Why I’m Not Buying Spore…
I first read about Spore in 2006. 2 years later, the game finally comes out. I go to Amazon to check the reviews on the day it comes out, planning to go to walmart and buy it that afternoon.
Here is a quote from the reviews page.
See those older 5-star reviews from 2006 (two years before the game was released)? Well, they had a reason to be excited. Spore was supposed to be a revolutionary experience, combining multiple genres while concentrating on evolution and genetics.
Fast forward two years and here we have the finished product, ready to be installed on our hard drives.
First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect). EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.
This basically means that you are actually RENTING the game, instead of owning it. The game WILL stop to function in the future. That’s inevitable, because even if EA keeps the activation servers going, there IS going to be a time when EA will simply cease to exist because of financial issues or federal laws (like most businesses eventually do).
Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn’t even matter anymore. For example, you can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but the multi-legged creature won’t be any faster than a single-legged one with higher leg stats. This gameplay element makes “creating” your creatures entirely pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats), and brings you about the same amount of excitement as dressing up a plastic doll.
There are many more reviews in that style. Out of 2,413 reviews, 2,163 give the game 1 star, making the average 1.5 stars. I used to think that having to have the CD in the drive was bad (and I tricked most games that did that by making a disk image). This is much worse. I don’t want to pay $50 for a game that will stop working and make me whine on the phone after 3 upgrades to my computer (I plan on upgrading this one a lot) or when EA goes out of business and pulls the plug on the activation servers. Also, the internet at my house is unreliable, and when the internet is out I either work on programming or play games (don’t play games anymore, new PC is Windows, old was Mac, old games don’t work anymore) so I wouldn’t want it to require an internet connection every time I run it. I’m also not waiting to pay for expansion packs containing features that should have been there in the first place.
The DRM has also completely failed, the game was being pirated 5 days before its release. It is also quickly becoming the most pirated game of all time–gamers would rather get the illegal version than pay for a rental.
Sorry Maxis, but EA ruined your game.
Tags: video games