Andre Yoskowitz
24 Sep 2008 15:27
Electronics Arts has threatened users on its official forum boards with a ban if they continue to talk about the crippling SecuROM DRM that has been as much of a headline this month as the release of the hit game Spore.
Although it appears now that the company has backtracked on their threats, the fact that it occurred at all is alarming. The SecuROM DRM used on Spore limits a buyer to five installs over the lifetime of the game and only allows for a single user profile.
"SecuROM has been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads," commented a moderator on the forum. "If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fansite forum. If there is any change you will be able to read it on the official Spore site."
"Please do not continue to post theses thread or you account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore."
Later in the conversation however a producer for EA Maxis changed tones when he said that the discussion was fine as long as it was "civil."
"We are happy to support healthy exchanges on the forums. And people will only get banned for breaking the rules," read his post. "Discussing DRM is not breaking the rules - and as long as it is a civil conversation, it's cool with us."