4 ms·
Top-shelf PC games without an integral multiplayer component are dead. It's getting to the point now that sales barely justify straight console-to-PC ports, muc
by gamble 18y ago
Top-shelf PC games without an integral multiplayer component are dead. It's getting to the point now that sales barely justify straight console-to-PC ports, much less expensive titles like Spore.
- listic 18y agoSpore is not your average game. In fact, I would say that Spore doesn't fit into current classification of games as single-player vs multiplayer; thus brings state of the industry a step further. I.e. you can play your game in single-player mode just fine, but you also can publish your creatures with a press of a button so that they will be saved on game servers, other players can comment them on the Web and may encounter them in their games. You have to prove your point if you want it to be taken seriously.
- dlytle 18y agoSpore's specific combination of single and multiplayer content makes it a prime piracy target. The advantage of highly multiplayer-centric games is that they are easier to protect against piracy; either by requiring an account to play online (which can be terminated) or by preventing identical CD keys from playing simultaneously. This can be circumvented by playing on a LAN or using Hamachi, but both solutions only work well with a specific coordinated group. Spore's creature sharing multiplayer is easily sidestepped by piracy; it's possible to download all the user-created creatures via torrent post release. As that's the only multiplayer component of the game, there's very little difference in terms of piracy between Spore and any other single-player focused game.