OK, tell me what I’m missing here because i can’t seem to get what people are raging about the DRM that EA is implementing.
You (only) get to install your copies on different 5 computers, installing on the same computer more than once doesn’t count. But whenever you do an uninstall, you get one of your installs back. And if ever you come across a bug in the authentication that causes one of your installs to go missing (when you reformat your PC w/o uninstalling, etc), you can drop an email to the EA support crew and ask for your install-count back. Also, you won’t need to have the discs in your cd/dvd drive to play after the authentication that only happens once.
Spore has this system implemented and soon Red Alert 3 will be launched with the same DRM system too, but more lenient and there are plans by EA to loosen up a bit on Spore’s current DRM. People describe this “DRM” as draconic but i don’t even see it come anywhere near how Steam implement their version of DRM.
Uninstalling EA products with DRM won’t completely uninstall the DRM included in the game to keep track of EA games’ installation activity and a lot of people seem to be bothered by it. The DRM is not an active one and will only activate whenever it is called or referenced by installing games with DRM. But is it really “that” bad?
September 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Actually you seem to have made a few false assumptions.
1. The original Red Alert 3 DRM announcement proclaimed it to be roughly the same system as is implemented in Spore. To my knowledge they haven’t rescinded any of this yet, nor have they made it any less draconian. This means that contrary to what you say: activations will NOT be regained upon uninstalling the game. This might change now that Spore is receiving a tool for regaining activations, but such a thing hasn’t been announced for Red Alert 3 (or Mass Effect, or Crysis: Warhead, or any other SecuROM-’protected’ game by EA).
2. SecuROM is implemented as a rootkit, which means it’s a pain in the ass to get rid off (if you can at all). Contrary to what you might think, this rootkit is not harmless. It may not actually sabotage your system (unlike Sony’s rootkit on their music CDs a few years back), but it will be a new vulnerability of your system which can be exploited by hackers and viruses. After all - what the SecuROM rootkit basically does is ensure that a connection to EA can be established - other people can make use of this guaranteed open segment in your system to do some nasty stuff. Not so harmless after all, eh?
3. EA’s SecuROM ‘protected’ games are verified the first time you launch them, exactly like Steam games.
So finally - I have a question for you:
Why do you believe EA’s DRM system is less draconian than Steam’s?
It doesn’t make sense.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Thanks Droniac, but gotta make this post quick… boss is right behind me. well, The article is not about convincing people that the Securom DRM is’nt all that bad. Im actually glad that you replied to clarify some things about the DRM and concluded that what I posted are simply my assumptions, a lot would take it differently. Basically all articles that I’ve come across about the DRM are tldr (too long, didn’t read) and filled with emotions that it’s hard to tell which ones are facts and which ones are just brought about by extreme mixed emotions. To make up for it, I might post stuff on how to remove the Securom DRM and whatever traces it might leave. Thanks again
September 18th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
oh and btw, here’s a thread about getting the owner getting an install back whenever he/she uninstalls
http://forums.ea.com/mboards/thread.jspa?threadID=430797&start=0&tstart=0
Thanks again
September 19th, 2008 at 1:12 am
F5, actually I read that very topic. It’s the original DRM announcement for Red Alert 3. Indeed they initially announced activations being regained upon uninstalling the game.
However, later in that very same topic, developers took that back and basically said it was a communication error and activations wouldn’t be regained upon uninstalling the game. Granted, you can install on the ’same PC’ an unlimited number of times, but any (major) upgrades or OS installations will count as new PC’s. You should be able to find this developer reply a few pages in - the topic is so long now I don’t really have the time to look for it again myself.
Anyway, judging by the last comments in the topic: EA still hasn’t announced whether Red Alert 3 will gain some form of reactivation method. Mass Effect never did, so it’s not a guaranteed thing. I doubt EA would be stupid enough not to do so after what happened with Spore, but you never know - they did it with Mass Effect and got away with it.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:35 am
thanks draconiac, DRM seems to be worse than what i think it is