A two hundred dollar Beth scandal

[zanity]

Anyone who follows 'Yongyea' (sp?) on youtube knows he was a potential influencer Beth hoped to get on his side. Recently, out-of-the-blue, Beth 'gifted' him the 200 dollar special edition of Fallout:76- which is not so much the game but various 'collectables' aimed usually at vulnerable adults. The 'big' item was the power armour helmet, which seems adequate for 'display' but too flimsy for cosplay.

 

Anyway amongst the lesser (very) other items was one other standout- a Fallout branded canvas dufflebag. One might see how this item could have been just as interesting to many fans. But...

 

Beth is a vile vile company, so when it discovered, after universally falsely advertising this collector's ed, that the canvas bag would cost a few dollars to make, it told the far east promotional goods company to forget it, and use a NYLON POS bag instead. After all, it was hardly if the fans had the 'brains' to notice.

 

I first heard about this weeks ago when a weary youtuber reviewed the damaged rubbish helmet in disgust, having decided to send the whole thing back for a refund- but in passing said "look here, Beth even did a biat-and-switch on the bag".

 

Now Beth apologists and paid Beth PR agents who appear on every significant FO:76 forum, will claim this was the fault of the supplier- but unfortunately for Beth, various employees of theirs already gave customer feedback admiting Beth had swapped out the item for "cost" reasons- and if customers were not grown-up enough to accept Beth's right to swindle for better profit- well tough. So the "far east supplier got it wrong" excuse is NOT even in play.

 

Well today, after growing outrage (tho the cheated customers in Europe where consumer rights still mean something should simply have demanded a refund), Beth finally offered 'compensation'. And this is where things get REALLY bad.

 

Beth's compensation is 500 Atoms- that's right 500 pieces of their made up fantasy currency. I guess the bosses of Bethesda are weeks away from swapping their employees from a salary paid in dollars to a salary paid in ATOMS. And the employees' medical benefits will soon consist of that employee or his/her partner or kids visiting a 'doctor' online in Fallout:76 .

 

The ONLY compensation for people vulnerable enough to pay Beth 200 dollars for a lousy collection of poorly made items is to give those customers exactly what they paid for. And in this case that means Beth going to a specialist outlet to have a batch of Fallout branded duffel bags manufactured and sent out on request to everyone who purchased this special edition.

 

Outside the AAA game publishing biz, even the most bent of companies wouldn't hesitate to do this when caught out. For only AAA game dvs think, in this age, they can get away with being such 'SCOFFLAWS'. Todd Howard and the Zenimax bosses literally think THEY are above the law, yet we know Zenimax is a sue crazy company.

 

This duffel bag scandal is a systemic indication of where Beth is today, and just what they think of their customers. The only good thing about this particular scandal is that outright sales fraud on a physical item is a much cleaner point of outrage for most observers than a nebulous series of unforgiveable choices in a computer game.

 

Fallout:76 was a project that tried to answer the question "how badly can we treat gamers and an existing fan base, and still increase our profits by using lootboxes (planned for FO:76 all along but put on hold because of current scandals arising from EA's Batllefront 2) and microtransactions?". Todd considers he has a definitive answer- to build future games that are targeted at the NEW customer base from the beginning, and make no pitch to the old fanbase. That way the old fanbase outrage and expectation of quality and value is nullified.

 

When you go loot box and microtransaction, you must go FULL lootbox and microtransaction. You must ensure 100% of your intended customers are children and vulnerable adults, and eliminate informed and reasonable critics.

 

IMMORTAL, ETERNAL, INFINITE- notice how AAA publishers are using these terms to describe new entries in their old fan favorite IPs. Next year's Doom ain't called Doom 2, and is designed from the ground up to be 'gaming as a service'.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you are an old school Beth fan, have a 'funeral' for Beth today and get the grieving over and done with. Then remember the good ole 'Beth' by honoring the memory of the departed in revisting Skyrim, Fallout3/NV/4, with the happy modding community here. Do NOT be tempted to play with the Monkey's Paw - the dead-alive Beth is more horrific than anything you could imagine in your worst nightmares.

[mcguffin]

are you in some kind of crusade?

[gromulos]

@zanity

 

you hit the nail right on the head

 

@mcguffin

 

Bethesda is being sued over FO76, THAT alone should tell you how bad they screwed up

 

and it's a Class action lawsuit, so thousands of people will be jumping on board

Edited November 29, 2018 by gromulos

[mcguffin]

yeah, they screwed.

so what...?

in america you can sue anyone for everything and anything, that does not mean so much (unless you have some time to loose)

[montky]

RE Post 1

Indeed, I would have prefered

the Pipboy or Pipgirl (or robo) pin,

the Tricentennial Lapel,

a Vault Tec, BoS, or Enclave "mission patch" or 'coin'.

and perhaps an Iron-On Tshirt Transfer, and some decals etc.

(so I can put some stickers on the Drone League carry case).

rather than

either the Helmet or the Bag.

 

The Pre-Order process should have been styled as a "Vault-Tec Entry Form" 'metanarrative",

which would then ask each customer what options they wanted from the set form.

(this would then provide clearer feedback for future preorders).

 

 

 

see, I'm already set for promotional T's.

 

I've already got the "vault tec bowling T";

(the one with the vault-tec epaulettes).

which I then had custom embroidered.

It's got my name above the front pocket,

Name, Rank, Serial Number on the Collar (with my hand writing)

_{^{one-of-a-kind}}

and on the back, Vault # to be advised <--- so as I could be from any vault.

and the vault guy embroidered patch from "bloody mess".

The epaulettes read "Handle with Care" and "This Way Up".

there is a velcro-strip above the right pocket.

(the pocket protector is a later addition, the pen stain was an unintentional added bonus).

 

I got a matching one, also in Vault-Tec blues

(not the "Vault Gal Pink" or "Enclave Green" color schemes).

which has a Vault Gal "Strength" on the back (Vault Gal is winking).

and Vault # number goes here which she then put a T-Shirt Tranfer on.

Her Vault-Tec Bowling T, she puts all the badges she collects on the inside... she's gotta collect-em-all.

it makes a jingle sound, there's that many pins hehe.

Her's is different in that, she has a B.o.S insignia on her right pocket.

(Mine is on the washing-instructions label, and Collar).

 

My Washing Instructions read;

"handle with care, or else

you get what you give

colors ^_will fade

war, war never changes,

and remember, it's a Rad life"

 

From memory, her washing instructions are just the default.

 

 

 

 

I was anticipating at least an insert/ 'ye-olde style ad' for

the Fallout Tabletop Miniatures Game too,

perhaps a promotional miniature (such as the Todd Howard miniature, or RoboBrain)

"Did you enjoy the Videogame? Why not try the Fallout FORPG league too?

Remember to upload your 'screencaps' of your Fallout FORPG Settlements, and sessions to |locale|

for your chance to win Atom points, and more!" etc

It then has an FORPG stat-sheet, with the QR/QDotler reader barcode-y system,

so as you can pivot your role-playing sessions to the online

[Deleted54170User]

@zanity

 

you hit the nail right on the head

 

@mcguffin

 

Bethesda is being sued over FO76, THAT alone should tell you how bad they screwed up

 

and it's a Class action lawsuit, so thousands of people will be jumping on board

 

That's more like it. I got sent a notice that suggested that while I was playing the game, visited daily and played for hours, I used up 60 Gigabytes more then the allowed 30 GB my account allotted me for a month. $900.00 appears to have accumulated in charges since the day I downloaded the 47.7 GB.

 

I would like to waste more time, that's right, waste more time and get the money for the GBytes it took to download the game and the amount of money it will take to play the game, unknowing that it was sucking Gigabytes like an Ice Cold lemonade on a hot day, too. And I would like the money which would pay the expenses of signing up for the lawsuit and filing against the game company as well.

 

Let me think. Hm? If I calculate this correctly that would be almost double the amount and maybe more time costs working on putting my two cents into the story so I would be heard at the courts session. Another $1000.00 or more of my time wasted and maybe I would get the back $59.99 I paid, with the satisfaction that zanity was correct. But zanity wasn't even in the game except maybe to...

 

To rile up the crowd so zanity could get paid by someone else.

 

I wonder. Who are you working it for zanity? Somebody paying you? Because your chit chat reminds me of some of the college chums I listened to their debates, real good debaters.

 

I see that another of your posts, the last one I quoted too, over in 'Everyone got a mic except me', yours and my response to your post in the thread of my posts there are gone.

 

So... Who are you working it for zanity?

 

Who is paying you?

 

Someone with the power to remove posts without removing the entire thread... Whom could it be? :teehee: :tongue: :laugh:

 

No! I shouldn't have copied and put the zanity posts in my legal protection case. In case of a strange chance someone is illegally running another scam right in the Dark0ne's base server.