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EA Takes Over Scrabble App, Wipes Player Histories and Switches Dictionary
New submitter DeathToBill writes "EA is in the midst of another user backlash, the BBC reports. After EA took over operation of the online Scrabble brand, it introduced a 'new and improved' version. Improvements include requiring manual refreshes to see other players' turns, irretrievably wiping players' game history and a switch to the Collins dictionary (rather than the traditional Chambers edition) that has proved deeply unpopular with Scrabble fanatics. "EA was unavailable for comment.""
This seems like the perfect use case for side loading. Avoid whatever misbegotten version EA has managed to put in the official "app store" and install some illicit clone.
It's sad when an official release has you reaching for the equivalent of "Hack Man".
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Terrible company.
This article is about how you can get free advertisement. Move along.
Yep, because nothing makes me more interested in checking out a game than learning of an unpopular change.
It serves as a reminder that EA are a bunch of assholes. Lest we forget.
i think this dictionary swap is having a larger effect then expected.
The problem with EA is that they have shitty customer relations/service, and are incredibly greedy. So people get all pissed off and swear they'll never buy another game published by EA ever again. But we forget that EA owns a lot of really great developers that make some kickass games (Anyone excited for the new Battlefront?). So we end up buying the awesome games and just feed the beast a little more.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
What hole? Users still line up to buy their shit. EA execs know gamers will continue to fork over the cash for shit. As a gamer myself, I can't help but marvel at the stupidity that requires.
Watch; EA has control of star wars. I guarantee they pull the same shit with forthcoming SW games, and they'll make a mint regardless of the quality of the game itself, nor how the company chooses to abuse the consumer this time around. Oh, we'll all whine, bitch and moan. Then we'll turn around and buy the DLC and expansions.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
p
o
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screw
h
after the latest SimCity i was afraid i might never see EA release another title again. However with this latest acquisition i can see EA is still dedicated to the tradition of alienating consumers, infuriating players, and pedaling the franchise ever further into the dirt. A worry had crossed my mind that perhaps they might suddenly change direction, or maybe continue the sincere course the original developers had maintained for so long in order to foster a thriving online gaming community. Yet once i heard "EA was unavailable for comment," I signed in relief and smiled to myself, knowing somewhere, somehow, John Riccitiello's biggest care in the world was trying to find a port of call that not only offered both legitimate cuban cigars as well as fine vintage scotch, but could also fit the likes of his superyacht in on short-notice. Carry on you brave pioneer of the digital age.
Good people go to bed earlier.
You should respect EA's copyright.
Why?
EA isn't.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Along with my paper dictionary.
EA and the NSA continue to demonstrate that the digital world is too fragile for society to rely on.
(Is this just fantasy.)
Isn't it just common knowledge that EA destroys everything they touch and have zero respect for gamers?
What kind of amazes me(not entirely, given how EA manages to fuck up things like 'Origin' so completely), is that none of the player-shafting here appears to have actually been in EA's interests...
Manual refresh to see the other player's move? That's just insanity. If anything, the bandwidth eaten by players hammering 'refresh' impatiently will be substantially greater than just having the server push things down when the other player submits their move.
Nuking play histories? Probably made some DBA's life easier(but since when has EA given a damn about the tech peons?), at the expense of cutting existing customers' perceived 'investment' in the platform. Good job, guys...
Switching dictionaries? You'd better have a convincing story about how usurious the licensing costs were for the official one; because the reaction from the hardcore scrabble heads was totally predictable. Those guys are Serious.
Had they taken it over and then larded it with DLC, microtransactions,(Would you like to buy a vowel?), and in-game ads for assorted discordant products, that'd be merely lawful evil of them. This is just stupid evil.
I think sometimes that people like getting screwed by the companies they do business with. It is some kind of perverse relationship. You give them money and they fuck you. It's been doing well for them. I bought a game from them back in the Commodore 64 days. For 39.95 I got a game that took about 5 and a half minutes to load and hammered my C1541 disk drive into misalignment with the added bonus it got so hot I could use it to boil water as well. Me being the type that holds a grudge I pirated EA games from that point on. Besides the obvious monetary savings I got games that loaded in about 20-30 seconds and my disk drive stayed in alignment. Win-Win!
no escape from reality
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
I need no cheater tools, because it's easy spell, easy score
Wordsmith.. My personal favorite anyways.
It serves as a reminder that EA are a bunch of assholes. Lest we forget.
I had that tattooed on my ass. I sure hope they never get their act together or I'm going to have some explaining to do.
You can't copyright a set of rules.
But you can copyright the locations of bonus squares, even if it deeply affects the game's strategy. That's why Words With Friends (doesn't someone else own the trademark on those initials?) uses a diamond-shape motif instead of Scrabble's X shape motif. Yes, I know it's like copyrighting the dimensions of a basketball court.
This article is about how you can get free advertisement. Move along.
Yep, because nothing makes me more interested in checking out a game than learning of an unpopular change.
It serves as a reminder that EA are a bunch of assholes. Lest we forget.
Verily; behold the obligatory
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Users still line up to buy their shit.
They have no choice. With EA owning exclusive rights to the National Football League, Arena Football, NCAA, and even FIFA, what league is a competing developer of football video games supposed to use? Fictional leagues don't work so well because the majority of people buy the game to play as a particular team.
From 2003
Sounds like old news-- though my ipad's scrabble app did update its dictionary options fairly recently. Since I'm a novice and have not yet memorized the dictionary,, I took little notice of the change.
Open your eyes,
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
And with the XBox One, this vgcats strip now also applies to Microsoft as well as EA.
It's like these two companies don't give a fuck about their own paychecks.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
In the US, EA has been the Scrabble app provider for some time, and nothing has changed.
It's outside the US that this impacts people. Presumably the wiping of histories is due to a lack of agreement between parties.
Of course they care about profits, it's all they care about. However, they're not too worried about that when suckers keep buying their crap, regardless of how shitty it is. The vgcats comic is right: if you don't like the game, why did you buy it? Yes, it's hard to try games before you buy them, but MS and EA have long reputations for shittiness, so at this point if you buy anything from them, you deserve whatever you get. It's not like you're taking a chance on some new indie game studio's product; I've been reading stories about how awful EA is for well over a decade now.
Oh FFS - this isn't reddit!
EA probably said they didn't want the data, or didn't want to bother transferring it, so Mattel destroyed it. It could have been a requirement in the contract.
This is about the Facebook version. The Android version, already run by EA, has neither changed dictionaries nor dropped scores and ratings (I just logged in to check).
Also, I'm a bit confused about the dictionaries. Isn't the Collins/Chambers list for international play? Doesn't the US version still use OWL2+Long Words from NASPA? Or is there only 1 version? I don't play on FB, and TFA doesn't clarify.
5 days ago the BBC had this article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22801311
i think this situation with Scrabble explains why EA will never stop being hated.
Just how poorly must your company be run if you fuck up scrabble, that you bought. EA Purchased scrabble from Mattel, Mattel ran it successively for many many years. Just moving it over to EA's servers completely destroyed everything.
EA will always be hated. And Scrabble shows us why
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Isn't it just common knowledge that EA destroys everything they touch and have zero respect for gamers?
These are Facebook gamers. There was never anything to respect.
if this is what happens on reddit, then i'm glad not to use it
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
While I agree whole-heartedly with your statement, I don't think this is limited to gamers. Look at the state of affairs in the US as a whole...
I agree. What would it take for gamers to actually start a movement to boycott EA. I know that even if Battlefield and Need for Speed looks cool, I'm sure as hell not going to give any money to that company again. There are a lot of competing products out there, especially now that Codemasters released Grid 2. But actions like mine are insignificant when done on your own, since I'm pretty sure somebody at EA is probably laughing their ass off when they see that somebody is refusing to buy their products.
I really don't think it was EA this time. Sure EA implemented the changes, but they are just the middle men.
I have worked with Hasbro (owner of Scrabble) before. They are zealots about making sure people precisely follow their brands.
My guess is that Hasbro brand managers went nuts over things like the dictionary choice, and demanded EA (who is the exclusive Hasbro licensee) make the changes. I can also see Hasbro brand managers demanding that people who gained a score on the unofficial rule sets have those scores wiped.
Point your angry fingers at HASBRO who actually owns the property.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
In all honesty, it's not so different to here if you stay away from the porn and memes. There's a wealth of knowledge on some of the sub-reddits. They have the inside jokes, just like we do here.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.