14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts doesn't have quite a decent reputation among gamers and those in the gaming industry largely due to the fact that it hides quite a lot of things from customers, especially when it comes to DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems introduced in the games the company publishes.
Although not a lot of people encountered problems, because they weren't aware that programs such as SecuROM were installed along with their games, with the launch of Spore, gamers backslashed at the company due to the harsh measures employed by the DRM system in the game. Things like installing it on only three PCs or having just one account per copy made gamers really angry and a lot of protest was aimed at EA.
We reported that one of these protests actually took the form of a class-action trial against the big gaming company, with an attorney representing “all of the customers who purchased a copy of Spore”. We received word that two more people are suing EA for damages done to them by the DRM systems employed by the company into the Spore and Sims titles.
The first one, filed by Pennsylvania resident Richard Eldridge, claims that the Spore Creature Creator Free Trial Edition installed the SecuROM system, although it was a free copy, and didn't need any protection, fact which Eldridge claims is “deceptive and unlawful”. He goes on saying that “EA's EULA for Spore Creature Creator Free Trial Edition makes utterly no mention of any Technical Protection Measures, DRM technology, or SecuROM whatsoever” and that the DRM system could not be installed.
The second class-action suit was filed by Dianna Cortez, a resident of Missouri, who claims that after she installed her copy of The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, the DRM system employed by the game made her computer unstable and generated a massive amount of data loss. “After installing Bon Voyage, Ms. Cortez began having problems with her computer. She had previously made backup Sims 2 game content on CDs, but her computer's disc drive would no longer recognize that content, reporting the CDs as empty.”
Some pretty interesting trials, but it’s a bit hard to say whether EA might be affected by them. But all this could have been avoided if the company had employed more reasonable DRM systems as, although these programs might seem bad, they are necessary for companies to protect their investments.