Word has come out of the Mass Effect Community Forums that the upcoming PC version of Mass Effect will be implementing SecuROM piracy prevention measures which will require gamers to authenticate their game against Electronic Arts’ servers every ten days. Here’s my understanding of how it works:

• You install the game from the DVD-ROM; (This is the last time that you will need the DVD, which is nice.)
• Each time you play Mass Effect, it will connect to EA to authenticate your CD key. If successful, this authentication will allow you ten more days of play time.
• After those ten days are up that you will be required to authenticate again - in other words, if you are not connected to the Internet for nine days after your last authentication, you’re fine, but if you’re still not connected on the tenth day, you will not be able to play the game.

The BioWare representative also mentions that Spore will be employing this method.

Now, I’ve outlined my views on piracy measures in a previous post, but this is ridiculous. Assuming the system is flawless, this would probably not affect me because I have an always-on Internet connection plugged in to my gaming PC, but why should I have to report back to headquarters every 10 days to prove that my game is legit? Why shouldn’t I be able to play the game after ten days without Internet if I took my laptop on holiday? Why the hell is my legitimate copy inferior to a pirated copy!?

This move is going to anger a lot of the “hard core” gaming market, who also happen to be Mass Effect’s target audience. I expect that our customer service department will be actioning some cancellation requests over the next couple of days.