It’s a Con-Spore-Acy
(See the continuing story here) (and the resolution here)
Will Wright’s Spore is the current talk of the town. Topics like uniquely creative gameplay, variety and a controversial DRM security policy that requires information to be sent via the net for authentication. All that aside though, the game has turned out to be very popular, particularly among families. There’s one little hitch to the hype. Publisher, Electronic Arts, expects you to buy one copy of the game per person, per computer. Period. That might be all well and good, but evidence in the game’s manual and an option in Spore’s control panel itself would suggest otherwise and people have taken notice.
Just The Facts Ma’am
Here’s the hard and fast of it all:
- Spore’s packaging (both the Galactic and Standard editions) state that “To access online features, you must register online with the enclosed serial code. Only one registration available per game.”
- However, page 52 of Spore’s printed game manual states: “You may have multiple Spore accounts for each installation of the game.
- In game, Online Settings show your online status above a login/logout button that states “Disconnect from Spore or change users”.
- Once a user has created or logged into a Spore-Online account through the game, attempting to create or log-in with a different name results in a message stating that the installation has already been tied to an account.
- Some users are pissed.
The Controversy
Understandably so, players expected to be able to create these unique creatures and share them, not only with their friends who also purchased the title, but with their families as well. The manual suggests it, not to mention the game’s code itself provides for it. EA’s forums are ablaze with complaints and officials have been virtually reticent over it all. In fact, of the 300+ messages on the US and UK forums, only two replies have come from EA/Maxis employees, one from a forum admin and one from a user assumed to be one of the game’s producers.
The initial response from the forum admin was to apologize, saying the manual was a misprint that would be ‘corrected in future printings’. Shortly followed by a ‘developer’ named MaxisLucky who many forum members claim to be one of the producers. His/Her response was to help cull the anger a bit, asking not to take it out on the forum admin and explaining that developers chose to allow one account per copy of the game to lessen the loads of EA’s servers and prevent slow-downs in site visits by ‘paying customers’. As of this writing, that was the last ‘official’ response in the last 2 days, despite a continuous deluge of posts from other users.
My Take
Let’s face it, ‘a misprint’ is a lousy excuse considering the evidence. Server load seems unlikely too. MaxisLucky suggests that if each installation allowed even a single extra user, their server capacities would be maxed out with creatures. Technically speaking they should have already considered this possibility, with slots for 8 save games. 8 games means 8 evolutionary creations by… you guessed it… 8 possible users. Since more games can’t be saved, it makes no difference if one user takes up 8 slots or 8 users take up one slot a piece. Why not allow for more possible logins? Money would be the obvious answer, but also perhaps a bit short sighted. Assuming there ARE technical issues surrounding the decision, Maxis and EA are not being very forthcoming with the info.
The ‘Evolving’ Situation
I see this ending with several possible paths. Sure, EA could see the potential backlash, find the error in their ways and patch the game to open it up for the families who want to stay AND play together, though their stance on the DRM suggests a similar path: stick by their guns, and hope gamers forget about privacy and keep buying their games.
More likely, I predict the following. EA/Maxis will concoct a press release backing their stance on both the DRM and the multiple login complaints. Simultaneously, a software patch will be released solving some ‘major bugs’ and ‘streamlining the user experience’ but silently removing the login/logout functionality suggesting multiple logins. Followed shortly by the burying, or at least locking, of the forum posts and sniping of any further talk on the subject. I know that’s pretty dark, but we’ve seen it happen before.
We’ll continue following the story, since we’re Spore players too and find the whole situation more than a little lousy. Anyone wanting to chime in can leave comments with us or chime in themselves on Spore’s forums here: http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/103.page . Help spread the word, Digg the forums or our article and let Maxis and EA know players aren’t to be ignored.
Quick Update
I’ve added shots of some international language manuals. Thanks to Spore.com forum member jirnsum for hunting them down.
