SPORE - reality vs DRM

This is my buddy Burrup (on the left, posing), who lives in Spore. I am hooked on this game!!

Spore is a revolutionary/evolutionary game from Electronic Arts (I suggest you read an article on it, perhaps) and so far Spore is marked as the MOST pirated game in history. :)

I don't believe copying is technically 'pirating', but it's a government derived Double-Speak that is commonly accepted, so I'll use it in some of this post.

Anyway, the incentive to grab a copy (ie 'pirate') Spore is primarily b/c it has a DRM setup (Digital Rights Management) that is widely criticized for being overly aggressive, limiting # of installations, and installing software into your computer that you can't remove or control. But the pirate version lets you block all that stuff... Evolution? HA

And of course I downloaded it with BitTorrent as well, b/c --> if the download revolution has begun, I want to be on that bus. HA

And the game is freakin' insane. It's ridiculously cool, and ALSO very shallow and biased. I want to tell you more and more, but in the end, it's just another addictive videogame...

about evolution
and consequences of actions
and global/galactic domination

Sounds crazy, eh? (Does to me, at least.)

For me, the next (*r)evolution in gaming is FUN gaming that is not based around war or killing or dominating. I thought awhile back about game philosophy, and games around teamplay vs a common problem (not a 'being' per se, but a circumstance or scenario).
While in some ways this is the foundation of the cash-cow MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer OnLine RolePlaying Games) universe (including World of WarCraft, GuildWars, City of Heroes/Villains, and many more), generally the 'enemy' is personified and must be killed.

I'd like to see this paradigm of war as 'fun and entertaining' morph into another more life-positive paradigm, like 'solving complex problems utilizing teams'.

UPDATE 9/19 -- So I bought it. $50 down the hole, but this is the kind of game development I want to support. Creativity enhancement, violence OPTIONAL, brain-expanding and mind enhancing. I was going to buy it initially, hesitated b/c of DRM, grabbed it on Bit Torrent (rocks!!!), played it for 2-3 days obsessively, and decided I wanted to support this project. GOOD JOB EA, even w/the stupid DRM. Hopefully they will learn -- I sent emails and made my contact to the company.
But the game is just that good.