EA is at it again

[DeadFOAM]

You say they're "at it again."

When did they ever stop?

 

[Eric Morales]

Who says big video game companies refuse to innovate? EA's PR and marketing departments seem determined to plumb new depths.

In all honesty though, what was that petition thing supposed to be about, and why was I supposed to care in any event? I value the opinions of 75,000 nameless faceless burks on the internet little more than 75,000 spam bots.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Noooooooooooo, not at all. Ideally, I would hope that they would include the gay options because they wanted to and not because some gay rights wacko extremist group demanded it (Yes, I know it doesn't actually work out that way). I don't support any sort of extremest group, whether they be extremist gay people who demand to be accommodated in EVERYTHING, or extremest wacko religious nutjobs that want to persecute everything or extremest wacko feminists who want to erase the word "man" from the english language for some stupid reason. They're all stupid and should all be rounded up and tossed into an active volcano, but that's not gonna happen. So yeah I'm going to applaud whenever someone doesn't give in to these nutjobs.

Well okay, I just wanted to point out that the game didn't include any of that and Bioware has even said that "homosexuality doesn't exist in Star Wars": http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id=7449391

After about 2+ years of lobbying and videos like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hopIy2zsoPg they decided that they want to "Patch it in".

The "christian wackos" aren't asking them to demonize gay people, remove any options or whatever, but that they not give in to all the lobbying and demands of that particular community and leave the game as is.

Well alright, forgive my ignorance.
Still I can't help but notice that this group would have EA not give in to the demands of other lobby groups and instead give in to their demands instead. ¬_¬
Besides I was under the impression that this wasn't just about The Old Republic, but all of EA/Bioware's game's that included gay options, which for most of them they weren't just "patched in."

 

[Pat8u]

khan from united states lol
"I leave you on a dying planet like you left me"

 

[blizzaradragon]

So EA used bots to sign a petition wanting EA to stay firm on the issue of having gay romances in SWTOR.

Instead why not just, you know, not give in to the pressure from people wanting them gone in the first place?

Also to be fair, the petition would more than likely have reached the target number anyway. EA just gave it a helping hand to get there sooner.

 

[Gnoekeos]

EA is just trying to make a mad dash to lose as much credibility and respect as they possibly can this year, possibly for a world record!

 

[Zeckt]

As much as EA pissed me off with the ME3 ending, I think I believe it really is just a radical trolling them considering what its about. There's still alot of hate for things like this going on that it is quite believable it was sabotage. I'm with EA on this one.

 

[Phoenix09215]

I'm sorry, but this has to be the work of trolls or hackers, not E.A themselves. The fact that we're seeing comments from the likes of "Steve from Yemen" kind of proves that we're meant to see that they're fake. As funny as this is, you only have to use a bit of common sense to severely doubt this was purposefully done by E.A. However, if I'm wrong then E.A, the fuck is wrong with you!?

 

[KarmaEnforcer]

As much as EA pissed me off with the ME3 ending, I think I believe it really is just a radical trolling them considering what its about. There's still alot of hate for things like this going on that it is quite believable it was sabotage. I'm with EA on this one.

Electronic Arts != Bioware, kids! Reading Comprehension is Fun!

 

[illas]

It's EA, so this (if proven to be true) wouldn't surprise me in the least.

After winning the Worst Company in America award, they'd have to find a new low to sink to and falsifying support for a human rights campaign that doesn't need falsified support for self-aggrandisement seems to fit the bill...

 

[Soveru]

Someone show me proof that EA did it. Anyone can use bots to fill up the petition

 

[viranimus]

Now... what possible reason in the world could EA have for doing this? Is it really like this petition couldnt get 75k signatures on its own?

Though I see no actual evidence that EA had any part of this action.

But even if EA didnt have a hand in this, what possible reason would there be for using a spam bot to inflate the numbers of an online petition?

 

[Shinigami214]

And a rational person cares about this because, well, using bots for legitimate petitions like this could destroy the powers and credibility of petitions, as well as making all points raised by activists through petitions worthless.

I am amused that you think petitions have power and credibility.

I am amused that you think that petitions, as a means through which electorates can convey support (or withdrawal of support) to a political class seeking those same votes that electorate represent, do not possess power and weight.

Re credibility - Credibility is a somewhat-relative value that depends on a myriad of factors, so I'm not going to go into it.

 

[Hazy992]

This is pretty interesting: http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=233354 It says on the forum it could just be a false positive, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Oh and the campaign's been suspended because of the bots [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/04/11/campaign-thanking-ea-for-gay-characters-suspended-over-false-signatures/]

 

[IntangibleMango]

My guess would be that some EA-hating person still sore over Mass Effect 3 made those images, after doing the botting themselves.

 

[-Samurai-]

Have you any proof that it was EA using spambots? I find it a lot more probable that it's someone who really hates EA who's done this to make them look bad, or just a few trolls.

Hey! No! You keep your logic out of this EA hating!

I'm not sure what's more absurd; The irrational hatred of a company, or the fact that people care that their totally-not-real, genderless 3D models in a computer program can't be in a nonexistent "relationship" with other genderless 3D models in a computer program.

Super crazy newsflash! Polygons, tris, meshes, vertices, and faces have no gender.

 

[Acton Hank]

Here's a video to accurately describe EA stocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckKFxMw6z0c

Ok, two thumbs up for making me laugh.