I definitely did NOT support Sims 3, and the store was part of the reason for it. I constantly got harassed with emails from EA telling me I suddenly had 10 store points or whatever, complete with links to show me all of the things I might want but couldn't afford with the lousy "gift points" they gave me. Even when I stopped playing (which was not long after base game release), they continued to send me these "reminders" that I had points waiting, and pushed the effort to offer useless freebees to get me to loosen my purse strings. It was OBNOXIOUS. It felt scammy and invasive and I was all set with their pushy marketing.
Sure, the store stuff was optional, and the expansions were more complete, but none of that stopped EA from trying to pull everything they could from people's pockets. I don't know, I feel like Sims 3 is where EA's true colors and greed started to show, and from the very beginning at that. My theory is that they had intended to replace modders and CC creators altogether by activating a separate division for the store and capitalising on extra content. Maybe people don't remember this, but Sims 3 base game did not include a mods folder, and they made it very difficult in the beginning to use mods at all.
So, yeah, I'm not completely surprised that they've become this blatant with the First Pets pack, but I also feel that enough is enough and it's time to start pushing back and cutting off their sales. I already spoke with my wallet for Sims 3, I have no problem doing it again when necessary. But this time I'm also going to make myself heard, loud and clear, instead of silently slipping away with my money into the night.
