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News EA to face class action lawsuit over Spore DRM

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 26 Sep 2008.

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SecuROM is...

  1. Understandable

    4 vote(s)
    8.2%
  2. Unforgiveable

    45 vote(s)
    91.8%
  1. Saivert

    Saivert Minimodder

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    Kúsař : The reasons the EULA has changed this much over the past 10 years is because game developers and publishers expect more revenue on it than they did back then. Back in the golden years of gaming, game developers were happy if they sold a few thousand copies and had enough money to just finance their next project. People did pirate games then as well. People have always been pirating. It's not a new thing. It's just that now it is seen as a threat because they don't cash in bucketful. It's all down to being greedy and nothing more/less.

    This culture is not only prevalent in the games industry. It's everywhere. Money rule too much. And our society will suffer because of it. Something is seriously screwed up when a company does something that they know will cause controversy and mistrust, but still go on with it because they can't let go of the greed.
    Why do you think we have a financial crisis at the moment? This is just a taste of what to come.
     
  2. Darth Joules

    Darth Joules Minimodder

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    QTF. :thumb: EA bought SecuROM as a replacement for Stardock DRM 2-3 (?) years ago. Back then SecuROM was as benign as Stardock was, they were almost identical products and nobody really had a problem with it. However SecuROM has now quickly evolved into a "meaner" restrictive version and unfortunately EA are seemingly blindly tithed to Sony and using their DRM software.
     
  3. calipip4

    calipip4 What's a Dremel?

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    So many people have the whole idea of SecuRom and the x amount of activations all wrong.
    It's not just a simple DRM, it installs separately to the game without your knowledge...if you un-install the game...it DOESN'T un-install the SecuRom, which makes it a rootkit (malware), so if you don't know this, you will think it's gone because it hides in "hidden folders" and in your "Registry", not to mention disabling of some AV's ,the damage it does to some PC hardware, and stops you from being able to use legal software that SecuRom has been programmed to black band. EA deserves to be sued over this issue alone.
    The other issue I have with this type of Draconian DRM is that when you can't afford the internet anymore, you can no longer Play a Game you Paid for, and that is wrong...most games aren't played over the Net so why do we have to be connected to it. ( It's to Spy on PC users, that's why it Phones Home with Encrypted Data.)
    There is a lot bigger picture than what we're seeing here right now, this is only a baby step to the end plan. This has nothing to do with piracy, because we know that the pirates will never be stopped and it is proven once again with the amount of torrented copies of Spore downloaded so far in less than a month. Why is EA adamant about continuing to use SecuRom when they know it’s not doing what they say it was intended for and is only effecting the paying customers. I will not buy anything that is put out by EA or Sony anymore, even though I would love to buy Sims2 IKEA, Sims2 Apartment Life, Spore and Red Alert 3, but I just don't trust EA or Sony. All they have done for the last 18 months is lie through their teeth to save their neck and not a bit of concern for their paying customers.
    I'm also a member at Reclaim Your Game: http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/ and we’re dedicated to helping other gamers with their issues with SecuRom and get info out to educate to public. We also have a SecuRom Removal Instruction Walkthrough Tutorial on the site for people to use and we’re in the process of updating it.
    So please feel free to visit our site and see for yourself.
     
  4. Darth Joules

    Darth Joules Minimodder

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    @ calipip4 and what he's saying. I wonder if this would render Spore, as a retail product, as "not fit for purpose" under UK retail law? If so, this would fully entitle you to return the game for a refund.
     
  5. sotu1

    sotu1 Ex-Modder

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    really, this is just another case of suing for the sake of suing. let's sue for anything we can think of. really, has the DRM actually genuinely affected anyone in a really bad way?
     
  6. Ryu_ookami

    Ryu_ookami I write therefore I suffer.

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    There's a 53 page thread (last time I looked) on the spore forum that EA specifically set up asking for comments the moment their realised that the comments were all about the DRM they stopped responding despite posting on other parts of the forum so I would say Yes, people have tried to start a conversation with EA but EA have stuck their fingers in their ears and started humming loudly at the top of their voice so that they don't have to listen.


    Give it a very little while then watch as people start to complain over the fact that they can not install the game that they purchased on their PC any more because they have used the 3 installs.
     
  7. impar

    impar Minimodder

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    Greetings!
    EA has kindly extended to five activations.
     
  8. Ryu_ookami

    Ryu_ookami I write therefore I suffer.

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    LOL like that makes it any better lol

    EA needs to sort this PR disaster out before it costs them even more as prior to this. it was just gamers that were complaining about the DRM but this situation has now got the general buyers complaining as well. That can not be good for business.
     
  9. talladega

    talladega I'm Squidward

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    I havent read much on this DRM thing as I dont care for Spore but what is bad about SecuROM? I have a game from 2003 that uses SecuROM. What does SecuROM do that is so bad? I havent had any problems with the game I have that uses SecuROM. FYI, its Nascar Racing 2003 and it has online play in it. I dont get how SecuROM is bad. I made a (as close as possible to 1:1) backup copy of it on a cd and a cd image if I want to run online or I just use a no-cd. Maybe its an older version of SecuROM or something but I dont understand why copy protection is bad.

    The only copy protection that i've known is pure evil is Starforce which happened to actually wreck some peoples dvd/cd drives.
     
  10. impar

    impar Minimodder

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    Greetings!
    Its the current version of Securom that brings nasty features.
    EA and other companies are using it to limit paying customers use of the game.

    You have to authenticate online a single player game in order to play it and you are limited to the numbers of times you can activate the game, usually three or five activations.
    Besides, Securom is a pain to uninstall from your system.

    As always with DRM, its use is pointless.
    Whoever pirates the game has free liberty to install and uninstall the games as he/she/it pleases, but the paying customer has limitations to the use of the game he/she/it bought.
     
  11. talladega

    talladega I'm Squidward

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    Oh, I see. Must be a very new version as you say. My game just has a cdkey like most, no need for authentication. And there is no Securom installed either.

    I'll make sure I avoid any games with the new Securom then. THanks!
     
  12. Ryu_ookami

    Ryu_ookami I write therefore I suffer.

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    cool i just realised that sotu1 has quoted me in his sig "ahhh, i feel so special"
     
  13. impar

    impar Minimodder

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    Greetings!
    Securom is usually in a hidden folder in the Windows user folders.
     
  14. anduril

    anduril What's a Dremel?

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    i sometimes wonder what the budget is for drm research. what percentage of the retail price accounts for drm costs?
    personally i'd say make it cheaper **** the drm.
    cheaper game= more sales.and it's done with the same profit margin as u no longer need to pay for drm development.
    untill the guys at ea and co figure this out i'll pirate whatever game i want. i'll happily spend money on a game il like that comes without any fancy drm crap.
    in the end theyjust hurt themselves. if u want to turn a profit u gotta keep the consumer happy.
     
  15. talladega

    talladega I'm Squidward

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    must only be with new Securom version. I have no Securom things installed. I think the Securom on my game is used in a different way.

    On mine its just to prevent copying the disc (it was very hard to make a backup).
     
  16. crazybob

    crazybob Voice of Reason

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    There's a big difference between your driver's license example and your DRM example: you are made aware of the terms of a driver's license before you pay for it, and you are free to choose not to get one. DRM is different; it's not advertised on the box. The first you will know about it is when you skim the EULA. I wish you the best of luck trying to return the game at that point, with the packaging open. Because of the way this works, by the time I encounter an EULA I disagree with, I have two choices: 1) accept the terms of the agreement, including potential hardware damage or operating system corruption, or 2) eat my $50 loss. No retailer will take the game back just because I claim to disagree with the EULA - they will assume I have already copied the game. DRM acts as though legitimate customers are all pirates.

    Second, you are wrong about Spore being cracked after only a few days. Spore was available on torrent sites, with all that pesky DRM removed, well before the release date. EA has irritated thousands of paying customers by including DRM which had already failed to achieve its intended purpose before it was even released.

    I doubt anyone has been terribly affected yet, but that's not the issue. The real issue is the almost certain future impact. I have been looking forward to the game since it was announced, but I will not be buying it. I'm abstaining because I'm well aware that the DRM would have a great impact on me in the future. Just last weekend, I installed Scorched Earth 1.5 and had a grand time playing for several hours. This game, released in 1995 (the first version was actually released in 1991), included no DRM, which is the only reason I was able to do this - I've installed the game dozens of times in the 13 years since that final version was released. I can say with confidence that three activations would have been insufficient. Indeed, so would the five activations Spore now allows. EA has responded to the issue by announcing a patch which allows computers to be deauthorized, but I'm fairly sure that even this falls a bit short. Will their activation server still be running in 13 years? Will my game still be playable, or will EA drop it when it becomes a waste of money to keep the servers running? If they drop the servers, will they release a patch which allows the game to be installed without activation, or will they simply assume nobody is interested any more?

    I didn't rent the game. I bought it. When EA inevitably shuts down the activation servers or goes bankrupt, I will lose my ability to play the game. EA will have essentially stolen my game from me, simply because they were concerned that I would steal it from them. In reality, the worst I would have done with the game is reinstalled it on my own personal computer several times. Is that considered stealing, these days?

    Software companies don't treat software licensing correctly. This could be a long rant, and is only slightly related to the topic, so I'll instead direct you to a very interesting article I stumbled across a few days ago.
     
  17. scarrmrcc

    scarrmrcc What's a Dremel?

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    wait a minute....

    so, people are mad that:

    1. 3 or 5 or 7 intalls:
    they want to buy a game once, and then use it on multiple installations, on different computers, ect ect..
    seriously, i know many people are like "what i can only install it 7 times?!?!?! i format my harddrive every 3 weeks!" but seriously, the way it is now you can put it on 7 computers, and you just call them when you format, reinstall ect... 7 computers people.

    2. you only get 1 user account per disk.
    well, frikken duh. 1 person bought the game. if you want the whole family to use the game, then the user account is for the family. the purchase reflects the usage.

    3. greed? where does come from? they are not being greedy, by selling you what you pay for. too many people think "i have a computer, i GET to have stuff for free" like copies of friend's games, copies of CD's, copies of DVD's. if people would just start getting used to paying for their stuff, they would realize that tis is not greed, it is business. you want it, they have it....pay for it. if you don't want it enough to pay what they want for it, it is not just your RIGHT to have it for less, or free.

    4. well, i am done typing for now....about it, but think people.

    "OMFG, i has to pay for stuff? BS, i own a Computer, i can just borrow (i.e use forever and never actually pay for) other people's stuff for free."

    secureROM does not do the evils that people act like it does, quit jumping on the "i heard form this guy in a forum" bandwagon and buy or it, or don't buy it, don't sue becasue they want you tp actually pay for the game.


    if it is that bad, torrent it.
     
  18. impar

    impar Minimodder

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    Greetings!
    Your reasoning eludes me.
     
  19. Bladestorm

    Bladestorm What's a Dremel?

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    How hard would it be for this to happen really?

    You start installing the game, something, anything randomly goes just slightly wrong during installation. The game does not work but activation #1 is used.
    You ring up EA tech support, they tell you to uninstall and re-install the game - Activation #2 has now been used.
    The game now works, but you find your pc struggles with it, so you buy and install a new graphics card. The securom checks the hardware and finds it has changed, so qualifies this as a new PC, activation #3 is now used when you start the game back up.
    You happen to log onto a different user account on the PC for some reason, the securom identifies this as a new install, activation #4 is now used.
    Back to the original user account and it again picks up as it being installed on a different pc, activation #5 is used.

    Nothing too fantastical there and most of them backed up by accounts of users running into those types of problems with mass effect too, so its far from impossible for a normal user to run into problems quickly, never mind wanting to come back and play the game again later as many of us do.

    On the general topic of DRM, I've been reading the pieces published on Penny arcade's frontpage just lately with interest and am particularly fond of this final paragraph of the piece by the CEO of Three rings (puzzle pirates etc)

     
  20. DXR_13KE

    DXR_13KE BananaModder

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    i already call MS to activate windows, i don't want to do this with my other games, that and considering the cost of the calls... yes, i am very angry about this.

    edit: they also reserve the right to say no to your plea to request another installation...
     
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