Sarcastic Gamer Community,
Take a deep breath. You did something amazing. With the support of more than a hundred independent blogs and podcasts, you brought awareness to the effort to convince EA to alter its course with the DLC for Bad Company. More than that, you proved that when properly motivated, even the smallest of communities can accomplish huge feats. No we didn’t change the world, or end hunger. But we did make enough noise to elicit a positive response from an enormous company.
This boycott was founded for two reasons.
First, to directly disrupt the plan to distribute what we felt was abusive DLC at the expense of loyal fans of the Battlefield franchise.
Secondly, but perhaps most importantly, we wanted to send a clear message to EA and other publishers, that there is a very clear limit to how far they can take downloadable content, and that there can be awful repercussions if the line is crossed.
After reading the interviews that were granted to the larger outlets this evening, I am confident that we accomplished both of those objectives decisively, and with our own brand of class.
At no point in this fracas did you hear any single individual with Sarcastic Gamer say anything derogatory regarding the quality of BF:BC. Our intention was not to hurt DICE, a respected developer. Our intention was not to hurt EA either. I do not believe we did either of those things. We just wanted, as a community, to be heard.
The reason that this effort was successful is that we made reasonable, clear demands of those with the power to change things, and your community, on the whole, ran with that clear message. You told anyone who would listen, and many who wouldn’t. You stared down several respected bloggers who basically laughed at the effort, or ignored it.
While we might have employed a touch of sensationalism, I have no regrets on how things were handled on this end. Small sites like ours must sometimes play by a different set of rules to be heard on a scale large enough to make an impact. Our boycott video might have been an extreme exaggeration, but it did it’s job. It spread the word.
While the result might not be ideal, this boycott cannot continue with any degree of integrity. While the hoops to jump through might be a little on the silly side, the content in question is now fully available to anyone that purchases BF:BC without additional financial commitment. I believe it would be petty of all of us to continue with this. DICE and EA have done basically what we have asked.
There have been new calls within the community for another boycott over the pricing of Rock Band for our friends in Europe. I own Rock Band. I do not see how, in good conscience, I could participate in a boycott for a game I already own. We have a saying here in the US. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Quite simply this means we’re already working on a far more creative way of trying to help our substantial membership from overseas. Please be patient.
As I mentioned before, you as a community, will likely never receive the recognition you deserve for what YOU accomplished. Already, the news of this victory has hit most major gaming sites, many of which said nothing when we were trying to get their assistance. Whatever. That doesn’t matter.
Sarcastic Gamer took a lot of direct hits from all directions. Thanks for defending us.
The podcast team has received a lot of back patting for this, but as much as we appreciate the sentiments, you should really be patting your own shoulders. Sarcastic Gamer was the aircraft carrier, and you crazy bastards did the bombing runs. You got Destructoid to listen. You got IGN to listen. You pissed Joystiq’s Justin McElroy off enough to write about it, just to shut us all up. You made the noise. This is YOUR victory and not ours.
Before I close I want to make an apology to my friend, Lono. When he brought this to Dave and I, I was dismissive. I was scared we’d look stupid (which is itself stupid considering half of the other stuff we do around here). I didn’t believe it could work. After a lot of yelling and some compromises, he convinced Dave and I that it could work, and that our community was more than capable of making this happen. I won’t doubt you (as much) in the future, Lono.
As I promised to do when this all began, if our demands were met, I now plan to buy BF:BC based on the merits of the game, and in appreciation for a very big company doing something as fundamental as it was unexpected.
They listened to their fans.
That’s it.
Boycott complete.
Good job Sarcastic Gamer community, and thanks to the countless bloggers and sites that jumped in to help.
Doc
P.S. Just as we all went forth to spread the bad news, it might be a good idea and get out there and let the troops know that the war’s been called off due to lack of quarrel. At least this one, anyway.
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Think we all deserve a nice cold beer after this one. I notice it was the designers (Dice) that came forth with this not the publishers
Sarcastic Gamer
Taking on the world… from our parents basement
Hooray! Way to go everybody! Now boycott FF:CC!
Thats right we do have a voice!
I’m so glad this boycott is over. I’ve been enjoying the beta and was fearful I might not actually be able to play the rest of the game. I’m definitely buying this game. I can’t wait to man the .50 cal of Doc’s tank while we tear though Lono’s petty defenses on the way to the last gold crate. Way to go SG community…and I hope to see you all on the battlefield when the game releases.
Outstanding work from all. I’m drinking in ya’lls honor tonight.
That logo is freaking creepy.
V-EA day (Victory over EA lol)
Victory Screech!:
Wooolololoooololoololoooollooololol!
THANK YOU! I’m so happy that the boycott reached out and succeeded.
I couldn’t be more proud. This proves they will listen. Though game companies have many things to focus on when creating and releasing a game, the gamers should be a major priority. EA makes games, but only the gamer has the ability to break games. And in the end it’s like the guys said, it’s not about this one moment where EA screwed up, it’s about trends. And some day we will be getting games ala cart, but today we pushed that day even further off. Seriously, this site has and it’s fans have a lot to be thankful for today. You made a difference. Great job!!
I couldn’t be more happy with the results. I wasn’t even planning on getting this before the boycott, but now I really want to as a way of saying “thanks” for responding and not ignoring the boycott. I want to show them that if they get things fixed, we will be more that willing to throw our support behind it again.
I am just glad to have been a small part of this effort and contributed however little to this movement. For me though, the battle is not yet over and I will be going full-force against the terrible DLC of Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: My life as a King.
Well, great job everyone- the participants in the battle and EA/DICE for not choosing to ignore us and end up digging their own grave.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167327
1up had our back the entire time! :/
Unbelieveable! Its like sprouting wings and taking flight, screaming at the top of your lungs on a mountain top.
Gamers know a raw deal when they see it and thanks to communities like these you’ve put into effect what was once just a thought, or a feeling of unfair business. I’m glad to hear EA listens to the people that disagree with them and I look forward to getting my hands on this title. thanks again for all your efforts!
HOORAY!!! its amazing what a concentrated group can accomplish even if it is for a game i might not get the chance to play
but its not about the individual, it’s about the group as a whole
im proud to say that my voice, along with many other, helped stop EA’s stupid plan to nickel and dime us gamers, and while the you, the podcast team, may be as humble as ever it was due to your amazing leadership skills that we, the dancing monkeys that we are, were able to lead a hand to this noble cause.
so again i say
Thank You!
btw: i just realised that its pretty hard to type something this important with my PS3
VIVA LA RESISTANCE!
Great job, everybody, and especially to you, Lono and the podcast team. Without you guys, we never would’ve achieved this.
On the other hand, now I have to go change all my sigs again!
Brilliant result, guys. What an amazing message and impact you’ve made in the gaming community.
This was a definite win for gamers (specifically FPS addicts) everywhere. Though, while you said the congrats go to us, the SG crew still deserve credit too. Troops need their generals to tell them where to go and what to do.
Congrats to Sarcastic Gamer, and every person who supported the boycott
We did it LONO i can believe it
Great job guys! I didn’t expect anything like this to happen, but we did it!
Oh, and that logo looks cool, but creepy. Lol
I was the 1st one to put the Boycoot link in IGN.COM’s game profile of Bad Company
All this praise for Lono cannot be good for his ego. lol
Hey Lono NOW LETS TAKE ON WORLD HUNGER not
now can we demand a decent sequel/remake of Chrono trigger? how about chrono resurrection back?
Yey now i can finnaly buy bad company ,and good work all of you.
Mission Complete Guys and Gals, its nice that we did something nice for gamers. Thanks to all the community and guys who supported us.
Wow. We did it. Even though I got involved in this late, I did whatever I possibly could to help this boycott. And, we, everyone here who was part of the boycott, did it. I applaud you guys, and I am proud to say that I was part of the boycott. Job well done, guys.
Man thats great news, I can now buy this great looking game, cant wait for it to come out now. great job everyone.
Score one for the little guys.
check out the link. gamespot gave the site recognition for this boycott.!!!!
http://au.gamespot.com/news/6189011.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0
I’m so proud of us!
Damn right you don’t underestimate me, or my peeps. We bring it, every time.
Right…. now about this Rock Band UK boycott…
Tell me more about the Rock Band boycott.
Awesome! We did it!
Actionjim – I don’t think there is one yet, but the pricing has been announced and it’s going to be about £180 – double the price of what you can get the game & instruments for in the US. Absolutely insane.
I’m glad that I can buy this now. I was all the way with you guys (I was certainly outraged with this when I heard about it).
I would like to thank you guys for your efforts in pulling this together, without some of the great material you provided, it would have been much more difficult. You say it is not your victory, but you are just as much of the community as we are.
Sarcastic Gamer, you guys are one of us. Not some review site interested in hits, not some blog whos fans are only a statistic.
I am not always a fan of the decisions made here, but I am a fan of HOW decisions are made. You guys are fantastic, and I have a lot of respect for you, Jive or not.
So as part of the community, Thank You for being awesome.
Lono the lawyer. Thsi was democracy in action people. We (not me, I hate FPS) voiced our oppinion and the majority had it’s voice heard. Bravo!
Dailygamesnews.com supports you guys. We did a post on your boycott with the video. We maybe a smaller blog, but we don’t want this bull to go on any longer.
click my name for the link to the post.
VICTORY
I AM SO PROUD OF US THAT IT WARRANTS CAPS LOCK!
Here here! CAPS LOCK FOR ALL!!!!
NICE !! ill take EAvery thing bad i said about ea ..!!
I still dont see why this was such a big deal, EA has every right to charge for something extra and you was’nt being forced to buy the dlc. As EA stated the content would bring no advantage whatsoever, so what was the problem ? Do you complain when they release extra songs for Guitar Hero or Rock band, NO, so why complain when a company releases a few extra guns for those who want to buy it?
So why many of you are clappping yourselves on the back I’m left shaking my head and wishing EA would have stood there ground and stuck two fingers back at ya.
I am all for sticking up for what people believe in
but this was not worthy and just another example of what mass “over-hyped” hysteria can do.
Now a boycott of Rock band thats FORCING you to pay over inflated prices. I’m all for that…
Excellent.
The community in situations like these makes us podcasters proud, proud of what we can do when we stand as one.
And while this battle is clearly over, the war has not been won, despite the decision, and the quite obvious unpopularity of dumb DLC, we will continue to fight travesties both similar and different in the future.
Let us turn at least a portion of our force toward EA’s crapstorm directed at Europe. (aka Overpriced Rock Band.)
wow they fell quick im impressed,
i guess i got to save up another 60 bucks for this one to now, dam. :p
Yes, this was great especially because so many people doubted us.
Grats all. So amazing we stood up to our beliefs we was heard and we won.