Piracy. It has taken the internet by storm and is not slowing. Even with copyright laws being enforced to their max, the pirating world is just to vast to get a firm grip on. So how do developers get their moneys' worth from games like Spore? Well, they take extreme measures and implement a DRM on the game. The DRM is nothing new to the later video games provided for PC's. I am sure all Bioshock fans noticed it the day Take Two Interactive announced it at its unveiling. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is a good thing. But if used correctly. A DRM is supplied by a third party company specializing in preventing the loss of profit or pirating of anything digitally distributed. Even DVD's contain a region code on the disc that if a player does not recognize the region code, it will refuse to play the disc. The DRM issue surrounding Spore is not so much for its protection, everyone will agree that they don't care how they protect it. The issue is the limitation. Thats right, I said limitation. EA has placed a three occurence activation within its DRM. Meaning that you the consumer can only register the CD Key with the game three times and it has to be verified over the internet. Since this issue has arised, several Spore players are playing Spore illegally by use of pirating. On several pirating sites, many users have frequently said that the game runs smoother pirated than if you purchased it and ran the emulated protection. But don't get down just yet. There is still several reasons why Spore is such a great game.
The DRM is NOT the work of the developers. Maxis, the developers of Spore have no control on how the publisher (Electronic Arts or EA) distributes their game. Which is why we should still play Spore. Will Wright is a very famous game developer spanning over several years of research and game design. Some of his popular titles include the Civilization franchise and The Sims. Will Wright done right with Spore. Spore is definitely nothing short of revolutionary. A life simulator in which everything is created by the user? Something unheard of. The Sims is a life simulator, but it has limits. Spore does as well, but it feels more like a Sandbox than building Barbie's Dreamhouse.
Please bear in mind. We in no way intend for you to use a pirated version of Spore. Some of Spores' key features may or will not work with a pirated version. Also, it is ILLEGAL to pirate any copyrighted publication of any sort. We say to you, go buy Spore from www.spore.com or from your local game retailer. It is worth its money and will keep you entertained for hours.