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Kanluwen wrote:Online passes are there specifically to screw over those second-hand retailers and to try to engender negative feelings towards them.
And look how well that's going! Look at all the praise they're getting from it! Oh, How EA gets hate is beyond me.
The fact that GameStop does not receive hate for its underhanded and slimy business practices does not make them correct.
I was talking to Golden Eyed Scout about EA, and I think I can sum up our conversation.
EA wrote:We're combating perceived piracy by hiking up the price of our games, lowering our customer service, and making it a pain in the ass to get online! Not to mention the Day One DLC, and the fact that we're now selling the real ending to Mass Effect 3 for 10 dollars!
Let's also spite second-hand sellers by creating an Online Pass that will make us money from the used games market!
The consumer? feth 'em!
What prices on games have gone up? The prices on games have been pretty steadily trending upwards, and not just because of EA or piracy.
What customer service has gone down?
Day One DLC might be annoying, but the majority of it is available for free courtesy of your *gasp* Online Passes.
You were, as with the GameStop discussion we had a few days ago, proven wrong pretty quickly on your last allegation so I'll leave that be.
Spiting second-hand sellers is fine and dandy. The online pass is, apparently, not enough of a concern for them to go under.
If the consumer is getting "fethed", it's courtesy of the second-hand sellers who are quite well aware of the requirement for Online Passes.
Yet nobody tosses vitriol their way, they just whine about EA.
LOL. GameSpot does receive hate for whatever practices people attribute to them. You, Kanluwen, are a prime example and you are certainly not alone. Trouble is, consumers seem to see GameSpots interests and more aligned with their own compared to EA's interests.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Kanluwen wrote:What customer service has gone down?
I don't know if EA's customer service was ever good. But I do know that it is currently awful.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/05 17:15:07
Manchu wrote:LOL. GameSpot does receive hate for whatever practices people attribute to them. You, Kanluwen, are a prime example and you are certainly not alone. Trouble is, consumers seem to see GameSpots interests and more aligned with their own compared to EA's interests.
Except they don't. GameStop's interests are aligned more with EA's:
Pure profit.
They don't care about you, the customer, any more than EA does. Once you've sold your games on to them/bought from them--you're nothing to them.
Once again, it doesn't matter if GameStop cares about the consumer. That's not and has never been the issue.
The way that GameStop is profiting seems more beneficial to consumers than the way that EA is profiting. Just because a benefit to the consumer is incidental to the company's profit motive doesn't render it non-existent.
Because customers are not told that those used games require an activation code or online pass which will cost them the difference.
They then pin all the blame on EA for "being greedy", when in fact Gamestop should be telling them that when selling them the used game for $5 less than the new.
Of course, that really only applies to the more "recent" titles. They'll maybe give you a whole $10(the price of an online pass, mind you) on an older--but still popular!--title.
Which if Gamestop were to start informing their customers about online passes, all of a sudden that $5 off on your used copy looks a lot less great when you have to pay $10 for an online pass...meaning Gamestop's bottom line gets hampered by them being up front with customers.
Remind me again why EA is the bad guy here?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/05 18:02:09
Kanluwen wrote:Remind me again why EA is the bad guy here?
Because they're greedy little gremlins who don't care at all about the quality of their product?
No one is saying Game Stop is the greatest company ever or EA is the only devil who likes to hose people. They can both be douche companies. There's enough room
Besides the usual "one dishonest employee" anecdote, do you have some evidence that GameStop is being dishonest with customers about this?
As I understand it, you're saying that (1) EA has made games which are worthless to customers who buy them used because you need an online pass to play them and (2) GameStop is selling these games as if you don't need to buy a further online pass?
Do your GameStop employees tell you that you need an online pass to play your game online?
Because out of six different GameStops within the immediate vicinity(read: 30 minutes drive give/take) of me, none will tell you that.
That said...I think I'm just going to ignore this thread from now on. It's pointless trying to argue the point, as no matter what it always comes down to "But they want money!". Well no crap they want money--they're a corporation. The reasoning for online passes is by far more acceptable to me than the underhanded business practices of Game Stop and its glorified rental service.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/05 18:13:31
Minnesota, land of 10,000 Lakes and 10,000,000,000 Mosquitos
Kanluwen wrote:Do your GameStop employees tell you that you need an online pass to play your game online?
Because out of six different GameStops within the immediate vicinity(read: 30 minutes drive give/take) of me, none will tell you that.
Weird, because my local Game Stop actually has some friendly people working there. I forget which game it was, but I bought a used copy at one point, and they helpfully pointed out that I'd need to buy an online pass for it as well, since it was used.
Maybe I'm just one of the lucky people who lives in an area with friendly workers.
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Kal'reia Sept Tau - Farsight Sympathizers Da Great Looted Waaagh! The Court of the Wolf Lords
Kanluwen wrote:Do your GameStop employees tell you that you need an online pass to play your game online?
This is just the "dishonest employee" argument.
It's pointless trying to argue the point, as no matter what it always comes down to "But they want money!".
That's not what I'm saying. I have no trouble with EA or GameStop wanting money. But I want money, too, and I get to keep more of it by going to GameStop -- well, at least until EA undermines GameStop with policies that make it impossible for me to keep more of my money when I buy games there.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/04/05 18:30:34
"We're not gouging but we are asking you to give us more money for our shotty products. It represents a substantially better future for the industry when you give us more of your money while we think of more ways to get you to pay us for not doing anything."
Online passes annoy the hell out of me. I buy a game new for the wife and me, and I then have to shell out for an online pass for one of us so we can both play/get online features?
Melissia wrote:I doubt they care as long as people keep buying their games.
This is the reason it becomes a problem. SO many people will bitch about something, and yet continue to buy from the very thing they complain so much about, and so the company in question just keeps on doing it, because everyone is a fething moron. Heres an idea, stop buying from them, buy somewhere else, if you REALLY want a game from EA, wait till someone pawns it in and buy it used, that way you get it, but EA doesnt get your business initially.
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Kal'reia Sept Tau - Farsight Sympathizers 
The Court of the Wolf Lords 
