Can someone in California go to EA and slap them in the face for me?

[Zeek]

http://simsvip.com/?p=2937

For those of you who do have Hidden Springs and have noticed a lack of animations and “glitters” from the Fountain of Youth (and spell book), need to know that there is an issue with Premium Content conflict.

We all know the Sims team will probably never fix this issue (what else is new) and more so because of their newest updated Simpoint/Digital Services Agreement you have to abide to.

EA is basically letting us know they never have to fix anything we purchase. Basically they can give you a flippin virus and it is not their problem.

...

Okay, WTF, EA? You just pretty much told your most profitable PC game you have under your ownership that you WON'T fix their DLC content if it conflicts with their existing game or even other DLC in your inventory. You've pretty much stated as well that your DLC may or may not be virus free.

Bottom line is that you're pretty much admitting to your Sims customers that you don't care about your product anymore. All you care about is their money.

I know this is a libabity clause designed to prevent the sue happy, but it's coming off as if you're saying that you don't care about your Sims 3 players as much as you care about their money.

And as someone who just got into The Sims franchise? That's off-putting enough to make me quit the franchise and not feel bad about it.

/rant

[Icedhope]

That's EA for you. I'm still fuming at them for what they did for the PC retail of Alice the madness returns...not getting my copy of the original Alice.

[FitzoliverJ]

I know EA's motto is "Challenge Everything", but that might be going too far!

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Icedhope

That's EA for you.

No that's the USA for you. All they are doing is preventing the worst should there ever be a virus.

[Johro]

That's pretty much a standard liability agreement...especially after what happened with Sony this year. Yes, I actually read user agreements and I see similar statements on everything. It doesn't say they wont fix anything. They patch their sports titles constantly when users find errors or cheats.

[der_ketzer]

EA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONALITY OR OPERATION OF THE SIMS ONLINE SERVICES [...] WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED [...].

This is a lot more worrying to me. And they do this for years. Mainly to force players to get their newer games by shutting down multiplayerservers for their old ones.

[Johro]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

This is a lot more worrying to me. And they do this for years. Mainly to force players to get their newer games by shutting down multiplayerservers for their old ones.

Again, I only know from their sports titles, but they usually keep 3 years running there.

I'm pretty impartial to EA by the way. There's a couple things they've done/havent done that have pissed me off lately.

[Zeek]

That's because their Sports division is probably their most profitable console division.

Meanwhile, they treat Sims players like myself as if we are some kind of money printing press. They haven't fixed long outstanding bugs, but rather would have their mod community do the patch work for them. It's bad business practice, and it's making their Sims Developer team look like a bunch of incompetent programmers who just got out of college and don't know how the core game code functions.

I mean, there's a bug that's almost two years old now that a Modder has fixed for EA, and they couldn't bother to look at what the modder did and then put it in an official patch? Why should I download a third-party mod just to fix a game?

[Elvenmonk]

standard EULA stuff, they still do it usually.

[Vainamoinen]

All right, I didn't want to make a new thread for this, but what the...

I'm talking about Origin, the new DRM-made nightmare Electronic Arts has unleashed on the (almost) unsuspecting PC players with "Battlefield 3". I was pretty sure that no one could surpass Ubisoft, but EA makes that kind of devilish malware look harmless compared to its latest "your PC is ours"-program.

Now, my stance towards DRM is rather strict, as many of you know (as I'm not even using Steam), but even after its revision yesterday, EAs Origin-EULA must still be considered illegal/void under German law. The corresponding malware still looks into and scans every folder EA wants to. It's an element of control that effectively makes your PC someone else's.

Any experiences with this game in here?

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Any experiences with this game in here?

No. Even if I could run it I would not play it because I don't need Origin. I have Steam and am happy with it. I don't need another store for games on my PC. Especially since there are only EA games, which I had no interest in for years now.

[GaryCXJk]

This is what I really don't understand.

I mean, sure, I understand that EA wants to make money on their games, and I understand that selling the games yourself instead of through a service earns you more money. But why do such companies think their own service is what the consumer want? The consumer obviously doesn't want Origin, and it's a fact that Steam is just that popular as an online service. So why in heaven's name are game publishers so stubborn they need to create their own service? Do they really expect people to just buy these games through their own service?

And yes, the answer is obviously "yes", because if they didn't think that they wouldn't have created the service. I'm already anticipating these smart-asses who think they're being smart.

The point is, you solely go for your own distribution service, which is your own right, but don't expect all those people to flock to you to do their business. Yeah, I know that came out wrong.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

Especially since there are only EA games, which I had no interest in for years now.

Almost the same here - I focus on on only five or six games a year, which matches about the time I have to play games. But Mass Effect 3, which has Origin without a doubt, was next year's highlight, even so much that I would have considered Steam for a second (*shudder*). But I'm wiping this off my schedule now. There simply IS no Mass Effect 3. The series has ended with part 2, so nothing will come between FemShep and Liara.

Originally Posted by GaryCXJk

The consumer obviously doesn't want Origin, and it's a fact that Steam is just that popular as an online service. So why in heaven's name are game publishers so stubborn they need to create their own service? Do they really expect people to just buy these games through their own service?

Origin is hardly a "service". It's spyware that scans your entire computer for anything that EA might or might not like (while Steam reliably keeps its fingers in its own folders). Virus programs justly identify the software as malware.

Unfortunately, retail editions have the same crap on them, and not only that, they still download a dozen GB from EA's servers for whatever reason. I do not see what makes these boxed editions "retail" now. It's some DVDs with nothing on them obviously.

On Monday, after serious customer protest, EA Germany has meekly revised its EULA to "clarify" things; but the spyware remains completely unchanged. They claim that only file names are scanned, but they'd not look into the files themselves. In other words: Don't worry that EA fondles your genitals, they won't plug their fingers anywhere.

[GaryCXJk]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Origin is hardly a "service". It's spyware that scans your entire computer for anything that EA might or might not like (while Steam reliably keeps its fingers in its own folders). Virus programs justly identify the software as malware.

Okay then, perhaps it's more appropriate to say that it's like an STD-ridden prostitute who "services" your PC.

[Zeek]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Now, my stance towards DRM is rather strict, as many of you know (as I'm not even using Steam), but even after its revision yesterday, EAs Origin-EULA must still be considered illegal/void under German law.

I'm seeing this comment a lot on The Sims 3 Forums now, especially when it was discovered that UK consumers are getting Limited Edition DLC for buying the standard version from a store that charged them 7 pounds more than the retail price because of the Limited Edition label. Supposedly, the UK has very strict false advertising laws.

My question: If these international laws are being broken, why haven't the international consumers sought out legal actions yet?

[Rawr]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Almost the same here - I focus on on only five or six games a year, which matches about the time I have to play games. But Mass Effect 3, which has Origin without a doubt, was next year's highlight, even so much that I would have considered Steam for a second (*shudder*). But I'm wiping this off my schedule now. There simply IS no Mass Effect 3. The series has ended with part 2, so nothing will come between FemShep and Liara.



Origin is hardly a "service". It's spyware that scans your entire computer for anything that EA might or might not like (while Steam reliably keeps its fingers in its own folders). Virus programs justly identify the software as malware.

Unfortunately, retail editions have the same crap on them, and not only that, they still download a dozen GB from EA's servers for whatever reason. I do not see what makes these boxed editions "retail" now. It's some DVDs with nothing on them obviously.

On Monday, after serious customer protest, EA Germany has meekly revised its EULA to "clarify" things; but the spyware remains completely unchanged. They claim that only file names are scanned, but they'd not look into the files themselves. In other words: Don't worry that EA fondles your genitals, they won't plug their fingers anywhere.

EA don't even see anything. The program sees it, sure. However nothing is sent to them.

I actually went to the trouble of checking this out myself. Checking what it actually scans, and also what it sends from your computer.

Conclusion? It's just a very poorly programmed piece of software. It grabs the BASIC information about files in your ProgramData folder meaning nothing is read inside, checking for any other EA games when Origin first loads up. Following that, it just accesses it's own files until you shut it down. The only stuff it sends is the usual stuff, your login information and the occasional heartbeat to check you're still online.

[Zeek]

Is it wrong that this article made me smile like the Grinch at how damaging Origins has been to their German player base?

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Rawr

EA don't even see anything. The program sees it, sure. However nothing is sent to them.

I actually went to the trouble of checking this out myself. Checking what it actually scans, and also what it sends from your computer.

Conclusion? It's just a very poorly programmed piece of software. It grabs the BASIC information about files in your ProgramData folder meaning nothing is read inside, checking for any other EA games when Origin first loads up. Following that, it just accesses it's own files until you shut it down. The only stuff it sends is the usual stuff, your login information and the occasional heartbeat to check you're still online.

Even in its revised form, the German EA EULA reserves the right to extensively check and send your system data (to look for piracy activities and the like). It has become clear that Origin already checks file names, but I trust you and others that at the time, it doesn't send that information anywhere. However, you don't just write that in your EULA without explicit intent to do this, if not today, then tomorrow. Origin is capable to do it, if not exactly in its present form, then undoubtedly after only a minor automatic update. The customer has already given permission for this, and it has become clear that it is the main reason for Origin to exist.

Origin is certainly not a "copy protection mechanism", that much has become clear. The only other thing it can be is spyware. I actually don't smile at what happens in Germany right now. The protest is oh so necessary, but the damage to the PC as a gaming platform that Electronic Arts does right now is breathtaking. But the information EA wants to collect, and the uncontested control over their customers' hardware, that is something that will not only apply to PC gamers in the long run. The future generation of consoles will provide that technology as well, it is the only logical yet perverted step of the industry.

[Rawr]

I suppose that's true. I think my biggest problem with this German movement is, you're only targeting EA. I'm all for privacy, but you need to target every company that does it, and EA's origin certainly isn't the only one.

Even Steam has some very questionable parts to their ToS. I mean it said that they were allowed to share demographic/usage patterns/habit information with other parties. I don't really like the sound of that either. While EA said they'd gather the information, they said they wouldn't pass it onto third parties. Also more interestingly. Anything you say in any Steam related chat, be it a private friend chat in the program, or on their forum, Valve own it. Which effectively means they could snoop in on your chat and steal your idea for a game or something and you couldn't do anything about it(Not that they have the man power for that, but still!).

[Vainamoinen]

Steam as a service is often attacked on Amazon.de, in those games that try to fake a retail release but still need a Steamworks account for activation. Unfortunately, those reviews get attacked by other Amazon customers very regularly, so they are often deleted also. Steam has a lot of acceptance in Germany, for better or worse.

The early days of Ubisoft's game launcher, however, yielded some heated protest also. "Assassin's Creed 2" had an interesting 420 one-star reviews on Amazon.de. Try to find mine.

It's nothing compared to the present turmoil, though. A lot of customers go a little overboard, confuse and exaggerate the facts. That of course gives EA the window to "clarify things", finding a confirmation for themselves that everything is OK and their customers are just stupid Germans who can't read normal EULA stuff.

I'm not sure where we are when the dust settles. Could be anywhere.