Bay 12 Games Forum

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Ah, sorry, my bad too. i'm just tired of knee jerk "teh cheat! Looserz!" reaction that pervades even this generally pleasant forum.

I, too, have been mostly impressed by the people here, and am glad to have diffused that misunderstanding. I believe, however, that this thread was about Regional Prospector and mmeurk being awesome and making it compatible with the new version.

Anyway, that's why I am glad I am living in Belgium. I couldn't even imagine how it is living with private health insurances and no retirement.

For the second time in my life, I have run into an offline game that requires an Internet connection. The first one was Half Life 2. A story similar to the one below occurred then, but to me. This encouraged me to check the system requirements of every game I buy from that point on. Now I must read every line on the box to be sure that this situation doesn't happen. Now, on to the story...

June 18th was my brother's Birthday. He lives with my sister and her three sons. He makes about 800$ a month. 90% of every paycheck he gets goes to help support my sister. He is a much nicer person then me, I wouldn't bat an eye if my sister got kicked out on the street, with her kids. I feel it was her own fault for opening her legs. I am not nice to my sister. But this isn't a story about me or my dislike for her. It's about my too-kind-hearted brother...

Between my sister's paycheck and my brother's paycheck, my sister manages to keep the electric bill no more then a month behind, make the mortgage on her house, and occasionally pay another bill that has gone to collections. She is the classical example of a woman who would be on welfare... except she is too lazy to go down to human services and get welfare. She also doesn't go after the deadbeats that knocked her up for child support... Again this story isn't about her. This is all just establishing the environment.

My brother works over 20 miles from where he lives, and that 90% doesn't go to gas. Anyone with a simple calculator can find out how much money he has left over at the end of the month. He doesn't complain much, he has most of his basic needs met. He has clothes and a house, which is more then some can say.

My brother is the nicest person you can imagine. He sacrifices his free time, and all his free money, to support my sister. He doesn't ask for much, though he does look forward to things that to all appearances he should be able to pull off, given time. He's looking forward to spore, but I believe my action has just shattered the one thing he's been looking forward to for years.

My Brother's computer is a little better then mine, the last major purchase made by my mom before she left my sister to sink or swim on her own. My mom cashed out her 401k to be able to get away. Her retirement's gone, but some of it went to give my brother something to entertain himself in these horrid times.

I make 2000 a month, and support a wife and Kid on my income. I manage to scrape by without going into debt, as long as no disasters come. I sometimes can afford to take my nephews to the dollar movie, or go out on a date with my wife. It's tough, but I've had it tougher. At four months old I was living in a tent up in the nearby national forest. I am not as resolute as my brother though, I don't mind complaining when I don't get what I worked for, but this story isn't about me...

I bought Spore Creature Creator for myself. I have been looking forward to spore as long as my brother. I intended to buy a second copy and transport it on my flash drive to my brother, so he might play a part of a game he has been waiting for for years. The EA Download Manager kind of put a stop to that, fortunately before I blew my entire budget for his birthday. During my 30 minute Lunch break, I decided to look into buying it from a store, because I didn't believe it would only be downloads. I was right to look, but now I wish I hadn't.

My brother makes almost nothing, and it pours out into support of others. He can't get luxuries like Cable TV or whatnot. Internet is definitely a luxury, as anyone who has had the choice between eating or power can attest to. I had thought a game designed for single player would be safe, something he could play even though he doesn't have Internet. During my once bi-monthly visit down there, we could use my flash drive to exchange creations until spore came out. We even thought of a neat game, where we "Evolve" a creature from a base, making only minor changes, watching the different lines of them becoming steadily more complex.

There is this large snag in the plan though... The offline only game requires online verification.

My brother, whom pours his income into basic survival and only gets the rare treat of stuff sent to him, is unable at this time to play the game I bought for him from gamespot.

Why? To reduce piracy. The game HAS ALREADY BEEN PIRATED!, but a single player game in the store has been sold hiding the Internet requirement in small print outside of the smart place to put it, is unplayable by those who cannot afford an Internet connection... to reduce piracy.

Now, I face a dillima. I know for a fact that I can download a pirated copy and take it to my brother, and he would be able to play it, but a legitimate purchase made in a store... No play for my brother.

My solution is one that not everyone can face. I plan on spending 20$ over my monthly budget, putting my family on ramen for a week, so that I can spend the extra gas to get his computer, Log it in into my internet connection, and then return his computer.

If the game requires further validation besides initial activation, then I am out 31.30$ for nothing, which will be larger then my $11.30(tax). Why? Because EA is so afraid of piracy that they will do these kinds of actions.

When spore comes out, I will look for the Pirated Copy for my brother first, because it is better to risk viruses and lawsuits then spend money that I really shouldn't be spending anyway for a fancy bookcase weight.

If I hadn't been drooling over everything spore for years, maxis would have joined Everything Valve on my permanent "Not going to buy" list. As it is, I doubt that I will be buying maxis products very much anymore, since I won't bother to research the games... rather then face similar disappointment.

Is the piracy protection worth it? Ask the hackers that had cracked the game before it had even been released.

"Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power."

In 15 years, will EA still support the registration system used in it's piracy protection? Thank goodness we've got such great crackers, so that the art that is video games remain capable of being spread, long after the fools and censors who cobbled them to horrid anti-piracy systems are long dead.

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Originally posted by Kagus:
<STRONG>and I end up getting barraged with requests for "game", or sometimes "game game game game" (I'm serious), and that can hinder progress.

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I get this too, with my nephews.