pman555 wrote:cysgodi - dont bother trying to help people...apparently they dont care unless its a solution for them. they dont care if your workaround doesnt affect them. "oh, that workaround doesnt work for ME! so shut up!"

It's not that we don't care, it's just that for me, when any type of workaround is suggested, it fels like we are giving in to EA a little bit at a time. Maybe making it so that on less person might not be so upset about what EA has done. And yes, I do want people to stay upset about this until something is done by EA!

However, people should not get angry about cysgodi's suggestion or toward cysgodi. I'm just trying to say possibly why there was such a reaction in the first place.

Its not that cysgodi's suggestion is bad in any way. In fact, my family is using that method right now, just so we can play Spore at all! So thank you cysgodi for shareing good advice .

If I may add to this though, cysgodi: have you tried playing Spore on different Windows accounts? If you do that, then each family member can have their own galaxy!

cysgodi wrote:Totally understand jj and I do hope that EA comes to their senses and does the right thing.

Yeah me too. It's just a real bummer because we should be enjoying the game, right! But I'm not going to leave my wife behind or buy another computer and license... All of these bad and non-standard decisions from EA is ruining the game's potential for anyone with a family.

Best,

@yesrah,

I really have no need to do this as currently I am the only one in my household that is playing the game. I do have it installed on two different computers but I know that is not the same thing.

Also in no way do I want people to think they are giving in to EA. I was just pointing out that for some family's that have younger children who just want to play it could possibly be a nice way to let them enjoy the game.

edited because I can't spell lol

yesrah wrote:
If I may add to this though, cysgodi: have you tried playing Spore on different Windows accounts? If you do that, then each family member can have their own galaxy!

This is how my wife and I played. We have a Mac, so I created a user account on the machine for her, and she was able to play it just fine (though she burned a 2nd install upon startup of Spore), albeit on my Spore account. If it weren't for the fact that the achievements she obtained during her single 7-hour play session that first day are forever unlocked in my account and that all the creatures/buildings she made are also forever locked to my account, I probably would have played the game more. I fooled around in Space for a couple hours, but I haven't gone back to it in 3 days. I'm just so pissed at this issue.

I will say this again, spam everyone listed at http://www.info.ea.com/company/company_message.php

Point them to this forum thread, send them an image of Darth Irish Guy's screenshot on the thread page before this.

DEMAND that they fix this issue. Remind them than back in 1999, they addressed player grievances against Ultima IX by sending EVERYONE who bought the game a new install CD. Ask them if they are pale shadow of the company they once were by pulling this on us!

I would Like DarthIrishGuy's screenshot posted ALL OVER THE INTERNET!

And yes, let's START a class action lawsut. They really work! I've been on the WINNING side of two such suits.

cysgodi wrote:I just happen to catch joreel's comment on another thread in the general chat section. He said his son and he just play on different planets.

Not saying this is a great fix or anything like that, but it could possibly be a work around for some people that might ease some problems. Just make sure all your household accounts from the creature creator are buddies and that will allow everyone to use your existing characters.

Again I know it's not a fix to the problem but it does sound like a decent workaround. Also I know it won't help those who have multiple computers, but it's better than nothing....

This is not a workaround. The above scenario is the problem - I have not played this game AT ALL. If I log into my daughters account and play, I am tainting her experience, and mine.

I will not pollute her account by taking away achievements, adding my own buddies, using up HER save spots. It's not right for me to take away from her game. It's not right that EA expects families to share one account in Spore, when we all had our own personal accounts in Creature Creator.

It could possibly be a workaround for certain people. Just because it's not for you does not lessen it's validity. I want EA to fix it as much as you do, but for now it might help a few people.

It definitely looks like this game was made for multiple account and they decided at the last minute to pull that functionality. I find it dubious to say the least that the CC allowed for multiple accounts. They reaped the benefits of people who plunked down $10 for it and spent hours building creatures to populate the universe of the game. But, now that I don't have it anymore, I feel ripped off. Nothing I do in the game now will be associated with my account and the creatures I made.

And, to the fella who said my threat to not buy EA games anymore was an empty one... you obviously don't know me well enough to make that sort of assumption. I ASSURE YOU - there will be no more EA titles purchases in my household after this. As far as I'm concerned, I was lied to by EA in regards to accounts/installs.

Their DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent the piracy of this game. All it does is punish the people who paid for it. Frankly, I think their move is anti-family and incredibly short-sighted.

hideflomein wrote:This is how my wife and I played. We have a Mac, so I created a user account on the machine for her, and she was able to play it just fine (though she burned a 2nd install upon startup of Spore), albeit on my Spore account.

What's this?!? You use one of the installs when you create another account!?! I didn't know this. How would I find out how many installs I have left?

There are three accounts on my computer, but they were all there when I installed the game. I will NOT be happy if I have zero installs left of Spore.


Anyway:

heints wrote:This is not a workaround. The above scenario is the problem - I have not played this game AT ALL. If I log into my daughters account and play, I am tainting her experience, and mine.

cysgodi wrote:It could possibly be a workaround for certain people. Just because it's not for you does not lessen it's validity. I want EA to fix it as much as you do, but for now it might help a few people.

Please, let's not get worked up over definitions and semantics. We ALL agree that we want EA to do something about this account problem, so we need to focus on that if we want anything to be done!

henricius wrote:I agree to most of you on these 13 pages (so far). Just want to make my voice heard.
And they must have calculated the load on the server before they released the game. Right now there are 1 437 391 users in the sporepedia. They have made a total of 13 738 071 creations which is actually only about 9-10 creations per user in average. Why create the sporpedia and buy a bunch of servers if they don't want us to use it.

i just took a look at my spore creations, and they were appx 21 kb in size each. i did a little calculation, and the sporepedia is appx 3 Tb in size so far. thats not big for a server... and some computers can have all of that on their hard drive. if, say, 500k people were online at the same time, the load wouldnt be that bad because its not like they are constantly uploading creatures, only when they make one, which STILL isnt even a mb per person, so i highly doubt they are having bandwidth issues...

yesrah wrote:

hideflomein wrote:This is how my wife and I played. We have a Mac, so I created a user account on the machine for her, and she was able to play it just fine (though she burned a 2nd install upon startup of Spore), albeit on my Spore account.

What's this?!? You use one of the installs when you create another account!?! I didn't know this. How would I find out how many installs I have left?

There are three accounts on my computer, but they were all there when I installed the game. I will NOT be happy if I have zero installs left of Spore.

I am only assuming that's how it worked, because when she started it up under her Mac account, it asked for the serial number again.

hideflomein wrote:I am only assuming that's how it worked, because when she started it up under her Mac account, it asked for the serial number again.

Hmmm. I wonder if it only does that if you create a new account after Spore is installed, or just with Macs, or both.

elektrodragon wrote:And yes, let's START a class action lawsut. They really work! I've been on the WINNING side of two such suits.

Well, if there is any legal basis to this, I'm for it. Though I really do think if we keep this thread going EA or someone with influnce will notice and do something. I guess I'm an idealist.

HEY WILL WRIGHT!!! ARE YOU LISTENING?!?!

...tee hee...

jedimasta wrote:HEY WILL WRIGHT!!! ARE YOU LISTENING?!?!

Precisely.

EA_Violet wrote:

heints wrote:The game manual clearly states that after installation and online registration we are able to have multiple accounts per installation.

However this is not the case, nobody is allowed to have more than one single account per installation.

That section in the manual was a misprint and will be corrected in future printings of the manual. There is one Spore registration/account per game/serial code so you are correct in that you cannot make multiple accounts at this time. I have sent your guys' feedback to the game team though since I can understand the desire to share a game on a system that you entire family uses.

~Violet

You know, I just can't swallow this one. I bought the game because my wife isn't much of a gamer but she's been excited for Spore since I brought back footage from two E3 shows ago. We were told that we could each have our own account on the game, and the text in the manual confirmed it. Now we're being told it was a misprint? Why can't you guys just be upfront and honest and tell us that you pulled that feature but forgot to amend the manual? It's obvious that's what happened.

The DRM is a nightmare, but the flat out lying to your consumers is what is really inexcusable. Yes, the game is great and I'm enjoying it, but definitely at a diminished level due to my wife and I having to share an account. Inexcusable, EA, simply inexcusable.

So, are we going to get full refunds if we decide not to keep the game?