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Sim City 5

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http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/15/9345517.page


ROFL....... Same EA shills are now telling people that if you do a chargeback it is legally "Fraud" and could cause an investigation against you.

The same EA shills are saying over and over that "this is clearly outlined in the license agreement you signed, that servers are not guaranteed to be up 24/7 and most people are able to play just fine"



I absolutely do not understand how this is legal. At what point can a company be considered 'scamming' people on a federal level?

This situation is no different than a web design company (or any service provider..) collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars then not delivering any service or ETA.
 
paperfist said:
Try now, I just got on the East Coast server.
Click to expand...


A suggestion... Do not exit your current city. From what I've read on the EA forums if you do, you're screwed.

Many people on the EA forums are claiming that the servers have all been down for 3+ hours, so you must be lucky!
 
I actually think anyone who bought this game and cant play it deserves what they got.

Come on, who didnt see this coming? When you read about the always online part, who here thought that the launch would go smoothly? When Blizzard's Diablo III was also a screwup on launch.

In fact, can anyone point out to me a DRM laden title that required user to be permanently online, that had a smooth launch? Just one?

Of course not. Companies buy enough hardware to satisfy the average demand when things have settled down, but never the initial glut. Its not worth it for them. And you know why its not worth it? Things like bad launches do not affect their bottom line as much as expensive server hardware. Anyone who bought this game has 99% likely been through a similar problem with something like Diablo III, and yet you still bought it, on release day. You are the reason why always online DRM is still made - because silly consumers still gobble the games up like they are going out of fashion.

Exercise a little restraint and we might actually see an end to always online DRM.
 
Ancalagon44 said:
I actually think anyone who bought this game and cant play it deserves what they got.

Come on, who didnt see this coming? When you read about the always online part, who here thought that the launch would go smoothly? When Blizzard's Diablo III was also a screwup on launch.

In fact, can anyone point out to me a DRM laden title that required user to be permanently online, that had a smooth launch? Just one?

Of course not. Companies buy enough hardware to satisfy the average demand when things have settled down, but never the initial glut. Its not worth it for them. And you know why its not worth it? Things like bad launches do not affect their bottom line as much as expensive server hardware. Anyone who bought this game has 99% likely been through a similar problem with something like Diablo III, and yet you still bought it, on release day. You are the reason why always online DRM is still made - because silly consumers still gobble the games up like they are going out of fashion.

Exercise a little restraint and we might actually see an end to always online DRM.
Click to expand...


The DRM is why I did not purchase this game; I had horrible experiences with Diablo III and vowed to never give another cent to a company that employs this tactic, and have been true to my word.
 
CPA said:
As much as I agree with the folks that are upset about this whole fiasco, this is not a Federal government issue (even though I said Holder should get involved earlier - I changed my mind).
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Let's say a company is selling a service to customers in many states, and said company has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars for said service.

If the company is unable to deliver said service, yet is refusing refunds to all customers, what federal agency would handle that?
 
You know, I would charge them back on my credit card if you bought the game and you can't play it. You ABSOLUTELY have a valid reason for the charge back if they refuse to refund you returning the game. But you need to have first attempted to get a refund from your place of purchase. It is the only way companies will stop this crap is when it starts affecting their bottom dollar.
 
So some people want the government to come in and take action over a game? A game that they bought? Where is the personal responsibility in that? Should government come in and take action if some food tastes bad or if some hardware is faulty?

You bought the game, that's it. If its bad, then that's OK too. Move on. Wait and see if it can get better. If not, then learn your lesson. Anyway, many people had an idea that the game is connected to the internet and that many people would buy it when it would come out and yet they still bought it the first day. Maybe waiting a month after release would have been a better move - but that doesn't change things now.

I might just wait for this game to drop in price a bit then I'll get it.
 
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CPA said:
As much as I agree with the folks that are upset about this whole fiasco, this is not a Federal government issue (even though I said Holder should get involved earlier - I changed my mind).
Click to expand...

Can you eloborate on this? I haven't purchased the game, frankly I'm on the fence and will most likely hold off, but if it isn't a Federal Government issue then how so? The way I see it, (could be really flawed) is that this is a DRM & IP issue, which, we've already seen the Federal Government has made it their issue.

Or are you saying that the way EA is handling "refunds" is not a Federal Government issue? Which I still think falls under the whole DRM thing to begin with.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Let's say a company is selling a service to customers in many states, and said company has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars for said service.

If the company is unable to deliver said service, yet is refusing refunds to all customers, what federal agency would handle that?
Click to expand...

State Attorneys General. And it happens all the time.
 
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raildogg said:
So some people want the government to come in and take action over a game? A game that they bought? Where is the personal responsibility in that? Should government come in and take action if some food tastes bad or if some hardware is faulty?

You bought the game, that's it. If its bad, then that's OK too. Move on. Wait and see if it can get better. If not, then learn your lesson. Anyway, many people had an idea that the game is connected to the internet and that many people would buy it when it would come out and yet they still bought it the first day. Maybe waiting a month after release would have been a better move - but that doesn't change things now.

I might just wait for this game to drop in price a bit then I'll get it.
Click to expand...

The issue is that with any other product there is generally a return/refund policy. With this, there isn't. Yes, there are "as-is" and "final sales", but I find it hard to understand why games are the last bastion of mass marketed products that still do not have a return policy. I'm trying to recall another product that has this as part of it's sales policy - I can return food, cars (lemon laws), sneakers, clothes, tools, etc. but not a video game.
 
raildogg said:
So some people want the government to come in and take action over a game? A game that they bought? Where is the personal responsibility in that? Should government come in and take action if some food tastes bad or if some hardware is faulty?

You bought the game, that's it. If its bad, then that's OK too. Move on. Wait and see if it can get better. If not, then learn your lesson. Anyway, many people had an idea that the game is connected to the internet and that many people would buy it when it would come out and yet they still bought it the first day. Maybe waiting a month after release would have been a better move - but that doesn't change things now.

I might just wait for this game to drop in price a bit then I'll get it.
Click to expand...

That petition came from the author of this Forbes article.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...rn-policy-for-defective-and-unplayable-games/

His main gripe is that consumer protection laws vary from state to state, and in some cases even digital verse physical copies even have different refund policies. He is using this SimCity release as an example to get things standardized so if the game is unplayable, anyone unsatisfied can get a refund.

It's a reach though, since like you mentioned, just because the game is unplayable now doesn't mean it will remain that way.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
A suggestion... Do not exit your current city. From what I've read on the EA forums if you do, you're screwed.

Many people on the EA forums are claiming that the servers have all been down for 3+ hours, so you must be lucky!
Click to expand...

After I got in-game a red message kept popping up that the servers were down and then it went away, came back, etc. Hopefully what I built didn't get hosed when I exited.
 
CPA said:
The issue is that with any other product there is generally a return/refund policy. With this, there isn't. Yes, there are "as-is" and "final sales", but I find it hard to understand why games are the last bastion of mass marketed products that still do not have a return policy. I'm trying to recall another product that has this as part of it's sales policy - I can return food, cars (lemon laws), sneakers, clothes, tools, etc. but not media.
Click to expand...

FTFY. The only time you can return any type of media, that I'm aware of, is if it's unopened, even then, for games or dvds/bds (not sure about cds), even if they're shrink wrapped most stores usually won't take it back.
 
thestrangebrew1 said:
FTFY. The only time you can return any type of media, that I'm aware of, is if it's unopened, even then, for games or dvds/bds (not sure about cds), even if they're shrink wrapped most stores usually won't take it back.
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Ok; how about if a record label sells 100,000 music CDs that won't play.
 
what can you return? you just have a copy of the game. lol jakes on you.

piracy-is-not-theft.jpg
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Ok; how about if a record label sells 100,000 music CDs that won't play.
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Hasn't there been bugs in things like ps2 games (before they could patch them online) where the companies refunded money to people? I thought I remember that happening, they either refunded or sent you a new copy.

It didn't happen often though. Now it doesn't matter, because with always online they can release a sloppy product and just patch it as issues arise.
 
Wyndru said:
That petition came from the author of this Forbes article.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...rn-policy-for-defective-and-unplayable-games/

His main gripe is that consumer protection laws vary from state to state, and in some cases even digital verse physical copies even have different refund policies. He is using this SimCity release as an example to get things standardized so if the game is unplayable, anyone unsatisfied can get a refund.

It's a reach though, since like you mentioned, just because the game is unplayable now doesn't mean it will remain that way.
Click to expand...

The focus should be on the consumers, not the companies. It is the consumers who buy stuff without waiting. It is they who are eager to pre-order an $80 game without any second thought. Besides, we have so many laws in this country yet we still seem to want more. We want our big daddy, the government, to come in and save us.

The consumers get what they deserve.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
A suggestion... Do not exit your current city. From what I've read on the EA forums if you do, you're screwed.

Many people on the EA forums are claiming that the servers have all been down for 3+ hours, so you must be lucky!
Click to expand...

I got in just fine, was playing with my current city, then went to start a new region in Sandbox mode and now I can't get back in at all. Silly me.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Ok; how about if a record label sells 100,000 music CDs that won't play.
Click to expand...

I dunno. I'd imagine the record label would be responsible to refund those that paid for a non-working product.

I was just pointing out to CPA that, for whatever reason, media in general, and not just video games, is usually the 1 item most places won't give you a refund. They'll exchange it if unopened for the exact item I believe.
 
raildogg said:
The focus should be on the consumers, not the companies. It is the consumers who buy stuff without waiting. It is they who are eager to pre-order an $80 game without any second thought. Besides, we have so many laws in this country yet we still seem to want more. We want our big daddy, the government, to come in and save us.

The consumers get what they deserve.
Click to expand...


That is so terrible to blame a consumer for something like this.


While EA is a company known for their privacy-abusive DRM, that is totally different from a non-functional product.

It's one thing to bitch that DRM slows down the computer, or I shouldn't have to install origin/steam, or whatever, but in this case the game simply does not work.


Non functional is totally different from knowing that it is 'inconvenient'.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Let's say a company is selling a service to customers in many states, and said company has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars for said service.

If the company is unable to deliver said service, yet is refusing refunds to all customers, what federal agency would handle that?
Click to expand...

If you were an average citizen downloading too many files from a webserver, various federal agencies would be banging down your door.

If you're a corporation, eh, who gives a rat's ass.
 
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