We all know that the Spore was released this past Sunday. After an approximate decade of development, what does Will Wright get for all that hard work? He and his game gets a whopping one star rating on Amazon.com. In fact, the game is currently at 1,408 one star ratings. Is the game that bad? Definitely not. It's gaining decent press and recognition among the top gaming communities. So why are people complaining and giving it the lowest rating on the largest online marketplace? To put it bluntly, they're mad because the developers made the game too secure from pirating. Not that I'm saying any of the Amazon users pirate games... but the main premise of their argument is the DRM that Spore comes with. The game allows the buyer up to three activations; any additional activations for the game will entail you having to call Electronic Arts.

One user on Amazon says, "DRM is ruining PC games, which is a real shame considering I just purchased a gaming PC. It doesn't stop pirates, just innocent consumers trying to use the product they paid for." Another disgruntled customer comments, "DRM only punishes the legitimate user. "Pirates" have long since gotten around it. Boycott EA and any group that would punish its customers for the crimes of a few!! I have been looking forward to this game but now it has no place in my house, it's a shame."


Back in May, before the game's release, Electronic Arts initially had a much more secure system set for the game. At that time they said they required the game to be authenticated online every ten days. This created a bunch of negative feedback within the gaming community so they decided to mellow down the security to what the current release holds.

In my opinion, it's a shame that the game is getting this type of feedback. DRM is a security measure that EA is enforcing so that they're game isn't stolen. Many of the users complain that the DRM makes it feel like the user is renting the game instead of buying it. However, like they said, you can call EA for an additional activation if you reach your third install. The only worry is to large families who were looking to install it on multiple computers. Still, I hardly thinks it merits a one star rating by over a thousand Amazon users. And I'm sure many casual gamers, who don't bother to read the Amazon reviews, will not likely buy the game due to its poor rating.