Battlefield 3: "Retailer-Specific Pre-order DLC" Boycott

[lilhasselhoffer]

Ahem*cough*Mass Effect 2*cough*wheeze

Anyone else catch this sudden sense of deja vous? It's like this bull has been passed around for the last several years.

In Mass Effect two there were multiple armors and guns that only came when you preordered a specific version of the game. Gamestop (in the US) had cerberus armor, online had riot suppression armor, and if you ordered it with dragon age you got medieval style armor. $180 for some crappy extra armors is the greatest waste of money since someone decided to create furby.

In this case, I had no problem purchasing the good underlying game. In protest to this crappy policy, I used cracks to make sure my preorder allowed me to get all the dlc that I should have gotten for supporting the game. This is technically piracy, but entirely reasonable to the people I talk with considering that retailer specific dlc is a shitty way to breed customer loyalty.

Do I want to boycott a good game, no. Do I feel that the moral high ground is in piracy, yes. Does this topic raise more issues than can be addresses with a simple boycott, definitely. Do I believe EA has jumped the shark, nuked the fridge, and smiled during the whole process, yes. I just don't see the average consume as able to change any of this, because the business model of these companies is basically that the consumer is a thief. Without the smallest modicum of trust developers are going to keep screwing consumers, and driving the call from pirates to stop developers from gouging consumers.

Twenty bucks for a movie may provide ten hours of enjoyment (assuming 5-7 playings before it becomes "old"). Sixty dollars for a ten hour game is inexcusable (I'm looking at you Crysis 2). Developers need to decide that the pretty graphics should take a back seat to good mechanics, gouging the consumer drives long term piracy even if it drives short term profits, DLC run well (HL episode 2 was great, now I'm waiting with bated breath for a third episode) can pad the bottom line better than anything new, and DRM generally protects games well until they are released (at which time it only impedes your paying customer base).

~sigh~

 

[Shihab]

In a Reality, where the real thieves are the producers, a pirate, a robin hood, cant be the bad guy



There are Tools that simulate a local network, over their private servers (Tunngle, Hamachi)
And there is a Group named "Teknogods" that create LAN solutions for games which have no working,crackable multiplayer

Thx for the info. Could prove useful in the near future >_>

I smell a piracy war brewing.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I am going to boycott this boycott by pre-ordering Battlefield 3. Who is with me?!

 

[BumbleBee]

ME!

Khal Drogo approves

 

[dir_d]

I am going to boycott this boycott by pre-ordering Battlefield 3. Who is with me?!

Me, i think i will buy 2 copies

 

[1Kurgan1]

I am going to boycott this boycott by pre-ordering Battlefield 3. Who is with me?!

Sorry Highway, but I will boycott your boycott boycott till the end of time!

 

[TheMailMan78]

Sorry Highway, but I will boycott your boycott boycott till the end of time!

Ill boycott your boycott to his boycott of a boycott.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

I prefer girlcotts.

 

[1Kurgan1]

Ill boycott your boycott to his boycott of a boycott.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

I love the look on the Emperor's face. Like he's rocking out to some Death Metal.

 

[BumbleBee]

oh yeah hes into Dark Tranquillity.

 

[wolf]

if anything, I had no idea you would get this extra stuff by pre-ordering, so I most definitely will!

damn butt hurt boycotters should take a rage dump already and pay for what will most likely be the best game of the year, if not the best shooter ever on release.

I for one am thanking whoever deserves it for giving the PC platform the golden treatment and red carpet this time round.

 

[Mr McC]

Should EA be treated in the same manner as a landowner in Ireland, in 1880?

Let's examine the facts here:

a) pre-purchasers get a gun and free access to a couple of extra maps.
b) if you don't pre-purchase, you have to pay for the extra maps and you never, ever, ever get the gun.

If that is a fair assessment so far, let us add the following fact:

c) we have no idea what this game will be like.

Now, let us surmise in relation to fact c): we have no idea, but our previous experience of past titles in the series would suggest that it is going to be the dog's balls.

Returning to the gun, the next fact might read as follows:

d) the special gun, which non-pre-purchasers will never, ever, ever use, has no real impact on gameplay. In this sense, we can equate the gun to a costume or special hat, common examples of similar pre-ourchase unlocks and/or DLC.

Addressing the question in view of the facts

The premise is as follows ladies and gentlemen:

By denying those who fail to pre-purchase access to a hat, the company deserves to be boycotted.

The answer, for me anyway, is as follows:

It's a bloody hat. Pre-purchase unlocks would only be a valid source of complaint where they seriously affected gameplay. Moreover those willing to play guinea-pig and continuing to beta-test in the comfort of their own home deserve some reward, whilst the maps, which really are part of the reward, will be available to everybody, albeit at a cost. In essence, pre-purchasers are getting a hat and access to all maps at a reduced rate, which doesn't really seem to justify any complaining in the absence of actual knowledge of the game itself.

But I would go further and add that griping about issues like hats detracts from valid consumer complaints, such as stringent DRM. Hats should be of little concern to anyone: silly to buy them, sillier still to get worked up about them and completely nonsensical to refuse to purchase a game that could and probably will be amazing simply because you didn't want to pre-purchase and will remain hatless, for all eternity.

In conclusion, EA, in this particular case, should not be treated in the same manner as Captain Charles Boycott.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

if anything, I had no idea you would get this extra stuff by pre-ordering, so I most definitely will!

damn butt hurt botcotters should take a rage dump already and pay for what will most likely be the best game of the year, if not the best shooter ever on release.

I for one am thanking whoever deserves it for giving the PC platform the golden treatment and red carpet this time round.

Yes yes you're playing right in to their greedy little hands! Heh heh tho in this case I really can't argue with anything you said you're gonna do

 

[Easy Rhino]

I stopped reading after "REDDIT."

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

^ heh

 

[Easy Rhino]

seriously. it is where all of the socially stunted 20 somethings hang out.

 

[digibucc]

wow i've been absent rhino... that's the doctor is it not ?

 

[Easy Rhino]

yea, my favorite doctor. although to be fair i never really got into dr who. i would watch the reruns on PBS with my dad 20 years ago and this guy was always the one who was on.

 

[digibucc]

yeah i never got into it until recently. 2005 with Chris Eccleston, and then David Tennant. They were both great doctors. The new doctor/writing is too young and bland though imo, so i then got into old ones like in your pic (Tom Baker) which i watch sometimes now.

i just like it as it's unique. you watch enough sci fi and it all blends together, the doctor seems
to have new ideas even after 50 years!

ok way off topic, my bad. i already said my piece for this thread i think

 

[xenocide]

I will still buy this through Steam, there is no way they are getting me to buy it through some other vendor. I think it's bullshit that they announced it this early since it clearly means they just chopped those guns out of the game with the intention of parting them out as DLC. If they had just left it to store owners to advertise it like most games, nobody would have cared xD

 

[Mr McC]

I will still buy this through Steam, there is no way they are getting me to buy it through some other vendor. I think it's bullshit that they announced it this early since it clearly means they just chopped those guns out of the game with the intention of parting them out as DLC. If they had just left it to store owners to advertise it like most games, nobody would have cared xD

I don't think anybody really does care, at least not enough to avoid the game.

yeah i never got into it until recently. 2005 with Chris Eccleston, and then David Tennant. They were both great doctors. The new doctor/writing is too young and bland though imo, so i then got into old ones like in your pic (Tom Baker) which i watch sometimes now.

i just like it as it's unique. you watch enough sci fi and it all blends together, the doctor seems
to have new ideas even after 50 years!

ok way off topic, my bad. i already said my piece for this thread i think

As Easy suggested, Tom Baker is the doctor. The scarf, K-9, those crazy eyes, all others are imposters.

 

[xenocide]

As Easy suggested, Tom Baker is the doctor. The scarf, K-9, those crazy eyes, all others are imposters.

I like David Tennant the best.

 

[Mr McC]

I like David Tennant the best.

Maybe it has something to do with the doctor you first watched as a child, but, no, I still say Tom's the man.

 

[digibucc]

I like David Tennant the best.

me too. I think growing up with Baker made the difference (I didn't).
I am sure the age of the episodes affects my opinion, but even with
that in mind I think Tennant was simply awesome.