Yes. Mass Effect and now Spore will remain unpurchased.
I was going to buy Spore for myself and my two daughters. Since that would use up all three of my installations, leaving no room for upgrades/viruses/new machines, I will not be buying Spore at all. I haven’t decided if that rules out playing it or not.
I’d pretty much have to recommend looking online. The number of activations allowed is often buried in the EULA or something like that.
Well, yes and no. If it is particularly egregious DRM that interferes with my rights as a consumer then yes. As a purchaser of software I should be able to:
- Install it as many times as required.
- Use it whenever I feel like it (no Internet connection required for singly player games, for example).
- Not have it send greetings to Opal when I use it.
- Sell it to another person.
- Keep my software and hardware settings.
- Be able to get a refund if the software doesn’t work.
- Won’t harm my PC.
If those requirements are met then the DRM is going to be effectively invisible to me so I won’t care.
I know piracy is a major issue with PC games with no easy solutions however the answer is not kicking your paying customers in the teeth.
There are so many good games out there that I won’t buy a game that has so many hoops to jump through just to play, especially if it’s a non-internet game that requires internet to play- that’s just utterly retarded.
For the very best games (like a theoretical Baldur’s Gate 3, Planescape: Torment 2), I may tolerate a few annoying hoops, but if it requires an internet connect to play single-player, no bloody way. That’s the type of stuff that drives one to piracy, and here in China, any local software store will have the latest, hottest game, complete with crack and serial number, for $0.75.