An open plea to everyone critical of Maxis

[MINIggy03 227]

No idea where you're going with this statement. A game is a product of the time that it was developed and released in. Sims3 has a design paradigm from 2005-8 -- that is well before micro-transactions and "cloud" stuff were in the mainstream. Not even EA is asinine enough to release a patch for a 3 year old game that would gut out the entire modding community and force everyone into just buying from their online store. Sims4 though? -- expect to see a design paradigm like Simcity or even more extreme.

That's actually false. Sims 2 started the store/micro-transactions a 3rd way through its run. Sims 3 had an entire store with micro-transactions from the beginning.

  Edited August 22, 2012 by MINIggy03  

[aereus 106]

That's actually false. Sims 2 started the store/micro-transactions a 3rd way through its run. Sims 3 had an entire store with micro-transactions from the beginning.

I think we should stop at this point, as you seem to always not pick up on my core argument and talk about tangential stuff instead. I said mainstream ... not that it didn't have it. And this is getting off-topic now as well.

[Wiimeiser 452]

I don't know what argument's worse: this one or the one over Sanae replacing Sakuya in Touhou 12. The latter wasn't really justified though. This one (probably) is.

[MINIggy03 227]

That's actually false. Sims 2 started the store/micro-transactions a 3rd way through its run. Sims 3 had an entire store with micro-transactions from the beginning.

I think we should stop at this point, as you seem to always not pick up on my core argument and talk about tangential stuff instead. I said mainstream ... not that it didn't have it. And this is getting off-topic now as well.

OK just to get this Sims crap out of the way, my point is that EA had a chance to kill custom content with Sims 3 and they didn't. Micro transactions in 2009 were already making millions for companies and they had already started it with the Sims 2 store in 2008. When Sims 3 was announced, the community had the same baseless assumptions that it would no longer allow custom content due to the amount of money they were making off The Sims 2 store. "Not even EA is asinine enough to release a patch for a 3 year old game that would gut out the entire modding community and force everyone into just buying from their online store." was exactly what was being said with regards to Sims 2 leading into Sims 3. "It's too late for Sims 2, but just wait and see with Sims 3!" That didn't happen and it's the same baseless assumptions being used today for SimCity.

  Edited August 22, 2012 by MINIggy03  

[baertooth 330]

...same baseless assumptions being used today for SimCity.

My point was based on a different situation that is not baseless at all. What they did with Simcity Societies happened and it's more of an apple to apple comparison with Simcity2013 than the Sims to Simcity2013.

[VeritaScientia 150]

your scenario of a random community rep talking with the lead designer is so hilariously naive and ignorant of the workings of large developers, I can't help but grin thinking about it.

You misunderstood me, I meant someone on the development team here and then reporting back to his boss to let them know what the community thinks. It'd be like a larger version of a focus group.

  Edited August 22, 2012 by PTPLauthor  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

SimCity Societies had tons of custom content. It was, as a matter of fact, very easy to change textures, behaviors, and props. I made some stupid mods myself, retexturing Dream Homes and Banks.

[baertooth 330]

SimCity Societies had tons of custom content. It was, as a matter of fact, very easy to change textures, behaviors, and props. I made some stupid mods myself, retexturing Dream Homes and Banks.

Very true, BUT... you couldn't import new models. That was the important catch. And one EA knew right from the beginning as the license for the technology they were using didn't allow for the community to get the right to make new models in the first place. Hence their claim it was going to be the most customizable wasn't true and since they knew it wasn't true made it a lie each time they said it (which was a lot).

[cirugo 1,889]

SimCity Societies had tons of custom content. It was, as a matter of fact, very easy to change textures, behaviors, and props. I made some stupid mods myself, retexturing Dream Homes and Banks.

right because everyone just wants to recolor the existing models...

[Selphy 69]

I don't know what argument's worse: this one or the one over Sanae replacing Sakuya in Touhou 12. The latter wasn't really justified though. This one (probably) is.

This one. Sanae > Sakuya, just barely though.

[Xenocity 343]

EA has zero problems with Sims 3 having free custom content, mods, etc. by the community on top of their store, stuff packs and expansions. You guys are freakin' out over speculation. Like always.

I don't think its that simple, Miniggy03. Keep in mind that Sims3 likely started development around 2005-6 period and released in 2009. Steam was still barely relevant back then, and the whole micro-transactions buzz hadn't started yet either.

Fast-forward to today -- EA switched CEOs since then, has largely been seen as going down the wrong road and reviled by gamers, and said CEO is making the same kind of greedy statements about "monetizing" games like we've heard from Bobby Kotick over at Activision. Are we really making a crazy speculative statement to show grave concern over the direction of this game?

Locking people into online play, not allowing different region sizes, not allowing terraforming, storing all save files and content on their cloud servers -- does that sound like a development system that will be open to the creative minds of modders that continue to produce content for SC4 8 years later? As per their videos, demos, and explanations of the game systems so far -- it seems highly unlikely anything but the most cosmetic changes will be allowed.

I would say the best possible situation we're likely to see is they implement something like the Steam Workshop. Where you get to create and submit new building skins, and the developers will vet them and assign the stats they want to the items and release them for people to download. Any real tinkering with the underlying scripting would unbalance the commodities market and leaderboards they're implementing.

Umm you do know Spore had user generated content and multiple editors that allowed you do add your own content.

Spore Galactic Adeventure the expansion pack added more editors that allowed for more user generated content and customizable planets and other stuff.

Darkspore (an ARPG with little relation with Spore that came out last year has tons of user generated content which was tradable with others.

These were all made by Maxis post micro-transaction onset.

  Edited August 23, 2012 by CaptCity  
Let's not make remarks that appear to be negative toward others.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Alright, some form of custom content is guaranteed to be permitted, and we can hope that just about everything will be moddable. What is the important thing with the modding is that before custom content can come in and make a suped-up game, the basic game has to be good to begin with. The foundation must be good before the mods come, because if it's a bad foundation people won't be interested, and even if they were all the work wouldn't be worth it. Simcity 4 versus Simcity Societies is a case in point. Good games attract good mods, and vice versa.

[MatlockMan 370]

All I hear is "Moan! Moan! Moan! Cry! Cry! Cry! Look how bad Simcity is! blah blah blah..."

If EA/Maxis hadn't decided to release a new Simcity game, we'd all be here right now complaining about how EA should be making a new SimCity. Ironic how we finally get our great dream yet people still aren't happy.

Have anyone here played the game? Have you considered that SC5 CAN be different from SC4 AND fun to play? No, and probably no. And that's because 70% of posters here are willing to write off a game 6 months before it is even released based on two things:

1. "It waznt in Simcity 4!!!11!one!"

2. "EA is teh evilest empire in da hole werld!!1!"

Give the game a chance. You might actually enjoy it. And if you don't, come back here and moan some more.

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

All this endless complaining is a HUGE turn-off. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread had a bigger effect on SC5's sales than the actual game itself....

  Edited August 24, 2012 by tmorgan96  

[Essex 322]

All I hear is "Moan! Moan! Moan! Cry! Cry! Cry! Look how bad Simcity is! blah blah blah..."

If EA/Maxis hadn't decided to release a new Simcity game, we'd all be here right now complaining about how EA should be making a new SimCity. Ironic how we finally get our great dream yet people still aren't happy.

Have anyone here played the game? Have you considered that SC5 CAN be different from SC4 AND fun to play? No, and probably no. And that's because 70% of posters here are willing to write off a game 6 months before it is even released based on two things:

1. "It waznt in Simcity 4!!!11!one!"

2. "EA is teh evilest empire in da hole werld!!1!"

Give the game a chance. You might actually enjoy it. And if you don't, come back here and moan some more.

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

All this endless complaining is a HUGE turn-off. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread had a bigger effect on SC5's sales than the actual game itself....

First of all, Simcity was made for a certain public, that has been abolished, so those people have the right to be critical.

Better yet, beause I haven't done anything wrong in EA's perspective I should have Origin's spyware because I've inherently done nothing wrong?

You, sir, have something inherently wrong, the Big Brother is growing bigger and bigger and "us" the people will let these corps get away with it.

Wrong and right will only be defined by the corp itself.

[MatlockMan 370]

All I hear is "Moan! Moan! Moan! Cry! Cry! Cry! Look how bad Simcity is! blah blah blah..."

If EA/Maxis hadn't decided to release a new Simcity game, we'd all be here right now complaining about how EA should be making a new SimCity. Ironic how we finally get our great dream yet people still aren't happy.

Have anyone here played the game? Have you considered that SC5 CAN be different from SC4 AND fun to play? No, and probably no. And that's because 70% of posters here are willing to write off a game 6 months before it is even released based on two things:

1. "It waznt in Simcity 4!!!11!one!"

2. "EA is teh evilest empire in da hole werld!!1!"

Give the game a chance. You might actually enjoy it. And if you don't, come back here and moan some more.

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

All this endless complaining is a HUGE turn-off. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread had a bigger effect on SC5's sales than the actual game itself....

You, sir, have something inherently wrong, the Big Brother is growing bigger and bigger and "us" the people will let these corps get away with it.

Excuse me. I've been drinking again whoops.

That aside, all this endless negativity is quite draining. It seems like people want to find reasons for SimCity to fail.

I'll be much happier to make judgement on the game in full (both negative and positive) come February. Until then though, chill. There's no point wasting oxygen until it's assured SC5 is a turkey.

Regarding EA's sweep thingo, I hardly see how they can glean anything of any actual significance off your computer. It seems more to me like a tool which will record what Origin games you use and how often, mainly so EA can tailor their marketing to you. It's no different from what Facebook or Google uses. If they take anything off your computer that isn't by their own creation, than thats a breach of privacy and you can take them to court.

My original post was meant to be deliberately facetious.

  Edited August 24, 2012 by tmorgan96  

[The_City_Builder 299]

All I hear is "Moan! Moan! Moan! Cry! Cry! Cry! Look how bad Simcity is! blah blah blah..."

If EA/Maxis hadn't decided to release a new Simcity game, we'd all be here right now complaining about how EA should be making a new SimCity. Ironic how we finally get our great dream yet people still aren't happy.

Have anyone here played the game? Have you considered that SC5 CAN be different from SC4 AND fun to play? No, and probably no. And that's because 70% of posters here are willing to write off a game 6 months before it is even released based on two things:

1. "It waznt in Simcity 4!!!11!one!"

2. "EA is teh evilest empire in da hole werld!!1!"

Give the game a chance. You might actually enjoy it. And if you don't, come back here and moan some more.

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

All this endless complaining is a HUGE turn-off. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread had a bigger effect on SC5's sales than the actual game itself....

Fully agreed. And don't forget the people that say "OmGz teh game isn't EXACTLEE liek Simcity 4!11!" or "dis gaim isn't exactlee wut i wanted! omgz it must suckkk"

  Edited August 24, 2012 by The_City_Builder  

[Jim14409 448]

All I hear is "Moan! Moan! Moan! Cry! Cry! Cry! Look how bad Simcity is! blah blah blah..."

If EA/Maxis hadn't decided to release a new Simcity game, we'd all be here right now complaining about how EA should be making a new SimCity. Ironic how we finally get our great dream yet people still aren't happy.

Have anyone here played the game? Have you considered that SC5 CAN be different from SC4 AND fun to play? No, and probably no. And that's because 70% of posters here are willing to write off a game 6 months before it is even released based on two things:

1. "It waznt in Simcity 4!!!11!one!"

2. "EA is teh evilest empire in da hole werld!!1!"

Give the game a chance. You might actually enjoy it. And if you don't, come back here and moan some more.

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

All this endless complaining is a HUGE turn-off. I wouldn't be surprised if this thread had a bigger effect on SC5's sales than the actual game itself....

I am reminded that some people have to actually be mauled by a wild animal before they will believe it is not something they want to cuddle up to. Others stink because they didn't believe the skunk would spray them in spite of all the warnings, and stances the skunk gave before he let fly.

The point is in every case there were WARNING signs before the big event. EA has given plenty of warning signs for those who can read the writing on the wall.

If you like what they offer, buy the game, but do so INFORMED, not wearing rose colored glasses and wishing on a star.

[Jim14409 448]

And don't forget the people that say "OmGz teh game isn't EXACTLEE liek Simcity 4!11!" or "dis gaim isn't exactlee wut i wanted! omgz it must suckkk"

Where are these people? Where are their posts? Links please?

There are no links because you surely can admit that you have exaggerated the words of sincere and informed people. We should remember that mocking reflects poorly back on the mocker in every instance. (and that's no joke)

[The_City_Builder 299]

And don't forget the people that say "OmGz teh game isn't EXACTLEE liek Simcity 4!11!" or "dis gaim isn't exactlee wut i wanted! omgz it must suckkk"

Where are these people? Where are their posts? Links please?

There are no links because you surely can admit that you have exaggerated the words of sincere and informed people. We should remember that mocking reflects poorly back on the mocker in every instance. (and that's no joke)

You want a link? Fine, here's one:

Oh, here's another one:

And another one:

From what I have read, people that actually went to gamescom ENJOYED the game. The people that continue on with this moaning and groaning only read what they WANT to read. One could say "This game is awesome!" and the said person that is negative will read that as "This game must suck. It's missing everything I wanted in it."

[Jim14409 448]

And don't forget the people that say "OmGz teh game isn't EXACTLEE liek Simcity 4!11!" or "dis gaim isn't exactlee wut i wanted! omgz it must suckkk"

Where are these people? Where are their posts? Links please?

There are no links because you surely can admit that you have exaggerated the words of sincere and informed people. We should remember that mocking reflects poorly back on the mocker in every instance. (and that's no joke)

You want a link? Fine, here's one:

Oh, here's another one:

And another one:

From what I have read, people that actually went to gamescom ENJOYED the game. The people that continue on with this moaning and groaning only read what they WANT to read. One could say "This game is awesome!" and the said person that is negative will read that as "This game must suck. It's missing everything I wanted in it."

No, you provided links to threads, not to specific examples. I don't think there are any such examples because like I said before you exxagerate what people have to say.

I'm discontinuing reading this thread because I won't have anything else productive or pleasing to post. See ya!

[Essex 322]

And don't forget the people that say "OmGz teh game isn't EXACTLEE liek Simcity 4!11!" or "dis gaim isn't exactlee wut i wanted! omgz it must suckkk"

Where are these people? Where are their posts? Links please?

There are no links because you surely can admit that you have exaggerated the words of sincere and informed people. We should remember that mocking reflects poorly back on the mocker in every instance. (and that's no joke)

You want a link? Fine, here's one:

Oh, here's another one:

And another one:

From what I have read, people that actually went to gamescom ENJOYED the game. The people that continue on with this moaning and groaning only read what they WANT to read. One could say "This game is awesome!" and the said person that is negative will read that as "This game must suck. It's missing everything I wanted in it."

Not all of them enjoyed it.

Plus, being enjoyed for 20 min doesn't really resemble a game that should at least last for a year or so.

Last comment for me on this whole "you're all negative" crap that you rose colored people give us:

We are Simcity fans, most of us for decades. When the new Simcity was announced, we were all jumping from happiness, EA (Maxis) made us disappointed by unveiling something that has almost nothing in common of what we loved about the old Simcity. It's not us that are "negative, whiny, bitchy etc", it's EA being EA.

  Edited August 25, 2012 by Essex  

[~Dee~ 215]

I agree with Essex, you can't form a proper opinion one way or the other about a game you only could play for 20 minutes.

For instance:

You wouldn't be able to form an opinion on the tile size, you didn't had time to build a big city.

You didn't had to deal with the servers being down.

Most of the options were locked, you couldn't use them.

You didn't had to load a saved game and see what happened to your city while you weren't playing it.

You most likely didn't had to deal with the global market because you only had 20 minutes to play.

You didn't had to worry about resources running out ... again, you only had 20 minutes of game play.

Because of all the reasons above you can't form a proper opinion about this game yet.

[Selphy 69]

We are Simcity fans, most of us for decades. When the new Simcity was announced, we were all jumping from happiness, EA (Maxis) made us disappointed by unveiling something that has almost nothing in common of what we loved about the old Simcity. It's not us that are "negative, whiny, bitchy etc", it's EA being EA.

That's the case with many franchises. The thing is individual gamers feel like they're always the people companies should market to but the fact of the matter is that the market is a changing organism. 10 years from now I can guarantee you that games will be significantly different from today because companies will be marketing to newer generations of gamers.

Fans of the original Castlevania haven't had a true Castlevania game for ages. It switched to Metroidvania-style games and then 3D action with the console releases.

Metroid went from a 2D platformer to a FPS then to whatever Other M was.

Mario similarly from 2D platformer to 3D platformer. Only recently have they went back to side-scrolling with New Super Mario Bros.

The thing about being a gamer is that you have to learn that you'll be the targeted market at one point in your life but eventually that will change. You have to learn to roll with the changes otherwise you'll always be angry about new games. There are plenty of games that I wish didn't change or evolve to accommodate new generations of players but I gave a lot of them a chance. Sure I wasted plenty of money but I also found games that enjoyed immensely.

And yes, they were all $60. But before you go on saying that I'm rich or whatever, I worked tons of part-time jobs to make money to support my hobby.

The point I'm trying to make is that things change, sometimes drastically, but that doesn't immediately means it will be bad. The best information we have now is a 20 minute demo. It's hard to gauge how much fun you'll have after playing for a year based on the first 20 minutes. There were so many things not included nor were you able to build a fully functioning city along with regional play to see how cities bounce off each other.

[MatlockMan 370]

The point I'm trying to make is that things change, sometimes drastically, but that doesn't immediately means it will be bad. The best information we have now is a 20 minute demo. It's hard to gauge how much fun you'll have after playing for a year based on the first 20 minutes. There were so many things not included nor were you able to build a fully functioning city along with regional play to see how cities bounce off each other.

^THIS

[Linoa06 1,374]

I don't know what argument's worse: this one or the one over Sanae replacing Sakuya in Touhou 12. The latter wasn't really justified though. This one (probably) is.

I'm not sure. Does Sanae play Simcity (2013)?

[Wiimeiser 452]

I don't know what argument's worse: this one or the one over Sanae replacing Sakuya in Touhou 12. The latter wasn't really justified though. This one (probably) is.

I'm not sure. Does Sanae play Simcity (2013)?

Probably not:

1. It's not out yet

2. It's an american game and she's japanese. Without specific coding that'd be Applocale torture

3. She moved to Gensokyo a while back.

[baertooth 330]

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

Regarding EA's sweep thingo, I hardly see how they can glean anything of any actual significance off your computer. It seems more to me like a tool which will record what Origin games you use and how often, mainly so EA can tailor their marketing to you. It's no different from what Facebook or Google uses. If they take anything off your computer that isn't by their own creation, than thats a breach of privacy and you can take them to court.

Doesn't matter what's on whose computer that's being swept. Either of you shouldn't be so nonchalant about this. It's imperative to protect your privacy (but more importantly, your right to it). Once it's gone, it's really hard to get back if not impossible now because of the internet.

Companies like Facebook and Google are BIG part of the problem. These two companies base their business models on you not having privacy, at least on their end. Larry Ellison, of Google, even said with his own mouth that privacy is dead. This is coming from the guy who is making a huge buck off of killing your right to privacy.

And if you need an example of privacy, just post your picture, your address, any identify information, pictures of your family, their names and addresses, and their identifying information. No? Then you should see at the very least you should be concerned about identity theft because banks and many other "secure" institutions still rely on scarce information as identifying information, which happens to be the same info I can get on many people now very easily by searching Facebook and Google.

tmorgan96, what EA is proposing is tantamount to installing a camera in my house to monitor me so they can better market to me. And that recording is what they're sending back, not what they scanned off my computer. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE. Just read the EULA. They're reserving the right to do way more than what you proposed and there is evidence out there they have scanned documents and other records on people's harddrives. It's why they're having such a hard time in Germany with ORIGIN as the laws over there are consumer friendly. If you want that, then I don't want you and everyone else who don't mind that kind of intrusion in your life to come complaining to me when it back fires. And it's not a matter of if it will, it's a matter of when it will. And they don't have any reason to collect that kind of data about me or anyone else. It might be different if they were leaving this as opt in and there were check boxes in the settings to share info like your usage of other software, your keystrokes, what's in you memory at the moment including any open documents or ones that have been cached by the OS, but it's not. There isn't even an opt out. What the hell do they need that info for?

I wish I had a better example than this but...

This is a video about why you shouldn't talk to the police. I encourage everyone to watch it because this is why Americans have the Fifth Amendment (but I think there is sound wisdom in the video for everyone everywhere on how to deal with the cops). While this specifically deals with the police, the same it true with any authority over your life. It's not like people haven't been here before. Government isn't new and lessons have been learned in all these thousands of years that people like Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerburg and companies like EA want you to forget because "they're not government". No, they're just massive corporations that you have about 0% chance of ever prevailing against.

Again, everyone watch the video. It's a lecture by COPS talking to a law student class who know what they're talking about. This is a life lesson moment to watch that video. Like having to sit though your parents explaining sex or learning not wreck your reputation. Some things you don't know and need to learn to protect yourself before YOU mess it up and it's too late. Allowing things like ORIGIN to go unchecked is messing up. Messing up royal.

In the end this is about controlling what information you leak and it's the first line of defense in protecting yourself. If they don't know it they can't use it against you. And most of the time the consequences are hard to predict and aren't evident until it's too late. This is also basic life strategy and something all parents have to teach their children.

  Edited August 25, 2012 by baertooth  

[Essex 322]

Also, if you are so scared of Origin and EA sweeping your computer, what are you hiding? What possibly could they use against you? Maybe you looked up porn once. Oh big whoop.

Regarding EA's sweep thingo, I hardly see how they can glean anything of any actual significance off your computer. It seems more to me like a tool which will record what Origin games you use and how often, mainly so EA can tailor their marketing to you. It's no different from what Facebook or Google uses. If they take anything off your computer that isn't by their own creation, than thats a breach of privacy and you can take them to court.

Doesn't matter what's on whose computer that's being swept. Either of you shouldn't be so nonchalant about this. It's imperative to protect your privacy (but more importantly, your right to it). Once it's gone, it's really hard to get back if not impossible now because of the internet.

Companies like Facebook and Google are BIG part of the problem. These two companies base their business models on you not having privacy, at least on their end. Larry Ellison, of Google, even said with his own mouth that privacy is dead. This is coming from the guy who is making a huge buck off of killing your right to privacy.

And if you need an example of privacy, just post your picture, your address, any identify information, pictures of your family, their names and addresses, and their identifying information. No? Then you should see at the very least you should be concerned about identity theft because banks and many other "secure" institutions still rely on scarce information as identifying information, which happens to be the same info I can get on many people now very easily by searching Facebook and Google.

tmorgan96, what EA is proposing is tantamount to installing a camera in my house to monitor me so they can better market to me. And that recording is what they're sending back, not what they scanned off my computer. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE. Just read the EULA. They're reserving the right to do way more than what you proposed and there is evidence out there they have scanned documents and other records on people's harddrives. It's why they're having such a hard time in Germany with ORIGIN as the laws over there are consumer friendly. If you want that, then I don't want you and everyone else who don't mind that kind of intrusion in your life to come complaining to me when it back fires. And it's not a matter of if it will, it's a matter of when it will. And they don't have any reason to collect that kind of data about me or anyone else. It might be different if they were leaving this as opt in and there were check boxes in the settings to share info like your usage of other software, your keystrokes, what's in you memory at the moment including any open documents or ones that have been cached by the OS, but it's not. There isn't even an opt out. What the hell do they need that info for?

I wish I had a better example than this but...

This is a video about why you shouldn't talk to the police. I encourage everyone to watch it because this is why Americans have the Fifth Amendment (but I think there is sound wisdom in the video for everyone everywhere on how to deal with the cops). While this specifically deals with the police, the same it true with any authority over your life. It's not like people haven't been here before. Government isn't new and lessons have been learned in all these thousands of years that people like Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerburg and companies like EA want you to forget because "they're not government". No, they're just massive corporations that you have about 0% chance of ever prevailing against.

Again, everyone watch the video. It's a lecture by COPS talking to a law student class who know what they're talking about. This is a life lesson moment to watch that video. Like having to sit though your parents explaining sex or learning not wreck your reputation. Some things you don't know and need to learn to protect yourself before YOU mess it up and it's too late. Allowing things like ORIGIN to go unchecked is messing up. Messing up royal.

In the end this is about controlling what information you leak and it's the first line of defense in protecting yourself. If they don't know it they can't use it against you. And most of the time the consequences are hard to predict and aren't evident until it's too late. This is also basic life strategy and something all parents have to teach their children.

This has to be the best post on Simtropolis for a while by a long shot and completely revelant to Simcity 2013 and EA's misdemeanor.

[VeritaScientia 150]

I find it incredibly difficult in this day and age for a police officer to say "Oh, don't talk to us" because without tips from the public, many crimes would not be solved.