If you bought BioShock for your PC you are not allowed to let any of your family or friends play the game, according to a 2K forum moderator named JT.
The issue arose when a forum user named “Nemesisdesignz” posted a problem he was having in 2K’s tech support forum. All text issues in the following paragraph are sic the user:
I installed Bioshock on my laptop under one admin user, Everything works fine, but I then tried to switch users on my computer and whenever I launch Bioshock it is asking me to enter my serial again for the game…. IS THIS GONNA CHARGE ME TWO OF MY 5 Activations????… I need to know this ASAP before I attempt to play this on my pc under the other user.
The reply came soon after from “2K Tech JT,” who wrote, “The other way to view this, is one USER has purchased the game. Not the whole family. So why should your brother play for free?”
2K Interactive has been hit with an enormous amount of flack for its as-of-yet uncracked DRM software called SecuROM. The software, which made its debut as a coating for BioHhock, only allows a purchaser to install the game twice. BioShock‘s designer Ken Levine has stated that SecuROM will eventually be removed from the game’s code, after the game has gone through initial sales periods.
September 6, 9:23 a.m., UPDATE:
In a response to an email request for comment, 2K Games spokesman Markus Wilding wrote, “Forum moderator JT is not an official spokesperson of 2K Games, his quote is one person’s interpretation of the EULA.” Wilding added that 2K games would, “look into the matter.”
Wilding also pointed out that, just after the game was released, 2K released a patch that allowed the game to be installed on five different computers, five times each, on each computer. This writer regrets the omission of this information in the preceding story.
Published: Sep 5, 2007 06:59 pm