More bullshit from Massive Shithead

[JerseyGirlOOOO]

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=578780c39336bd8f93c41a9b607b290a&directoryID=211&startRow=1&openItemID=item.211,root.1,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23 

How the hell does that asshole keep its job?

Laura

[KatEnigma]

Actually, for a change, he's not the one being an idiot. What he's said is true, for the most part. All the online petitions in the world aren't going to change Company Policy. Neither will threatening anonymous letters.  And if people want the problem fixed, they need to give them usable data. Just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean he's not telling the truth.

[JerseyGirlOOOO]

I don't believe a damn word that comes out of that asshole's mouth.  Massive Shithead couldn't care less about the paying customers and is only posting what EA wants him to post. 

[neriana]

Which would be how he keeps his job.

This isn't MaxoidSam's fault. It's EA and Sony's fault; and he's right, if people want things to change, bitching on the BBS isn't going to do much. He's saying what they tell him to say and what will cover EA and Sony's asses.

[dusty]

 

I don't believe a damn word that comes out of that asshole's mouth.  Massive Shithead couldn't care less about the paying customers and is only posting what EA wants him to post. 

It would be more dishonest for him to pretend that threads on the BBS have any hope of changing the company's policy. If you don't believe the numbers he's posted, fine, but his advice about the best way to make your dissatisfaction known makes sense to me.

[J. M. Pescado]

I notice he's quietly trying to phish for people's personal info, so EAxis can silence them.

[Kraken]

Despite what MaxoidSam said the only thing EA is interested in is profit.  Until the secuROM fiasco eats into their profits in a big way it will be here to stay and will no doubt ship with Sims 3.  I doubt the Maxoids have any say in this matter at all. 

I would be very curious to know though just how the Teen stuff-it pack actually did.  Anyone know if its sales were hit by the secuROM issue?

Plus the sales of the next "Lies and Propaganda" ep should also be interesting.

[ZiggyDoodle]

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=578780c39336bd8f93c41a9b607b290a&directoryID=211&startRow=1&openItemID=item.211,root.1,item.61,item.104,item.41,item.127,item.23 

How the hell does that asshole keep its job?

By towing the company line.  You'd do the same, most likely, if you wanted to keep making your rent/mortgage payments.  The decision to add SecuROM was made higher up in the EAxis hierarchy. 

As to Sam's message, too little too late.  I used to visit the BBS on occasion and help out the lost sheep.  After the SM insults, censorship, bannings, and disinformation, I've never returned to the BBS and never will.  The way customers were treated is reprehensible.  So, I refuse to help EAxis by providing free customer support nor will I purchase any more EA products. 

Maybe I'll print this and mail it to the CEO as a Grinch gift.

[veilchen]

I find it interesting that even after such a fiasco, the CEO's still don't care enough to investigate themselves, but still keep 'relying' on others to inform them. Surely a PR disaster such as this one deserves a little more attention. I guess they are too (self) important to bother with the 'little' people, such as their paying customers

True, SecuRom is on other game discs. What he fails to mention is that its 7.2 version is giving those game companies the same headaches. Their customers are not too pleased either. Bethesda and Bioware (the part that is not whoring itself to EA) are dropping SecuRom in newer disc releases. Funny how he forgets to mention that.

[illusionofjoy]

I find it interesting that even after such a fiasco, the CEO's still don't care enough to investigate themselves, but still keep 'relying' on others to inform them. Surely a PR disaster such as this one deserves a little more attention. I guess they are too (self) important to bother with the 'little' people, such as their paying customers.

An interesting thing happens once one's salary reaches a certain level: one can afford not to care anymore. 

[Celestard]

Which would be how he keeps his job.

This isn't MaxoidSam's fault. It's EA and Sony's fault; and he's right, if people want things to change, bitching on the BBS isn't going to do much. He's saying what they tell him to say and what will cover EA and Sony's asses.

MaxoidSam is assuming that bitching on the bbs is all we've been doing there.  It's not.  I for one have written the EA execs., complained to the FTC, the BBB, and my State's Attorney consumer protection.  I am fairly certain at least a dozen others have done likewise.  And I have gotten some results doing these things (except the EA execs. notta), but more people need to contact them. It's going to require more than one complaint to get people to act.  The FTC informed me that they are collecting information about this, but they need enough consumers to complain before they can request a federal investigation.  With the BBB, they told me to contact the FTC, but I already had done so.  EA failed to respond to my BBB complaint and will be getting another "unresolved" mark against them for what that's worth.  I've heard nothing from my State's Attorney General, but according to the FTC they send all their information to the State's Attornies themselves.  Now all that's left to do for me is to keep bitching on the bbs.   People do watch the bbs and look to it for information.  It's about being there to inform people more than believing it will do anything to change EA.  But the fact is, MaxoidSam has been worried sick about all this, and my reading between the lines of his message is telling me he is telling us what he thinks will be more effective action.  Now why would he do that unless he wants us to be effective?  I think he wants SecuROM off the game almost as much as we do.  He just has no say about it.    Oh and btw, bugging the HELL out of them is effective! 

[Solowren]

What he says makes sense to me. SecuROM was shipped on, what, hundreds of thousands of copies, he said? And they've received only roughly 150 formal complaints. That's simply not enough to call for a recall or a dump of the program.

I, for one, did not make a complaint because I was able to fix it myself with a registry cleaner and a no-cd patch. I can imagine many, many other people did the same. If a formal complaint is what they want, though, I just may have to do that.

[Li'l Brudder]

I'm still livid with the fact that they won't throw the Dev Team under the bus for fucking up so badly.  Seriously!  They're paid to to heir jobs.  If they can't do their job (develop a game with most major bugs removed), then they should be sacked and EA should start anew.

[neriana]

I'm still livid with the fact that they won't throw the Dev Team under the bus for fucking up so badly.  Seriously!  They're paid to to heir jobs.  If they can't do their job (develop a game with most major bugs removed), then they should be sacked and EA should start anew.

If EA were a good company, that would be a major part of their developers' job descriptions. However, EA is not a good company, and their developers' jobs depend on very quickly churning out programs that many people will buy. Not high-quality programs, just programs. So in reality, they are doing their jobs. It's just a crappy reality.

[J. M. Pescado]

If EA were a good company, they'd be choking those developers as per the Darth Vader school of management: "And you have failed me for the last time."

[dizzy]

Frothing and stamping of feet won't change anything. Making it clear to the *retailers* where you stand could change things.

Retailers have very slim profit margins, so if you buy their product and later return it, that will hit them in the wallet. If enough people do this, retailers will refuse to carry that product, and EA will be forced to back down.

[neriana]

Good luck returning opened PC games. I would usually let customers return them when I worked in a game store, but I got in trouble for it every time. Even when it was for store credit.

[Madame Mim]

And a poor excuse was always given for this long standing stupidity. Once, when it was floppy's we were returning, the 'reason' was that malicious data could have been introduced either by accident or on purpose - which always pulled at the limits of my credulity (and believe me I can be damned credulous if not given fair warning to engage cynicism). Now we are simpy offered "It is not store policy". To which my reply is "Not fit for the purpose for which it was intended". I have returned games by this method (admittedly I will usually accept store credit which does tend to grease the wheels) but, really, if the game does not run as intended on a machine that meets or exceeds specifications then either bursting into tears in the middle of the store or threatening them with consumer affairs are both ways to get proper refunds when backed up by the legal requirement for one (at least here in Australia) of the goods not being all that they were purported to be. I know it's embarrassing, but it's not the returner that should be embarassed. It's the people trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities that should be cringing.

[neriana]

The people trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities are never the ones you're facing, though. It's the employee who's stuck in the middle, between an irate customer now and an irate boss later. People who work in customer service get really sick of being blamed for what the company does; it's not their fault, and they have less ability to change company policy than a customer does. So complaining to the peon will do you no good at all -- better to call customer service directly, because companies do not listen to the people who work in their stores and take most of the flak for their decisions.

All you'll accomplish by throwing a shitfit in a store is to ruin someone's day. You might get your way, but I was always far less inclined to give irate or otherwise obnoxious customers what they wanted than people who were reasonable and civil, and who generally treated me like I was a human being and not a robot slave sent to thwart their whims. I didn't want the tantrum-throwers to be happy with what they got, I wanted them to stay away. Everyone I've worked with in retail has felt the same. We don't like being treated like crap any more than customers do.

The best thing to do is go to the store during a weekday, when the manager is most probably there. Managers of chains will also get in trouble for letting customers return games, but they have more clout and will be more willing to take the hit.

[J. M. Pescado]

Good luck returning opened PC games.

Don't open the box. ARRRRRRR!

[Inge]

Did MaxoidSam ever get back to any of the people who volunteered to be beta testers?

[veilchen]

The ones I talked to haven't heard from EAxis, and to be frank, I would've been very surprised if they had.

I'm guessing the 'no return if opened' is because people can install the game and play it for free - and if it needs the cd, they can run it with a no Cd crack. So once again the honest customer gets treated as a potential thief. It's not as if getting a game for free by other means is a big problem now, is it?

I also worked in retail and I know exactly what you mean, Neriana. I only worked there part time to pay the bills, but I've seen some crappy shit happening to the poor sales-floor people. As if they could change company policy on a whim. Yah. Right. Some people could do with a reality check. If they had that kind of power, they wouldn't be on the sales-floor getting just above minimum wage now, would they?

[nil]

no, a real plunge in sale for SP and EP with secuROM is still the most effective way to speak out.

Most people won't bother to file a complaint about secuROM coz they can simply move on to something else without it.  They may not even bother to whine for $30 and just take it a well-learnt lesson about a company.

[Inge]

I am not surprised to hear there has been no further contact wrt this.  I jumped through all the same hoops with Cooper Buckingham right near the beginning of the Sims 2 series - him asking for names of experienced modders, my name being among those provided, him letting me know about this new move to work with some reps from the community, and telling me he would soon provide further details and .... wait for it ... still waiting? ... THE END!

[squish]

All you'll accomplish by throwing a shitfit in a store is to ruin someone's day. You might get your way, but I was always far less inclined to give irate or otherwise obnoxious customers what they wanted than people who were reasonable and civil, and who generally treated me like I was a human being and not a robot slave sent to thwart their whims. I didn't want the tantrum-throwers to be happy with what they got, I wanted them to stay away. Everyone I've worked with in retail has felt the same. We don't like being treated like crap any more than customers do.

As an ex-retail worker (having to deal with entertainment gizmos, games included) I agree with every word you said, neriana.

The other thing you'll accomplish by throwing a shitfit, is having people laugh at you when you leave, for being an idiot, basically*. Not just from employees, but other people in the store. A number of times after dealing with a shithead, another customer waiting in line has commiserated about what an idiot the person in front was. Those encounters always made me feel a bit better 

* And depending on how badly you act you can evn earn yourself a bad reputation in the store, heh.