good, time-proven solution

Time proven? Yes... But not by EA! Perhaps it is not to late to give up hope for EA... Maybe...

Huzzah!  My fear is that EA would see Spore's experiment with SecuROM as a success (somehow).  The voices have been heard! 

It may or may not be too early to pass judgement on whether it's a shift in corporate strategy, but as I've said elsewhere a disruption in the flow of bucks *will* shake DRM-happy companies out of their complacency.  Anyone who's ever had any dealings with large corporations knows they're full of Dilbert bosses who don't really know what they're doing and whose basic business plan is don't rock the boat as long as the black number is bigger than the red one and they're kept well fed with an ample supply of pie charts by their underlings.  Corporate spin aside, everyone knows by now Spore sales were way off their internal projections so that's as good a reason as any for the execs to start asking why.

Companies like EA are the reason I don't ever pre-order games anymore. I am tired of hidden and/or just bad DRM schemes, buggy releases, features listed on the box that aren't actually in the game. It's ridiculous. I will say that if the Sims 3 doesn't have DRM and turns out to be entertaining like the Sims 2 was, i will buy it. I will still complain about the stuff packs though. what a rip. EA, the greed machine.

There's already a thread here going on about this.

https://forums.galciv2.com/344449

Looks like a completely different forum to me. On that note, there are tons of forums talking about this but I won't list them all.

What's so bad about the stuff packs?  It seems pretty simple to me.  I don't want any of them, so I don't buy any of them.

Hallelujah.  EA having half a brain is good to know...I'm not all anti SecuROM or anything but the whole DRM thing is a big mess.

Kinda funny EA decides to do this on a game that mostly appeals to casual gaming masses, soccer moms, etc. People that aren't as likley to pirate it to begin with. Until EA shows this is the norm for all their new games, I would call it a publicity stunt.

I think it's a strategic decision based on how much a single Sims 3 sale is worth.  The amount they make off of Sims in expansions sales must be massive so in their minds losing some sales to piracy is far outweighed by the extra sales they will get from the hype of not having DRM.

Also I wouldn't be surprised if there is some amount of online connecting to EA servers to get certain things or activate certain features, they just wont admit that's why they don't feel the need for their customer fuck DRM.

Seconded with a super sized helping of "Believe it when I see it in the flesh not hijacking my computer".

I think you are off point here. It doesn't appeal mostly to casual gamers that you label as soccer moms, it ALSO appeals to casual games. I consider myself a hardcore gamer, a casual gamer, a pc gamer, a console game player, and a strategy gamer... to name a few.  I am also a woman who plays FPS and MMORPGs, RPGs, Mario Games, 4x4, to name a few. Oh and I play the Sims. I know how to obtain pirate copies of games. I buy my games. I know what torrents are and guess what, I play a few Stardock games. So funny how people decide to label a group of gamers without actually knowing what that group of gamers consists of. And believe it or not, these so-called casual gamers have been making noise about Securom for years, and there were discussions about Spore's DRM and it's potential impact on the Sims franchise very early on.

Stuff packs have been a way to release games and expansion packs with less content and allow EA to charge a fairly steep price for "stuff" instead.

EA has certainly disappointed throughout the years, and I share a certain degree of suspicion. But I prefer to remain optimistic. I think EA would have a big backlash on their hands by straying too far from the present course of action. I would expect something as friendly for BioWare's Dragon Age, which I eagerly await, and would be really pissed off if they'd go back at being a-holes again.

I still fear for the toxic effects of piracy though, and wouldn't like to see that as a reason for publishers to go back to silly protections. I believe distribution platforms such as Impulse and others to be more effective as a long-term compromise than the "time-proven" CD check; that had been considered ineffective at a given moment in time, for whatever reasons.

I tend to consider the big picture, and see Sims 3 as a patched stepping stone to shifting market rules.

As bad as the DRM was, I liked the removal of disc checks. I just want to click my game icon on my start menu and play without having to put the CD in the PC.

So what?  It's not like they're being forced down your throat.

I am a hardcore gamer, and I plan to buy Sims 3.  2 was unexpectedly charming.  I wish it had even more random stuff though.  A satellite falling on my guy the first day I owned it was just hilarious.