At this point, contacting the creator and convincing him to whitelist the computer is the only way to get out. This way, the DRM would return if the fan game was reinstall.

While this is all happening, the game would locate your IP address and then send it to an online database. When the second level protection is activated, the stage background turns red and black (ya know, like a Virtual Boy), a static noise would play along with the American boss theme from Sonic The Hedgehog CD, red eyes would appear across the screen and giant ghosts that kill the player instantly spawn, rendering the game completely unplayable. When the first level protection is activated, the stage background turns blue and black, the song 'Fakery Way' from Sonic Adventure plays and ghosts that can kill the player spawn in the levels The protection could be activated as easily as typing in keywords like 'hack', 'cheat' or 'mod' into a browser whilst the game is running, and in doing so, the browser would close. On December 10-11, after a December the 4th update, a post was made on Reddit about a very sketchy DRM system that had been discovered. The event has also resulted in the fan game being referred to as 'Sonic Gather up all your information and your computer,' something along those lines. The game has been largely avoided, and not recommended to anyone. The game got a mostly positive reception, but after the discovery of the DRM, the game met with mutual distaste from several other fan game communities.

Sonic gather battle viruses