Spore and Mass Effect to require on-line validation every 10 days

[johnnie walker]

Saw this yesterday on digg and forgot to post it.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52547

"After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run," added French. "..An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after."

EA are shooting themselves in the foot here, the only people that this is going to piss off is the people who actually buy the game. There will be a pirated version of the game out right after release (if not before) with this protection cracked (every other copy protection scheme has been, why not this one?).

On the digg thread a lot of people where saying that they would either just download a pirated version straight off or buy the game then download a crack (the best option i.m.o).

When will people learn that DRM (in any media) just pisses off legit customers and does nothing to combat piracy?

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by johnnie walker

On the digg thread a lot of people where saying that they would either just download a pirated version straight off or buy the game then download a crack (the best option i.m.o).

Same thing I'm seeing on most the gaming forums I use.

I reckon EA will back down, or the whole thing will turn out to be a misunderstanding, which to be fair, has happened with anti-piracy measures on games before.

[TheCastrator]

"After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run," added French. "..An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after."

<Looks at thread>

After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned). Just so that the 10 day thing doesn't become abrupt, SecuROM tries its first re-check with 5 days remaining in the 10 day window. If it can't contact the server before the 10 days are up, nothing bad happens and the game still runs. After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run.

Must have edited the post, probably to clear it up. Or people are making news out of nothing. Or both.
All that's happening is that it checks, then will check again after five days. If it can't check, it'll stop working after ten, until it can check and confirm. Then it'll be golden.


Still getting both when they come out.

Oh no, second page:

For clarity, though, an internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after. You can be completely connectionless for 9 days and encounter no problems playing Mass Effect. And you don't need the disk in the drive to play.

[Draven]

Gash. Will be cracked, and will just fuck up peoples computers like SecuROM/Steam has in the past.

[Ghostsuit]

This is insanity and would drive me to pirate!

[johnnie walker]

Originally Posted by TheCastrator

If it can't check, it'll stop working after ten, until it can check and confirm. Then it'll be golden.

Thats the problem though. If you don't run the game or let it online when it wants to check, it stops working until it can. A reasonable example of how this could go wrong is that your internet connection goes down on the day before its due to check, for 2 weeks. No game until your net connection is sorted.

Another 2 examples from the digg thread i read were: A guy who is stationed on a sub and plays games on his laptop when not on duty and can be stationed on the sub for months at a time, and another guy who works offshore with no internet connection for 8 weeks at a time. Both people who would have bought the game legit and played, forced into using piracy / cracks to play a game they bought legally.

[TheCastrator]

Originally Posted by johnnie walker

Thats the problem though. If you don't run the game or let it online when it wants to check, it stops working until it can. A reasonable example of how this could go wrong is that your internet connection goes down on the day before its due to check, for 2 weeks. No game until your net connection is sorted.

Another 2 examples from the digg thread i read were: A guy who is stationed on a sub and plays games on his laptop when not on duty and can be stationed on the sub for months at a time, and another guy who works offshore with no internet connection for 8 weeks at a time. Both people who would have bought the game legit and played, forced into using piracy / cracks to play a game they bought legally.

Yeah, gotcha. Didn't read to the second page of the thread. Thought it was only two activations, not the constant nonsense that's apparently going on now.

[johnnie walker]

..And they've caved. At least on the 10 day validation.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl.../05/09/2318229

An anonymous reader writes "In response to recent criticism, EA has decided to eliminate the periodic validation of Mass Effect and Spore. 'Specifically, EA's plan to dial in to game owner's computers every ten days to check whether they were running a legitimate version of their software has been scrapped, ShackNews reports. EA had planned to use the validation method for upcoming titles Mass Effect and Spore. EA now says that validation will now only occur when a user attempts to download new content for either game. Chief among the voices in opposition to this measure were members of the armed forces, who pointed out that they could not rely on having an internet connection every ten days.'"

EDIT: also http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/5/9/