Angry Robot

DRM Issues With Spore and Mass Effect Make Me Mad

I don’t get it.

Why does this need to happen? Apparently, for PC users of Mass Effect and then Spore the status of the installation key must be checked and verified every 10 days. If you don’t have internet for some reason and it’s around verification time, well, no gaming for you. Much like when I couldn’t play all my Live games…grr.

So, it just feels a bit like punishing the innocent for the crimes of a pirating crew. The official post on the Mass Effect forums states that this info is just the way it is right now and it may change, but still way to put the fear of shitty situations in PC gamers.

I do know why companies are turning to solutions like this but it still angers me that the internet is required to play a PC game just for verification purposes. The whole Digital Rights Management argument is one I do admit to not fully understanding, but I hate feeling like I have to pay for and live with barriers that were created because of the actions of a selected group of freeloaders. Yeah, I said freeloaders. Downloading something once and and a while because it is too difficult to obtain in your country or something is one thing, but always downloading all music, tv, films, and games and never paying for it? That’s just pushing the limits of digital charity I think. I’ve always been of the mind that if you buy it in some form at some point in time then it’s okay to download it. That shouldn’t be abused though. People do create these things and they shouldn’t be robbed of payment simply because “it should be free”. It isn’t free, so pay for it. At least pay for some of it!

Gamers have to pay huge prices for games, that is true, but with the future of digital distribution and the elimination of discs and the transportation thereof the costs will one day go down. Still, it’s all a tricky and weird business right now I know that. I just don’t like legal customers having to deal with software ticks to keep the pirates away. They’re gonna crack it anyway, they always do. And they always will. Just the nature of software…if someone makes something eventually another will figure out how to unmake it.