With the Orwellian DRM that keeps getting worse I might just have to go back to board games.  Think of all the money saved by not having to upgrade graphics cards every couple of years!

Years? Try six months or so on average.

Do stores only let you wear the clothes 3 times?   No.  You can wear them as much as you like because you payed for them.  DRM makes it with the install limit and mandatory internet access required (I think), more like renting a game to play, except you are renting it for life.  DRM does nothing more then kill the used game market, which is what EA was probably trying to do anyway.  They must have known that nothing will stop a determined pirate.

It has been shown over numerous games now that it is useless and games get cracked the day they are available whether they have DRM or not.  So why do they insist on using it still?  To kill the used game market and make people buy new games, therefore netting them more profit.

Protecting your investment is very important, so I can understant the reasoning behind using DRM.

There is a saying, "It's not who you are or what you're selling, it's who you're selling to."

As long as EA and those like EA keep treating thier own customers like thieves, the more they are going to act that way.

Customers are the very foundation of -any- company. If you can't trust your own customers, you may want to find another business and a new customer base.

I feel "digital rights management" is far to soft a title for games like Spore. Maybe if Spore wasn't labeled with just having DRM and maybe something with a little more negative stigma, you wouldn't find it as often.

HAHAHAH, you should start a thread, "If DRM was found in everyday life".

Six? only if you want to play the game, more like 3 if you want to do it smoothly.

Yes, but once you buy the product, you actually OWN it, but EA and their Securom **** seem to think differently. They are pretty much saying, "You can buy this and have an actual copy of the program on a disc, but if you try to "turn it on" too much, we'll prevent you from ever using it again."

It is interesting that you use this example... Just so you know if Apple and Nike have their way you will be limited to wearing specific items with other specific items only. Yes they have DRM on clothing now - no joke.

The TSA and antitheft devices don't follow you home and police what you can and can't have in your house. Tell you who you can or can't talk to or require internet, phone or their presence in your home with access to what they want on demand in order for you to keep what you bought or stay where you went.

The difference is, that clothes, books, cars and houses are PRODUCTS. They are yours after you buy them. When you buy a game, you buy a LICENSE to use SOFTWARE (and the disc, manual and package, which are products, confusing, right?). The game is not yours, you just buy a permit to use it.

I have to disagree with ToJKa on the whole license issues. Copyright means legally that they have duplication/distribution rights, not useage rights.

All copyright means is that users are not allowed to make copies except for personal use (backups) and are not allowed to distribute them.  Doing so is then illegal and is the province of law enforcement and not content owners.

Yes, but before installing, you have to read (optional ) and accept the End User License Agreement, and it is there that the usage limitations are listed. And i thought that a personal backup copy is legal?

EULA's are still something that is highly controversial and legally dubious. Many countries laws invalidate part or all of the different clauses in them.

Another point of contention is that EULA are contract revisions after the fact and are not available for review until after purchase. Disagreeing to them does not entitle you to a refund (in reality if not in theory) , but renders the product unuseable. This could be interpreted as agreeing under duress.

As for personal backups, yes they are legal (fair use). Perhaps I just didnt express myself clearly. But sharing/selling those backups is illegal.

Backups might me legal (in theory) but doing so if the product has DRM on it makes the act illegal thanks to the DCMA. So the whole system is pure bullshit and I will never submit to it and will continue to actively work against it whenever and where ever possible. 

Hence why most of the world doesn't have such an anti-customer law.