Darkspore Has Been Unplayable For 9 Days and Counting

If there was ever a case study for the detrimental effects of online-only DRM, this has to be it. Based on this eleven-page locked thread on the official Darkspore forums, every single copy of EA and Maxis' sci-fi action RPG has been unplayable since October 18th due to "technical difficulties". What's worse, owners of the game are simply being told that the game's terms of service allow for this:
As before, the Devs are aware of the problem and are actively working on it however so while it may take some time it will be fixed. We do not yet have an ETA, please be patient.

Also stated in the Darkspore Terms of Service:

5. EA Services, Content and Entitlement Availability

We do not guarantee that any Content or Entitlement will be available at all times, in all countries and/or geographic locations, or at any given time or that we will continue to offer particular Content or Entitlements for any particular length of time.

The ToS clearly state that while you purchase the RIGHT to access of the content, it can't always be available for a variety of reasons...this is one of those reasons...technical difficulties.

Due to the continual abysmal behaviour from one group of users, this thread is now being locked. While we are very grateful for the assistance in solving this issue that some of you have given, due to these specific indivduals, the thread is now closed and updates will only be given once we know more. Please sit tight and wait, there is nothing more that we can do at this stage.
Unbelievable. Thanks, Rock, Paper, Shotgun.