More Awesome Than You!

EA it is time to stop being stupid and start talking.

This past weekend something happened that I hoped would never happen on this site.  EA decided to do their best to censor each and every user of this site. 

As SimMasterAnubis alluded to in her post...."This is not something that is my choice. It's not the choice of the Maxoids. It's coming from higher up. Please understand and please do not be rude about it." 

EA has decided to suppress all info about the upcoming Stuff Pack and EP, and has ordered the Maxoids and SimMasters to do it.  Now I greatly respect the SimMasters and the Maxoids, however enough is enough.

I personally can care less what the next Stuff Pack or EP is going to be, if they are Packs that interest me I will purchase them, if they do not interest me I will not purchase them.  However the themes and content of these packs seem to be of great importance to a vast number of users here.  So what does EA do? Do they give them as much information as they can at this point?  No they don't they throw out a few crumbs of info, promise more in "a few weeks", then when a "few weeks" pass..they claim they will reveal more in a "few weeks".

Now I realize this is not the decision of any Maxoid, but is most likely the decision of the higher-ups in EA.  So before anyone starts attacking me because I am not being nice to the "poor hard working Maxoids", this is not directed at them...as long as they are not willfully withholding information that they are allowed to release.

I can completely understand not releasing information about the next Expansion Pack.  From everything that has leaked out so far it promises to be something that the overwhelming majority of fans have demanded since day one.  Until that pack is ready for release they do not want to announce it, especially since there is going to be another Shopping Pack released next month..it seems.  I think that if the next EP was announced before the Shopping Pack went on sale...that the excitement over the next EP would completely overshadow and damage the sales of the Shopping Pack.  So I completely understand that being a reason why there is no announcement on the next EP.  I also realize that they started selling FFS through the EA downloader..and they probably want to squeeze as many buys out of that as possible, before they announce the next Shopping Pack.  While this is annoying...I understand it, because ultimately EA is a business and they have to do what is best for their business.

However, while I realize there are business stratagies at work here...the fact is EA is alienating their consumer base, and is causing unneeded problems, by trying to suppress discussions about the upcoming packs.  One of the big draws (to me at least) of TS2 is this wonderful and open community.  Will Wright always had a vision of a large diverse and active community that was tied to the games he created. When EA purchased Maxis they have proven over and over again that they can care less about the community and more and more about their bottom line.

In EA's view...why should they waste time, effort, resources and money catering to a community that will buy their games regardless of what they do?

What they don't realize is part of the reason that there is such a loyal fanbase is the fact that there is such a strong, large diverse and active community associated with this game. EA would be well served to remember this fact and stop ignoring the community, and actually become an active participant in the community once more, before they finally do alienate everyone.

EA needs to knock off the stupidity, and start becoming an active and positive member of this community.  Plain and simple the reason there is information on sites like www.snootysims.com, is because of EA's own stupidity.  THEY leaked out information on their Thai site, and Hong Kong Sites. (Though according to SMAnubis, for some reason this information is about "unauthorized prerelease EPs"...so one has to wonder if the Thai and Hong Kong EA sites are planning to overthrow the US EA office).  If EA didn't want information to get out..then simply they have to stop their own employees releasing information early.

EA needs to bite the bullet, and release some information to this community.  EA is creating an Us Vs. Them dynamic with this community..and I promise that EA will be the ones that ultimately lose that battle.  You can never been too nice to your consumers, it seems EA needs to learn this lesson.  Hopefully for their sake it will not be learned the wrong way :-/

However my problem is the fact that EA has chosen to censor the BBS...rather than let people chat about a subject that they all are obviously intersted in.

Well, I do agree with your right to rant about EA all-of-a-sudden deciding that those posts are off-topic and should be deleted, because it's not really fair of them to decide that now, after so much time has passed since their leaks were well, leaked.

I am sorta glad they are deleting all those posts though, because they're taking over.  I wish they'd just announce the new packs already, and make the board to confine the jabber about them.

It is real smart to admit to theft.

As SimMasterAnubis alluded to in her post...."This is not something that is my choice. It's not the choice of the Maxoids. It's coming from higher up. Please understand and please do not be rude about it."

Using stolen merchandise - even if you didn't actually steal it - is still a crime.

Personally I couldn't care less as long as you don't steal my stuff (hurray for moral ambiguity), but you might rethink admitting to any crime in public. Even though it is extremely unlikely anything will come of it, why take the risk?

Still, things like this are why I really wish some company would make a competing Sims clone. If nothing else, it would force EA to be less jerk like and more open in order to win business.  It's baffling that you get so many copies of other games, like Doom clones and C&C clones, but no one has made a serious Sims clone (at most you get the sleazy things like Playboy the Mansion or Singles or 7 Sins)