Poll: Should we boycott EA Products?

[The Virgo]

Hell yeah, we should boycott! There is no fucking excuse for them to monitor what we do and the only way to make them realize that that's total bullshit is to starve them of money. You want my fucking money, EA? Well, you're going to have to drop this espionage shit.

If the American revolutionaries could defeat the British, the Egyptians could defeat their leader and a bunch of rebels could defeat Ghadaffi, then we can beat EA.

If you let them spy on what you do on your computer this time, next thing you know they will spy on everything you do!

 

[Sylveria]

I'm not gonna sign up for the boycott, but I certainly wont be using Origin. EA rarely puts out anything I'm interested and their PC showings are even less so. I might be getting SWTOR but in that event, only as a retail box AND only if it has absolutely no requirement to use Origin. I'll also be sure to read that TOS extra special close.

People call Origin DRM, but it's not, it's more evil than that. People cite Steam or MMO TOS, but prompted by this EA thing I've decided to reread several of them very closely. Steam, for example, unless I'm misunderstanding, only transmits basic computer specs and usage patterns as they pertain to your behavior with Steam. It does not sit there sending back every key you press, every application you run, back to Valve for "storage." MMOs get a little more into it by also monitoring what other applications you run in conjunction with the game as a way to prevent unauthorized third party programs.

Origin, on the other hand, by the wording of the ToS, can sit there and datamine your computer, everything, every last file if they so choose to. If you happen to have a rom of an old EA SNES game, or something you got running on DOS Box, suddenly you're getting letters about copyright infringement.

As someone above said, calling for a boycott in this industry does little, but it is important to inform people, many of which who will never bother to read the ToS, what Origin is doing while it runs. Let people, especially parents, know that this thing is effectively spyware. Use the good scare words that may it sound like a virus and make sure people know this means it's collecting account information for more than just EA stuff.

 

[kouriichi]

Sorry. I just find it hilarious that people with Facebook accounts, writing on internet forums and who knows where else suddenly feel like their privacy is being threatened because one more company will have access to data other companies already have.

Valve has your info, FB has your info, Escapist has some of your info, plenty research companies that scan the posts on forums have your info... You don't really have any privacy to start with any more to have it really breached.

No, you dont get it. They have your open info.

"Congrats, they know my name and where i live".
Thats not what EA is doing. By signing up, you give them the right to monitor your computer. Every program you have on it. Every site you visit. Nearly EVERY piece of info ON YOUR COMPUTER is there's to access.

This isnt, "oh, your phone number, and your middle name, and your area code". This is literally EVERYTHING. "operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware". This includes the information stored for said software, because its part of it. Do you watch anything dirty on the internet? Congrats, EA now knows your every kink, and they have the right to distribute it as they like.

Its not like FB or The Escapist. Your giving them full reign on your private information. Laugh as they monitor everything you do from here on out. Its one step away from having a man standing over your shoulder while you FAP to rule 34.

And even if that were true, what's the problem? It's not like they can actually do anything with that information.

Yes they can. Did you even read it? xD
You literally give them the right to distribute it AS THEY PLEASE.
They can do whatever they want as long as you click "i agree", because you give them the right to.

No not really. They aren't allowed to sell it or use it to send me spam. Or anything like that. A simple TOS doesn't override federal laws.

"EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you"

They can basically give away everything but your name. This includes usernames and E-mail addresses.

Federal laws prohibit doing it WITHOUT a persons consent. By clicking "I agree", your literally handing over your consent to EA. As i said before, "You literally give them the right to distribute it AS THEY PLEASE".

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I'd like to see EA boycotted, because personally I don't think I should have to install a shitty application to buy one or two games from a publisher that I consider to have mostly bad titles. I'd like to see this origin thing crash and burn so they go back to distributing through steam and all my games can be in one place, not because of the massive amount of secret gay porn on my hard drive. Which don't get me wrong, does exist, but I really don't think EA cares to look through all of it.

 

[Fayathon]

Only thing I can think of that I'm interested in getting from EA in the next long while is Mass Effect 3, and I'll be getting that on my 360. Anything that they sell through Origin only will not garner them a penny from me, I don't like people rooting through my computer, unless it's me.

That said, I've nothing to hide on my computer, but the thought of anyone getting on it and fucking with my data (even if it is just 'collecting' it) bothers me to no end. Get rid of that shit from your TOS EA and I might be convinced to spend some money on your PC products, until then: NOPE.avi.

 

[krazykidd]

Yes,EA has gone too far this time.ANGRY MOB TIME!!!!GET YOUR PITCHFORKS!!!!

You know...

If people can stand up to a protester-torturing/shooting regime and succeed...

Why can't we succeed against the EA bunch of executive ****-less office gerbils that haven't seen the world outside of their tinted-glass windowed limos.

Because we gamers are hyprocrites. I don't have a problem with Origins ( YET ), because i'm a Console gamer. But i do expect this shit to come to consoles in the futur , and when that day comes, i will rest on my old gaming library ( about 200 console games , I'm prepared for the gaming apocalypse ) ). But most gamers just like to complain , but then they will still get the games EA produce because, well , they like the series. So even thought they voice against it , they won't deprive themselves of games they like out of principle.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Better idea. We should all create a partition, install and run origin solely on that partition, and make everything about that partition about cats. That way EA gets the idea that their customers really love cats when the results come in. Then theyll invest heavily in making cat-related products, which will either finish them or stick them with making cat games for the rest of their days.

 

[luckycharms8282]

I am already boycotting EA, but for an entirely different reason. The past two games I have bought from EA have had their servers shutdown. Two games who have achievements that are only attainable online. Two games that revolve around multiplayer. These two games, Mercenaries 2 and LOTR: battle for Middle Earth 2 had their servers shutdown by EA. For whatever reason, you cannot even do splitscreen or private co-op matches. LOTR BME 2 is arguably one of the best rts on the consoles. Mercenaries 2 is not a great game, but it is still relatively new, only being three years old.

Summary: FUCK YOU, EA. If you are going to shut down servers to your games, DONT make half of the game's achievements online required.

 

[mahtar]

I'm still living under the delusion that BF3 will be a good shooter like BF2 was but everything EA has announced since BF3 makes it seem worse and worse i'm very close to canceling my pre-order now, but not quite ready for a full boycott.

 

[JKain]

I've been doing a personal boycott for a while now. I'm not exactly advertizing it, but I don't intend to buy anything from them for a long, long time. No worries, though, since I'm not really interested in most of their current games anyway.

Same here. EA-free since 2006
And they keep on doing things that make feel good about not supporting them with my money.
OT:and Dr.Pepper happens to be my favorite. Things in common FTW, i guess

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Origin's EULA reads like every other EULA ever. I have no idea why people are taking offense now. You're much, much too late. If you wanted to change anything, you should have protested ToS agreements when they were first introduced.

That's pretty much what I think on the whole matter.

And honestly, boycott? If you don't like it then don't get it, and boycotting this is not gonna do much of anything. It's far too late for it to make much of a difference now, so all we can do now is suck it up and deal with it.

Also, captcha: htsirit her.....you are a dirty dirty captcha.

Its not like every other one out there. :/
You dont give them the right to access EVERY bit of data on your computer.
They can literally sit there, and watch every site you go to. Every message you send. Every picture you have stored.

Every program you access, and every piece of information it stores is all free game for them to monitor. "you agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware."

Congrats. They now know everything on your computer, and what you do with it. Your right, boycotting wont do anything. :/ We have to take this straight to the company.

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

Thats the thing. 90% of the people who use it aren't actually going to read the ToS, and will never learn about it.
We have to stop this before it gets to that stage.
if we let months go by, thats an uncountable amount of information being collected from anyone using the service.

And that's incredibly unfortunate, which is why going directly to EA is more effective, in my humble opinion, than just not buying something since we have to wait until those come out and voice our opinion. Do it now and save the trouble of fighting them later when there might not be a chance to do so.

However, I wonder how many people will not care or bother to listen and do it anyways, I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just wondering if people are going to listen and care enough to actually do something about it.

 

[kouriichi]

Origin's EULA reads like every other EULA ever. I have no idea why people are taking offense now. You're much, much too late. If you wanted to change anything, you should have protested ToS agreements when they were first introduced.

That's pretty much what I think on the whole matter.

And honestly, boycott? If you don't like it then don't get it, and boycotting this is not gonna do much of anything. It's far too late for it to make much of a difference now, so all we can do now is suck it up and deal with it.

Also, captcha: htsirit her.....you are a dirty dirty captcha.

Its not like every other one out there. :/
You dont give them the right to access EVERY bit of data on your computer.
They can literally sit there, and watch every site you go to. Every message you send. Every picture you have stored.

Every program you access, and every piece of information it stores is all free game for them to monitor. "you agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware."

Congrats. They now know everything on your computer, and what you do with it. Your right, boycotting wont do anything. :/ We have to take this straight to the company.

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

Thats the thing. 90% of the people who use it aren't actually going to read the ToS, and will never learn about it.
We have to stop this before it gets to that stage.
if we let months go by, thats an uncountable amount of information being collected from anyone using the service.

And that's incredibly unfortunate, which is why going directly to EA is more effective, in my humble opinion, than just not buying something since we have to wait until those come out and voice our opinion. Do it now and save the trouble of fighting them later when there might not be a chance to do so.

However, I wonder how many people will not care or bother to listen and do it anyways, I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just wondering if people are going to listen and care enough to actually do something about it.

Its the, "If its not on the news, its not important", syndrome.
People dont listen unless someone yells it at them over the TV.
We need to take it not to EA, but to the news. Taking it to EA wont solve the problem. They might quietly remove it, and it will be like it never happened.

We have to take it to the News networks. We have to show that things like this are not ok. Why do you think no one has done it before? Because its something that can break a company in two if people ever notice.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

it wont take a miracle, itl take a year (maybe two)'s worth of sales data to realise the money they are spending on it isnt giving them a worthwhile return, even with exclusives like bf3 and tor, its only going to be the people wanting just those, whereas valves big bucks come from its stature as a good reseller.

Probably, but then again no one has seen what Origins can do when it's finally out in the wild, I remember Steam being a pile of shit before it is what it is today-I'm playing devil's advocate here so don't think I'm supporting them.

They've invested a lot of time and effort to build that so they will probably keep adding features and making it closer to what Steam is with it BEING Steam, but I'm hoping that they realize it's all a lost cause and they just drop it all together, that would be nice.

 

[GraveeKing]

I'll boycott them anytime, I remember a thread saying by boycotting we should just download and seed their games over pirate-torrent sites, the few games I have or want from EA I already got - so SURE. Easy as pie.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Origin's EULA reads like every other EULA ever. I have no idea why people are taking offense now. You're much, much too late. If you wanted to change anything, you should have protested ToS agreements when they were first introduced.

That's pretty much what I think on the whole matter.

And honestly, boycott? If you don't like it then don't get it, and boycotting this is not gonna do much of anything. It's far too late for it to make much of a difference now, so all we can do now is suck it up and deal with it.

Also, captcha: htsirit her.....you are a dirty dirty captcha.

Its not like every other one out there. :/
You dont give them the right to access EVERY bit of data on your computer.
They can literally sit there, and watch every site you go to. Every message you send. Every picture you have stored.

Every program you access, and every piece of information it stores is all free game for them to monitor. "you agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware."

Congrats. They now know everything on your computer, and what you do with it. Your right, boycotting wont do anything. :/ We have to take this straight to the company.

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

Thats the thing. 90% of the people who use it aren't actually going to read the ToS, and will never learn about it.
We have to stop this before it gets to that stage.
if we let months go by, thats an uncountable amount of information being collected from anyone using the service.

And that's incredibly unfortunate, which is why going directly to EA is more effective, in my humble opinion, than just not buying something since we have to wait until those come out and voice our opinion. Do it now and save the trouble of fighting them later when there might not be a chance to do so.

However, I wonder how many people will not care or bother to listen and do it anyways, I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just wondering if people are going to listen and care enough to actually do something about it.

Its the, "If its not on the news, its not important", syndrome.
People dont listen unless someone yells it at them over the TV.
We need to take it not to EA, but to the news. Taking it to EA wont solve the problem. They might quietly remove it, and it will be like it never happened.

We have to take it to the News networks. We have to show that things like this are not ok. Why do you think no one has done it before? Because its something that can break a company in two if people ever notice.

Well, I was thinking if that didn't then just go straight to the news seeing as news stations love hearing about invasions of privacy when it involves the internet. Bad press is bad press and if we do that then we force EA's hand and possibly make them drop it all together-which I doubt since they've probably invested a lot of time and money on it- or just drop that part of it.

Maybe those people will listen and broadcast this further than just gaming sites.

 

[kouriichi]

Origin's EULA reads like every other EULA ever. I have no idea why people are taking offense now. You're much, much too late. If you wanted to change anything, you should have protested ToS agreements when they were first introduced.

That's pretty much what I think on the whole matter.

And honestly, boycott? If you don't like it then don't get it, and boycotting this is not gonna do much of anything. It's far too late for it to make much of a difference now, so all we can do now is suck it up and deal with it.

Also, captcha: htsirit her.....you are a dirty dirty captcha.

Its not like every other one out there. :/
You dont give them the right to access EVERY bit of data on your computer.
They can literally sit there, and watch every site you go to. Every message you send. Every picture you have stored.

Every program you access, and every piece of information it stores is all free game for them to monitor. "you agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware."

Congrats. They now know everything on your computer, and what you do with it. Your right, boycotting wont do anything. :/ We have to take this straight to the company.

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

Thats the thing. 90% of the people who use it aren't actually going to read the ToS, and will never learn about it.
We have to stop this before it gets to that stage.
if we let months go by, thats an uncountable amount of information being collected from anyone using the service.

And that's incredibly unfortunate, which is why going directly to EA is more effective, in my humble opinion, than just not buying something since we have to wait until those come out and voice our opinion. Do it now and save the trouble of fighting them later when there might not be a chance to do so.

However, I wonder how many people will not care or bother to listen and do it anyways, I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just wondering if people are going to listen and care enough to actually do something about it.

Its the, "If its not on the news, its not important", syndrome.
People dont listen unless someone yells it at them over the TV.
We need to take it not to EA, but to the news. Taking it to EA wont solve the problem. They might quietly remove it, and it will be like it never happened.

We have to take it to the News networks. We have to show that things like this are not ok. Why do you think no one has done it before? Because its something that can break a company in two if people ever notice.

Well, I was thinking if that didn't then just go straight to the news seeing as news stations love hearing about invasions of privacy when it involves the internet. Bad press is bad press and if we do that then we force EA's hand and possibly make them drop it all together-which I doubt since they've probably invested a lot of time and money on it- or just drop that part of it.

Maybe those people will listen and broadcast this further than just gaming sites.

Thats the idea to it. We have to get companies to see that we arent going to sit by and let them dictate how things are.

While id hate to say it, and i never thought i would, Fox News would be doing something good for the American people. If the headline were, "EA can legally steal your private information", i can guarantee you EA would change the ToS before we could blink, and send a formal apology to everyone who signed up for Origin.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Origin's EULA reads like every other EULA ever. I have no idea why people are taking offense now. You're much, much too late. If you wanted to change anything, you should have protested ToS agreements when they were first introduced.

That's pretty much what I think on the whole matter.

And honestly, boycott? If you don't like it then don't get it, and boycotting this is not gonna do much of anything. It's far too late for it to make much of a difference now, so all we can do now is suck it up and deal with it.

Also, captcha: htsirit her.....you are a dirty dirty captcha.

Its not like every other one out there. :/
You dont give them the right to access EVERY bit of data on your computer.
They can literally sit there, and watch every site you go to. Every message you send. Every picture you have stored.

Every program you access, and every piece of information it stores is all free game for them to monitor. "you agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware."

Congrats. They now know everything on your computer, and what you do with it. Your right, boycotting wont do anything. :/ We have to take this straight to the company.

For me, I doing a 'wait and see' approach to Origins. I'm not gonna use it until I know everything about and it has been around for a good while. Maybe EA will get rid of the part where Origins looks at everything in your computer and I do think that's really stupid for them to have that part anyways.

I still think it's too little, too late. It appears EA is not gonna get rid of Origins any time soon, and unless some miracle happens and EA ditches it I think it will be around for a while.

However, I think going straight to the company and voice outrage is a lot more productive then boycotting. What I think is going to happen is people will use it anyways when they want to play Battlefield 3, find out what happens, and EA gets enough bad press for this and drop that part of the ToS.

Thats the thing. 90% of the people who use it aren't actually going to read the ToS, and will never learn about it.
We have to stop this before it gets to that stage.
if we let months go by, thats an uncountable amount of information being collected from anyone using the service.

And that's incredibly unfortunate, which is why going directly to EA is more effective, in my humble opinion, than just not buying something since we have to wait until those come out and voice our opinion. Do it now and save the trouble of fighting them later when there might not be a chance to do so.

However, I wonder how many people will not care or bother to listen and do it anyways, I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just wondering if people are going to listen and care enough to actually do something about it.

Its the, "If its not on the news, its not important", syndrome.
People dont listen unless someone yells it at them over the TV.
We need to take it not to EA, but to the news. Taking it to EA wont solve the problem. They might quietly remove it, and it will be like it never happened.

We have to take it to the News networks. We have to show that things like this are not ok. Why do you think no one has done it before? Because its something that can break a company in two if people ever notice.

Well, I was thinking if that didn't then just go straight to the news seeing as news stations love hearing about invasions of privacy when it involves the internet. Bad press is bad press and if we do that then we force EA's hand and possibly make them drop it all together-which I doubt since they've probably invested a lot of time and money on it- or just drop that part of it.

Maybe those people will listen and broadcast this further than just gaming sites.

Thats the idea to it. We have to get companies to see that we arent going to sit by and let them dictate how things are.

While id hate to say it, and i never thought i would, Fox News would be doing something good for the American people. If the headline were, "EA can legally steal your private information", i can guarantee you EA would change the ToS before we could blink, and send a formal apology to everyone who signed up for Origin.

I was gonna suggest them but I didn't want to say the 'F' word around these parts, very dangerous that is.

Oh I can just imagine the massive shit storm EA would go through if someone like Fox got a hold of them and they would go after them too, maybe that's what we have to do. That would be interesting.