Finally… an article that gets to the heart of the Spore DRM issue.
Ars Technica wrote a great peice where they tested the upped limits of Spore’d DRM. Their result?
While the issue of the install limit is a touchy one, it doesn’t look like a normal install will do much to use up your limit, and in fact we surpassed the install limit by a few times before running into an issue. Even after being told that we were “renting” the game, EA was happy to give us a new key to run the game. In this case, customer service wins, and we left wondering if the DRM controversy might be more philosophical in nature than rooted in any real-world inconveniences.
Personally I have Spore installed on my gaming PC and iMac 24″. I love being able to have the game installed on multiple machines without requiring the use of a disc. For me this is superior copy management than the typical safedisc method. I suppose the only thing that could make the licensing more convenient is a way to deactivate an install (a la iTunes) to move licenses around to different machines. But at least a strong customer service plan is in place for the minority of people that hit the DRM ceiling.
UPDATE: Looks like my “only thing” is being resolved. From Kotaku:
A patch, coming in the “near future,” will allow Spore owners to “de-authorize” a computer that has had the game installed, much like the DRM structure that Apple’s iTunes uses.
There’s also a great article comparing Spore DRM with Steam DRM. http://kotaku.com/5051514/steam-drm-vs-spore-drm
