Originally posted by Quizzical
To the contrary, EA has learned a lot.  They have learned that they can treat you horribly and you don't care.  You'll just go out and buy the next game they release anyway.  If you did care, you wouldn't have bought Sim City 5 in the first place, and thus would have nothing to complain about.  Their latest hijinx are about what you'd expect from their track record over the course of the past two decades or so.  If you were ever going to hold it against them, you would already have done so.

Truth hurts but well said. People get what they deserve. 

Originally posted by Elikal

No this is not again about the creative mistakes EA did. Nor about how EA *always* forced games to launch way before they are ready and finished.

No, my friends, this is about COMMUNICATION.

I assume you have heard the term.

 

Fast backwards to 2011. Some EA bloke dropped the bomb, saying, there are no gay characters in Star Wars. You remember, the Same Gender Romance debate. No, I don't care on which side you stand. Fact was, it took EA FIVE MONTHS to finally open their damn traps and SAY something about the issue, while about 20000 posts of flamwars roared on their forum. No I am not making that number up.

FIVE MONTHS of silence while flames never ceased from both sides, supporters and protesters.

 

Back to the present.

Sim City is in ruins. Thousands of people (including le me) lost DAYS of progress because savegames were reset or suddenly could for ominous reasons no longer be loaded. Because Sim City was made "kinda as MMO" als Lucy Liar Bradshaw said. That woman who claimed all sims were individually calculated, HENCE the cloud was necessary, which was proven to be a big fat lie. Like most stuff they claimed about the online necessity was LIE flat into the customer faces.

As you might expect, their forums are aflame.

And what does EA tell the customers about this issue?

You guessed it, absofrigginglutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Rien. Nichts! It the sequel: "Silence of the Developers 2" Or rather variant 10 or 20.

 

 

You see, it is human to err. I can accept and forgive, I am not that harsh. Really. But if a developer treats me as shit, staying silent and ignoring me, the paying customer, for MONTHS, then I have no respect and no understanding for a company at all. In such a crisis a company needs DAILY clear updated info about the ongoings and possible changes. DAILY!

This company so has lost it. Losing days and days of progress is certaily the most disheartning experience in games you can have. And then not even commenting, not even trying to help and give daily info about the progress is... just so bad and wrong on so many levels, that I think EA really needs to experience a FALL so these sort of arrogant game developers understand the importance of communication.

They sack there ceo becouse of this disaster.

But your question was would they learn from there mistakes or learn to communicate.

At some degree yes but as you also know most time they fall to old habbits and make same mistakes over again and again or dont communicate at all. Eather replace all employees or nothing will change this is just something that they have learn over long period of time(company culture), there so big that they realy dont care much they fail or not, they get there pay check and move on.

Passionate and realy caring devolepers and pusblishers are rare(CDProject one of few-Bethesda maybe?) and others out there maybe?)but majority just dont have the skills or care to communicate and can avoid mistakes.

Only thing you can do is (i did this already years ago avoid EA like the plague) dont buy games from EA.

Buy from those who care and actually communicate with there fanbase.

Always amazes me how so many people constantly complain about EA but then run out and buy the latest piece of drivel they produce, they are like moths to flame.  Here is a radical idea, If you hate EA and want them gone from the games industry then DO NOT BUY THEIR STUFF.  Simple really aint it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ

Originally posted by Elikal

No this is not again about the creative mistakes EA did. Nor about how EA *always* forced games to launch way before they are ready and finished.

No, my friends, this is about COMMUNICATION.

I assume you have heard the term.

 

Fast backwards to 2011. Some EA bloke dropped the bomb, saying, there are no gay characters in Star Wars. You remember, the Same Gender Romance debate. No, I don't care on which side you stand. Fact was, it took EA FIVE MONTHS to finally open their damn traps and SAY something about the issue, while about 20000 posts of flamwars roared on their forum. No I am not making that number up.

FIVE MONTHS of silence while flames never ceased from both sides, supporters and protesters.

 

Back to the present.

Sim City is in ruins. Thousands of people (including le me) lost DAYS of progress because savegames were reset or suddenly could for ominous reasons no longer be loaded. Because Sim City was made "kinda as MMO" als Lucy Liar Bradshaw said. That woman who claimed all sims were individually calculated, HENCE the cloud was necessary, which was proven to be a big fat lie. Like most stuff they claimed about the online necessity was LIE flat into the customer faces.

As you might expect, their forums are aflame.

And what does EA tell the customers about this issue?

 http://www.simcityfansite.com/2013/02/developers-apologise-for-save-refresh.html 
 

Bradshaw said EA would give players a free PC game to compensate for the hassles. Players who registered copies of "SimCity" will receive details on how to download the free game March 18.

"I know that's a little contrived - kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy," she said. "But we feel bad about what happened. We're hoping you won't stay mad and that we'll be friends again when 'SimCity' is running at 100 percent."Bradshaw said EA would give players a free PC game to compensate for the hassles. Players who registered copies of "SimCity" will receive details on how to download the free game March 18. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2291373/SimCity-creators-apologize-disastrous-launch-newest-edition.html

You guessed it, absofrigginglutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Rien. Nichts! It the sequel: "Silence of the Developers 2" Or rather variant 10 or 20.

You see, it is human to err. I can accept and forgive, I am not that harsh. Really. But if a developer treats me as shit, staying silent and ignoring me, the paying customer, for MONTHS, then I have no respect and no understanding for a company at all. In such a crisis a company needs DAILY clear updated info about the ongoings and possible changes. DAILY!

This company so has lost it. Losing days and days of progress is certaily the most disheartning experience in games you can have. And then not even commenting, not even trying to help and give daily info about the progress is... just so bad and wrong on so many levels, that I think EA really needs to experience a FALL so these sort of arrogant game developers understand the importance of communication.

Truly Elikal it s#cks what happend but try to keep up with facts else you're no better with spreading lies then those you call out to be liars.

Edit dubble copy/paste text and added link

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Elikal

No this is not again about the creative mistakes EA did. Nor about how EA *always* forced games to launch way before they are ready and finished.

No, my friends, this is about COMMUNICATION.

I assume you have heard the term.

 

Fast backwards to 2011. Some EA bloke dropped the bomb, saying, there are no gay characters in Star Wars. You remember, the Same Gender Romance debate. No, I don't care on which side you stand. Fact was, it took EA FIVE MONTHS to finally open their damn traps and SAY something about the issue, while about 20000 posts of flamwars roared on their forum. No I am not making that number up.

FIVE MONTHS of silence while flames never ceased from both sides, supporters and protesters.

 

Back to the present.

Sim City is in ruins. Thousands of people (including le me) lost DAYS of progress because savegames were reset or suddenly could for ominous reasons no longer be loaded. Because Sim City was made "kinda as MMO" als Lucy Liar Bradshaw said. That woman who claimed all sims were individually calculated, HENCE the cloud was necessary, which was proven to be a big fat lie. Like most stuff they claimed about the online necessity was LIE flat into the customer faces.

As you might expect, their forums are aflame.

And what does EA tell the customers about this issue?

 http://www.simcityfansite.com/2013/02/developers-apologise-for-save-refresh.html 
Bradshaw said EA would give players a free PC game to compensate for the hassles. Players who registered copies of "SimCity" will receive details on how to download the free game March 18.

"I know that's a little contrived - kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy," she said. "But we feel bad about what happened. We're hoping you won't stay mad and that we'll be friends again when 'SimCity' is running at 100 percent."Bradshaw said EA would give players a free PC game to compensate for the hassles. Players who registered copies of "SimCity" will receive details on how to download the free game March 18.

"I know that's a little contrived - kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy," she said. "But we feel bad about what happened. We're hoping you won't stay mad and that we'll be friends again when 'SimCity' is running at 100 percent."You guessed it, absofrigginglutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Rien. Nichts! It the sequel: "Silence of the Developers 2" Or rather variant 10 or 20.

You see, it is human to err. I can accept and forgive, I am not that harsh. Really. But if a developer treats me as shit, staying silent and ignoring me, the paying customer, for MONTHS, then I have no respect and no understanding for a company at all. In such a crisis a company needs DAILY clear updated info about the ongoings and possible changes. DAILY!

This company so has lost it. Losing days and days of progress is certaily the most disheartning experience in games you can have. And then not even commenting, not even trying to help and give daily info about the progress is... just so bad and wrong on so many levels, that I think EA really needs to experience a FALL so these sort of arrogant game developers understand the importance of communication.

Truly Elikal it s#cks what happend but try to keep up with facts else you're no better with spreading lies then those you call out to be liars.

My thoughts exactly.

after warhammer online: "EA is so bad, i will never buy a game of them again!"

*bought all EA games meanwhile*

next error after some years: "EA is so bad, i will never buy a game of them again!"

this is getting more than just annoying ^^

dont buy games too early if you can't stand bugs. ever heard that before? no? welcome to the world of online gaming.

"but i am playing alone!!!!!" - no you are not.

ps: it seems like sim city DOES require alot of online action, no idea why you pretend it does not. do you see any torrent or anything of it yet? i don't. pure coincidence i bet :)

Originally posted by Thane

after warhammer online: "EA is so bad, i will never buy a game of them again!"

*bought all EA games meanwhile*

next error after some years: "EA is so bad, i will never buy a game of them again!"

 

this is getting more than just annoying ^^

dont buy games too early if you can't stand bugs. ever heard that before? no? welcome to the world of online gaming.

 

"but i am playing alone!!!!!" - no you are not.

 

ps: it seems like sim city DOES require alot of online action, no idea why you pretend it does not. do you see any torrent or anything of it yet? i don't. pure coincidence i bet :)

There are torrents around :P just that the big groups haven't launched anything yet because EA made it so that saving the game requires their servers but if you want to play the game without saving you can do that already, get your facts straight.

Originally posted by Elikal

*snip*

The realty is bro, you need to sack up like the rest of us and start VOTING WITH YOUR WALLET.  I dont care how much you want to play that new game, tell them to eat your dick by not buying their shit until they start making it worth your money.

Ive done this with Blizzard, Bioware, and EA.  And its been bloody fantastic.

I learned, after EA bought Bioware, and released crap titles like SW:TOR and DAO 2 and to some extent MA 3, that to boycot EA. They are vulture capitalists. They buy up companies and squeze as much money from the bought up companies reputation, and at the same time destroying that reputation and IPs.

Just look at Origin, Westwood Studios and now recently Bioware. All excellent companies which are now more or less a shell of what they used to be.

Originally posted by Quizzical
To the contrary, EA has learned a lot.  They have learned that they can treat you horribly and you don't care.  You'll just go out and buy the next game they release anyway.  If you did care, you wouldn't have bought Sim City 5 in the first place, and thus would have nothing to complain about.  Their latest hijinx are about what you'd expect from their track record over the course of the past two decades or so.  If you were ever going to hold it against them, you would already have done so.

Exactly this.

If you don't like how a company does its business, don't support them with your wallet.  By giving them money, no matter what they do, you are giving them the green light to continue.  History has shown that the vocal people on the forums mean little to nothing to their business plan.  That arrogance was built over time based on their successes with their customer base.  Read: successes = people will keep shovelling money into their bank no matter what they do.

So, you can rage impotently, or you can support companies that sync with what you like.  Its all up to you.

Originally posted by Dartmed

Originally posted by Sagasaint

Originally posted by Quizzical
To the contrary, EA has learned a lot.  They have learned that they can treat you horribly and you don't care.  You'll just go out and buy the next game they release anyway.  If you did care, you wouldn't have bought Sim City 5 in the first place, and thus would have nothing to complain about.  Their latest hijinx are about what you'd expect from their track record over the course of the past two decades or so.  If you were ever going to hold it against them, you would already have done so.

win

WINS ++

^^this^^ EA has been doing this for many years now.......their games just plain suck the last 10 years or so, they got TOO damn greedy.....but stil people buy their games....so all EA had learned from this is...."we can make even cheaper en worse games and those stupid mindless people out there just keep buying it......pure money in the bank".

If you realy want to hurt them, stop whining on forums and stop buying their games.

I used to be a HUGE fan of sim city series but even tough i realy love it i didnt buy the latest 2 or 3 sim city games they made....i am talking with my money....if they want me back as a customer they better produce a better game.

While EA is losing customers slowly....other indie devs are growing slightly and bringing out games that are (sometimes) almost as good as the big companies. (POE anyone?)

Originally posted by ElgarL

Originally posted by Kaneth

The free game was a pretty decent gesture, imo, especially compared to many other poor launches for games where the companies handed out nothing but apologies.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like always online DRM, but it's here to stay (unfortunately). I also am not happy with the myriad of issues that could have been taken care of with stress testing and a more open beta. I am also not happy with the blatant misrepresentation of game mechanics.

At this point though, I own the game, and I will hope that the issues are resolved. I have a belief that the game will be extremely enjoyable if they can get these issues worked out. If they don't fix the overwhelming issues though, I most likely won't purchase another Maxis/EA game (which I don't own many of to begin with).

Always online DRM is only here to stay if IDIOTS keep buying the crap.

Like I said, it's here to stay. People won't stop buying games, period. Even if a few stop buying always online DRM, there will be the vast majority who will.

I have been ruminating on this for a bit and here are my thoughts ....be kind. 

I think the type of players who build cities and who spend hours creating are generally not MMORPGamers and will not be so forgiving. When a MMORPGamer loses progress they shrug it off but the type of people who play SIM games are not going to blithely let this go. They are going to be very ,very angry and the type of angry that unlike the MMORPGamer who is a pushover where bugs and rollbacks are concerned where they are going to do something about this.

I think EA has really done something really bad this time enough I am hoping that this creates some precedent on the type of response from gamers that actually have an impact. I am hoping they get their just desserts.

Originally posted by Bigmac1910

Originally posted by Quizzical
To the contrary, EA has learned a lot.  They have learned that they can treat you horribly and you don't care.  You'll just go out and buy the next game they release anyway.  If you did care, you wouldn't have bought Sim City 5 in the first place, and thus would have nothing to complain about.  Their latest hijinx are about what you'd expect from their track record over the course of the past two decades or so.  If you were ever going to hold it against them, you would already have done so.

Only casual gamers can be treated that way, and only to a certain point, but if the hardcore stops the word to mouth recommendation, or saying bad things about a game, much less casuals will play those games. It is happening already, EA is not doing good, Bioware is almost history etc, hence the "resignation" of  Riccitello, and I think us hardcore has had enough of bullshit. I haven't bought an EA game since ME3 and that is not about to change for a long while. Im curious to see if the new CEO can turn that ship around. 

And how is this any different from, oh, say, any other point in time in the last 20 years?  People who were ever going to learn already did a long time ago, with only the exception of younger people who are new to gaming and have to learn the hard way not to trust EA.  But I don't think that accounts for the bulk of their sales.