EA's New Scrabble App Causes Kerfuffle

[IanDavis]

EA's New Scrabble App Causes Kerfuffle

A stat wipe and a new dictionary cause uproar in the Scrabble community.

Scrabble, like most popular board games, has a social presence online. As of May, board game manufacturer Mattel has turned the keys of its popular [a href=https://www.facebook.com/Scrabble]Scrabble[/a] Facebook app to EA, and the transition has many fans upset. When EA updated the game, they added new languages, a custom board feature, and an ad-free version. They also wiped everyone's stats, removed manual match-making and timer mode, changed the way the pages auto-refresh, and even changed the in-game dictionary to the blasphemous Collins edition, according to the [a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22905191]BBC[/a].

As the official Facebook page fills up with complaints, player hate is spilling out into groups [a href=https://www.facebook.com/groups/492649110806594/]like this[/a]. As Scrabble player Helen Hawkins told the BBC, "Who wants to play it in six languages? I've been playing for over four years, I had 5,000 games on my statistics, I'd won 71% of them, I had my best scores recorded - and now it's all lost."

According to Mattel, it's all part of the move. "As part of the transition [to EA Mobile], we were unable to carry over ongoing games and statistics, the timer mode and the manual match-making function. The new version will have the same robust statistics moving forward."

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

Source: [a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22905191]BBC[/a]

Permalink

 

[GAunderrated]

I know casual gamers are considered not to be dedicated to their gaming but lots of these people who play social scrabble really take their stats hard. This will not go over smoothly for people that have spent (no joke) thousands of hours collecting their stats to be wiped.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Oh no, I can't show my friend my 1337 Scrabble score, and they're using a slightly different wordset. Clearly this is important front page business.

 

[Evil Smurf]

EA is back to derping up I see

 

[Eppy (Bored)]

My mother plays Facebook Scrabble. This is NOT good. I'm going to have one hell of an angry woman to calm down the next time she gets on the desktop.

Also, seriously, what is this BS about dropping the manual matchmaking feature? Why on earth WOULDN'T you have that? It's an important functionality, how the hell do you control who you play with otherwise?

 

[FalloutJack]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

 

[CriticalMiss]

EA can't even do Scrabble right? Maybe they should go back to basics and get their top minds together, give them a couple of million dollars and make a naughts-and-crosses game. I think the only way they could fuck that up is if they made it naughts-and-swastikas and promoted it with a holocaust reenactment in Jerusalem. But they'd find a way, I'm sure.

 

[Covarr]

At least they didn't break the proper noun rule and allow their own properties as playable words. "Sure, Ubisoft might not be a word, but SimCity and Popcap totally are!"

Actually, I kinda wish they'd done that, just for how hilarious the blowback would've been.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Starke]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

 

[J Tyran]

Getting upset over the addition of extra languages is terrible, almost xenophobic really but I can sympathise with the lost stats. People like collecting achievements, high scores and game statistics. They always have done whether its sports, table top games or video games. Some people are not bothered but others are.

It might be a petty small minded pride in the grand scheme of things but its very real aspect of psychology called the "social comparison theory" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_comparison_theory] and whilst some people are not bothered and others might just be mildly frustrated it can be genuinely distressing for some people if their scores are lost.

Just think about it how many of you would really like it if you lost all of your Steam/XBL/PSN achievements? Sure most people wouldn't have a tantrum but I bet a lot of you would complain or grumble to a friend, more than a few people reading this would take to forums or Facebook/Twitter to moan too.

 

[GAunderrated]

Oh no, I can't show my friend my 1337 Scrabble score, and they're using a slightly different wordset. Clearly this is important front page business.

That would be the equivalent of Sony and Microsoft both wiping their gamerscores after all these years. Although you and I might not personally care for those scores you would be naive to think that no one cares. There would be a massive outcry.

 

[FalloutJack]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

A Stark? Figures... Well, young Stark, when you learn to see the world as I do, you understand where to look when the puppet speaks. The message was heard quite clearly, as was the one doing the actual talking.

 

[Starke]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

A Stark? Figures... Well, young Stark, when you learn to see the world as I do, you understand where to look when the puppet speaks. The message was heard quite clearly, as was the one doing the actual talking.

No, Starke. Wrong spelling, wrong franchise. Move along.

Re-EDIT: You know, I'd think the irony of botching spelling on a post about a game about spelling... -.-

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

They gave the responsibility to the 'electronic experts'. Whoever this was should have said "We're not the tech experts, but they are. We thought that they would have been better suited to handle something in their area of expertise. Clearly we were wrong." My guess is that they're too terrified of EA to complain themselves.

 

[Starke]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

They gave the responsibility to the 'electronic experts'. Whoever this was should have said "We're not the tech experts, but they are. We thought that they would have been better suited to handle something in their area of expertise. Clearly we were wrong." My guess is that they're too terrified of EA to complain themselves.

Well, EA is still making them money. Throwing them under the bus now, wouldn't do Mattel any good. I mean, you can argue that they already are, but, your line is more of a backhanded, "yeah, dems fucked up", while what they actually posted was more of the standard, generic, abdication of blame PR drech.

 

[FalloutJack]

"We are sorry we weren't able to please everybody," a Mattel Spokeswoman said. "We produce the board game but we're not experts in electronics."

*Spoken as Tyrion Lannister*

"Pardon me, but you ARE called Electronic Arts, correct? That would imply that this is your TRADE. Now, far be it for a man of my stature to complain, but it would seem that you have admitted to being utterly worthless and incompetent. How exactly do you account for that?"

The quote's coming from Mattel, not EA? So while EA are the experts, Mattel can credibly claim incompetence?

A Stark? Figures... Well, young Stark, when you learn to see the world as I do, you understand where to look when the puppet speaks. The message was heard quite clearly, as was the one doing the actual talking.

No, Starke. Wrong spelling, wrong franchise. Move along.

Re-EDIT: You know, I'd think the irony of botching spelling on a post about a game about spelling... -.-

>_> I did it on purpose. It was funny.