If you really want to fuck with EA and help people simultaneously, set up a web site that walks people through the process their TOS requires.
Since their own terms require individual arbitration, help individuals start 1.5+ million individual arbitrations. You are, at the very least, guaranteed they will end up paying the fees.
Watch as they discover class action lawsuits weren't so bad a way to resolve mass disputes ...
What I mean by that is that I bet EA made this decision not with the intention of "how can we win back the good faith of our loyal customers", but "how can we ensure we make as much money (or lose the least) from this". You know, there is a reason why certain companies involved in pollution-creating waste disposal actually factor in the cost of simply accepting (or challenging) the legal fines for improper disposal into their decision making... if the cost of simply dumping improperly and paying the price (literally) outweighs the cost of properly disposing and cleaning up their business (literally and figuratively), their choice is, unfortunately, usually pretty clear.
Not necessarily.
Earlier this morning I was ready to do whatever it took for a refund. 80 minutes in a queue, only to get kicked out mid tutorial, to have to wait 20 minutes in a queue again...
Whatever they did (well, add more servers), has made the 'server busy' issues basically non existent (I see a status update mid game saying 'Connection Lost', but it has always been restored within moments, and I haven't lost a saved game since).
I think in retrospect, instead of going the refund route, Blizzard could have listened to people and then set out a plan for the game in the first few months (i.e. how they'll address a lot of the issues).
But frankly if they were going to do that they would have done so during the extended "beta" where most of the same issue were brought up.
But Blizzard has been "always online" for a while now. It's not really new to them. And they have a fuck ton of servers.
> I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.
To me, this seems insulting. They know most of their upset customers want a refund -- for now -- to feel like they've not quite been screwed over as much vs. forcing them to keep a broken product, and offering them a consolation prize.
I don't know why Maxis doesn't realize that if SimCity is really as great as critics claim, then the best way to redeem themselves is to offer full refunds, no questions asked, knowing that customers will return once the game is back up and running.
Not only would this show a little bit of class, but it may restore a little confidence and credibility to Maxis/EA, and their poor choices up to this point.
And again, if SimCity is really that great -- and aside from the DRM/always online aspect, and the current broken state, the fundamental game sounds solid -- then customer will come back. These early adopters are the true enthusiasts, and ultimately just want to play a functional SimCity.
So the net results will be the same -- and EA/Maxis redeems a little of what is left of their credibility.
Maybe Maxis would refund them and EA won't let them?