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EA demonstrates yet again why they were voted the worst company in America
Quizzical
Member LegendaryPosts: 25,348
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/SimCity-Closed-Beta-EULA-EA,20596.html
From the EULA in the Sim City beta:
“It is understood and agreed that, as part of your participation in the Beta Program, it is your responsibility to report all known bugs, abuse of ‘bugs’, ‘undocumented features’ or other defects and problems related to the Game and Beta Software to EA as soon as they are found (“Bugs”). If you know about a Bug or have heard about a Bug and fail to report the Bug to EA, we reserve the right to treat you no differently from someone who abuses the Bug. You acknowledge that EA reserve the right to lock anyone caught abusing a Bug out of all EA products.”
In other words, if you notice some graphical artifacts in the Sim City beta but don't report them, they could perma-ban you from SWTOR. I realize that terms of service agreements typically have catch-alls that basically say "we can ban you for any reason we like or no reason at all". But this is ridiculous. Apparently EA now agrees and says that they're going to back off from that stance somewhat.
Comments
And your problem with that is? It is a BETA test - that is what they are used for bug detection.
Get over it - this is making a mountain out of an anthill.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
At least EA updates thier games with better graphics different maps, newer guns, unlike CoD, which hasn't changed anything except a few maps since the original modern warfare. Black Ops 2 guns have the same stats as the gun equivalent in MW4 lol, just different scopes and turrets, and 4 new guns were introduced.
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
There are way worse companies to do business with than EA but they have fallen a long ways from the days they where one of my favorite publishers back in the late 80's early 90's.
I don't follow what the OP is trying to complain about. Beta testing isn't a demo and it isn't a oppertunity to get one up on your fellow players by finding all the gliches and bugs and hoping to keep them secret so you can abuse them before they can get fixed. It's a chance to help the developer make a stable game.
The part about banned from all EA products seems a little harsh although I doubt they would use that except in the most extreme cases. I guess if you think you might be abusing the system make a new account for beta testing.
I"m pretty sure if I did something to get my steam account banned I would be banned from all my games in Steam. Though that would take something like trying to hack the Steam services I imagine. Same for my SOE account between games.
Steam keeps forum accounts and game accounts separate. You can get banned from the forum without getting banned from all games. On the other hand, if I remember correctly, getting banned from EA's forums locks your Origin account and you can't access your games anymore.
At least it was like that some time ago. Maybe they stopped being ridiculous and made some changes.
Oh I love Battlefield, but if they keep up with expensive DLC and Premium Memberships, my interest wanes very quickly. Paying 20 dollars for 8 new guns and 2 new maps is NOT a good deal. I don't really care if other people view it that way, but to me it's just another way to ream you right through your pants. I played BF:BC2 until I was sick of it and most others had moved on. Tried Battlefield 3 and it's just getting worse and worse. More money, less content. Something needs to change, and expensive DLC isn't going to do it. This applies to all EA games imo, not just FPS or MMOs.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
They changed that a while back so you have to get banned from the EA service to loose your access to the games. This is a offshoot of game companies moving their games from products you buy to services you access. Even Single Player games are all services now that require you to login. If you get banned from the service you loose access to all the games. Not saying I completly agree with it as I'm not a fan of making SPG's online dependant but given how much I buy from steam these days who practicly invented the model it is what it is.
you dont get it, do you? It doesnt matter if you get banned from Sim city by not reporting a bug. The problem is that you will get banned from every single EA game. That is a huge deal and it has to change.
From the Sim city Facebook page .
"Heads up, Mayors – it’s been brought to our attention that there’s been some confusion regarding the bug-reporting policy in the EA beta test agreement for SimCity.
Don’t worry – EA has never taken away access to a player’s games for failing to report a bug. In fact, we’re in the process of updating our agreement to make this point clear before the beta starts this Friday. If you have any more questions, read our FAQ: http://bit.ly/UCpuAA
Hope to see you in the beta Friday!"
To be fair, "reserving the right" doesn't necessarily mean they will enact upon it, so considering all the negativity towards EA it only makes sense that this article is just another one trying to make it seem like EA is an abomination.
But on the other hand, I do agree that EA's all about business and not about the gamers. Just look at the stupid restrictions they've imposed on F2P members for SWTOR. I've experienced what it's like to be on both ends of the spectrum: a F2P member and a subscriber (by way of game time card). It's totally skewed and completely unnecessary. I can't believe Bioware decided to work with EA on SWTOR to be honest. Bioware should've opted for a better, people-minded publisher, but considering they're a subdivision of EA then I guess they didn't have much of a choice.
The whole point of beta is to detect and report bugs, so they are correct in saying that part in their EULA. It's not a free demo to just play around with, then not worry about the hasstle of reporting what you saw. That said, deleting accounts is a bit harsh, and could easily be abused by unsavory persons at EA. It would be really hard to contest as well, since EA's customer service is pretty crappy.
I think the worst part of how EA is performing their business (with Sim City) is trying to pass off another single player game that requires a constant internet connection (DRM is always on). Crap like that is annoying. It's another Diablo 3 all over again. It's lazy copy protection at the expense of the customer .. but EA probably wants it all the same so they can keep players in continuous communication with their cash shops and DLC. meh.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I found this really funny because it is not far from the truth.
If it weren't for certain games that were published by EA, I would've boycotted them a long time ago.
You should not be in any beta for any game ever.
YOUR JOB IS TO REPORT ALL BUGS WHILE BETA TESTING.
Games today are consistantly being released in poor shape because of the massive amounts of people going into beta tests just wanting to PLAY.
Man, I really miss the old days where the only way you could get into a beta is if you knew someone or were a part of the companies previous games tests. Its due to these "open" beta's that beta testers can no longer influence game development, nothing gets resolved, they rarely ever listen to the community and games are released with the simplist things not being fixed.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
How do they make the determination whether I saw another player exploiting the game? I could have been AFK. I could be new to the game and not understand what the other player was doing (not all exploits are obvious). I could be simply not be paying attention because I'm focused on what I'm doing.
Just make the eula simple and blunt, "we reserve the right to ban anyone at any time for any reason".
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Beta testers today are unpaid volunteers of unknown proficiency and background. What kind of quality feedback do they really expect? They get what they paid for in this case. As you said, most of the so called "beta testers" use it a free trial only.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
so its actually the companies fault for giving access to people who dont want to test but just want to play. When i join a beta i report what i see its wrong, but if i miss a bug report for any reason in game X, why should i be banned from game Y and Z? thats pretty stupid.
If they want to ban you from a free beta because they don't think you're reporting bugs well enough, fine. It's a beta, and if you didn't pay for it, it's not like they owe you access.
But banning you from other, unrelated games that you've already bought because they think you should have reported more bugs in a beta for an unrelated game? Nope, I'm not fine with that.
If you do something way over the top like trying to hack their servers or flagrantly abusing a cheat, then sure, ban them from everything. But for neglecting to rat out a friend on the basis of rumors that he may or may not be abusing some glitch that might not even actually exist?
Would they actually ban people for that? Likely not, though with EA, you never know. But if they're not going to, then the EULA shouldn't so specifically threaten to do so.
It's kind of like how a EULA shouldn't say that you grant the company permission to burn down your (real-life) house if they decide to ban you, even if they don't intend to actually do that to anyone. Putting it in the EULA would make people think that they might intend to do it.
If you don't report in one game, why would report in another? I am serious about this - it is THEIR policy, if you want to play their games, then you have to deal with it.
So, what, you're slamming them over an old policy that they are resolving on their own? Don't get me wrong. I hate EA too. I also hate Activision and Funcom and Sega and a bunch of other companies for the evil things they do, but I play some of their games. Why? Well, it's the same reason I hate Nike for running sweat shops, but still buy their shoes. I just simply don't have the resources to make my own sneakers, or to make AAA video games, so I am stuck.
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Why do you have a duty to report any bugs you come across in games that you've already paid for? Isn't paying for the game enough justification to be able to play it without being obligated to stop and report every single bug that you hear about, even if you don't know how it works or whether the bug actually exists and don't believe the company would do anything about it even if you did report what you knew? The EULA doesn't merely threaten to ban you from other EA betas. It threatens to ban you from all EA games, period, including ones you've already paid for.
If I start a thread saying that I found a duping glitch in the game, is everyone in the Sim City beta who reads my thread obligated to report it, even though with no further details, it's probably a hoax?