In a move that is pretty much unprecedented in the gaming world, Electronic Arts has implemented DRM in Spore that limits the number of times the game can be installed to three. If you need to install the game more than three times, you have to call Electronic Arts and ask them for that right. From a customer's point of view, it's absurd to ask for permission to install a game that you have already bought, but EA thinks it's necessary to be protected against piracy.

But what Electronic Arts seems to neglect is data coming out from Big Champagne, a research firm that specializes in analyzing what users share on peer to peer networks. It appears that on September 13, Spore had already been downloaded from various file sharing networks using BitTorrent peer-to-peer transfer 171,402 times. Eric Garland, the research firm's CEO, said that the numbers are not unusual for an AAA videogame, but they show that Spore, in spite of draconian DRM implementations, is not in any way protected against piracy.

In fact, if Electronic Arts had really wanted to make its release pirate resistant, it could have played up the social aspect of the game. A pirated copy cannot be registered to use the Electronic Arts accounts and cannot receive any content, especially creatures, from other registered users. This means that a crucial aspect of the game, seeing and meeting other people's creatures in yours, is not available to those that pirate the release. So, if Electronic Arts had really wanted to reduce the number of people illegally downloading Spore, they should have taken out all company made creatures from the game and only allow players to meet those created by other people. This means that a pirated copy couldn't basically be playable and probably more people would have bought the game.

The fact that Electronic Arts chose to go with restrictive DRM rather than creative use of gameplay mechanics and social elements means that they don't really care about customers and piracy. All they care about is having more control.