For the last couple of days we’ve seen thousands of users back lashing against EA on Amazon for their restrictive DRM which limits the game to only 3 installs. Today, Amazon deleted the most viewed negative review against Spore.

It had 3000 out of 3300 helpful votes, was the overall most helpful review on the Spore product page, and was quoted on several news articles reporting this anti-DRM protest.

And just a few minutes ago, for some weird reason, Amazon decided to remove my review.

Here’s the original review by the user:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dumbed down experience and draconian DRM, September 7, 2008
By Erich Maria Remarque (Magnolia, Arkansas USA) - See all my reviews
Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars
See these older 5-star reviews from 2006 (two years before the game was released)? Well, they had a reason to be excited. Spore was supposed to be a revolutionary experience, combining multiple genres while concentrating on evolution and genetics.

Fast forward two years and here we have the finished product, ready to be installed on our hard drives.

First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect). EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.

This basically means that you are actually RENTING the game, instead of owning it. The game WILL stop to function in the future. That’s inevitable, because even if EA keeps the activation servers going, there IS going to be a time when EA will simply cease to exist because of financial issues or federal laws (like most business eventually do).

Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn’t even matter anymore. You can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but it won’t be any faster than a one legged creature with higher leg stats. “Creating” your creatures is pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats), and brings you about the same excitement as dressing up a plastic doll.

Whether this is damage control by Amazon or EA, this is completely unacceptable. Like they say, the customer is always right.

UPDATE: It seems Amazon has restored the review after all of the complaints. Amazon has not released a statement yet, however. Spore is still has a 1 out of 5 stars rating on Amazon.