Mass Effect and Spore to Require Online Authentication Every 10 Days
No joke, according to BioWare's technical producer Derek French, who posted as much to BioWare's forums last Saturday. You may have heard that the PC version of Mass Effect uses SecuROM and requires online activation to run. But what you may not have heard is that it additionally requires you to validate your copy online every 10 days, else the game ceases to function entirely. That's 36 (point-five) mandatory authentications per year in order to keep playing, and French claims EA's Spore "will use the same system."
After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned). Just so that the 10 day thing doesn't become abrupt, SecuROM tries its first re-check with 5 days remaining in the 10 day window. If it can't contact the server before the 10 days are up, nothing bad happens and the game still runs. After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run.
Upsides? According to French, you won't need the disc in the drive to play. Also: The game will have labeling that clearly stipulates you'll need an internet connection and the ability to multi-authenticate to play the game, so for those who actually bother to read the fine print, it won't come as a total surprise.
But. And you knew there'd be a but.
I like the idea that the games industry still makes solo-play games. I hope games from Solitaire to Bethesda's Oblivion never require a second player to enjoy. I like the fact that I can take a laptop on the road, be out of internet coverage, and play a single-player game without having to launch an online client and authenticate against a server and occasionally fuss with ISP (local provider or node-based) port filtering. In short, I like the fact that as a consumer, I have choices, and that to date, those choices have included being able to use single-player software without multiplayer's constant connection requirements. And I'd like to think that until we're globally wireless-and-broadband-literally-anywhere, publishers would see fit to let us keep playing solo games in dead zones.
To wave that all away, publishers like BioWare will claim the only reason for multi-authentication is to combat piracy. Now aside from the fact that no one's ever been able to independently verify that the piracy claim is legitimate in each individual case, or that part of the rationale isn't to get cost-free use demographics on consumers, companies like Stardock with hit games like Galactic Civilizations and Sins of a Solar Empire vocally eschew copy protection altogether in favor of positive customer rapport and manage to sell bundles anyway. Brad Wardell, Stardock CEO, gets it exactly right when he writes in this journal entry:
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.
Read that again: "Like every other industry outside the PC game industry."
I'll try to come at this from another angle. Do I need to show my movie stub every 10 minutes during a show to prove I bought a ticket? (Plenty of people sneak into films.) How about my receipt to read a book? (Plenty of books are pirated online -- take last summer's debacle with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.) Listen to a song? (iTunes only requires I authenticate a machine once, and Amazon's dropped DRM entirely, despite rampant music piracy.) Wear a piece of clothing? (Shrinkage has always been a problem for plenty of retail stores.) Is the future relationship of buyers to sellers in this country becoming "Prove to me and keep on proving to me, oh, say indefinitely that you're really truly the owner of this thing you already gave me a bundle of dough for"?
Now what happens if, on the 10th day you've been playing, your internet connection dies or you're somewhere (say traveling) that you can't authenticate? What if you happen to leave for a two week vacation, nine days into Mass Effect, and your "vacation paradise" doesn't have convenient (or at all) internet access?
Since when did the burden of proof fall on customers who've already fulfilled their financial obligations by purchasing the product outright?
By the way: Don't confuse what happens when you authenticate to play an online game with what's reasonable to expect about playing an offline one. Just because you can implement a given policy, doesn't mean you necessarily should.
And what about the fact that this may in the minds of many create truly, ethically legitimate reasons to pirate a game, if for no reason other than to circumvent intrusive copy protection schemes? What part of "way to reward pirates and punish legitimate payers" do publishers not get?
Weigh the evidence and make up your own mind, of course. I'm just passing along the opinion of someone who'd like to see the internet remain (in at least some cases) an optional tool, and not a continuous, mandatory shackle.
[Thanks, Shacknews]
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Great. I was going to buy Mass Effect AND Spore when they come out, now I'll just wait for the cracks and don't pay a dime, if only out of spite. They screwed themselves up and they don't deserve my business. (Yes, I did buy STALKER, and I did burn bioshock. Sue me.)
uhmmm wow? i wonder what will happen when someone tries to install it on multiple computers... will it lock both of the copies or will you have to call them up and harrass their customer service dept. to have them allow you to install it on more than one computer. i mean what happens when your compie dies? and you need to install it on a new computer? its going to lock it out and your not going to be able to play it. what a rediculous concept.... im glad i dont play PC games.
one of the many reasons why the internet is going to need to be everywhere. soon my coffee pot is going to need an ethernet connection (then wireless will come out). cell phones are catching on, but laptops... and i don't really want to buy a plan when i already have internet at home, unless companies start giving out free connection cards along with the home subscription.
there are lots of times where i need internet connection but don't have it (yes, even for 10 days). so i can't play this game....QQ
Wow, looks like two more games I WON'T be buying. Much like the reason I have not, nor will I ever buy Bioshock (in spite of really wanting to play the game). Are the game companies really trying to drive us all to their nice DRM havens known as consoles. This sucks, I was really looking forward to Spore... When will they learn that this kind of tactic only punishes their legitimate customers?
This is just another proving ground for anti-piracy tactics and it will most likely fail spectacularly. Not to mention the obnoxious warnings you'll likely get as the monitor will sit wasting threads ticking off the time. The first hack for the game will reset the timer count ending the problem since the server won't call for the check when you log in. Coupled with firewall issues most people will run into out of accidental ignorance (I work tech support, I run into this all the time) will cause an additional layer of digust.
If they seperate the online installation with a big banner for the multi-check authentication then it might be so bad..but I can't see them doing that for Spore since it's big attraction is the online portion of play, too bad as I was interested in Spore too. Ah well, to the bottom of the list with that one.
SiliconBandit
Good god...When will they ever learn? This is two games I will not be buying ever...SecurRom just branded me a pirate AND an idiot before i bought the games...and I do support all the legitimate software houses. Stardock has a better business plan.