#ea sucks

[madebycoffee]

>_> welp the good news is, updating all my mods wasn't a big deal (i don't use a lot of mods, just buckets of cc) i'm putting off dx11 b/c i do not have the patience for that today or maybe even this year lol.

the dogshit news is that i cannot play offline. i have done all the things to try to be able to play offline but if i try, the evil ea app gives me an error. and im not alone in this.

<_<

[vavuska]

Seems that EA is now allegedly accused of a mayor privacy violation, having used tracking tools on The Sims FreePlay app to secretly gather and transmit players’ personal information to Facebook for advertising purposes. This data potentially includes unique Facebook IDs, which can be used to match players’ in-game activities to their individual Facebook profiles. Attorneys suspect that these potential data-sharing practices may violate a federal privacy law and are now gathering players to take action.

So, there are at least two class action against EA, because it seems to collect data from players using the Meta Pixel software to harness data from players and sell it to the Meta company, who owns Instagram, Facebook and other social networks.

It would be interesting to learn if this allegations are true and how this would be seen in the eyes of GDPR, European Regulation 679/2016, which allows the processing of personal data only with consent given by the data subjects and also in the context of (online) games.

Consent in the context of the GDPR must be understood as an unambiguous indication of an informed and freely given choice by the data subject, relating to specific processing activities. The burden of proof that these criteria are fulfilled falls upon the controller (i.e., the game developer).

Google Play list the privacy condition of EA for its games, including The Sims Freeplay. Basically EA claims to use players data only to give them "better game experience", which seems vague but not less legit. The only less transparent thing I noticed is that the instructions to opt out of targeted marketing of in-game ads are in English and not in Italian: downloading the game, players allows EA to share their account information with third-party partners to customize advertising experience, which is basically all app developers do, but it's weird that the instruction to opt out doesn't have been translated at all!

This is not the first time EA is accused of, well, unethical commercial practice, since EA has been sentenced to pay fines by Austrian (2023) and Belgian (2018) civil court, because their FIFA loot boxes violated local gambling laws.

Moreover, it's important to notice that in January 2023, the European Parliament adopted a report calling for harmonized EU rules to achieve better player protection in the online video game sector.

The Parliament called for greater transparency from developers about in-game purchases: player should be aware of the type of content before starting to play and during the game. Also, players should be informed on the probabilities in loot box mechanisms, including information in plain language about what algorithms are devised to achieve.

The Parliament further stressed that the proposed legislation should assess whether an obligation to disable in-game payments and loot boxes mechanisms by default or a ban on paid loot boxes should be proposed to protect minors, avoid the fragmentation of the single market and ensure that consumers benefit from the same level of protection, no matter of their place of residence.

The Parliament highlighted problematic practices, including exploiting cognitive biases and vulnerabilities of consumers through deceptive design and marketing, using layers of virtual currencies to mask/distort real-world monetary costs, and targeting loot boxes and manipulative practices towards minors.

[thagoddessdemi]

I wish I had a update for the Macfreeling Royal Family but since this update my EA app won't open with my mods folder in. It says Server down but without my mods folder in; everything opens fine. I did hella trouble shooting and I'm honestly sick of these updates. Soooo yeah, idk 🤷🏾‍♀️.

*Sparkle face is exactly how I feel right now.

[lilacwhimss]

i am LITERALLY on the verge of tears.

i tried everything. it isn't a mod issue. all worlds are opening just fine. mt. komorebi just gives me a blank screen. i haven't seen anyone else report this issue. this fucking game is broken. i literally just wanted to play today. i wanted to finish building townhouses i had started. i wanted to set up my mt. komorebi residents and create more townies and populate the fucking world

anyways, i'm literally so sad and i hate this game

[reverberation-layla]

EA is gross.

PC: 60.00

Console: 70.00

No EA app, however, you’ll get a discount for having EA play (even if that is through game pass or the ps equivalent) and if you have EA pro you don’t have to pay anything extra to play unless you buy it.

🙃

Edited for stoned spelling mistakes. lol

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

im like a year late to this, but i somehow never noticed this in growing together

[poppetsisters]

I’m gonna miss American McGee’s Alice games.

It was in those games that I grew fascinated with the world of mental health and discovered a love for mental words, even before I played Psychonauts. In truth, it was my introduction to Wonderland itself! All other adaptations of those books were colored by my experience with these games.

Not to mention, well, one of my headmates being a white rabbit named Alice.

EA is a piece of shit who should’ve sold the rights back, but to be honest, I sort of knew the era was over. The longer it took to develop, the less likely this kind of thing would sell to a modern audience. Hot Topic just ain’t what it used to be.

In any case, the $60 I was going to spend on Alice Asylum can now be spent on two of his mental health rabbits. Full circle I guess.

[britechester]

sooo we are gonna get just about the same amount of gameplay for horses as there was in ts3 pets but in a completely separate pack from cats & dogs that is x4 the price of ts3 pets… very cool EA, very cool!

[fluffy-bee]

Love how I'm seeing half the sims community gushing over how cute the new infants are in the update. And the other half unable to even launch the game and getting error 500 because the EA app decided to give up on functioning today.

Take a guess which group I'm in.

[cerebralsim]

i wish horses would do more than just stand there

ft. lennon dominating her homework as per ushe.

[blvckentropy]

EA/Sims Team weirdest decisions

*Click household relationship for a male and woman sim* Married Fiancé Brother Sister Roommates Me: So dating not an option? Sims Team: ...... Me: Why? the other games had it Sims Team: *crickets* Me: *sigh* do better

[rosydoe]

was so excited to finish work for the week and play sims and now this kinda ruins it for me :(

[wh0reforthemarauders]

I swear my heart just stopped when I logged in to my EA Desktop account right after switching from Origin and all my Sims games were gone. I was ready to ruin EA. But luckily they came back when I reset my password. WTF EA???? Why are you trying to give me a heart attack????

Tbh I don't even play the sims anymore because each time I want to play I know I'd have to face something as stressful as this first so I just don't even bother. What an absolute waste of my money...

[simmingsorah]

I would be excited for the expansion pack but it's EA. Lots of promises, very little follow through.

[teafaellana]

THE SIMS SHOULD NOT HAVE DAILY LOGIN REWARDS. THIS IS THE WORST THING THE SIMS HAS EVER DONE. EA IS AWFUL.

[that-lego-frog]

i just want to play video games and stop being stressed but origin finally forced me to download the ea app and now sims 4 crashes my entire computer every fucking time i try to play