Poll: Can someone explain the hate for the Origin program?

[Joccaren]

Eh, I don't hate it. Whilst there's nothing great about it, there's nothing terrible about it either.
I no longer have it installed as none of the games that I have on it [ME3, BF3] do I consider worth re-installing right now. Maybe later, but ATM... I've got better things to play/mod.

 

[Altorin]

Because EA. I don't hate Origin; I hate EA's customer service department that supports Origin. Why can't I merge my two Origin accounts(that were created without my input because my EA account and Bioware account had different email addresses)? Why won't they let me transfer the DLC I accidentally bought for the wrong account? Why would they let me buy DLC for a game I didn't have on my account in the first place?

All companies make mistakes. Bad companies refuse to acknowledge the mistakes, much less fix them.

They did that for me.

I accidentally put my ME2 collector's edition DLC on the wrong account and they slipped it over for me when I brought the screwup to their attention.

That was before Origin was a thing, but it certainly was EA

 

[Drakmorg]

My security software occasionally thinks it's a virus. That's right, the software I use to ensure that my computer is un-accosted by malware is saying that Origin looks rather shady and occasionally denies it access to anything.
That's really all I think I need to say on that particular subject.

 

[thePyro_13]

It has quite a few problems, many bugs, some of which are design issues that aren't going to go away any time soon.

It's improved alot compared to it's first release. My main gripe wit it is that it's just a rebranded EA downloader, which was a rebranded EA Link and so on. How long before they abandon Origin and leave us all out in the cold again?

I think origin has done it's job, and that is to kick steam in the rear and keep it moving. Now that theirs some competition going on things will get much better.

I'd be more lenient towards it if they had fair prices, I get the same price gouging on origin as I do on steam. I rarely buy from either of them anymore.

I do have it installed, but I never open it(all I have is BF3 and RA3(which I can open through steam anyway).

 

[Valdrrak Draconis]

Well thank you all for that I was just curious because I am looking forward to he new sims city game but I was reading there forums about sims and lots of people where saying that if it requires Origin they will not get it etc so I was just curious about you guys opinions.

 

[Monsterfurby]

Also, Origin is only named as such because EA still retains the name of Origin Systems (Wing Commander and Ultima) for "distribution of digital goods" and had to use it somehow lest they lose the trademark.

Which kind of feels like someone ripping off your beloved pet's fur and wearing it as a coat, just for the lolz.

 

[Mortons4ck]

I like how Origin's in game browser is more stable than Steam's.

That said, EA is the Great Satan of the Videogame world, and I will never buy anything over it. (bought Mass Effect 3 on PCDVD)

Which kind of feels like someone ripping off your beloved pet's fur and wearing it as a coat, just for the lolz.

"John Riccitiello? What is best in life?"

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

 

[Mortons4ck]

doublepost

 

[crazyrabbits]

Made my EA + competition to steam= RABID HATRED from escapists.

I'm sure many of the people in this topic would agree that competition between DDP's is good, especially when it benefits the consumer. The point, as many (including myself) have stated, is that Origin is a failure from both a technical and consumer standpoint. They're no better off than where Steam was at that point in its lifecycle, and EA seems to be operating under the mentality that people will buy their products, even when it's egregiously overpriced ($70 for a digital collector's edition?) and provides little value to the consumer.

After all, this is the company that has gone on record as saying that customers appreciate the value of Origin, and don't need sales to enjoy the products being sold on the site. Seriously. It's not enough that their software violates privacy laws (the only reason it hasn't hit the levels of backlash Sony got with its CD rootkits is because very few people have caught on), but their selection and pricing is so poor compared to Steam that there's no competition or threat whatsoever.

Add to that the various controversies it has courted (EULA being changed constantly to the point of hilarity, people getting banned from single-player games for message board infractions, and being called out on it by the gaming media, terrible customer service), and you see why the mention of Origin causes people to start foaming at the mouth.

 

[darthmj94]

It is on my computer because it is required to update The Sims 3 now, and I definitely prefer steam over it, my experience with it includes a slow load times and it being needlessly complicated, But that was a while back, it might have changed sense then but I will never use it again as long as I can use steam.

 

[Quicksilver_Phoenix]

Made my EA + competition to steam= RABID HATRED from escapists.

Jesus next you will be asking why escapists think 1+1=2

It's a real shame that people get so zealous about their dislike of things, because this is the result. Forgoing reasonable discussion just hinders your cause and makes people think like this guy.

OT: I'm personally avoiding Origin because I don't agree with EA's business practices. Simple as, no burning hate or anything. I just don't agree with what they're doing and don't want to aid them. I'm willing to play the few games they publish that I actually want on a console and even then I buy pre owned or at reduced prices.

Oh, that and all of the rumours surrounding what Origin actually does to your system behind the scenes. Anyone have any concrete evidence to this end?

 

[Ix Rebound]

because you need points to buy points!
say if you want to buy 800 points for your account, it won't let you unless you already have 800 points, so you need to buy 1600 points just to end up with 800 points
its complete bullshit

 

[NLS]

This image basically summarizes the majority of reasons why people don't like it.

I'll just add that Steam does not have a specific forum for bugs and issues, instead there's a help forum which is equally the one with the highest traffic, only beaten by the trading section. And help/bug threads are usually spread around in all the different sub-forums, and usually with a big sticky on each sub forum that lists the most common and known bugs. People are having problems with Origin, yes. But people are also having problems with Steam and just about any software out there.

 

[Andrew_C]

The same reason everyone hated Steam for the first couple of years, because it's a buggy, badly designed piece of rubbish that you have to have on your computer for certain games. Basically, Origin in in the same position now that Steam was in 2005. The only digital download client I have encountered that is worse is Desura, which needs Admin rights to run, for some reason.

EDIT: And how could I forget their creepy data collection policy:

Can I opt out of data collection through Origin?
You can opt out of sharing hardware specifications and crash reports at any time. Sharing of system interaction data can be limited and made anonymous, but not completely disabled. All data sharing preferences can be controlled through your Origin Settings.

 

[Bestival]

Well thank you all for that I was just curious because I am looking forward to he new sims city game but I was reading there forums about sims and lots of people where saying that if it requires Origin they will not get it etc so I was just curious about you guys opinions.

Didn't some EA higherup recently state that they were only going to be making multiplayer games? In that case, have fun with you deathmatch City Building Sim!


OT: I don't have Origin because I already have Steam. It's basically the same reason I don't have second, inferior, washing machine. And if this means I'm missing out on some games that I would only have impulse bought during a sale that's fine. It's really come to the point that if something isn't on Steam, I probably won't buy it out of laziness. The only exception to this in the last three years or so has been Guild Wars 2.



I also have a question, this has never been quite clear to me; Does Origin have non EA games on it?

 

[Rack]

They reserve the right to do all sorts of unpleasant things that Steam reserves the right to do but never does. Then they started doing some of them.

Also it doesn't really work. Unless you live in the bizarre fantasy world of 2005 that MMO developers seem to it doesn't matter that Steam didn't work too well in the day. Right now Steam works and Origin does not. Origin spies on you and Steam does not. Origin will delete your entire games collection and Steam does too.

 

[Yopaz]

I have some mild dislike for it while I do like that they try to fight Valve as the giantnof digital distribution. Valve practically controlled the digital market, while I l love Steam I consider that a bad thing.

I wanted Origin to offer some fight, but they offer a mediocre service where Steam offers a better one.

Origin got a bad design which really needs to be fixed, they also have a clumsy update system rather than the one Steam offers that will restart if you desire when an update is out. When Origin updates it demands that I go through whatbcould as well have been a single installation process. I have also noticed that it takes up more resources than Steam though this isn't a big deal to me.

 

[el derpenburgo]

Well this is interesting, there seems to be quite a diversity of reasons. Until now I thought the main reason was because it was pointless proprietary software. It basically does what Steam does and it owes its existence fairly obviously to EA's greed, not any real desire to bring something new to the industry. I don't even think there was any PR to soften its introduction since EA knew how goddamn transparent this whole scheme was, and I guess they thought it would be too ridiculous to spin it one way or another.

 

[snekadid]

Does everyone not want this Origin Launcher because they Dislike EA so much or is there a main reason?

Because it's glorified spyware. It tracks changes to your programs (and, apparently, your system) using what can be described as a glorified rootkit.

In the past, people using Origin with an EA online message board account have been banned from single-player content because they were banned or suspended on a message board. EA publicly came out a few months back and had to make a public apology for the service, and asked people to help make their program better.

I have no problem with competing digital distribution services, but as a consumer, they've lost my confidence.

^this

Steam only slows your computer down if you have a computer with really low resources. Origin slows everything down with its "Big Brother" Esq constant monitoring/sending of information of systems that don't have anything to do with them or their games. While steam is in essence DRM, by comparison origin is a ankle monitor attached to a weight. I refuse to buy games with GFWL so I'm sure as hell not using origin that has no value to begin with.

 

[90sgamer]

The hatred for EA is justified and extends beyond the observation that EA kills franchises and employs shitty PR staff. EA has also been shown to have no regard for its customers and it's privacy policy is not a privacy policy at all.

There there are some people that just do not like digital distribution because it gives all the power to the publisher and leaves none for the purchaser. Every game you own on a digital platform is only accessible to you because the publisher allows it to be. If at any time Valve decides to shut down its servers then you as an individual have no recourse other than to file a law suit against a company that makes more in a day than you will earn in your life time.

Returning back to the issue of EA, it is important to remember that capitalism only works if people buy, and do not buy, things. If one does not like EA then one should speak with his wallet. I think we are seeing some of that now from the American market.