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The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

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Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#91

Post by jamesaguilar »

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #58
jahabrewer wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But - EA scammed me out of the $60 before... Chargeback if you can't get a refund (like me, I bought on Origin). I called up Amex, identified the charge, told them EA misrepresented the product, and a day later I had a credit on my statement. Took three minutes.

Same here. I explained they failed on digital delivery of a service. I also told the rep that the company had threatened me and other customers with a refusal of service if any such chargebacks were attempted. I may have been willing to wait out the launch fiasco, but when EA reps explained to me and others that our Origin account would be BANNED if we issued any chargebacks...that was the last straw for me. I'm sort…

I'm guessing their TOU covers this, and that the AG won't be able to do jack about it.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#92

Post by svachalek »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #91
ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I explained they failed on digital delivery of a service. I also told the rep that the company had threatened me and other customers with a refusal of service if any such chargebacks were attempted. I may have been willing to wait out the launch fiasco, but when EA reps explained to me and others that our Origin account would be BANNED if we issued any chargebacks...that was the last straw for me. I'm sort…

I'm guessing their TOU covers this, and that the AG won't be able to do jack about it.

There's a big difference between what's in a contract (and I'm not sure TOU even count as contracts, even though they may call themselves such) and what's actually considered "binding". IANAL but as I understand it, the more unilateral a contract is (see just about any TOU) the more likely it is to be thrown out.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#93

Post by jamesaguilar »

svachalek wrote: post #92
jamesaguilar wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing their TOU covers this, and that the AG won't be able to do jack about it.

There's a big difference between what's in a contract (and I'm not sure TOU even count as contracts, even though they may call themselves such) and what's actually considered "binding". IANAL but as I understand it, the more unilateral a contract is (see just about any TOU) the more likely it is to be thrown out.

I'm aware of that, but this kind of provision (chargebacks cancel access to service) have been around for quite some time. I think I'd have heard about it if they'd been challenged successfully.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#94

Post by onli »

Goronmon wrote: post #61
onli wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misrepresent what happened severely. It isn't the case that this is simply about a bad game. This is about a game which didn't work for the people buying it. Which got great previews and reviews(!) before the issues with their servers arised. And which wasn't even a good game, because it was fundamentally flawed, which at the beginning remained undiscovered. Furthermore, this is not even about the game at all. It…

You misrepresent what happened severely. Whatever you need to tell yourself in order to maintain the level of anger you desire. Nothing I saw from EA seemed out of the ordinary for a company trying to sell the game they made. Unless you expect companies to only promote games that meet certain quality standards when they are released. I mean, look at Aliens: Colonial Marines. From my perspective, it was in much worse…

>Honestly, I feel like people got so angry about SimCity to deflect their own responsibility for the purchasing decision they made.

Honestly, I even agree with that partly. But note that I didn't buy the game. I still feel that this is wrong behaviour from EA/Maxis.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#96

Post by danalmeida »

It may have made the story go away, but I personally never purchased SimCity because of it. Several times I considered buying it to pass some time then remembered the horrible press and never followed through.

It certainly stuck around, its just in everyone's head now.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#97

Post by ChikkaChiChi »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #93
svachalek wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between what's in a contract (and I'm not sure TOU even count as contracts, even though they may call themselves such) and what's actually considered "binding". IANAL but as I understand it, the more unilateral a contract is (see just about any TOU) the more likely it is to be thrown out.

I'm aware of that, but this kind of provision (chargebacks cancel access to service) have been around for quite some time. I think I'd have heard about it if they'd been challenged successfully.

A conglomerate refusing their customers as a retaliation for exercising their rights to consumer protection is exactly why we have class action lawsuits in the first place (I think). The TOU may have clauses in there that reserve their right to cancel your Origin account, but I think the situation gets murky when you prevent paying customers from using products they may have purchased at brick & mortar retailers, etc.

Someone, someday, is going to challenge this. Its one of the many unanswered legal questions we have with licensing and ownership rights.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#98

Post by saraid216 »

bostonpete wrote: post #84
saraid216 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one forces people to buy games on release day, and everyone should know that the smartest thing to do is to sit on a new game for at least a couple of days to let any issues arise. If that were true, no one would buy anything ever.

> > the smartest thing to do is to sit on a new game for at least a couple of days to let any issues arise. > If that were true, no one would buy anything ever. Your comment only makes sense if you assume that everyone always does the smartest thing -- which seems not to be the case.

Actually, it makes sense if you include the context that I quoted. Namely the "everyone should know" bit.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#99

Post by rdl »

Mostly I just stopped caring because I already knew EA was horrible, Origin sucks and people only use it when forced by EA, and SimCity is a crappy game (even independent of the DRM issues).

Bioshock: Infinite came out and was good. Other than that, I just sit and wait for Civ V's next expansion, GTA:V, etc.

Re: The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away

#100

Post by belorn »

pyre wrote: post #87
Pxtl wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other industries, when you get a defective product you return it. Why do we allow videogames some special immunity from this?

It's a defence against "buy it, install it, return it, keep playing installed version." For games with heavy DRM this doesn't make sense, though.

While I understand the fear of that, I can go to the store and see hundred of food products that has a "if not completely satisfied, send the package back with a recite and get 100% of the money back". People could buy it, eat the food, and then return the package to get the money back.

Have anyone heard of a food producer that gone bankrupt because of their 100% satisfaction guarantee? To my understanding, the amount of people who would go through such policy and send back the package is so extreme few that the numbers get lost in the sale statistic.

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