Careful, Modding Mass Effect 3 Gets You Banned From Origin

[Handofbane]

Trying not to go too off topic, but it's been pointed out that BofA actually won that title.... three times. Likewise, all the companies EA tried to say "should have been nominated" had already won the title in previous years (with the exception of Phillip Morris). And EA has ruined quite a few lives in their own right; how many developers did they buy out then shut down completely over the past decade? Just ask the folks over at Westwood, Pandemic, Bullfrog, Maxis, Origin Systems, and Kesmai how they feel about their support and funding from their publisher after being bought out.

 

The followups from gaming media as well as some slightly more outsider sources have been a fascinating study in watching emotion versus logic.

The announcement

EA's response

Another take on the response

And finally "oh look over there!"

Please note, there are plenty of articles that can be read from EA's side, some even linked in the articles above. I am not posting the direct Kotaku/IGN links because I just don't want to give them the page hits from myself.

 

That said, there is no doubt gamers have "stuffed the ballot box" here, but the reason for doing so is likely far less insidious. After all, gamers are far more likely to be spending time online and hitting up websites like the consumerist than folks who have lost their homes and are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, let alone bother with getting internet access for a silly poll that has zero meaning in the bigger picture (as evidenced by none of the previous "winners" even blinking to make any changes to improve their image of being the worst).

[bben46]

@Handof bane: :thumbsup: good points - BoA has never 'won' the competition, but has been runner up. I had great hopes for BoA finally winning and was surprised that EA even made it to the final 4. Last year BoA was beat by BP by less than 1% of the vote.

 

My guess is that a social media campaign by gamers pushed EA ahead of BoA. As many of the BoA haters are older and not as attuned to social media as the gamers to whom games and social media are the meaning of life. :tongue:

 

Side note: All true geeks know that the real meaning of life is 42. :wink:

[M48A5]

EA has mistakenly revealed the future of computer gaming. Very slowly everyone is being conditioned to accept having to log in online to play a game they have purchased. First it was to activate the game and you cold than play offline. Then it went to being online and receive automatic updates to the game. Next will be changes to the game where you will only be able to get any mods from the hosting site. Once you are used to relying entirely on the online site for every aspect of the game, expect to see a subscription charge implemented. This is coming and sooner that you think.

[Ghogiel]

EA has mistakenly revealed the future of computer gaming. Very slowly everyone is being conditioned to accept having to log in online to play a game they have purchased. First it was to activate the game and you cold than play offline. Then it went to being online and receive automatic updates to the game. Next will be changes to the game where you will only be able to get any mods from the hosting site. Once you are used to relying entirely on the online site for every aspect of the game, expect to see a subscription charge implemented. This is coming and sooner that you think.

Except the last point. I do not believe a subscription charge is going to happen in the vast majority of cases. Instead the micro transaction model, which is quite lucrative in itself. Most games will not be able to draw enough continued support for subscription based model to be viable in the long term, Also considering when the competition is actually offering one time buy games with the option to purchase additional content to extend the life of the game if you want, would draw players away, very few games can pull it off and run for long enough to be the better option Subscription model would be too restrictive for gamers budget, generally there is no way to afford more than a few monthly subscriptions at a time.

[Handofbane]

@Handof bane: :thumbsup: good points - BoA has never 'won' the competition, but has been runner up. I had great hopes for BoA finally winning and was surprised that EA even made it to the final 4. Last year BoA was beat by BP by less than 1% of the vote.

Just dug through their archived stuff, while you are right they did get beaten by 1% last year, they were still given the award. I see they placed pretty highly whenever they were up, otherwise, and can technically get a half-win from Countrywide taking first place not long after being purchased by BofA (which lead to a whole other mess of things BofA has done to deserve the title). Still funny in a very sad way however you look at it.

Side note: All true geeks know that the real meaning of life is 42. :wink:

Hopefully we won't need two 5-billion-year computer programs to figure out the question.

[Beriallord]

I didn't buy ME3, because after Dragon Age 2 I decided I wasn't gonna support Bioware or EA ever again. And hearing this just fortifies my position on that even further. Don't like their policy? Don't support the company. Its really that simple. They think they can do whatever they want and people will still buy their games, and you know their assumption is probably right if that is the case, and they will continue to get away with it.

[SubjectProphet]

Bioware, I can stand. EA, flat out horrible.

 

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd hate people modding my game if I made one like ME3, a lot of work only for the community to want more is just insulting. Skyrim, DA, all that, modding is a good idea, but not on ME3.

[Acetyl]

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd hate people modding my game if I made one like ME3, a lot of work only for the community to want more is just insulting. Skyrim, DA, all that, modding is a good idea, but not on ME3.

I'm not sure I understand. A good piece of entertainment is developed to a point where it can be specialized in certain aspects, with confidence by the ones producing it. A jack of all trades might feel diluted to the player, viewer, etc. I don't see any difference between modding skyrim and modding ME3. Both cases are just the user wanting to tweak things more to their liking.

 

I understand artistic vision, but the gaming industry, especially when EA is involved, is solely for profit. The only time they feign being insulted, is when something has cut into their bottom line.

Edited April 7, 2012 by Acetyl

[gloomygrim]

Wow EA really have gone to new lows, i remeber when the used to be a good company, back in the 90's when they made NHL 95 and desert strike. Went a bit scewy since lol.

 

Banning acounts if you mod your game is wrong. They may have created it but you bought it, if you want to change it and you can that should be your right, even eula's shouldnt restrict modding. I get the anti piracy thing and im all for anti piracy, lets face it, piracy has really damaged the games industry and forced companies to implement things to prevent it.

 

That said, there is a limit to what companies can do to stop piracy, the rumors of the new x box requiring constant internet requirments is a scary thought, if that is taken on by games developers an internet outage could render you gameless.

[PaladinRider]

It's official, On the Consumerist website http://consumerist.com/ EA beat out Bank of America in the final match up to become the worst company in America.

 

Personally I think that gamers stuffed the ballot box. For a game company, even one as bad as EA is becoming, to beat out a company that has gotten a reputation for ruining peoples lives in their greed. Things like foreclosing on houses that they don't even own the mortgage to and when called on it "Whoops, sorry" and expect the people they just kicked out of their paid off home, tossed their furniture and possessions in the street and ruined their good credit to accept nothing but a weak apology - they only got second place - for the second year in a row. :whistling:

 

Popular hive mind websites like 4chan and Reddit often band together to stuff ballots for things like this. It often results in an unfortunate one-sidedness but it's still an effective 'power-to-the-people' strategy.