EA Removes Forum Posts for SimCity Offline Mod

[theultimateend]

It's a shame that these groups are inversely related.

I'm not sure how the people who want things for free and the people trying to sell their wares can ever be on the same page.

I say, blame it on the East India Company. If only they hadn't killed so many pirates...

Given how much you oversimplified I can't possibly help you.

But in general I find it sad that consumers and businesses have shifted models to being antagonistic instead of (in theory) symbiotic.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's a shame that these groups are inversely related.

I'm not sure how the people who want things for free and the people trying to sell their wares can ever be on the same page.

I say, blame it on the East India Company. If only they hadn't killed so many pirates...

Given how much you oversimplified I can't possibly help you.

But in general I find it sad that consumers and businesses have shifted models to being antagonistic instead of (in theory) symbiotic.

Symbiotic relationships require trust, and with businesses pulling shit like this trust is a rare and valuable commodity.

 

[weirdee]

are they even going to have a real official answer to say about this?

 

[Lightknight]

Given how much you oversimplified I can't possibly help you.

But in general I find it sad that consumers and businesses have shifted models to being antagonistic instead of (in theory) symbiotic.

It looks like you consider pirates and consumers to be the same thing. That is incorrect as the two are mutually exclusive per transaction. Either the person paid for their license or they stole it/copywrite infringed it/got it for free.

Being correct definitionally isn't oversimplification. Consumers buy, pirates take, companies sell.

 

[Slash2x]

I wonder how many people lost their Origin account due to those posts... completely accidentally of course.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of them. Just a guess, I have 0 proof of this I am just guessing. And now that there is a mod I expect the torrent of SimShitty will shoot through the roof.....


DISCLAIMER!
DO NOT PIRATE KIDDIES!! IT IS WRONG BECAUSE YOU WILL KILL 1 TRILLION KITTENS WITH EVERY FILE YOU DOWNLOAD!!

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Seems fairly straightforward, really. If EA want to define mods as hacks (imho, the terms are fairly interchangable) and block discussion about them on their own forums, it's their prerogative. It changes nothing and doesn't really put EA in any worse light than they already are.

Aye, but that's mainly because they're already knee deep in slurry, with lies making up the majority of the currently floaty bits. I really wonder if Bradshaw doesn't know any better (which would be bad all by itself) or if she's doing her best EA drone impression (which is just as bad, really).

I'll tell you what: Aye, I have severe, probably irreconcilable issues with EA. I started buying their games when they were still ECA and their games came on 5.25in floppy disks, wrapped in an abundance of cardboard. I really thought they could do no wrong for a while, but I am well past that now. I really want to own and play this latest Sim City. But I want to play it the way that makes sense to me. I want to be able and allowed to play it offline. I want to be able to spontaneously come online with it and do some merry cooperation with friends and family if I feel like it. If EA does not deliver that, and at the same time resorts to bullshit me with, well, lies and some semantic padding, I really just don't feel like throwing money at them. Come a patch/hack that does allow me to do my thing, I'll gladly buy their product. If not, well, too bad.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

quite clearly told everyone NOT to stop using the offline mod but to instead just talk about it somewhere else. It's very nearly official approval of the mod.

Or am I just reading this whole thing wrong?

could you imagine how it would go if they HAD said to stop using it? sounds to me like a very good way for them to make this situation even worse for themselves, which means before this is all over, it will probably happen.

also the term "official approval" suggests that they wouldn't remove it from their forums. this response is nothing but a clumsy attempt to hide their incompetence/lies and cover their asses

 

[Sartan0]

This would be why I did not buy Mass Effect 3 on the PC and will be getting zero games on the PC from EA. On the other hand the fact that they deleted the threads talking about the way to play offline is hardly news. I suppose the news is Maxis is trying to keep a reputation. After this and Spore I am done with Maxis and I am doubly done with EA. Not even Plants vs. Zombies 2 will sway me.

They are dead to me. Plenty of other games to support with my money.

 

[Covarr]

My best guess is that there's an exec high up somewhere at EA who got really angry with an exec even higher up, and is intentionally working to squander their reputation and destroy them piece by piece. It's the only explanation, they can't have failed to notice that we already know and are talking about their bullshit DRM.

P.S. Thanks

 

[babinro]

This makes perfect sense.

The game requires a constant online connection. This 'news' is no more shocking than a gaming forum deleting posts that promote how to pirate it or exploit the game mechanics.

We see this all the time in Diablo's forums and it's funny how people think Blizzard is going against their rights of free speech by moderating the forums.

 

[waj9876]

You see, this is why I play obscure, little known games. The companies I buy from can't AFFORD to pull shit like this.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

I'd be interested to see their stock value by the end of this whole SimCity bomb.

Now you can add outright lying (possibly even false advertising) on top of everything else they did. It's amazing the shit EA pulls and every time there's a moment when I go "oh come on, even EA wouldn't do that". This was one of those moments.
There was no way a lie this blatant wouldn't get caught eventually so either they're incredibly stupid and thought they'd get away with it, or they knew they'd be caught but didn't care because they already got the money.

 

[Lightknight]

My best guess is that there's an exec high up somewhere at EA who got really angry with an exec even higher up, and is intentionally working to squander their reputation and destroy them piece by piece. It's the only explanation, they can't have failed to notice that we already know and are talking about their bullshit DRM.

P.S. Thanks

I just assumed that somewhere along the way EA got soooo big that they started hiring execs that know how to manage businesses but don't understand games or gamers. At some point one of those idiots poked their head into the product side of things and didn't like the way things were being done and not all super optimized for profit without realizing that the customer base may just hate that.

 

[Nocturnus]

The mod in question did not operate the game in full offline mode... at least if we're still talking about the news story from yesterday. It put the game into Debug Mode, which allows full editing of all elements (including region specific space) and no internet connection to perform those particular things to be done, because the region is a locally saved file.

However, all the calculations that were going on involving that region, in the video, were broken. IE: Communication of Region based pollution was completely and totally off kilter.

Could they possibly fix that with a mod? Sure. Could EA Possibly move those calculations to the local client? Yeah... at what hit to performance? I have no idea.

But was that particular mod doing that? From the video I saw, no.

Though i'm sure people will still take the first opportunity to flame me for this...

 

[Baresark]

So.... companies are just allowed to lie into our collective faces and get caught red handed and face little to no legal consequences? Cool. Cool cool cool.

I'm so glad I resisted buying SimCity.

Lying is not illegal, even when corporations do it.

OT: We all saw this coming I hope. I also wouldn't place such a large distinguishing difference between hacks and mods. A mod, modifies for game files. A Hack modifies game files. It is a slippery slope trying to distinguish the two. Usually a hack is referred to bypassing security, but it's still just modified game files. It's dangerous because any developer can come along and argue that a mod changes game files in such a way that makes it play not as intended, then they are calling it a hack, essentially.

 

[Aikayai]

Censorship. In this age? Never!

 

[BaronIveagh]

So wait, there aren't already laws in place to protect the public from snakeoil salesmen? What strange times we live in...

There used to be. However, one thing EA does do is employ an army of lawyers. And after all, EA provides a 'service' not a 'product'. Different set of laws.

 

[KelDG]

Well of course EA is all going to be for a modding community that are essentially unpaid content designers for their game, but will nuke anything that threatens their bottom line of controlling customers through their iron-fist always-on DRM.

To be expected. Reviled, but expected.

I think you have that the wrong way round there mate, they don't want people modding and adding content for free because then they can't sell sell you content themselves for ?9.99 a go.

Consumer modding would not work on this game anyway if they insist on keeping it on-line only because of balance issues, on the other hand the mods could be purely cosmetic, but then that is EA's cheapest and easiest revenue stream gone, and that is not going to happen (Different country tile-sets anyone?).

 

[Urh]

Earlier in the week, Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw said that an offline mode for the game was "just not possible" as the entire region is simulated on the server. A Maxis developer debunked the claims, saying that the servers do not handle any computation in regards to simulating the city.

So, the take home message is "We could do an offline mode if we really really wanted to, but we won't because fuck you." I bet EA is fuming that the truth actually slipped through the cracks.

 

[Gilhelmi]

Are you worried that the truth is coming out? Are you worried that your investors might see this as ANOTHER PR fiasco? Are you ready for the end, EA?

I am ready for the game to be over. Behave like a fair and reasonable company, or fail into nothingness.

I agree, you need some DRM, but "always on" is a horrible idea. It will never work because bandwidth is quickly drying-up and many of us do not want to be online all the time. Not too mention, the fact that it requires so much more work on your end. Just go back to CD keys. Just write off that some people are going to pirate no matter what you do. BUT PLEASE stop embarrassing yourselves.

PS: I wish I had money too invest so I could go to the stockholder meetings and ask some questions.