Trigger Finger

Is that there is no reason for the DRM to even exist in the first place.

Let’s be frank, Will Wrights ‘masterpiece’ is nothing more than a repetitive string of mini games with a very nice avatar customiser. That’s what it boils down to. The single player game is occasionally entertaining and cute the first time through, but the thought of going through the game(s) again instantly conjures a cavity in my soul. There is nothing ‘deep’ about this game. The whole affair smacks of watered down mom’n'pop targeted marketing with an interface wrapped around it. Certainly when the first rumours surrounding the idea of Spore surfaced all those years ago, I am sure many of you, like me, envisaged an epic game which ranged from genesplicing your early ameoba to something approaching a space opera at the end. Then EA got hold of it….

Not only has one of broadest-scoped game ideas been reduced to something that could almost be done as a bunch of flash games on the web, but it has also had the insanest implementation of customer-punishment DRM slapped onto it. But here is the thing, had they just imagined it all a little more inventively, they could have made the online experience totally integrated and irresistable.

Imagine if the primordial soup stage consisted of you and other players competing with each other (if someone logs off then the AI can take over). Stealing genetic advancements from each other, choosing to work together to beat a larger creature and sharing the rewards. This concept could be applied to every one of the stages and would have instantly transformed it into a completely different level of depth.

The thing is all that would have been required to secure the game from piracy would be the one time registration of your CD key to your login details… Just like every other online game. Anyone who pirated the game would have been left with the bland watered down experience that is the Spore we know today

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