SPORE!

[tfmachad]

...

But ehh, can somebody enlighten me as to what this DRM stuff is with the 3 installation business? Are people saying that they like wiping their harddrive and they're disappointed that after three times it doesn't work? Although I agree that it should keep working (EA commies... Bleeding us dry) How could you re-vamp your computer that many times so quickly?

Apart from what everyone has said, just to enforce the notion...

The DRM "rootkit" tactics puts a software running hidden on your system. You have no control over it and it runs every time your computer is on.

The first issue with it is one of trust. You have to trust that little software isn't doing anything besides what the company declares it is supposed to do. This one issue is somewhat irrelevant, because your main program (the game) is also capable of doing things it wasn't supposed to be doing. So, if you trust your game not to be naughty, there's little to none reason to trust its counterparts are doing anything strange. But then again, they do have a lot of free time on their hands.

The second issue is one of imposition. "You want to play our game, you infect your computer with our little virus. Ah, and by the way, we consider you're not really buying the game, we're kinda leasing it to you, ok?" Install enough games on your computer and you'll have a whole community of corporative viruses taking up resources and capable of observing and reporting back on what you do ("Now, c'mon, those are only usage statistics, okay? It's all automated, don't worry"). Also, if EA bankrupts a couple of years from now and you've wasted all your three installs, who are you going to call if you want to play the game you've paid for in the first place?

I don't agree with Marburg in one point. If you agree to the terms, you're stating that you're okay with what's being proposed by your vendor, as absurd and silly as it may sound. You should "voice" your real opinion over what's being proposed by not supporting it in any way, even if that just means not buying the game at all.

EDIT:

Have a look at this.
Start from the bottom.

Its a conversation of Me and a customer service rep.

Edit: Removed some personal info from that txt file.

I remember the good old days, when you bought a game and just played it... I take it's easier and quicker to buy a gun and get to use it in the US these days, eh?

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