why is Origin= Bad...Steam =Good?

[Vault101]

here I thourght I had

Origin...everyone hates it, more or less,its become a symbol of how awful EA are

and then there steam..EVERYONE loves steam..steam are an example of how awsome Valve are

now I acutally like valve..espeically compared to EA

but WHY is this? I mean is it really a good thing for one digital distribution service to have a "monopoly" on the market? Steam has screwed me over a number of times (losing my game data, forcing my to use it and download a whole load of data before I can play my game...on a game I got retail..no less)

I know origin is aparently not perfect as a platfrom/service but some people seem to hate it for the fact that it exists, and that it isnt steam

so tell me...why is steam so great when origin is so awful?

 

[Volothos]

Sadly I cant say... atleast not yet if need be but all i know right now is that atleast it isnt GFWL. The only thing I dont like about origin so far is the whole oneupmanship with ea removing games from steam.

 

[aPod]

It has to do with the intrusive and draconian monitoring schemes of Origin.

Least that's what i've heard through the grapevine.

 

[Waffle_Man]

Sure, people will talk about "privacy invasion" this and "evil corporation" that, but they're really just arguments that arrived after the conclusion: people don't trust EA as much as Valve, so they're afraid of investing in the new service. People already loved valve when steam came out. People hated EA when Origin came out. I don't know if there really is any other reason that people actually care about.

Is it objective? No, but it is a result of the state of EA's public relations, which are very much the result of some bad decisions on EA's part.

 

[RaNDM G]

It's EA's way of monitoring their audience. Origin basically takes the information on your computer, operating system, and the hardware and software you have installed, and gives it to other companies for marketing. Current games that release on the PC require you to have an Origin account to play them. And you can't play games offline anymore, regardless of whether you own retail or digital.

If it were optional, I wouldn't have a problem with it. The fact that EA wants to make this permanent is what presses my buttons.

 

[CulixCupric]

It has to do with the intrusive and draconian monitoring schemes of Origin.

Least that's what i've heard through the grapevine.

In D&D ALignment Terms: Steam/Valve is a benefactor (Neutral Good), and Origin/EA is a Tyrant (Lawful Evil)

 

[Soviet Heavy]

It is because, instead of offering something different, Origin is cribbing things from Steam wholesale, and doing a poorer job of it.

I'll use a comparison with WOW. Games that are set up to compete with WOW use extremely similar mechanics. What are you going to choose? The one that is well established, and isn't going to die in a few months if it doesn't get a userbase, or the new one, which is a potentially risky venture?

It isn't offering an alternative to Steam, it is trying to be Steam. And why choose the copycat when you could have the real thing with more benefits?

The reason that GOG is doing so well is because it isn't competing with Steam. It is catering to a different audience, the one searching for good old games. They are offering an alternative, retro games with no DRM. They aren't competing with Steam as much as they are locking down a corner of the market.

Origin is trying to dominate the market, and uproot Steam from its position of power. While this isn't necessarily bad, I am again drawn to the WOW comparison. Why buy a WOW knockoff when you could have the real thing that provides better content and isn't going to tank in three months?

 

[Zhukov]

Personally, I have no huge beef with Origin. It's mildly annoying to have to sign up for and use another program and I'm certainly not about to buy anything from it, but it's proven to be basically functional thus far.

As for other people, the main complaint is that EULA that basically allowed them to snag whatever info they wanted from your computer and do whatever they wanted with it. After the shit hit the fan they changed it to something less scary. Now it contains a whole bunch of reassurances that no really, they would never do anything to compromise our privacy and in fact they are huge fans of privacy and son and so forth.

Once again, no big problem for me. What exactly are they going to find out from my computer? "Wow, this guy needs to upgrade his video card, what a piece of crap. Oh, and he should get a life, he spends way too much time on gaming forums. Huh, his taste in porn is pretty boring."

 

[Vault101]

It's EA's way of monitoring their audience. Origin basically takes the information on your computer, operating system, and the hardware and software you have installed, and gives it to other companies for marketing. Current games that release on the PC require you to have an Origin account to play them. And you can't play games offline anymore, regardless of whether you own retail or digital.

If it were optional, I wouldn't have a problem with it. The fact that EA wants to make this permanent is what presses my buttons.

theres no offline mode?

fuck..that..shit

 

[Sleekgiant]

http://www.geekosystem.com/origin-electronic-arts-bad-idea/

This article sums it up nicely

 

[Aris Khandr]

As far as I can tell, it's because people are paranoid and predisposed to disliking EA. Yeah, Origin looks at your computer. They don't care about your porn. What they want to know is what kind of video card you have. Operating system. RAM. Gamepad plugged in? Joystick? What CPU? You know, the stuff that matters when they want to bring their next game to market. It's not nefarious, it's just nice to be able to say "60% of our PC customers have 4GB of RAM or more." It'll turn out games that can look as nice as possible, while still running on the most systems. But, of course, that answer is too easy. So people convince themselves that EA wants to know about their taste in porn, or their Facebook password or whatever. Because they already hate EA, so it is easier to scapegoat. When we had this discussion about six months ago, one person even insisted that EA should pay each of us for our system specs.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

It is because, instead of offering something different, Origin is cribbing things from Steam wholesale, and doing a poorer job of it.

I'll use a comparison with WOW. Games that are set up to compete with WOW use extremely similar mechanics. What are you going to choose? The one that is well established, and isn't going to die in a few months if it doesn't get a userbase, or the new one, which is a potentially risky venture?

It isn't offering an alternative to Steam, it is trying to be Steam. And why choose the copycat when you could have the real thing with more benefits?

The reason that GOG is doing so well is because it isn't competing with Steam. It is catering to a different audience, the one searching for good old games. They are offering an alternative, retro games with no DRM. They aren't competing with Steam as much as they are locking down a corner of the market.

Origin is trying to dominate the market, and uproot Steam from its position of power. While this isn't necessarily bad, I am again drawn to the WOW comparison. Why buy a WOW knockoff when you could have the real thing that provides better content and isn't going to tank in three months?

This. Steam already has an established calatogue of games, and people don't feel bad about Valve's games only being on Steam because people like Valve, particularly PC gamers. Ditto for some games that require Steam - for instance, with Skyrim and Human Revolution, they still sold pretty well despite people who boycotted them for still hating Steam. And recently, EA have started to make everyone (PC gamers included) hate them, not least because they pulled all their games off of Steam...without getting into what happened with Dragon Age 2, and Bioware in general. Broken promise #1: DA2 on the PC would have DAO's combat. And that's before we go any further into the game - which I haven't played, so I won't make any subjective judgment.

What's more, EA has had a whole lot of time and a whole lot of failed competitors, just like with World of Warcraft, to learn from. And they don't seem to have learned much. So, yeah, people will be people, sticking to what they know. I still don't want Origin because EA hasn't put out any games in forever that interest me enough to offset its negative hearsay - there's Syndicate, except that's banned in Australia, and a hypothetical Mirror's Edge 2. Mass Effect? Not interested. Battlefield? No way. Kingdoms of Amalur? I already have Skyrim and Arkham Asylum, and don't think the two should mix.

All in all, Origin isn't the right digital distribution platform for me. Gamer's Gate, on the other hand, I may start looking into sometime...

 

[psicat]

Because too many PC gamers are Valve fanboys that will bend over and take anything from their digital distribution service while just smiling and asking for more Half-Life. While any similar wrong doings from the main digital distribution service for EA will just be taken as proof of their 'See EA is evil and shouldn't be trusted' mentality.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Because EA is a little more nebulous in there privacy statement and everyone hates EA and loves Valve. I'm sorry, those words aren't strong enough. Everyone thinks EA is the devil if the devil made himself more evil and everyone wants to have Valve's babies.

That's what most of the arguments I hear boil down to to me. I wonder how many people just see it as an inferior service and don't feel the need to use a blow-horn to inform the internet that there opinion matters? Probably a lot.

 

[octafish]

It's EA's way of monitoring their audience. Origin basically takes the information on your computer, operating system, and the hardware and software you have installed, and gives it to other companies for marketing.

No. The EULA doesn't allow them to give any information they gather to any one else unless they need to for a prosecution or other legal matter.

Current games that release on the PC require you to have an Origin account to play them. And you can't play games offline anymore, regardless of whether you own retail or digital.

Depends on the game, Battlefield 3 is online only and if you are playing the singleplayer you are wasting your time, The Mass Effects need an online check anyway Origin or not, Fifa 12 works fine offline as does Bad Company 2, I haven't tried the Need for Speed games I have yet.

If it were optional, I wouldn't have a problem with it. The fact that EA wants to make this permanent is what presses my buttons.

Just like what Valve did, only Origin works and Steam didn't.

 

[Zeckt]

I look at Origins catalog and see no Orcs must die, or no cave story. Lately I've been finding the "smaller" games alot more enjoyable and they don't seem to be worth origins time so I guess that means they can go to hell or something. Not every game has to be a big budget title costing 60 dollars you know! And why the hell should I pay them for the shelving fee for a downloadable game?

 

[Yureina]

It's quite simple, really.

EA is a jackass to it's customers and seems to be bent on fucking them whenever they get the opportunity (see Origin's former terms of service). There's also their lovely strong-arm tactics by making Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 Origin exclusive, despite the fact that (in the case of ME3) many players have the previous games on Steam and would prefer to have the whole trilogy there. Lastly, EA is a DRM whore, which is pretty much guaranteed to piss PC gamers off.

Valve certainly isn't perfect, but they do a hell of alot better than EA does. Steam is convenient, easy to use, and has an excellent selection of games. Valve has never (to my knowledge) seriously tried to screw their customers over. Also, in an odd sort of way, Valve can kind of be seen as a philanthropist of sorts since indie developers that do put their games on Steam tend to sell a heck of alot more than they otherwise would (see Recettear). And even if Steam is technically DRM (though a far less intrusive one than others), it has enough other benefits to make it worth it.

In short, Valve is good while EA can go get fucked.

 

[black_knight1337]

As far as i can tell Origin itself is just an old version of steam. The thing I have an issue with though is EA being absolute dicks. They put in the terms and conditions of Origin that they can scan all of your programs and monitor their usage. Thats not the worst part though, the worst part is how they are throwing permanent bans around like their worthless. One guy got one for swearing on the EA forums. Another got one for using mods. Its this kind of stuff that really gets me angry at EA. I doubt I will ever buy an EA game for pc again unless they stop being dicks to valve and put their games back on steam.

 

[Aisaku]

To be fair and balanced, Steam=Good Origin=not there yet, may be a trap.