I hear you. I'm glad. They've been taking steps in the right direction and I'm glad to see they don't get it a third time. I want them to continue on their post Riticiello upswing.Sniper Team 4 said:
Electronic Arts Voted Out of "Worst Company In America" Poll
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
That's A-Ok
Now how about people actually vote for companies that, oh i don't know, ruins lives, other businesses, the environment, the economy, have horrible business practices, just terrible companies all around.
While EA does have numerous horrible business practices(I'm looking at you Dungeon Keeper), EA really doesn't qualify as the worst company when BoA is still fucking people over consistently.
Now how about people actually vote for companies that, oh i don't know, ruins lives, other businesses, the environment, the economy, have horrible business practices, just terrible companies all around.
While EA does have numerous horrible business practices(I'm looking at you Dungeon Keeper), EA really doesn't qualify as the worst company when BoA is still fucking people over consistently.
minor note: having worked for an ISP myself(and a fairly awful one at that), I can assure you that cable modem manufacturers do not "give" ISPs anything. If TWC/Comcast are getting poor quality modems it is because they decided that better quality ones were not cost effective. That's not other companies screwing TWC/Comcast; that's TWC/Comcast screwing themselves and passing the screwing on to the customers.Baldr said:
second minor note: any change on the users' side would affect service across the board, not merely with one ISP, and therefore has no bearing on the comparative quality of the users' experience.
Time Warner Cables is not forced on anyone(except if you live in an Apartment Complex in places like New York). Time Warner Cable has more than several competitors in each market. You have DirecTV, Dish, At&T, Verizon, and a myriad of smaller ISPs/media companies. Time Warner Cable just happens to have a better range of services.Scrumpmonkey said:
I've said this before, but I'm glad that they aren't getting the third vote. Though there have been blunders (Dungeon Keeper and BF4 launch), EA has made a lot of changes since Poo 2 in the PR and consumer relations department:
The Origin bundle, giving away over $200 worth of games for as little as a dollar, giving out Steam keys so you didn't have to use Origin (for most of them) and giving all of the money to charity
The firing of John Riccitiello, a CEO who was making unpopular decisions and saying unpopular things to the public
Actually giving Bioware time to work on Dragon Age 3, compared to the absolute rushing out the door of DA2 and ME3
Getting rid of the online pass, and letting users download online access for free if they purchased the game before the abolishment
No, they aren't yet paragons of positive consumer relations and choices in the gaming world, but I've seen a definite change in attitude and are backing up that attitude since getting the second poo award.
The Origin bundle, giving away over $200 worth of games for as little as a dollar, giving out Steam keys so you didn't have to use Origin (for most of them) and giving all of the money to charity
The firing of John Riccitiello, a CEO who was making unpopular decisions and saying unpopular things to the public
Actually giving Bioware time to work on Dragon Age 3, compared to the absolute rushing out the door of DA2 and ME3
Getting rid of the online pass, and letting users download online access for free if they purchased the game before the abolishment
No, they aren't yet paragons of positive consumer relations and choices in the gaming world, but I've seen a definite change in attitude and are backing up that attitude since getting the second poo award.
Turns out a biotech company almost killed the entire world in the 90s by planning on selling a genetically modified bacteria present in all know plant species that would break down dead plant material into alcohol. Their own testing (and the EPA's as well) showed it was fine, as they tested it in sterile soil, and the company planned on releasing it. Fortunately, an independent study at Oregon State discovered that, when used in fertile soil, this bacteria would kill every plant species it came in contact with.
Turns out Apple still outsources their device construction to Chinese sweatshops were workers would rather kill themselves than go back to work.
Turns out EA isn't that fucking evil just because they made employees code for unpaid overtime sometimes.
Turns out Apple still outsources their device construction to Chinese sweatshops were workers would rather kill themselves than go back to work.
Turns out EA isn't that fucking evil just because they made employees code for unpaid overtime sometimes.
I would say that Time-Warner's push to standardize capped and throttled internet access makes it much worse than EA this time around.
Thank. Fucking. God.
EA shouldn't really have even been on the list, not when other company's on that list have 'anti-comsumer' that do orders of magnitude more harm to their customers then EA ever could. EA is a bad company and should be called out every time they fuck up, of that there is no doubt, but they are far from the worst company in the US.
EA shouldn't really have even been on the list, not when other company's on that list have 'anti-comsumer' that do orders of magnitude more harm to their customers then EA ever could. EA is a bad company and should be called out every time they fuck up, of that there is no doubt, but they are far from the worst company in the US.
would have been ironic to see them winning it a third time but i have to admit, they did improve a bit. but just a bit.
I don't really see them as the worst, I've thought Ubisoft with their plethora of DRM schemes ranging from limited installs to always online schemes were FAR WORSE than anything EA has ever done. They flip flopped on so many of their policies and now have Uplay shoved into games you have bought on other digital things. Want to play Rayman Origins? Well start it in steam....uplay boots and updates now you can play your game....okay...great but what the hell is the point of steam now? Yes SimCity launched with dumb DRM- but people showed they didn't want that and they fixed it years later. Doesn't exactly save them from it but it was still faster than Ubisoft who was basically telling everyone they're thieves and they don't trust you.
Okay, Dungeon Keeper mobile sucked, big deal, we've seen shit games before and people should know to avoid that. I don't directly blame EA for decisions that Maxis made and all the complaints about Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 I found largely moot and more accurately targeted to bioware or internal issues not directly EA.
Ahh Origin watches your PC harware oooo...ahh so bad...except the other digital platforms (steam/uplay) do the same for security reasons and to gather what the average person is packing so they can make games for it. But Origin also does it so they need to be singled out waahhh, evil.
I'm not defending them, I do find their mobile stuff pretty crappy and Sims 3 is a micro-transaction disaster- but people can stop that by not buying...but they do, so you can also pin some blame on people supporting such trends. But comparatively vs others? I find EA pretty mild. :|
Okay, Dungeon Keeper mobile sucked, big deal, we've seen shit games before and people should know to avoid that. I don't directly blame EA for decisions that Maxis made and all the complaints about Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2 I found largely moot and more accurately targeted to bioware or internal issues not directly EA.
Ahh Origin watches your PC harware oooo...ahh so bad...except the other digital platforms (steam/uplay) do the same for security reasons and to gather what the average person is packing so they can make games for it. But Origin also does it so they need to be singled out waahhh, evil.
I'm not defending them, I do find their mobile stuff pretty crappy and Sims 3 is a micro-transaction disaster- but people can stop that by not buying...but they do, so you can also pin some blame on people supporting such trends. But comparatively vs others? I find EA pretty mild. :|
Because they will go unheard.Sniper Team 4 said:
EA has tried to change its practices, and in some ways it has (it no longer treats its employees with same grace reserved for disposable tampons at least), but its core business model remains the same: Get the hits out, and get them out quickly.
Annual development schedules are the norm; 2 year schedules are seriously pushing it, and always seem to bloat out of control anyway.
(like with Dead Space 3 and Mass Effect 3)
These aren't new problems for the company either. EA has had this habit of forcing developers onto ludicrous time tables or mismanaging their teams for as long as I've known about them (Westwood and Origin were victims of this; the first of many).
OT: In any case, I think the Dungeon Keeper fiasco, though vile and deplorable in its own right, wasn't anywhere near the magnitude of SimCity and Mass Effect 3's shitstorms. That, and Titanfall is taking the heat off of what is usually a banner month of bad press brought on by their corporate buffoonery.
The damage control and scramble for approval was proof they cared more than the banks. Still if they gotten it they may have taken an anti consumer stanceSKBPinkie said:
You make it sound like hating EA is weird.
OT: That's disappointing. EA was the only company that really cared about this pointless online contest. Remember all the damage control the last two years? Remember the hollow promises and deflections? Remember the press covering EA's ass?
[a href="http://i.imgur.com/UALihC7.png"]Click to enlarge
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Also, despite what some may think, EA is definitely NOT getting better.