Poll: How do you feel about the denial of EA being the Worst Company in America?

[Darknacht]

EA takes money from people dumb enough to give it money, thats a fairly low level evil, they aren't even the most evil game company.

Also, a reason why EA is as bad as the other companies

The others on the list may affect our lives, the environment, etc, but they're taking one of the very few methods of escape we have from this miserable existence, one of the few means of forgetting the shit we're mired in day by day, and leading the pack of fucking corporations bent on turning it into just one more capitalistic perversion. Turning an outlet from the world into one more corrosive, soul-grinding, money-means-all aspect of this unending nightmare that the free market has made the world.

It's the same as if a corporation were to invent a machine that blocks the everyday person from sleeping, and forced you to jump through hoops and be nickle-and-dimed for a few hours of respite from the droning, pointless days that you must endure for the rest of your life.

That's why EA is worse.

Haha. Thats funny, 'you can kill people, steal money, destroy the environment, break laws, ect., but don't fuck with games.' Even by this odd logic there are lots of companies that are much worst, such as Zynga.

Depriving people of the only form of entertainment that hasn't been completely destroyed by big business in an era of bread and circuses is a bad thing.

Just buy games from a different company they are not depriving you of anything.
[sub]I'm really hoping that all of this EA is the most evil crap can be explained by Poe's Law.[/sub]

 

[razer17]

Worst company in America? No, not really. They're bad, but not that bad. Worst game company? Certainly in my opinion they are. They didn't deserve worst company in America last year, even after the whole Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco, so why this year?

SimCity put a new lease of hate.

If someone genuinely believes EA is the worst company in the US, they are daft. I mean seriously, dangerously daft. There are companies with much bigger consequences that EA's somewhat anti-consumer policies.

Depriving people of the only form of entertainment that hasn't been completely destroyed by big business in an era of bread and circuses is a bad thing.

Too bad other sites are blind to reason.

Entertainment doesn't get ruined by big business. There are great books, great music, great games, great films. You hate business? Go buy indie, there's still great stuff. EA's existance doesn't somehow invalidate all the other stuff.

Big Pharma companies cause people to die because of their patent squabbling. Tobacco companies for years covered up evidence about the harm of tobacco, and still spend millions making sure that law makers are lenient to them. Banks and investment firms etc. caused a world wide economic meltdown which meant people lost jobs, went bankrupt, went homeless. But fucking hey! You can't enjoy games anymore, so EA are the worst company ever.

 

[Subscriptism]

EA isn't the worst company in America, that's Apple, or possibly Koch Industries.
They're still massive scumbags and sympathisers should be shot.

 

[Darknacht]

Big Pharma companies cause people to die because of their patent squabbling. Tobacco companies for years covered up evidence about the harm of tobacco, and still spend millions making sure that law makers are lenient to them. Banks and investment firms etc. caused a world wide economic meltdown which meant people lost jobs, went bankrupt, went homeless. But fucking hey! You can't enjoy games anymore, so EA are the worst company ever.

Don't forget companies such as Academi/Xe/Blackwater that very directly kill people and coal companies that, through negligence, start coal fires that will burn for decades or even centuries releasing pollutants and radioactive material into the atmosphere.

 

[razer17]

Big Pharma companies cause people to die because of their patent squabbling. Tobacco companies for years covered up evidence about the harm of tobacco, and still spend millions making sure that law makers are lenient to them. Banks and investment firms etc. caused a world wide economic meltdown which meant people lost jobs, went bankrupt, went homeless. But fucking hey! You can't enjoy games anymore, so EA are the worst company ever.

Don't forget companies such as Academi/Xe/Blackwater that very directly kill people and coal companies that, through negligence, start coal fires that will burn for decades or even centuries releasing pollutants and radioactive material into the atmosphere.

Of course. And then there's oil companies who pollute everything and everywhere (Anyone for a swim in the Gulf of Mexico?). The energy and gas companies who raise prices when it suits them, and don't lower them when their costs go down, which leads to old people dying due to the cold. The clothes manufacturers who basically use slave labour to make our trainers and jeans.

I could have listed a ton of places in my first post, but I decided not to waste my time and effort to try and educate people who must either be ignorant, daft or both.

 

[kasperbbs]

Oh, just shut the hell up, if EA is the worst company in America then it must be a magical place to live in.

They may not be the worst but they are still on the shit company totem pole,still does'nt compare to BP and BoA.Also telling people to shut the hell up only fans the flames and causes them to tell you to shut the hell up,

I don't mind being told to shut the hell up on a thread 'EA is evil #535643687'. I come to this site every day to lurk on the forums and every day it's the same, kinda got sick of it i guess. Probably shouldn't visit this site anymore.

 

[Uriain]

They're a shitty company but nowhere near the worst. Stuff like this along with metacritic bombing are some of the many reasons why gamers still have the reputation of being immature idiots.

"We raged about a substandard product which was broken on day 1 by giving it an appropriate rating on metacritic" = immature idiots?

I'll either get a used copy or just not play it...nothing is worth installing Origin onto my PC.

What's the problem with Origin? It's a game launcher. It's the least offensive thing that EA has done recently, yet makes up a staggering proportion of EA hate.

Just quoting these for truth. While EA has done some really dumb things. There is a love-to-hate EA bandwagon, and sweet cthulu its a bigass wagon.

*edit*
I just wanted to add here, While EA does do some stupid things, where is the Capcom "rage" over on disc DLC which had to be purchased to unlock, even though it was ALL on there. Where is Actiblizz "hate" over their continued sub par products and announcements (oh yay.. a digital version of a card game you gave up on, awesome.. Oh look, more overpriced DLC for Black Ops). The only thing EA has REALLY done is be the latest person to have a fuck up. Wait a couple weeks/month and someone else will be the "scourge of the internet/gaming world" due to something going wrong

captcha answer: Cheese Burger ...... now I want a cheese burger

 

[IKWerewolf]

They're a shitty company but nowhere near the worst. Stuff like this along with metacritic bombing are some of the many reasons why gamers still have the reputation of being immature idiots.

"We raged about a substandard product which was broken on day 1 by giving it an appropriate rating on metacritic" = immature idiots?

I'll either get a used copy or just not play it...nothing is worth installing Origin onto my PC.

What's the problem with Origin? It's a game launcher. It's the least offensive thing that EA has done recently, yet makes up a staggering proportion of EA hate.

Just quoting these for truth. While EA has done some really dumb things. There is a love-to-hate EA bandwagon, and sweet cthulu its a bigass wagon.

*edit*
I just wanted to add here, While EA does do some stupid things, where is the Capcom "rage" over on disc DLC which had to be purchased to unlock, even though it was ALL on there. Where is Actiblizz "hate" over their continued sub par products and announcements (oh yay.. a digital version of a card game you gave up on, awesome.. Oh look, more overpriced DLC for Black Ops). The only thing EA has REALLY done is be the latest person to have a fuck up. Wait a couple weeks/month and someone else will be the "scourge of the internet/gaming world" due to something going wrong

captcha answer: Cheese Burger ...... now I want a cheese burger

The big problem is that EA has fallen further than other game companies. When it was originally founded EA was supposed to become a force for good in the new media of gaming.

Unfortunately things haven't panned out as the original founders probably intended; EA has grown to the point where it has lost contact with all original ideals. Now under normal circumstances this isn't enough to make people hate a company.

However, they have done more than just lose sight of the good things but also been corrupted by money and the need for power; first they used online DRM which has only ever been a bad thing, secondly was Origin's privacy breach built into their Terms and Conditions which nearly landed them in trouble in Germany, thirdly they have taken Microtransactions and placed them in a full price game. Finally there is the SimCity fiasco where the game was broken on release and rumours that they'd rather add DLC than correct the bugs.

(captchas) LO AND BEHOLD, this is the problem its not just they have done things wrong, it is also the fact that they have corrupted the original EA ideals and transformed it into something unrecognisable.

 

[IKWerewolf]

DELETED FOR ACCIDENTAL REPEAT

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

Ea does some pretty crappy anti consumer stuff, but I guess I'd defend them, if only to point out that aren't evil. Nowhere close. If you think they are and voted for them in that poll recently, Rupert Murdoch is somewhere out there laughing at your stupidity.

 

[Signa]

To the question in the title: I think denying that EA is the worst company in America is a perfectly reasonable argument to make. Off the top of my head, I can say that Comcast and Bank of America are both worse than EA, because the stuff they effect isn't limited to your personal entertainment, but effect the country at large.

As for the question in the poll, yeah, EA sympathizers should be shot. Aside from the "quality"[footnote]Quality being completely subjective. I know EA is responsible for funding some decent games[/footnote] products that these sympathizers might love from EA, there is nothing about EA as a company that can be defended. It's at best, Hitler giving out AIDS vaccines. Sure, he's curing AIDS, but it doesn't make Hitler a better guy for it.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

As you may know, with EA almost certain to get the WCIA golden poo there are people being sycophants to the EA cause. How does the Escapist feel about how there are people who willingly embraces EA's horrible practices and not take a chance in bringing down low hanging fruit when one can see it.

I am legitimately angry at the possibility that a company as inoffensive as EA is getting the worst company in America award over companies that mistreat their employees and customers far worse.

I do not like EA, I do not think people should defend them from anger towards their stupid and scummy business practices, but I cannot stand it when people lack so much perspective that they award a company the worst in America for microtransactions.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

Well when you commit fraud as a game company I guess that's okay because it's just a game right? EA may not be evil but by God do they try when they de fraud people by releasing a broken product then refusing to give people their money back and if they complain they take away their games by banning their Origin account.

So you're right EA is not evil they are just a bunch of corrupt arrogant assholes just like every other company on the list of most hated companies.

Never said it was ok, but at least with EA you have a choice, I don't goddamn buy their games.

Think about the banking and media corporations that control our money and our access to information, there's no choice there buddy. So on a scale of evil EA is no where close to News Corp or Bank of America (who fucking defrauded hospitals and schools).

 

[Stryc9]

Is EA a bad company? Probably. Are they the worst company in America? Not by a long shot. There are companies with far worse business practices than EA and people aren't really willing to call them out on it because they're all too busy worshiping at their white round cornered throne.