EA Boycott?

[Makon]

Incidents such as prohibiting people from playing their LEGALLY bought games if they misbehave on their forums...

Like a friend of mine said, "Act like a *****, prepare to get hit".

Is EA being a little bit on the idiotic side with Origin and how they are handling the separation of forum and game accounts? Yes. Are there any other developers with the same or better quality of games as EA with better ethics? Not really. Want to know how to circumvent that and play their games without fear of being banned? Play them on a console where MS/Sony control your account, only just view their forums or contribute actually useful posts that don't piss off everyone and their dog, and behave like a sensible human being.

I will not be boycotting EA. Why? I love essentially every BioWare release. The Battlefield series is excellent. Mirrors Edge was an interesting gamble that not many other developers would take, yet I enjoyed it. Dead Space has been a very fun series to play and, again, not many other developers would take a shot at a brand new IP like that, rather than renovate an existing one.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

Usually when one of these "boycott" whatever flavor of the month threads comes up, I have legitimate difficulty thinking of the last time I bought a game from said company.

I wanted to play Alice, but have yet to get around to it...
I don't really have any interest in the Battlefield series...
I didn't like Crysis 2 from what I played of my brother's copy...

Ah, got it. Thank you wiki! Dead Space 2...

Yeah no, I'm not boycotting the publisher's behind my Dead Space games.

But just for funsies, I am going to try to figure out what other games they've published this year, and if I've bought/played them.

Dragon Age 2 = No.
Any EA Sports games = No.
Any Need For Speed games = No.
Shadows of the Damned = Yes, but I wasn't crazy about it.

So only Dead Space 2 and SOTD.

 

[Erttheking]

I don't have any beef with Ea (Ah the joys of console gaming) but I doubt that anything you do would hurt them that much.

 

[malmodir]

I suggest you go to a bar, buy a beer and insult the barman. Do you think you get to drink the beer or not? If people behaved badly in real life there are real consequences, why shouldn't there be ones online?

Actually it would be more like going to a bar, ordering a beer with the consequence of giving the barman the keys to your apartment and allowing him to rifle through your stuff. Just to get kicked out of the bar if some other guy insults the barman while yelling your name.

 

[Fodder Aplenty]

sure, why not.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Boycotts never work because nobody has the balls to stick to it. And if you can't get 100 million people to all stick to a boycott, there's no point.

At most you might get like.... a thousand people to stick to it, but even that's pushing it and 1000 people is peanuts to EA.

I might swear off buying EA games if Mass Effect 3 and Syndicate turn out to be a pile of turd.

 

[Aeonknight]

I suggest you go to a bar, buy a beer and insult the barman. Do you think you get to drink the beer or not? If people behaved badly in real life there are real consequences, why shouldn't there be ones online?

Actually it would be more like going to a bar, ordering a beer with the consequence of giving the barman the keys to your apartment and allowing him to rifle through your stuff. Just to get kicked out of the bar if some other guy insults the barman while yelling your name.

Only for PC gamers who got stuck with Origin. Console gamers don't have to deal with that shit. Also... who seriously goes to forums for FPS's? I'm a forum whore myself but that just seems a little unnecessary.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Sigh..."boycotts".

Ignoring the usual "They're Too Big to Fail" rhetoric (which isn't true at all, actually. Do some research on boycotts, and you will find that they HAVE worked before), I'm just going to leave my thoughts on why I don't join or support boycotts:

1) There's no need to openly pester others about their purchasing decisions; that just makes one come across as immature and irrational. However, most boycotts take exactly that approach.

2) However, I believe in informing consumers of what they're getting into with EA (or ANY OTHER business) based on neutral FACTS; not bias propaganda. The key difference is that you don't come across as preaching or condescending to the market, and that you don't openly criticize or insult them for disagreeing with you.

Based on that, I believe that informed consumers will hopefully make more rational purchasing decisions in the future according to THEIR NEEDS (not YOUR DESIRES), and to let economics take over from there (let them "Vote with their wallets").

Besides, I already refuse to do business with EA anymore, on account of my personal business philosophy; not because of any boycott. Whether EA rises or falls is of no concern of mine, as long as they don't end up owning the game developers I still support, or the games I'm interested in.

 

[Techsmart07]

I personally decided to not buy anything EA for a while. As a PC player, I find Origin to be completely stupid. I already got steam, which has a lot more games on it, and it doesn't suck. (Worse than Windows Live, and I wanted to march into microsoft HQ and punch someone after using that). Their support of protectIP serves as a deterrent (Note: I am not a pirate, I just think the entire bill is stupid). Their blatant disrespect for their customer base just serves as icing on the cake. I was kinda interested in ME3 and Battlefield 3 (Mostly ME3 cuz I heard online coop was being added), but I will go without if it means I don't have to deal with EA stupidity. I still got Skyrim, L4D, and plenty of other games to pique my interests for the time being. Worst case scenario: if I wanna play a modern FPS, I will try MW3 or AVA, and that's only marginally more likely than BF3.

 

[spartandude]

while what you say will fall on deaf ears i will join you, i really want Mass Effect3 (even though it looks like shit atm) but ive had it with EA

 

[Aeonknight]

Also... who seriously goes to forums for FPS's? I'm a forum whore myself but that just seems a little unnecessary.

People do. And people get banned for it.

And where's the discussion value there? "Aw dude, I totally got this sweet headshot awhile back!"

"SCAR or gtfo!"

that's about it.
Anyone going to those forums for any other reason is likely just going there to stir up shit. And EA ain't having none of that. Much like the mods here if you ask me.

 

[Wolfhowl the shadow lurker]

dead space 2 online is the only online i can play well so im not going with it sorry

i will get ME3 in the end but not anytime soon

 

[Ellen of Kitten]

I speak with my money. If a company does something I disagree with, I just don't buy their products. I think that's really the loudest message. I don't call it a boycott, because several offices fly under the banner of one company. But in the case of DRM, for example, that requires me to always be logged in to play, I will not purchase that game. I don't believe in punishment for legal activity (purchased product), so I will not endorse it. I send the message that this product is not desirable for purchase by simply not purchasing it.

People like me deliver this message to some accountant/analyst building a power point presentation to a room full of suits that show that this game did not sell as well as expected, and will task people to find out why. Customer service, treatment of others, and whatever reasons that are big online will all be seen, and changes made. If changes aren't made, the trend continues, and the company withers.

Vote with your money. Buy what deserves purchasing, but deny what doesn't.

 

[Leonick]

If EA games stop being bought, then they may have to reconsider.

If you absolutely must buy ME3, wait a few days for it to be pre-owned at gamestop. That way, EA receives none of the profits.

Wait, lets see if I got this right. So your saying that when the do get it right and release a good game (like ME3 is very likely to be) I should go out and buy it but make sure it's pre-owned so they don't get any money for it?

Hmmm, no, I just think I'll stick to buying the good games and ignoring the bad...

 

[mgirl]

I'm not the sort to boycott unless it's something I'm really concerned about. Having said that, I greatly dislike EA at the moment, and despite how much I was looking forward to Mass Effect 3, if it forces me to use origin then I won't be buying it, or any other game of theirs.

If that's a boycott, then there you go, but it's not for the same reason as the yours, OP, it's purely because I don't want origin on my computer, and unless they change it so I can play those games without origin, they don't get my money.

I forgot what the point I was making was.... never mind.

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

I'll join the boycott. Get any EA games used to avoid giving the evil corporate interests at EA their $60. I just wish it weren't so; BioWare needs my money. *sigh*

 

[Azo Galvat]

Tried to do a personal boycott of CoD. Bought Black Ops used.

Stopped giving a fuck when I realized that other people are buying several copies of the same game. Plus, I loved Blops, so I bought all the DLC.

Plus, I never go to any of EA's forums, so I stand in no risk of being banned.

 

[RastaBadger]

Meh. Looking at the future line up it looks like I'm boycotting them by default. Not really interested in anything they are bringing out in the future. The only thing by them that I might want to get is Mirrors Edge 2 and by the way the first one sold that's never going to happen without removing everything I loved about the first.

 

[SarcasmoPope]

YES! Because boycotts have definitely worked in the past.

 

[Sparrow]

...would anyone mind if I started this AFTER ME3 comes out?