Community Admin1440666fd7e443ec based on your screenshots, I was able to find the thread you are talking about in Search, should be this one: I have no words anymore to describe how bad this game is | EA Forums - 12163024
When you try to access the link again now, does it work correctly?
Yes, I can view it now, but that doesn’t explain why I got the message. Can you please clarify why I received the message in the first place and why the moderator shut off replies without any explanation? I had wanted to participate because I’ve experienced similar issues, but was barred from doing so for no apparent reason. It had every appearance that the moderator just lost patience with the frustration users were voicing and so silenced us all.
Stifling discussion/debate is not the way to cultivate a healthy relationship with the community of users. It sends the message (intended or not) that the thoughts, opinions, and, most of all our gaming experiences with FC25, are not valued or respected by EA.
I realize people sometimes blow off steam in these forums (myself included on occasion) and that it’s not always productive, but silencing discourse just because some of it is heated or because we disagree is not the solution. This particular issue (of laggy gameplay) is one that I see posted about repeatedly and is one that I’ve experienced frequently myself and it is incredibly frustrating that it ruins gameplay. It’s then doubly frustrating when users post about their experiences and EA inevitably replies with the same boilerplate “it’s not us, it’s you” response (which does not appear to help anyone). It then becomes outright infuriating when EA takes the further step of turning off replies and silencing further discussion altogether. In short, it sends the message that the company holds users in contempt—that we are not worthy of your time or respect—and that’s the surest way to destroy any trust with us. It’s bad enough that so many of us find our gaming experience so frustrating, but the worst possible response is for EA to invalidate this frustration by shutting down any conversation.
So, my humble request is to re-open replies to the thread in question. And, in the future, if such action is to be taken then at least clearly state why. Further, if I may be so bold, I’d request that the company take this issue of lag a little more seriously. If there are a lot of us who are saying our gaming experience is poor (i.e., we’re at least as frustrated as we are having FUN due to sluggish gameplay) then it starts to beg some questions. Yes, we might ALL have poor ISPs and/or suboptimal home networks, but the more that chorus of user voices grows the less likely it is that it’s ALL a problem on our side of things. I see folks posting that they’ve tried this suggestion and that suggestion to no avail. They’ve run tests for packet loss, for example, and found no smoking gun, and yet EA stands behind the same pat response time and time again.
At some point it begs a larger question: What is EA doing to address the fact that, in order for the game to perform optimally/flawlessly, you apparently need a “Ferrari” internet connection? I mean, IF all of these lag issues actually are ALL to do with the users’ ISP/network, it still reflects poorly on EA that users are having such a lousy experience. If H2H play requires such massive high-speed data transfer then the least the company can do is notify the community about the minimum specs required for flawless gameplay. Absent this, and with the forums providing many of us with no actionable solutions, it just feels like EA is taking our money and turning its back on us. If that’s not the intention, then by all means please do something to repair the situation.
Are you going to answer my questions/requests? I just saw yet another thread I was following regarding game lag and the EA servers closed (with no apparent explanation) and it continues to appear as though EA’s MO is to go through the motions of providing support but, ultimately, to shut down and bottle up the mounting frustration among users (when, inevitably, EA’s pat response provides us with no real fixes). While I appreciate that two EA staff replied to my initial post, you guys still haven’t addressed the overarching concerns (as reflected in my follow up) regarding the persistent issues facing the community of users (namely, lag) and the way in which EA interacts with us on that issue (which is not very effectively to say the least).
I’m writing literally minutes after another incredibly disappointing H2H match in which lag killed the game for me and I’m desperately trying to be diplomatic with you guys (despite my seething frustration). All I’m asking is for someone there to treat me like a valued customer and not just some ticket that you have punch in order to meet a quota. In case you guys haven’t noticed, this franchise is teetering. The minute a competitor comes out with a halfway decent product you’re going to see a mass exodus because none of us experience these lag issues on any other game platform except yours. THIS is your chance to avert that by doing something to address this fundamental issue. But if I can’t get answers to some pretty basic questions and the general stance of EA (that this is the users’ problem and not the company’s also) isn’t going to change then this isn’t going to end well.
The ball is in your court. I look forward to a reply.
Community AdminWhich thread are you referencing specifically? The one I had linked is accessible.
I don't want to speculate what exactly happened, but just want to point that sometimes when someone does break the rules it is necessary to lock a thread temporarily, to address the situation. In instances like that, a public message would be encouraged from the Community Manager that is actively moderating.
Similarly, if things get out of hand (multiple users breaking the rules repeatedly) we may also temporarily quarantine a thread until a more senior member is available to help peer review how to proceed.
Now with all that said, I don't know what specifically happened in either instance.
We certainly invite critical voice and feedback on the forums, we just ask to keep the tone civil by following our rules: EA Forums Rules & Guidelines | EA Forums - 19
Lag/latency is a hot topic in all online gaming communities. It's not easy to determine what exactly the cause is for each individual and both our teams as well as ISPs and our fans constantly battle through that landscape to create a fun, frictionless online gaming experience.
If you are willing to keep troubleshooting from your end, you can check out some of the online resources we do provide:
Other then that, you can of course keep engaging with the community directly over here: FC 25 Technical Issues | EA Forums
Even with your explanation I’m still confused about why I got an “access denied” message, but I’m just gonna table that entirely cuz, based on the rest of your reply—in particular, the paragraph regarding lag/latency and your statement implying that users (“fans”) are expected to “battle” through a known technical issue—I get the strong impression I’m wasting my time. Perhaps it’s unintentional, but I think your reply speaks volumes as to why we’re in this mess.
First off, I just want to say that none of what I’m about to say is directed at you personally—you’re just doing your job and trying to handle this as deftly as you can. But what I take from your reply is that it’s basically the position of EA that their game doesn’t have to actually provide the functionality advertised straight out of the box (e.g., smooth H2H online play) because they’ve just decided to outsource the problem of lag/latency to customers who will be relied upon to “battle” through an arcane troubleshooting process in order to obtain said functionality. I mean, when I zoom out from your “lag/latency” paragraph, the troubleshooting links, and note that there is no mention in your reply of any tangible steps EA is taking to address lag/latency, that is what I’m hearing—it’s all on me, the customer.
There’s part of me that’s really angry about this situation (for having paid good money for a product that isn’t performing as advertised) and another part of me that’s bemused (at a company that’s so transparently preying on its customers and playing them for chumps rather than taking full responsibility for its product—or at least being honest that it will never perform as expected for many). But mostly I’m just sad. I’m sad because I love football and I used to love “FIFA” and get really excited when that “If it’s in the game…” tagline would come on. I used to believe that EA were kind of badasses for putting out such great games and it’s sad to see them so nakedly admit to me that they're not even trying to stand by their product—they expect me to fix it.
If it weren’t so sad it would be truly laughable. This is a multi-million dollar tech company with goodness knows how many IT wizards in its employ telling a bunch of mostly IT-illiterate customers (like me) that we have to develop the knowhow to make their game work. I mean imagine if Porsche or Ferrari sold sports cars that required “troubleshooting” instructions to round a simple turn smoothly? Could you seriously blame the angry customers for asking “Why the hell didn’t you design a decent steering wheel instead of expecting me to become a mechanic?!”
Cuz that’s what this boils down to. EA is offloading problems it failed to address (whether in the game’s design or in the quality of its servers—or, at a bare minimum in large disclaimer on the box) to its customers. Nobody buys a car or a video game expecting to have to become an expert in how either one works—indeed, we expect we’re paying NOT to have to become experts in anything but it’s USE, whether (on smooth roads or bumpy one’s, lightning fast fiber connections or run-of-the-mill broadband). But EA seems to want to flip this paradigm on its head with FC25. And maybe that wouldn’t be such a big problem if it were just up front about it (“Disclaimer: This game requires exceptionally high rates of data transfer for lag-free play. Do not purchase unless you’ve confirmed that your internet connection meets the following requirements…”). But that’s not what they’ve done here and that’s why people are so rightfully upset. I even went back and took a look at the FC25 packaging and there’s ZERO indication that the enjoyment of what’s inside is entirely contingent on anything more than a generic “broadband internet connection.” (And there’s certainly no mention that I will need to be responsible for troubleshooting that connection or running diagnostics to determine “packet loss” or other mumbo jumbo I’d never heard before three months ago.)
So, I guess if this is EA’s stance—that it expects customers to “battle” through lag/latency rather than take it upon itself to fix it (by designing a game that will run smoothly on an average broadband connection?)—then I’m not gonna keep wasting my breath. For the record, I think this stance is a cop out and an insult, but if you guys want to live in a fantasy land where the customer’s willingness to endure a “battle” with lag/latency is what earns them credibility as “fans” then we just aren’t inhabiting the same universe. If EA has really fooled itself into thinking that any customer wants to pay their money for a product and then spend half their time troubleshooting then you’re well and truly lost. I say this as a true “fan” who’s bought more of your titles than I care to remember dating back to the 90s. I say this as a fan who, despite appreciating the polite response I received to my inquiry, will leave this interaction with nothing good to say about EA or the FC franchise at this point in time. You guys appear to have chosen this lag/latency issue as a hill you’re willing to die on, and, as I said before… it’s sad.
