Electronic Arts' Spore is being praised by critics... and trashed by customers. No, it's nothing to do with the game, which sounds pretty fun and fascinating (I've yet to receive a copy), but over the DRM used to protect the game from being pirated: As I write this, the game has 748 reviews at Amazon.com. 689 of them are one-star ratings. Ouch.

The issue involves a DRM program called SecuROM, which limits the number of times a program can be installed. The exact operation of SecuROM isn't completely understood (in part because it behaves differently from version to version and can be tweaked further after that by the manufacturer), but critics say that, in the case of Spore, the DRM ensures that the game can only be installed three times, whether you've uninstalled it or not. And if you tweak your PC by installing a new video card or other hardware or reinstall your OS, you may have to use up another license as a re-authorization of the game. If you run out of licenses, you have to call EA to beg for another one.

Info from EA has been conflicting so far. According to analysis from Texyt, the company's online support page says that users are limited to "three concurrently active" licenses but hints that this only means you can install it three times within a ten-day span; after that the licenses would become freely available for installation again. (No one knows yet since the game is so new.) The EULA, however, says only one copy can be used at a time. The most problematic issue in all of this: Nowhere is SecuROM mentioned in Spore's documentation.

EA has been in hot water over SecuROM numerous times, most recently with the PC version of the game Mass Effect, which required re-activation of the installed game every 10 days. After buyers threw a fit, EA removed the 10-day activation system while still maintaining a three-installs-only restriction.

Does DRM like this make you less excited about the game... or anything?