corporations, such as EA, can force onto the industry. People will look back at DRM acts and laugh at how "oxymoron" they really are. Pirates still ok Consumers lose out

Comment by EnzoLuca at 7:01pm 15th October 2008

Unbelievable. Do you think he's been briefed by the Iraqi information minister?

Comment by Ergath at 6:23pm 15th October 2008

because it doesnt affect me at all, or prevent me from stealing games at all. any game i want is trivially easy to find on a torrent site. the only people hurt by DRM are legitimate paying customers. this turns more people into pirates. boy, are game companies dumb.

Comment by nobody at 6:53pm 15th October 2008

The quote goes: "there are lies, damned lies and statistics" Benjamin Disraeli, PM of Great Britain. 1868

Comment by fire_munki at 6:40pm 15th October 2008

Anyone. what is it they say bout statistics???

Comment by Bloodburgers at 6:34pm 15th October 2008

and 99.7% of people who play the sims dont know what a DRM is

Comment by Cogwulf at 6:27pm 15th October 2008

Unbelievable. Do you think he's been briefed by the Iraqi information minister?

Comment by Ergath at 6:23pm 15th October 2008

He obviously hasn't looked at Amazon's star rating for Spore and all the comments that go with it.

Comment by l3v1ck at 6:01pm 15th October 2008

Yeah he made this statistic up because he was talking to shareholders, if he'd have said 79.8% I'd have believed it. If 99.8% is true that means there can't be many god damn pirates that get pissed at the situation. Also- lets review that statistic in 18 months when activations start running out... cram it EA. Their attitude towards this and PC gaming has more weight than the DRM itself for me and I am boycotting them currently across all platforms. (Even RA3 and Dead Space) :(

Comment by mr_nips at 5:45pm 15th October 2008

DONT AGREE WITH DRM,SO I SHALL BUY NO MORE GAMES WITH IT ON

Comment by ICEMAN at 5:53pm 15th October 2008

so thats 1 person :P

Comment by jinx26 at 5:05pm 15th October 2008

He is partially right, in that no doubt the majority of PC games customers don't really care about DRM, (his plucking stupid statistics out of the air aside). But that's not really the point is it? The majority of consumers simply don't know that it even exists, and of many that do, they don't understand the consequences. Just because you can stamp all over someone's rights without them realising it, that doesn't make doing it right or ethical. Just because the PC games industry's intellectual property is at risk, that doesn't give them the right to damage or endanger everyone else's in retaliation...

Comment by antonyg at 4:47pm 15th October 2008

Why not buy the game, then download a cracked version? (Never installing said securom) They get money, you get the game, and nothing else.

Comment by Nemiro at 4:47pm 15th October 2008

We all know better than that. @Scawp.. yeah, i bet they got a more than .2% drop in EA sales!!!

Comment by code7master at 4:32pm 15th October 2008

That survay comes from the people who buy EA games so they either say there idiots and buy stuff there against or they say they dont care. Anyway the ones who do care are to busy with Bittorrent to fill in stupid polls.

Comment by Cool_CR at 4:25pm 15th October 2008

good point, has anyone ever seen a pirated game that still has the DRM in it???? I dont agree with piracy at all but the only people that get affected by DRM is the honest consumer, (and maybe the hacker who spends 10mins cracking the DRM)

Comment by Scawp at 4:20pm 15th October 2008

Oh, and by the way moron, did you pull that percentage out your a$$? I'd love to see you back it up.....@ Scawp, I believe it's actually 80% ;)

Comment by cyberspice1 at 4:18pm 15th October 2008

yeah yeah, save it for the judge. Oh, and that problem called "piracy"... Does DRM do a damn thing to stop it? No, that's why, despite the intrusive DRM that has lead to lawsuits being filed against you, Spore has become one of the most pirated PC Games ever. DRM does NOT prevent piracy, it merely makes it worse. Moron

Comment by cyberspice1 at 4:10pm 15th October 2008

who he trying to kid? if theres only 0.2% of us bothered about DRM then maybe us 0.2% should stop buying their games, lets see if that leads to a 0.2% drop in EA sales...

Comment by Scawp at 4:11pm 15th October 2008

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