EA's Business Model Finally Revealed

annettemarc wrote:
The established players leaving will turn out to be the least of EAs problems. I can imagine many new players will assume that this is an expensive game to "win". They will not know it used to be simply a creative social game of challenge, requiring lots of effort to be rewarded with what you EARN.

For players being introduced to the game during this event, they will see EAs screens filled with invitations to " win" prizes, they will discover that the vast majority of the desirable prizes are unattainable, decide the odds are strongly against them, see that it is a game that costs hundreds of dollars to enjoy, and go find one of the thousands of other games that fill their expectations.

BTW, someone help me ... About those baskets on the premium menu ... In the initial days of this event, many many people ac epted EAs OFFER to purchase those baskets. And NOBODY had been told they were temporary. I'm having trouble recalling ANY legal business practice in which a business sells a product for real money, and that product is preprogrammed to VANISH, and there is NO indicator giving the buyer prior notice that it would.

I realize that "event" objects often disappear at the END of an event WHEN THERE IS NO FURTHER BENEFIT POSSIBLE from them. But Is there ANY other item you have seen on the premium menu that vanished -- completely without warning -- while it still would have value to the buyer? (For that matter, any paid-for item you've seen ANYWHERE that vanished without warning?)

Reeks of fraud to me. And, no, I am not merely talking about the kind of fraud you sue over. Fraud can be either civil or criminal. What distinguishes criminal fraud is that is INTENTIONAL. EA offers "i" buttons next to the items for sale. They had the opportunity to (but chose not to) describe the baskets as "single use". They did not.

Sleazy business is one thing. Criminal actions are a whole 'nuther thing.

You made a couple very valuable points here, I see this event as a short term gain for EA, grab as much as possible before the rubes realize whats actually happening, but with long term losses, ie, all of us premium players catching on to whats going on and a lot of us deciding enough is enough with some going freemuim while others quite the game out right, while still others will praise EA, tell everyone their a business and need to make rent or somesuch and blindly shovel money at EA in hopes of getting that one last thing. Also as you point out the new players saying whoa how much? and find another game. I would be surprised if they don't see the hit in there numbers some where not to far down the road. Especially if they continue with the same formula for coming events. That will probably only accelerate it. And for those who don't use this forum or any type of blog and are unaware of the outrage. Either they will realize the futility of it and the added expense and move on or go freemium or as someone else once said, a fool is easily parted from there money.
Your theory on the basket deception sounds spot on. They could've put "One time use only" very easily but chose not to. I do wonder how many still would've bought them knowing that going in. I won't get into the differance between frauds, but I like your thinking.

I don’t know about you guys, but I knew EA was a greedy and non caring company way before I downloaded this game 2 years ago. I am actually surprised by how many people on here are surprised about this so called revelation. I guess it took EA F* up really bad to show its true colors to the casual gamers.

Just look at their main titles: They bring out the same FIFA, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, PGA Tour, etc. game every year and sell them full priced. All they are, are roster updates, a new menu design, a new soundtrack and 1 or 2 new game play improvements.

They bring out too many Need for Speed games, one worse than the next (it started going downhill after Most Wanted, Carbon was also OK, but it was essentially Most Wanted at night).
They bought up Command & Conquer and made it suck. I don't know how they managed to do that?
The Sim City launch? Must I say more?

These are just a few examples, but there are a lot more and I don't feel the need to elaborate on all of them. The only decent games I can remember that EA recently created are Mirror's Edge (Wtf EA, where is part 2?) and BF 2, but those games have been a while back. The first Dead Space was also good, but of course EA had to turn that in a franchise and bring out some crappy sequels.

What irritates me the most, is that they managed to get there greedy paws on the Star Wars license, of which I am a huge fan. I can’t wait to see them crap all over that franchise. I guess the only way for EA to stay afloat, is to hoard big licenses and sell them off to the unaware, who only buy the games for the name on the cover.

PS: Before you ask, I only downloaded TSTO, because I am a huge Simpsons fan. I foolishly looked past the fact, that it was made by EA and that the Free-to-Play business is just an easier way for them to make more money off a tiny effort.

annettemarc wrote:

DarthVonHeller wrote:

Smurf1972 wrote:

maxeerg wrote:

Ratman5674 wrote:
I'm trying to find @ratman5674

If you seek to find yourself, then know that you are an illusion. There is no Ratman5674. Only then will you find release from the wheel of life.

Very deep, as a child of the 70's it's far too hippy for me. I'd just go with F***k that and smash some chairs and stuff ... ;)

Thanks for making me LMAO, literally out loud. :thumbup:

+100

Thanks Guys, punk really did make you angry what with all the pins and tight leather, lol I'm kind of missing it now :D

Donathor wrote:
For me this game was mostly about collecting everything available. I was prepared to put in a lot of time and grind away. I was also prepared to buy items for cash and I have. But I am not prepared to spend money on the slim chance to get anything in return, which is what gambling is all about. It sucks that after this event is finished I will not even have half the items that were offered in it. But I can live with that, simply change the game from premium to fremium player. I do however feel sorry for those that were suckered into buying eggs and didn't win. I bet some of them really regret having made that decision. Any business that tries to sucker people into offering money to them without giving anything back in return, is immoral in my book.

You and I are very similar in our way of seeing the special event, I too don't gamble with my donuts.

Smurf1972 wrote:

annettemarc wrote:

DarthVonHeller wrote:

Smurf1972 wrote:

maxeerg wrote:

Ratman5674 wrote:
I'm trying to find @ratman5674

If you seek to find yourself, then know that you are an illusion. There is no Ratman5674. Only then will you find release from the wheel of life.

Very deep, as a child of the 70's it's far too hippy for me. I'd just go with F***k that and smash some chairs and stuff ... ;)

Thanks for making me LMAO, literally out loud. :thumbup:

+100

Thanks Guys, punk really did make you angry what with all the pins and tight leather, lol I'm kind of missing it now :D

Punk was after my time. I'm from the John, Paul, George and Ringo groupies. ;)

annettemarc wrote:

Smurf1972 wrote:

annettemarc wrote:

DarthVonHeller wrote:

Smurf1972 wrote:

maxeerg wrote:

Ratman5674 wrote:
I'm trying to find @ratman5674

If you seek to find yourself, then know that you are an illusion. There is no Ratman5674. Only then will you find release from the wheel of life.

Very deep, as a child of the 70's it's far too hippy for me. I'd just go with F***k that and smash some chairs and stuff ... ;)

Thanks for making me LMAO, literally out loud. :thumbup:

+100

Thanks Guys, punk really did make you angry what with all the pins and tight leather, lol I'm kind of missing it now :D

Punk was after my time. I'm from the John, Paul, George and Ringo groupies. ;)

Too be honest Punk was never really my thing, but it helped with meeting the young ladies ;). I'm more of a Wagner, Mozart, Verdi and Co follower, always was. I trained as an opera singer as a young man, just never had the right breaks to do anything but enjoy passing my love of music on to the new generations :D.