#I DONT FUCKIING CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID FUCKING SPORT

[mister-maiden]

EA.

I never held any respect for this scummy company for how it has treated its consumers in the past like volatile babies unable to understand our own decisions. 

Over the years, DLC and lootboxes have become near accepted into the gaming community which was such an absolutely tragic loss. Selling half-assed, non-finished games is now the norm where the rest of it and the better half of patches will come AFTER the game is released. Not only has this slowly flooded Steam’s gates with games that just didn’t matter. It gave the go ahead to other game publishers and developers to go ahead and say “Fuck the consumers” and give them less than what they deserve...Now that was just a mini-rant about Early access, my real topic is E.A. Electronic Arts. The shit company that just announced that “Loot boxes aren’t gambling!...They are surprise mechanics! c:”

What a load of horseshit

Maybe I’ll first talk about their various delightful business practices. 

You remember Dead Space?

Company is dead because of EA. 

Pandemic who made Destroy all Humans? (getting a remake, can’t wait <3)

Dead.

Mythic?

Dead.

You get the picture. 

(Sources)

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/7cy8zu/a_list_of_studios_ea_has_acquired_and/

https://heavy.com/games/2017/10/studios-ea-has-killed-visceral-games/

https://kotaku.com/an-updated-list-of-studios-ea-has-bought-and-then-shut-1689498614

EA has the fun tendency to completely buy these companies, their addresses and creations, and just drain it to the point it is a husk. With no real staple for what games EA produces, I doubt the company cares at this point as they need to make sure they tell people single player games are dying! 

https://www.gamespot.com/g00/articles/ea-says-people-dont-really-enjoy-linear-games-as-m/1100-6455252/?i10c.ua=1&i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%3d&i10c.dv=17

https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/29/viscreals-star-wars-was-game-canned-because-ea-think-linear-games-are-no-longer-popular-7117825/

My guess on why they tried to convince their consumers that single player games are dying? It’s because multiplayer games gives the initiative and want to get ahead of other players. How to do this? Buy lootboxes and DLC for the multiplayer content. Remember when EA tried telling us “ The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. “ when that Star wars game came out with the RIDICULOUS amount of micro transactions and DLC? Yet another excuse to just bone-dry suck a company’s gaming IP until it can’t make any more money. A revolting practice that preys on the lack of control of some players and children. 

https://gizmodo.com/congratulations-to-ea-games-for-posting-the-most-hated-1820391000

 Now you’re probably wondering: What did EA do to make Cult wanna make a light post on the subject?

Recently, the UK parliament had a hearing with their digital culture media and sports committee. Both Epic Games (I could go on about this one. This one is just BAD. Quick examples: Buying game developers for exclusivity for their horribly made store online like Borderlands 3, Metro Exodus, etc in order to FORCE consumers to come to their store rather than use the far more secure STEAM page. Lying about their motivations. Etc). and EA were in attendance. 

The topic was about their business practices..and before long, it got to lootboxes...To which the Vice President of Legal and Government affairs of EA, Kerry Hopkins, says  “first we don’t call them loot boxes...*Gets interrupted* well we call them surprise mechanics.”

https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/21/18691760/ea-vp-loot-boxes-surprise-mechanics-ethical-enjoyable

SURPRISE MECHANICS.

How DARE you try to fucking change the narrative AGAIN when we are focusing on this horrible practice of praying on consumers. You fucking horrible, VILE company. “What’s the buzzword we can use for loot boxes today?” NOT FUCKI- UGHH NOT SURPRISE MECHANICS.

A Surprise mechanic would be shooting a gun into fire and having the bullets suddenly burst into flame. 

A surprise mechanic is jumping on a surface you can run quick on to find out you can bounce on it

A SURPRISE MECHANIC. IS EATING A SWEETROLL, AND GETTING AN ENERGY BOOST.

GAMBLING. IS. NOT. A. SURPRISE MECHANIC.

Now you’re probably saying “but Cult, loot boxes aren’t gambling!”

No. You’re wrong. And the only reason LEGALLY it has been avoiding the term gambling for so long is because of the strict definition and need of there needing a chance you receive nothing rather than getting something for it to be considered gambling. Basically since loot boxes ALWAYS produce something (generally garbage), it isn’t officially recognized as gambling since in gambling you have a chance to get nothing. 

How fucking stupid must you be to actually believe this load. Here’s two examples to draw on.

1: I walk into Vegas looking for a coin machine. One of my favorites. Sure I never won anything before, but I still can’t scratch that feeling that I am going to win it big one day so I never quit. I put in my money and watch the dials go up and down. If I win, I scream, if I lose, I groan and try again. It’s a VERY SMALL chance to get a jackpot, but I’m sure if I keep putting money into this, I’ll get it!

2: I log onto Starwars Battlefront to open some loot boxes. One of my favorites. Sure I never got anything rare before, but I can’t scratch that feeling I am going to win it big one day with a rare item so I never quit. If I put my money and watch the dials go up and down. If I win, I scream, if I lose, I groan and try again. It’s a VERY SMALL chance to get a rare item, but I’m sure if keep putting money into this, I’ll get it!

See the difference? Nope.

Gambling requires there to be a chance of getting nothing for inserting money. It’s a very addictive hobby which my own brother went to rehab for to stop his addiction. This volatile practice FEEDS off the want of players, slowly forming early signs of gambling addiction within young players. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444818786216

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0206767

https://psyarxiv.com/u5dmr

Look for more proof. It’s out there. It’s an EARLY...ACCESSIBLE form of gambling for children.

Huh...Early access...EA....Another reason to fucking despise this company.

Look. Make your own decisions about EA I guess. Watch what you buy. Don’t buy into this bullshit. Remember the vast amount of companies they ruined. The shitty practices. The horrible lies. I’m tired of it. This company has been doing this for far too long and they must either change or leave. This disgusting practice of praying on vulnerable individuals should be punished.