Spore - Is the DRM worth it?
Right now there is a huge uproar over EA’s use of DRM for it’s much anticipated new game, Spore.
Personally, I’ve been waiting for this game for quite a while (since Will Wright mentioned it at SxSW a few years ago.) so even with the DRM I went ahead and purchased it. Alot has been made about the fact that you’re not really purchasing this game when you shell out your $50. Because of the DRM model, you’re actually renting the game and at any time EA can shut down their authentication servers and you’re screwed. This has happened in the past (Yahoo!) and it has pissed off a lot of people.
In this case, I’m not so sure that I mind. Why?
Spore is revolutionary… in a lot of ways. The developers have made it super integrated and incredibly easy to share user created content, be it videos of your creatures on youtube or actual creature files that you email to your friends. This in itself is worth the DRM…
The gameplay is quite fun… I’ve made it through the Tribal phase so far and I’ve found the gameplay quite refreshing… an excellent mix of casual vs. hardcore features… and (I’m sure by design) I keep finding myself distracted by the creature creator as I evolve… I try out new appendages and outfits… I continually restart planets just to go a different path. The replay value is immense.
Another reason the DRM doesn’t bother me - to fully enjoy the game you really need to be connected to the net. For those of you worried about shutting down the authentication servers, well - EA has an opportunity to make some recurring revenue from this game model. Think about how cool it would be if you could pay $0.99 for a model of your favorite character from star wars, and some of that revenue could go to the creature’s creator. This could extend the game’s long tail enough to keep the auth servers going for a reasonable amount of time…
The other reason it really doesn’t both me - This game, of all games, deserves to make as much money as it can. The gaming scene is already way too much like the music scene. Designers and developers never make as much as the should… at least this way the team that developed the game is going to get as much as they can out of it… and they deserve it for making something that is so unique and pushes technology so much further than it had to.
I’ll make sure to post some of my creatures as I have time to play. Now back to client work!
