Remember that this is not about concurrent installations on multiple computers all being actively usable at the same time, but Total installations. Meaning that if you upgrade your hardware, or reinstall the game four years later, you're using up one of those installations, and you can't get it back without jumping through potentially expensive or time consuming hoops with no real guarantee of success, at EA's discretion.

Chances are, a lot of you are probably on your second installation and you don't even know it yet. All it takes is a firmware upgrade, or a change in hardware.

For more information, refer to my other thread here: http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/6800.page

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Dear Maxis, and Electronic Arts

It is painfully apparent to all of us that you have not learned your lesson from the fiasco regarding Bioware's release of Mass Effect on the Personal Computer; there are countless personal accounts of people who have reached their final installation and are receiving an error message, such as the following:

EA wrote:The game can not start.

For security reasons, only a limited number of machines can ever be licensed by a single purchase. This limit has been reached. Please purchase another registration code, reinstall and then try again.

We may, or may not be at this point of no-return, but we understand that with only three guaranteed installations, this is a looming problem that needs to be addressed for all of us.

Take into consideration the massive oversight that your company has neglected to fix, despite promises of both, two extra installations on top of our current three, and a de-activation tool, leaving us: The legitimate consumer of your fine products, out in the dark. Why are the pirates - who stole your game, allowed to play your game, but we - who paid $60-$80 USD for your game are not? The very people you attempt to prevent from playing your game have more freedoms than we do.

This has to stop. To force your consumer to re-buy a game license we've already paid for merely because of common, simple, every-day computer procedures is ludicrous. Simple procedures such as:

- Hardware upgrades.
- Reformatting a hard-drive for whatever reason we decide upon.
- Firmware upgrades.

Understand that your experiment with SecuROM has failed. We're tired of being treated like criminals, and being forced to jump through potentially expensive (long distance phone calls to a customer support line in texas) and time consuming (Unresponsive and often automated online customer support) hoops for the sake of remaining legitimate customers to your company.

Do the right thing - remove SecuROM, or at the very least the limitation on the Total Installations by giving us an easy to use de-activation tool that requires no jumping through hoops on the part of the consumer. Allow us to install at our discretion at our whim. It's what we paid for. It's what we deserve as customers.

Stop making it hard to be a loyal customer to Electronic Arts, and Maxis.

Sincerely,

- Your loyal customers.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you agree with this petition, you need to do nothing more than reply with "Signed". If you know other Spore fans who feel this way, send them to this thread so they can sign it too.

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This part is a compilation of every SecuROM related problem to prove to the naysayers that this is a problem for the majority of users:

jkall wrote:Ever since I downloaded this game and have SecuROM on my PC ( I do not own many games and none have had SECUROM) Now my PC just freezes up completely when I am not even playing the stupid game. Never did that before downloading spore.

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/7031.page

Cinna wrote:Apparently I can't escape SecuROM. It's in the friggin remake of Colonization that I just bought. The worst part of this error message you wonder? I have the REAL CD in my drive. It has been there since I bought it several days ago. I love being treated like a pirate when I paid for something.

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/7082.page

Signed in Blood.

Signed

Well, I dunno if I sign or not. Don't get me wrong, I see your point. It would stink if for some reason you have to uninstall it and install it again, but I do kinda see their point too. They don't want someone buying the game and going and putting on like 20 of their friend's computers because that would be 19 less sales they would make and I'm sure a game like this cost them a good amount of money to make.

As soon as they allow the de-authorization of computers, this will all be moot. Unless you REALLY need to have it installed on 5+ computers at once.

I still think the only thing they should have done is required online authentication, and that's it. Then they can monitor key usage and once a key is being used an exorbitant amount, it can be disabled for future installs. This prevents software sharing, and is not a burden to legitimate customers.

Ytram wrote:As soon as they allow the de-authorization of computers, this will all be moot. Unless you REALLY need to have it installed on 5+ computers at once.

I still think the only thing they should have done is required online authentication, and that's it. Then they can monitor key usage and once a key is being used an exorbitant amount, it can be disabled for future installs. This prevents software sharing, and is not a burden to legitimate customers.

This. Whatever happened to the good old days of online authentication?

They're just doing whatever they can to lower their sales.

Signed, btw.

I own 9 computers now - counting the ones I have built for other family members in the same house.

If I use a copy on my main machine - that's one install. If I used a copy on my laptop - that's two installs because I have two ways of using the internet.

That leaves me with none.

Add two more, it means I can let my brother play it and also my cousin. That's two more.

What about the rest of the family? Do I really think after paying 80 dollars I should have to pay 50 for the regular edition just so they can play? What the hell do they think I make a week?

So - nuh uh. No way.

Just because I've given up 90% of my hope on this game being good, doesn't mean I will back down. It's principal I stand for now. If you start to compromise your principals over a game - you should not vote in an election, run for office, or drive a car.


Edit: How do I get 9 working computers for under 400 dollars? I actually have 12 if you count every single one. The laptop is the only one I paid a lot for, and I saved for a year to do it. The others are built from scraps. You'd be surprised how many computers end up in the trash from a bad hard drive or a bad sound card. That's actually how I got a 3.2ghz P4.

Well, it's ok if they check if a key is beeing used twice or more at the same time, banning both users for lets say an hour. They just have to make sure that a key generator has no sense. Maybe by refreshing keys from time to time.

LMFAO @ the EA fanboy (or employee?) one starring all the singed posts. I almost didn't post here because the ratings system means so much to me Grow Up.

Signed.

And doing rectal exams with robots every hour to make sure you are you.

Signed

Jackuul wrote:And doing rectal exams with robots every hour to make sure you are you.

But don't worry, they are programed to not have no pleasure from this.

Seriously, Blizzard even lets you download their games FOR FREE wen you provide your Cd-Key. And they're not poor, apparently. So EA, release successful MMO and stop acting like nazis please?

Muoteck wrote:Seriously, Blizzard even lets you download their games FOR FREE wen you provide your Cd-Key. And they're not poor, apparently. So EA, release successful MMO and stop acting like nazis please?

Funny you should mention, I thought Warhammer Online looked like a cool game, till I found out it had EAs name on it. Guess I'll never know.

IMHO, if it can't activate online, it should be able to play with the Spore CD.

Also if you login with a valid user name, you should be able to play regaurdless if the install is activated.

Without online access, the game is not much more than a cruel demo.

oh, and /signed.