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EA Limits Spore Owners to One Account Per Copy, Manual Misprint Leads to Controversy
by Chris Faylor, Sep 12, 2008 7:49am PDTSpore publisher Electronic Arts has confirmed that legitimate buyers of Maxis' celebrated PC evolution game can only create one online account per copy, sparking outrage in households with more than one player.
Though the game's manual clearly states that "you may have multiple Spore accounts for each installation of the game," EA representative Violet confirmed "that section in the manual was a misprint" on the title's official forum.
One of the game's major selling points, a Spore account allows players to access the game's online functionality and Sporepedia, allowing them to share creations online and automatically populate the in-game universe with new lifeforms.
"There is one Spore registration/account per game/serial code so you are correct in that you cannot make multiple accounts at this time," Violet explained, noting that the misprint would be corrected in future manual printings. "I have sent your guys' feedback to the game team though since I can understand the desire to share a game on a system that you entire family uses."
While more than one user can certainly play Spore under that sole online account, many have expressed frustration that they must share their account with others, such as wives, girlfriends and children. The game is also playable offline, though when selecting that option in-game, players are warned that "many features of Spore will be unavailable when playing offline."
Comments
I too waited a day or two and finally bought SPORE. I installed it on both computers I intended to
play the game on and have been having a blast. There have been no DRM glitches or
problems. The game runs smoothly on my two computers, both very different machines in terms of specs. (noted below).
One of the comments about only having one log-in for a family and that this is a major restriction. I don't feel that way since when you start the game, there are 5-6 planets that can each hold a civilization and be played by a different person. You can also be deleted and reuse planets. So I fee this takes care of the multiple person playing on one registed copy.
The design elements in this game are really incredible. When you are in the middle of a game (level) and then are forced to stop and design a new vehicle or building, it is fantastic. It really gives you a sense of ownership, much like time spent on a character in an MMO.
Anyways, just dropping in my two cents. I have really had some outloud "wow, isn't that cool" moments in this game. That is something that doesn't happen very often, not to mention more than
once in a single game.
So those on the fence, don't get too caught up in the fuss and miss the fun.
Mark S
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This would've sucked to have brought this game home and found this out. I was about to go out later tonight and spend some b-day money on it.
Maybe I'll finally pick up Phantom Hourglass for the Wii. I've been telling myself to for a long time now.
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Not saying this is ideal by any means, sub-accounts would be a great solution, but this may have been done to dodge a much larger bullet.
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EA knows what it has, it's enforcing these restrictions to make families buy more then one copy of the game. It's milking the cow. There is no legitimate reason (either to enforce banning or game protection) to enforce a one online account per cd-key.
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Every parent who buys this for their kids to play, and every husband trying to get his wife into video games who doesn't want to share an account are going to be pretty livid about this.
Seriously, EA and their DRM can DIAF.
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"Have we done well master? I've followed your steps to extract a larger revenue stream from our customers who have families wanting to play use our products."
Camera cuts to a Microsoft rep
"Yes young one you learned well at our feet of getting families to buy multiple copies of your programs. Now when will you push out a update that requires them to watch ads before during and after they run your programs?"
There is transparent duplicity at its best. Skipped Spore, skipping RA3 unless their stance on DRM and honesty changes. I won't be holding my breath....
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But then, what's new? Just an 800lb gorilla doing what 800lb gorillas do: beating the shit out of everything they can get their hands on.
Got home, read the reviews, especially the DRM issues, and thought, "cant be that bad." Next day at work, it's a shitstorm all over the internet how bad the DRM is. Made my decision to not buy the game and not support EA's bullshit.
Hey Violet, how about you send the feedback to EA execs and not the fucking game team, since the game team has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EA DRM issue...you think we're ignorant?
This is why it's bad for EA to buy all these publishers, anyone from here on out that wants to question "Why does everyone jump on the EA-hatewagon?"
This is why.
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"Wow, Spore is doing awesome! - We can make more money by fucking everyone over and changing our agreement at the last minute and blame it on a mis-print"
Typical industry issue "We could have made more money if we did it THIS way."
They'll adjust it. They want another Sims-level success, and they don't need a nerd backlash.
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I could understand this more if Spore didn't have the install limit. Together, it just looks like EA want people to buy several copies for a single household.
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i bought it though and only one person here, maybe ea havnt noticed slight recession going on and ppl losing their homes n shit, the amount of for sale signs everywhere is crazy, not best time to be milking people for money
This really is stupid. I mean whats the point? Just allow one account but multiple sub-accounts. So one "game" account, but several sporepedia accounts. Problem solved.
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EA i shooting themselves in the foot. This is a kids game and you're telling the families that only one of their kids can play the game.
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