I keep hearing complaint after complaint of someone complaining how the Spore DRM is driving to piracy and that it's such an inconvenience.  I popped Spore into my PC last night expecting to have loads of troubles and have plenty to bitch about later but the strangest thing happened: I installed my copy and strangely enough I was able to play my game.

Ok, so what's the deal? 

Oh, that's right, you can only install 3 times, but how many people actually install their game more than 3 times?  The only games I can think off the top of my head I've installed more than 3 times are Half-Life 2 and WoW.  Half-Life 2 because it's just something you do whenever you make a new computer and WoW because I've started and quit it so many times.  Every other game I've probably installed up to 3 times but I don't think I've ever installed others more than that.

So how many of you actually *need* to install the game more than three times and how many of you actually think you're the majority?

And actually I thought about this a little more and starting thinking of console games.  I'm one of those people that put games down and just forget about them.  Sometimes I'll come back to them, most of the time I don't.  Lets pretend that each time I put the game down and don't play it for an extended period of time that I somehow magically uninstalled that game and to play again I would have to reinstall.

So what console games have I done this with?

• Final Fantasy XII - played two different times
• Lost Odyssey - On my second playthrough
• Bully - played twice
• God of War - played twice
• Bioshock - played twice
• Mass Effect - played twice

Now these are all games I decided I didn't like or decided I was just done with so I can assume those were uninstalls or removed to save disk space.  None of those were on their third install and they all even had one more install.

I understand some people really do like to install their games multiple times, but it's not like you can't.  It isn't that much trouble to call EA and get more installs.  As for everyone else, again, I ask why do you care so much?  I highly doubt anywhere near the majority of people bitching about DRM's actually are going to install their game more than three times.

Because DRM is annoying, plain and simple. If I buy a game, I expect that I own it. No one is allowed to tell me how many times should I install it.

Well if you share it among a few people what happens if you have an issue and you end up having to reinstall. Also, of course changing computer will not help the issue.

If it were 5 I would be happier, but I do think 3 is very annoying

Because people like complaining?

Now, if you told me that when you shared the game you uninstalled it from your PC, I would accept this, as it is the same as sharing a console game. However, I don't believe you uninstall before letting a friend borrow it, so no go. It would be breaking the law by creating aditional copies they didn't pay for.

What few people are you sharing it between?

A family?  How many families actually have more three computers that can run the game and you do realize that they still couldn't be all online playing at the same time right?

Shared amongst friends?  Well, then that's illegal and the DRM is doing its job.

So by annoying you mean it has affected you in some way?  You're saying it stopped you from installing the game?

Well I am sharing it with my brother, and it is partially a gift for him.

Is that fair enough? I still want to have more than 1 install spare

I was just thinking of a few ways that could make people happier with the DRM:

- Three set installations (as it is at the moment).
- Once someone has installed the game, they are then free to install the game on the same hardware as many times as they like within five days. This allows for any errors to be fixed.
- After the five day period is up, the next installation counts towards the three.

For me it is a matter of a principle. DRM doesnt stop pirates at all, if you dont believe me then i suggest google spore torrent and see that spore has been leaked online days before its release free of any DRM.

DRM doesnt provide any additional protection against piracy because if somebody wants to play the game offline they will be able to do it easily, and if you want to play a game online then you better have a cd-key. Hell, old games like Starcraft are still impossible to play on Battle.net unless you have a valid cd-key.

Lastly, DRM is just a way for companies like EA to take control of our PCs, I remember FEAR had DRM that would prevent you from playing the game if you had more than one cd-rom or had daemon tools installed. Who in the hell gives these companies the right to decide what I can have on my PC or not?

Right now many developers are testing the waters with DRM and we should not let them get away with it. I know twestern you would love to make people install programs that would blow up their PCs but the ones who are affected are always paying customers rather than pirates.

Also, is sharing a game with someone illegal? (as in a console game as well)