The Monster That Is EA

[Hero in a half shell]

Used games are a much bigger problem for publishers/developers than piracy. I see nothing wrong with developers locking up their online multiplayer and hopefully it may convince them to reduce their use of DRM on my machine (the thing I OWN).

This. Out of all the things EA have done, making gamers pay a £10 pass for online play isn't that bad. The stores like Gamestop that you can buy used games from at a tiny discount are making an absolutely sickening profit, and none of it goes back to the game companies that actually created the games. This is the reason for the £10 online activation fee, so that games companies can reclaim at least some of that lost money. The used game market is really starting to hurt developers, as the sale might as well never have happened, and if the person decides to play online, then the sale will actually cost the developer money.

Personally, I'd be more worried about EA's expansion of their insane marketing department, giving them and their investors control over actual game production. If there is one thing that will harm the quality of EA's games, I'd say it would be taking the imbiciles in charge of the Dante's inferno and Dead Space 2 marketing fiascos and letting them have a say in the creative process of new games.

 

[Wraithspine]

This is simply EA's method of gaining money from the Used Game market. Personally I think it's a strange method of doing it. I can think of much better ways of doing it and think it just alienates a part of their customers.

"You bought this game?! Was it the overpriced amount we charge you every year for, essentially the same game?! NO!? Then give us money!"

On the other hand I don't play games online much so on a personal level it won't affect me at all. But It is still an offensive way of getting cash from their customers.

 

[JET1971]

I dont see an issue with having to pay for online use for a second hand game, especialy considering how expensive running a server farm is. buying a second hand game does not pay for the use of the server, if you owned the server would that make you happy having the game transfered to 4-5 people and only 1 paid for it?

 

[MrTub]

Yeah and Pc gaming is my hobby and I need to pay 25% vat tax on everything do I complain about it? no. I DEAL WITH IT.

A- you really like what Ea is doing? You see the dante and dead space campaign? You understand how much da2 was far away from daa? Can't you fell my fear about ME3? [delayed after da2. guess why.]
Can you understand the feeling of a bioware fanbois that after a game felt cheated by bioware, who he sweared eternal love?
B- It's your right to complain about it, as that are your damn money.[tax] Why not?

The same way if you buy something used you shouldnt except it to run as a NEW.

Eh? And that how is connected to what I'd said?

Its connected about the same amount as your first reply to my post.


And Yes I do fear for Mass effect 3 and I'm really trying hard to not get my hopes up but I do not see how that is affected by they wanting to get some money from second hand market.

 

[natster43]

I hate the Online Pass for only one reason. It screwed me over with Dead Space 2. My brother bought it new. We both live together, but use different hard drives on the 360. So I can't use my account to play online unless I pay more. I know it is mostly stupid bitching, but it is really stupid of them to make it so that can happen in my opinion.

 

[Fledge]

They do this to reduce second hand sales, not to piss off people like you.

 

[Sethzard]

They have every fucking right. I think that game publishers should always get something out of any sale of their games. People who buy pre-owned are effectively stealing from the developer/publisher and so they have every right to withhold content until they give them something back.

Making games and running servers is expensive and if only 1 in 2 people or less pay for the game then it ends up costing the company a lot.

 

[kemosabi4]

Part 2 of the EA abuse sandwich: EA servers.

For some inexplicable reason, EA also feels the need to run it's ($10) online services through it's own servers. For what reasons are unknown, but this fact has become a plague to all who play their games. As I have said before, EA games have amazing quality, but their servers are terrible, and their employees make litte or no effort to improve them. For example, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had extremely long periods of downtime for no reason.

The servers also control some features that don't even require internet connections. The greatest example of this is NHL 11. NHL 11 has a feature called Hockey Ultimate Team. HUT is a game mode in which a team is built and managed using trading-card style gameplay. Then, you can pit your custom team against others in regular matches or tournaments. However, you must sign in to the EA servers to access it, even though online play is a very insubstantial part of HUT. This means that every time the EA servers are down, (which is often) you won't even be able to play HUT offline.

EA's servers are unnecessary, and therefore, their downtime is also unnecessary. The only clear purpose is the streaming of news, which, as players of Call of Duty games are aware, can easily be done without hindering online availability. The frequency that the servers are down is only made more absurd when you realize that their servers have almost no use.

EA simply needs to step aside and let XBL and PSN handle online play.

 

[Gametek]

Yeah and Pc gaming is my hobby and I need to pay 25% vat tax on everything do I complain about it? no. I DEAL WITH IT.

A- you really like what Ea is doing? You see the dante and dead space campaign? You understand how much da2 was far away from daa? Can't you fell my fear about ME3? [delayed after da2. guess why.]
Can you understand the feeling of a bioware fanbois that after a game felt cheated by bioware, who he sweared eternal love?
B- It's your right to complain about it, as that are your damn money.[tax] Why not?

The same way if you buy something used you shouldnt except it to run as a NEW.

Eh? And that how is connected to what I'd said?

Its connected about the same amount as your first reply to my post.


And Yes I do fear for Mass effect 3 and I'm really trying hard to not get my hopes up but I do not see how that is affected by they wanting to get some money from second hand market.

Well... I brought the collector edition of ME3 [hypothetically] and play the game. Then I find the multiplayer option. And I need to pay again for it. It's okay to be trying to fight gamestop renting plague, or piracy, but is it really a smart move to slap all the countermeasure against me? The customer? The one that love your product and how you do it? [A: only if you are masochist.]

In any case, I beg you forgiveness. I misunderstand your first post as a fanboy's rant about they are holy and beautiful and any Ea act is a sanctified thing. I'm really sorry, I'm really sleepy.

 

[drisky]

I can see the problem considering how the EA Sports makes few advancements between each game, sometimes its better to just get an older edition to save money, not if you need to redeem a code, of course who will be online on an outdated game anyways. I like sports games because they still allow for local multiplayer, I don't think I've ever really played sports games online.

I fine with just staying off-line and keeping my money

 

[kemosabi4]

I don't get it you bought a used game and then complain when it doesn't run like its brand new? Do you also buy used cars and complain on how you have to replace a worn down part? You decided to pay less for a used product. if you don't want to pay for additional charges for how someone else used the product DON'T BUY USED!

With that said I'm not a fan of this method either but honestly what can you expect. You feel the company is charging too much so you jip the company out of their money by buying used so they jip you right back thus the circle of greed continues.

I don't. I expect a slight drop in quality. What shouldn't happen is buying a used item with a huge chunk of it missing. That would be like buying a used car that doesn't have a steering wheel. It's inexcusable.

A steering wheel is a major component of a car and is necessary for it to function. On the other hand Multiplayer is not a necessary feature for the game to function and is more easily compared to speakers, radio, windows or air conditioning.

EDIT: Also if your buying a car without a steering wheel then both you and the seller are at fault.

Multiplayer is a huge component of video games anymore. The absence of it just because the publisher wants to make extra money off you is ridiculous. Actually, an ironic metaphor to this would be buying a car with space for only one person, no trunk space, no seats. Just you.

 

[Quesa]

I absolutely loathe EA, but the online pass and used games.. if you do not buy the game new from them, you are not their customer. Garage sale buyers beware.

 

[NotSoNimble]

As far as paying extra for online when buying used

Stores like Gamestop are starting to circumvent these types of things for used games with online play. The new Mortal Kombat is one of the first. EA will follow.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

Yeah and Pc gaming is my hobby and I need to pay 25% vat tax on everything do I complain about it? no. I DEAL WITH IT.

A- you really like what Ea is doing? You see the dante and dead space campaign? You understand how much da2 was far away from daa? Can't you fell my fear about ME3? [delayed after da2. guess why.]
Can you understand the feeling of a bioware fanbois that after a game felt cheated by bioware, who he sweared eternal love?
B- It's your right to complain about it, as that are your damn money.[tax] Why not?

The same way if you buy something used you shouldnt except it to run as a NEW.

Eh? And that how is connected to what I'd said?

Its connected about the same amount as your first reply to my post.


And Yes I do fear for Mass effect 3 and I'm really trying hard to not get my hopes up but I do not see how that is affected by they wanting to get some money from second hand market.

Well... I brought the collector edition of ME3 [hypothetically] and play the game. Then I find the multiplayer option. And I need to pay again for it. It's okay to be trying to fight gamestop renting plague, or piracy, but is it really a smart move to slap all the countermeasure against me? The customer? The one that love your product and how you do it? [A: only if you are masochist.]

In any case, I beg you forgiveness. I misunderstand your first post as a fanboy's rant about they are holy and beautiful and any Ea act is a sanctified thing. I'm really sorry, I'm really sleepy.

But if it isn't a second hand copy then they won't charge you, the charge will only apply if you're buying games second hand.

 

[kemosabi4]

Snip

I think paying for XBL is completely unacceptable and utterly disgraceful. You are paying for the right to play online, an expensive chat service and nothing else. Microsoft does not run proper dedicated servers for its game and most console games run on a P2P like network.

You cannot really pick and choose what laws and rules of contracts suit you. As I already said you do not buy the game you do not own it. What have gained is a licence to use one copy of said game which can be taken away at anytime. They are well within their rights to do this to discourage Preowned sales. Just because you do not agree with their current business model make it illegal and against their right as a company to do so. If you do not like it talk with your wallet like most other people do and do not buy the games.

Paying for XBL is perfectly fine. The reason you pay for XBL is because they provide a better experience than PSN. They have more features (Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm) and better security (less downtime, absolutely no hacking whatsoever). What's not acceptable is being expected to have to pay the game companies to access these features.

And my point for ownership is that those terms and conditions SHOULDN'T EXIST. If you pay for it, then you should be able to do what you want with it, no restrictions or limitations. You pay for Live, you get full access. You pay for an EA game, you have to pay extra to access all of it. That is what I can't stand.

You do not pay for any of those things. To use Netflix you need a Netflix account. Same for the Sky thing they have going you need a Sky account or actually own a Sky box. You do not suddenly get all that stuff because you pay for XBL. Facebook and Twitter you can get for free anyway. If you really think that XBL is unhackable or really has much better security just because PSN has been down you need to get your head out of the clouds. If someone really wanted to they could hack XBL just as easy as PSN. So don't kid yourself the money is going straight into Microsoft's deep pockets.

No you shouldn't be able to access all of it. By that logic I should not be able to ban you from my dedicated server just because you bought the game. That makes no sense. If I have a dedicated server I can ban you from it and deprive you of that part of the game because I own it. Same as EA owns the online portion of the game as they run the servers(if it is servers if not you shouldn't even need XBL). What is wrong with purchasing a preowned game for less than ?20 or whatever currency you use and pay an extra 10 to play online. You are paying ?30 for a full game and that is still a good price in my opinion.

No, hacking XBL is not easy, because we PAY FOR SECURITY. If you could hack it just as easy, then why hasn't it happened yet, whereas PSN has been hacked numerous times!

Yes, you should be able to kick me off the server. Because you payed for that server. You are the owner. You are perfectly within your rights to ban me, because you are the owner of the server, not the game developer.

 

[kemosabi4]

I hate the Online Pass for only one reason. It screwed me over with Dead Space 2. My brother bought it new. We both live together, but use different hard drives on the 360. So I can't use my account to play online unless I pay more. I know it is mostly stupid bitching, but it is really stupid of them to make it so that can happen in my opinion.

Actually, you can't use it both even if you are on the same hard drive. That's what I go through with my brother.

 

[kemosabi4]

No, hacking XBL is not easy, because we PAY FOR SECURITY. If you could hack it just as easy, then why hasn't it happened yet, whereas PSN has been hacked numerous times!

The ignorance is strong with this one...

Baseless arguments are strong with this one...

 

[Alade]

The publisher/developer gets no money whatsoever from used game sales, they have to make up for it somehow and EA has brought the best solution to the table. I am a little sympathetic to the people who borrow a game from a friend/relative and can't enjoy it because of this. However I'm in no way sympathetic to someone who buys used games, if I can dish out twice as much money for a game in my country ,which has no used game retailers and in which people are paid 8 times lower than in the US, you have no reason to complain.

 

[Keava]

We'll start with one common injustice that many EA games come with: online passes.

The very basis of private ownership is that if you pay for something, it is yours, and you are free to do with it as you wish.

Too keep it short and simple since it's quite late here...

Yes you can do with them whatever you please. You can use the code and thus gain access to a additional online service, or you may not use the code and thus re sell it. The moment you decide to use the code you use it up.

You agreed to the terms, so quit complaining. You had a choice and you made it, welcome to world of transactions.

Another thing is, it's about time that people would realize that when they buy a game they do not buy ownership of the game. The things you own include the box and it's contents - plastic disc and some pamphlets as well as personal license to use this game.
You do know what EULA means, yes?
It's a license. A form of contract. That you agreed to the moment you pressed I AGREE. You didn't read it? Your own fault.

Grant. Through this purchase, you are acquiring and EA grants you a
personal, non-exclusive license to install and use the Software for your
personal, non-commercial use solely as set forth in this License and the
accompanying documentation. Your acquired rights are subject to your
compliance with this Agreement. Any commercial use is prohibited. You
are expressly prohibited from sub-licensing, renting, leasing or otherwise
distributing the Software or rights to use the Software, except by transfer
as expressly set forth in paragraph 2 below.

And for paragraph 2

Transfer. You may make a one time permanent transfer to all your rights to
install and use the Software to another individual or legal entity provided that: (a)
the Technical Protection Measures used by the Software supports such
transfers; (b) you also transfer this License and all copies of the Software; (c) you
retain no copies of the Software, upgrades, updates or prior versions; and (d) the
receiving party accepts the terms and conditions of this License. You may not be
able to transfer the right to receive updates, dynamically served content, or the
right to use any online service of EA in connection with the Software

It's pretty standard EULA that is used by majority of developers/publishers.

 

[kemosabi4]

We'll start with one common injustice that many EA games come with: online passes.

The very basis of private ownership is that if you pay for something, it is yours, and you are free to do with it as you wish.

Too keep it short and simple since it's quite late here...

Yes you can do with them whatever you please. You can use the code and thus gain access to a additional online service, or you may not use the code and thus re sell it. The moment you decide to use the code you use it up.

You agreed to the terms, so quit complaining. You had a choice and you made it, welcome to world of transactions.

Another thing is, it's about time that people would realize that when they buy a game they do not buy ownership of the game. The things you own include the box and it's contents - plastic disc and some pamphlets as well as personal license to use this game.
You do know what EULA means, yes?
It's a license. A form of contract. That you agreed to the moment you pressed I AGREE. You didn't read it? Your own fault.

Grant. Through this purchase, you are acquiring and EA grants you a
personal, non-exclusive license to install and use the Software for your
personal, non-commercial use solely as set forth in this License and the
accompanying documentation. Your acquired rights are subject to your
compliance with this Agreement. Any commercial use is prohibited. You
are expressly prohibited from sub-licensing, renting, leasing or otherwise
distributing the Software or rights to use the Software, except by transfer
as expressly set forth in paragraph 2 below.

What are you people not understanding about my argument? I agreed to it, and I knew what I was doing. Does that mean I'm happy? No! The point is, EA SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS. It is simply and purely malevolent. They should care enough not to opress their customers by doing this. I'm not saying it's unlawful, I'm saying it's immoral, and I won't stand for it.