Spore & SecuROM...I WAS going to buy it

Keithustus wrote:

I have been waiting with baited breath since Will Wright first said Spore several years ago.  I've watched all the videos I can find, articles that mention and discuss the game, and been playing old Will Wright games in celebration.  I have been planning on pre-ordering whatever deluxe, collector's, limited, edition version becomes available.

But today I learned that Spore will utilize SecuROM.  (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52547)  I understand that you are trying to protect your years of investment, but I cannot support any use of SecuROM.  I will instead primarily play Gears of War 2, Company of Heroes, or more Rock Band this winter.  Would it not be feasible to use a more user-friendly piracy defense, like Stardock and Valve use?  No one can argue that the sales of Sins of a Solar Empire is hurt by piracy.  Please reconsider not using SecuROM and I and many other gamers will anxiously buy Spore.  Until then, I'll wait for the DS version.

Keithustus
Hardcore gamer and game buyer

Hello Keithustus, Nor Can Mehtap!
What do you know about SecuROM and how it will effect our gaming?

This is certainly a travesty.

And I was looking forward to Spore too.

I sent an angry letter to EA.

(Since I like this thread more, I'm locking that other one.)

Read the above links, GS.  Many copy protection programs are a little over-zealous in making sure you are still using that ONE ORIGINAL CD/DVD, in the ONE PC you've installed the game on, with only the SAME PRODUCT KEY you bought with the game... to the point where these programs "rootkit" your PC, and can even cause problems with other games and apps that are installed on the PC.

I'm not really that surprised that Spore'll have some form of copy protection, though the use of something as aggressive as SecuROM definitely wasn't something I'd hoped for.

I guess I'll have to take off my white hat and hang it up and dust off that gray hat, something I haven't done in a few years.... >;2) (this is a hacker's reference)...and come up with a way to neuter the SecuROM software and still allow Spore to run.

/\/\ark wrote:

I just read a lot of stuff on SecuROM. It looks like it could be a hastle. There are a number of conditions (as Keithustus mentions) that could come up.

It sounds like you will have to at least boot up Spore once every 10 days to keep it active otherwise you will have to contact someone by phone to reset it, and you only get 3 of these resets?

No one may notice for a while because they will be playing more often than every 10 days, but then they get tired of it for 2 weeks, or go on vacation, and you have to reset it.

This pertains to people with internet access. I guess you can't register or play the game without internet now.

You only need to call IF you don't have internet access to reactivate your game after it's been 10 days since you last played the game or if you're trying to reinstall your game after you've used up your 3 installs.

/\/\ark wrote:

What about playing offline? Probably still need to be online while starting it up to ensure the security check is done, then go offline?

Well, I think most people will want to play the game online to take advantage of the asynchronous downloading of content for Spore. If you do want to stay offline, you can do like you said and connect before your start up your game and once the game actually comes up, you can disconnect.

I'm trying to convince myself that it's either not true or not as bad as it sounds.  However, just hearing these things is working me up into a rage, and I do not often get that way.  I've followed Spore for years, dreamed about purchasing and playing the game, but this can only take away from the gameplay experience.  Spore has been built up as being able to play completely without internet connection, but now they are taking that away from the gamers.  Copy protection is fine, but this is sheer overkill.

I imagine the news of this development is going to sway many other fans from buying the game.  I'd think that the potential loss of many customers would be at least as bad as whatever piracy would arise on the game.

Last edited by InfiniVide (May 7, 2008 4:52pm)

DanekJovax wrote:

I wouldn't get too worried right now, 'Fini.  If you go to the SecuROM Wiki, you'll see there's several variants of it that all do differing methods of protection.  I wouldn't put it past the writers of SecuROM to make a new version just for Spore, and given that it's not on shelves yet, there may be a chance to sway them to put in a more benign version in with the CD/DVD distibution.

Yeah, I'm trying not to get myself too worked up about it yet.  This seems like a relatively new rumor and there may be more news on its development before long.  Hopefully better news than this major downer.

Honestly I don't understand why you guys are getting so worked up. Seriously just because of this you might not buy the game? I mean really...

It may just be a big hoax.
If you don't buy Spore because of this then, that sucks for you, because all of the rest of us will be fine call the peeps after three times of reregistering or whatever, it will probably be a really quick thing.

It's not like you have to reinstall the game, you just have to probably type in the KEY-code or something.

Well I guess its not a hoax but seriously why get so worked up?

And by the way...

Nor Can Mehtap Sandwiches
Enjoy your stay at TotalSpore
Read The Rules To Get You Started

Nor Can Mehtap, sandwiches!  What kind of sandwiches are you, BTW?  Well, hold that answer (and the 'mayo) for another thread... nice to have another sane voice here. ;2)  Anyways..

Jdog asked me this in a PM, and it was a good question, so I thought I'd respond to it in here for everyone:

jdog2360 wrote:

My Question:

So if I don't play my game for 10 days, it wont work and I will have to re-register. I don't play for another 10 days, re-regester and do the same thing again.

So if I do this it will never let me play the game again?

I don't really have any worries about this, I will play Spore for awhile when it comes out but what about vacations and stuff?

Can you please explain this to me?  Thanks

Well, according to one prevalent secuROM version, it will require re-connecting (online) to the secuROM server every ten days to verify your key is still valid, and if it cannot connect in ten days' time, it'll likely halt the game loading until it gets its way, or you call back to their tech support and re-register on the phone (with someone likely speaking a very deep Indian accent, too).

Until we hear something more definitive, I can't really relate any better news/information.

haha thanks DanekJovax for the reply

Lemunde wrote:

The idea that these copy protection utilities do anything but promote piracy is absurd.  Since most people won't want this stuff hampering their programs there will be more people hacking it making it easier to pirate.  My only concern about this is that if I choose to remain honest I'll be supporting something that only serves to hurt honest gamers and give hackers a good laugh.

What will be most ironic is that pirates will actually have an easier time playing the game without having to worry about activations or being online or any of that silliness.