The Power Of Silence: Why The SimCity Story Went Away • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by ebiester » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:19 PM UTC

peacemaker wrote: post #63

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.

EA made it quite clear if you were to do a chargeback they would cancel your Origin account. Fine if you only have SimCity on there but you could end up losing a lot more than $60 if you had a few of their games via Origin.

I smell a class action lawsuit.

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

#82

Post by hash9 » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

smutticus wrote: post #23

I'm quite glad the story went away. Some company released a crappy product and people got angry. Why? Just don't buy it. It's not as if EA has redeemed themselves in any way. SimCity still has a 1.9 score on Metacritic. The public still agrees this game is a failure and their sales will reflect that.

>The public still agrees this game is a failure and their sales will reflect that.

The surprising thing is it's actually doing pretty well: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/videogames/676456011/

Maybe it's the old, 'there's no such thing as bad publicity' coming true.

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

#83

Post by jdechko » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:29 PM UTC

Unfortunately, EA holds a position where they can ignore the complaints of fans. Fans of Sim City, Diablo, etc are the minority of their customers and they can treat us however they want to.

Let's face it, Madden '13 and NCAA '13 will sell way more copies than Sim City has. Why should EA give a crap about a few stories on the internet?

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

#84

Post by bostonpete » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:43 PM UTC

saraid216 wrote: post #78

Goronmon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

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

#85

Post by diminoten » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:49 PM UTC

This is also true for getting attacked personally on the Internet. If you're getting hit hard by say, 4chan, because they think you did something terrible or whatever, completely ignoring the personal attacks goes a long way towards stopping them.

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

#86

Post by Pxtl » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 5:51 PM UTC

macspoofing wrote: post #62

belorn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A glib remark of "Just don't buy it", simply won't cut it. This attitude is harmful, both to consumers and to developers/producers, and to a lesser degree, peoples health. First off, it harms consumers to not get what they pay for. This is simply wrong. Second off, it harms developers and producers because people view software purchases as high risk. Ever wondered why people dwell on buying a $3 app, but can impulse…

>A glib remark of "Just don't buy it", simply won't cut it. This attitude is harmful, both to consumers and to developers/producers, and to a lesser degree, peoples health. There are many mediocre games out there. I bought a few over the years. Sometimes you get a bad game, it goes with the territory. I agree it's ok to voice your opinions and stick it to a bad developer on forums, but does the SimCity fiasco really…

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

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

#87

Post by pyre » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 6:35 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #86

macspoofing wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A glib remark of "Just don't buy it", simply won't cut it. This attitude is harmful, both to consumers and to developers/producers, and to a lesser degree, peoples health. There are many mediocre games out there. I bought a few over the years. Sometimes you get a bad game, it goes with the territory. I agree it's ok to voice your opinions and stick it to a bad developer on forums, but does the SimCity fiasco really…

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.

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

#88

Post by itsybitsycoder » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 6:59 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #48

ghshephard wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue was more the fact that they had Always On DRM built into the game, and didn't tell the full truth about what it was there for.

You mean like every game on Steam.

Steam's DRM is very unobtrusive, at least in all the games I've played. I can disconnect from the internet and continue playing a launched game, or even quit and launch a new one, without it affecting the gameplay (or ability to save). So no, Steam isn't Always On DRM, at least not how I understand the term.

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

#89

Post by iy56 » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 7:01 PM UTC

wnight wrote: post #74

Goronmon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Do you expect me to use a valid credit card when I pay? Because I expect a game that works as well.

No. I validate the credit card before completing the transaction. Maybe you should check whether the game is terrible before you buy it.

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

#90

Post by bjelkeman-again » Tue, Apr 23, 2013, 7:01 PM UTC

peacemaker wrote: post #63

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.

EA made it quite clear if you were to do a chargeback they would cancel your Origin account. Fine if you only have SimCity on there but you could end up losing a lot more than $60 if you had a few of their games via Origin.

Nice. Blackmailing your customers.