We Can Do Better • Hacker News Board

Re: We Can Do Better

#21

Post by tiredofcareer » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:19 AM UTC

kayoone wrote: post #17

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

To be fair, people werent exactly happy when they had to sign into Steam to play HalfLife2 in 2004 either. Times are different i know, but people tend to forget that Steam was forced upon us in quite similar ways and really wasnt everyones darling like it is today. I agree with the rest of your comment though.

I think the disconnect there is that Half Life 2 was a superb achievement in gaming, and worth the investment of dealing with Steam (arguably, Counter-Strike 1.6 started the Steam train, though, and Team Fortress 2 keeps it chugging). If EA gave us a Half Life 2 of its own that required Origin, they might pull it off.

I can't think of one, which is telling. SimCity had the potential to be and, well, wasn't.

Re: We Can Do Better

#22

Post by robryan » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:19 AM UTC

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

Free mobile games such as Simpsons tapped out require you to signup to origin to interact with anyone else. That is a ton of people with origin accounts that have never paid a cent for anything and also haven't visited it outside of a mobile game.

Whereas I have a steam account with a heap of paid for games. So in both cases I contribute to the total user count, dollars spent though is completely different.

Re: We Can Do Better

#23

Post by oacgnol » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:20 AM UTC

ghshephard wrote: post #5

I stopped reading right here: "Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It’s not. People still want to argue about it. We can’t be any clearer – it’s not. Period." He's flat out lying. I have no interest whatsoever in what he is saying. SimCity can technically run offline, gamers want to run it offline, but EA won't let you run it offline because you could then pirate their software.…

And even if he's not - he should concede this point. There's no winning for EA if they continue to argue this, consumers have already made up their mind about it. They should cut their losses and own up to the SimCity debacle.

Re: We Can Do Better

#24

Post by tekromancr » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:20 AM UTC

Here, I will translate the PR into English. Ahh-Hem, "Go fuck yourselves. Lots of love, EA"

Re: We Can Do Better

#25

Post by thethimble » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:20 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #15

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

The same reason why people are customers of TicketMaster, BofA, Comcast, or many of the companies competing for Worst Company in America: While EA doesn't have a whole monopoly on their market, they are an unignorable player.

People hate TicketMaster but they aren't willing to forego a concert to voice their opinion. People hate BofA but they don't know about the great alternatives they have in credit unions. People hate comcast, but sometimes it's the only ISP available. Similarly, EA touches on all of these fronts.

Re: We Can Do Better

#26

Post by larrydavid » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:21 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #15

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

Because on the whole they publish some very good games, even the most staunch EA detractor can admit that. The vocal minority isn't an accurate representation of the millions that buy EA games (and they publish some of the most popular games you can buy, particularly their sports franchises like FIFA & Madden).

Re: We Can Do Better

#27

Post by jamesaguilar » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:21 AM UTC

I've always found defensiveness really unattractive, especially in companies. Unless you are bringing new facts to bear, any piece that tries to make the "we're not so bad as all that" argument will probably be unsuccessful at winning hearts or minds.

Re: We Can Do Better

#28

Post by danilocampos » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:23 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #15

randomdrake wrote: post #3

They could've "done better" by actually saying what they will do to improve things. This was an absolutely atrocious PR piece. It didn't address any of the issues people were having. "45 million registered users are proving them wrong." Such a goofy and useless statistic. When you require registration for your products, that doesn't mean people are satisfied users of your service, it means you got a lot of people to…

As a non-gamer, I don't get it. Why do people buy EA games if they hate them so much?

There's a limited number of people who can publish a AAA title. EA is one of those few.

Further, EA's strategy of late has been to acquire IP to which gamers have already developed a sentimental attachment. So you may hate EA, but you really love Commander Shepard, so you do what you gotta do to keep hanging out with her.

Re: We Can Do Better

#29

Post by macspoofing » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:23 AM UTC

Maybe have a call with the Microsoft's Xbox division to let them know about the potential pitfalls of "always on" ... err... feature.

Re: We Can Do Better

#30

Post by jmomo » Sat, Apr 06, 2013, 12:23 AM UTC

gavanwoolery wrote: post #14

There are obviously many reasons to hate EA, but it is FAR from the worst company in America. Overall EA has had a positive effect on the economy and created many jobs (even if they are not "great" jobs). Many other companies have taken govt. bailouts and/or gambled tax-payer money. Let's be civil and have some perspective.

As a former employee of EA (Tiburon) during the EA spouse days, I feel entitled to say it's okay to hate EA.