Hello --

I ordered Spore before it was even shipped, and then my PC suffered some down time before I could install it. My new computer is built and up and running, and Spore remains uninstalled. I have it here with the box unopened.

I know that since Spore's release there was a lot of commotion about the included anti-pirating software for Spore, and then there were changes to what the publisher originally envisioned. It's hard to track this stuff if you aren't following it along as it goes, so I would like to ask my friends here:

1) Is the game worth it to install? Did you find it fun and all it was hyped to be?

2) What is the current DRM situation? I really only need to install it one machine. But what negative punch do I get from its included DRM or anti-pirating software?

3) Are there good ways known to remove this sort of junk?

I appreciate any and all responses!

Thanks.

The DRM in Spore gives you 3 installs. If you change nothing on your machine and uninstall it and reinstall it, that should not eat one of your activations, but there has been absolutely no concrete information on what will and will not trigger an activation getting eaten. Some people have reported that changing the hard drive or even just adding one would be sufficient. Some have indicated that a format and reinstall would be enough.

From what I understand you can crack it after install but before running it for the first time and it won't use an activation, but I have not looked too closely at it as I refuse to support this kind of DRM.

I personally think that we as customers need to take a hard stance on this kind of anti-consumer business practice and refuse to give them any more ground.

As for whether it lived up to the hype... I haven't bought it, but the reviews have been largely lukewarm. A lot of complaints about how the combat was very MMOish and how the space portion was no fun at all.