EA Takes Over Scrabble App, Wipes Player Histories and Switches Dictionary 197
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.""
Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. (Score:5, Insightful)
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".
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And the biggest problem players are having is that the Leader Boards and all scores in general have been wiped. Even if the playerbase somehow convinced EA to use the old code, their playing histories have been wiped.
If I was playing it, it would be a perfect escape opportunity, since most Facebook games heavily leverage the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing with their player base.
Re:Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. (Score:4, Funny)
This in itself is a good thing, to prevent older exploited code form communication, and to make sure clients are using the same basic resources and interfaces to any underlying APIs.
Yeah, because we all know there's big money to be made in hackers exploiting buffer overflows in a scrabble client. Besides, 'powned' is only worth 12 points. I'm not writing an exploit for 12 stupid points.
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Side-loading won't do squat for a multi-player game with a server-side controlled by the new owner.
Just go to any of the app stores, there are plenty of Scrabble clones. Hasbro Inc. doesn't really own the concept of Scrabble, just the trademark. I assume this is probably because the concept most likely predates Hasbro's version of the game (otherwise, Hasbro would have fought to remove all the Scrabble-like games from all the app stores, or the ones that looked like theirs, and as it stands they didn't)
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It's not EA's copyright it's Mattel's
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It's not EA's copyright it's Mattel's
Agreed.
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 went nuts over things like the dictionary choice, and demanded EA (who is the licensee) make the changes.
Point your angry fingers at HASBRO who owns the property.
Re:Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. (Score:5, Informative)
You can't copyright a set of rules. You can patent them. You can copyright the specific wording explaining the rules that Scrabble uses. You can trademark the name Scrabble, and the appearance of Scrabble would be trade dress. The patent on Scrabble expired a long time ago. Anyone is free to make a Scrabble clone as long as it doesn't look so similar to the original that people would think it is authorized by the company that owns the original.
Copyright the bonus squares (Score:4, Interesting)
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? [someblogsite.com]) 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.
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Isn't copyright expressly prohibited from covering informational content and functional elements?
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Hmm, and at that hasn't Scrabble considerably outlived any patent lifespans? I kow I played it as a child yonks ago. So no copyright protection, no patent protection, all that leaves is trademark, and I don't think that's allowed to cover functional elements. So just call it Word Scramble and everything should be fine.
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Anyone is free to make a Scrabble clone as long as it doesn't look so similar to the original that people would think it is authorized by the company that owns the original.
If the board doesn't look like a Scrabble board, if it doesn't have the same number of squares, and the same bonus tiles in the same position, then it's not a Scrabble clone at all.
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Trade dress protecting the appearance of a scrabble board doesn't extend to functional things. The size and placement of the bonus tiles are functional. If you used a similar color scheme, that could be a violation - though it might not be distinctive enough to qualify for protection. The simple test is, "Would a person be confused into thinking he was playing the original, and does that confusion arise from non-functional appearance?"
FUCK your fans! (Score:5, Insightful)
You should respect EA's copyright.
Why?
EA isn't.
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Electronic fArts (Score:4, Funny)
Terrible company.
Electronic Arse: It's Sin - The Game (Score:2)
That's Right EA. (Score:2)
Keep digging that hole you're in even deeper.
Re:That's Right EA. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:That's Right EA. (Score:5, Interesting)
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!
Exclusive rights to football (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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So what? No one needs to play a football game, much less one with particular real-life teams hardcoded in rather than fictional teams.
If people think they absolutely need such a game that much, then they're a fool and they deserve to be separated from their money. I have zero sympathy.
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When I was growing up, the 'teams' were just little LEDs and we *LIKED* it that way. Now get off my lawn!
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Hah! When I was growing up, the teams were little figurines on plastic bases with a vibrating table. And we LOVED it that way!
Re:Exclusive rights to football (Score:4, Funny)
When I was growing up, the teams were life-sized humans on grass.
Which, actually, is why we're on your lawn. ;)
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I think playing something like PES is completely enjoyable. Maybe NHL is a different story. But if you truly cannot live without playing with a fictional team, I suggest you only buy one of those every other year. But really, you should just avoid their products in the long run, lack of money it's the only thing that will make them change.
Re:That's Right EA. (Score:5, Interesting)
5 days ago the BBC had this article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22801311 [bbc.co.uk]
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
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Just how poorly must your company be run if you fuck up scrabble, that you bought.
Traditionally, the problem with computer versions of games like Scrabble is that companies had to find an excuse to sell new versions of the same concept every year (or whenever). This seems to have been the case with the PC versions of scrabble. Which generally resulted in contrived and pointless secondary features, or worse, their messing around with the basic game itself (and just as likely screwing it up). For example, the countless stupid variants of Tetris (like Tetris Worlds [amazon.co.uk]) even though the original
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Sorry, in my case I refuse to buy any more games from them. I do want to play Mass Effect 3 and the new Battlefield when it comes out, but I can live without it just fine. And it's not so much that the games are bad quality as it was the case of SimCity and others, but more that what they did with Battlefield 3 where they charged premium for a game, only to act as if the game was a freemium game afterwards is totally unacceptable to me.
Besides, it's not like there aren't competing titles anyway, and nowaday
Feeding the Beast (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Feeding the Beast (Score:5, Interesting)
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I won't knowing buy a game from EA.
However EA doesn't always advertise it's brand boldly. some times it is a tiny logo on the back of the box, and you don't see the bold EA logo until you boot it up for the first time.
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In this case they bought it when it wasn't owned by EA. I think there is a fair chance many of them won't buy another EA game now.
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The logic here is simply borken.
They are buying all these other companies and turning their products into crap and nobody buys them anymore because it's crap all the way down, as far as the eye can see...
So, where did they get the money in the first place to buy all these other companies?
Love it or hate it making quality stuff is *expensive*. Making a mid range game that a lot of people buy can be far more profitable than making a stellar game that a lot of people buy. First off, the risk is lower making a
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but ea needs to keep buying and buying popular studios and franchises(but not too popular since if they were wildly profitable they wouldn't be on sale to EA at a price ea was paying!). they could do better business by simply not fucking up their old franchises - somehow it seems that once they take over all the talent or motivation walks out of the door.
this scrabble debacle is just the same thing.
now as for dragon age, the first game had good gameplay and very high production values. the next game done wi
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I think what most people are missing is that if the EA brand name ever gets sullied enough that most consumers start avoiding them, they'll just change their name and logo.
Wot, you mean like changing their name to "Amazin' Software", and using a logo consisting of a cube, a sphere and a pyramid?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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With the new Xbox, Microsoft seems to be trying really hard to compete with EA for the top spot of alienating their customers
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What? Oh, you're confused. Microsoft's customers aren't the people who buy their console, they're EA, Activision, etc... That's who the console was designed for.
Re: so glad to see EA is back in the game again. (Score:2)
Guess who's MS's closest partner on the Xbone?
Rob
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what is better is that 4 days ago at E3 EA president said he wanted EA to stop being hated .
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22801311 [bbc.co.uk]
EA took a working piece of software and FUBAR'd it so badly that it is essentially non functional. And they did it with a simple game like scrabble.
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And I want to lose 10 pounds. Yeah, I'm eating all that desert with soda, but I still want to lose that weight - if it somehow is gone, I'll be happy.
The board I have at home is operating correctly... (Score:4, Insightful)
Along with my paper dictionary.
EA and the NSA continue to demonstrate that the digital world is too fragile for society to rely on.
All 4 users must be pissed (Score:2, Funny)
All 70-somethings whose children gave them IPads for christmas must be really upset!
well, there is always (Score:4, Informative)
To be clear: This is for non-US (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
EA don't get into the pinball market you just F* i (Score:2)
EA don't get into the pinball market you just F* it up and your 80 hour work weeks will just take the devs and coders time away so they can't show up and play at local arcades.
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Pinball was actually one of the first things [wikipedia.org] EA did...
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they out lasted capcom, WMS, Gottlieb, and a few others. Still made in the USA as well. Also pinball is back right now.
Summary should clarify some things (Score:3)
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.
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umm wtf so the words you can use are different form the version they publish on facebook and the version they publish on android? don't they have anyone overseeing it as a whole beyond the numbers?
Summary should clarify some things (Score:2)
If they could arrange it, EA would... (Score:2)
.... line up all the players and kick them in the nuts, one by one. So be glad.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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Sorry man, that "EA Headquarters" tattoo still only works properly if it's on their *own* ass.
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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.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
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 [vgcats.com]
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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.
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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'
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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.
My posting of the comic has nothing to do with the quality of Mass Effect 3 on launch day, and everything to do with the attitude that companies like EA have towards their customers (without whom there would be no EA).
But yea, you are right in a "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" sense.
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Re:Pizza (Score:5, Funny)
i think this dictionary swap is having a larger effect then expected.
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all of the big pizza chains suck smaller ones are (Score:2)
all of the big pizza chains suck smaller ones are a lot better.
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Maybe not. [richardclegg.org]
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(Is this just fantasy.)
Re:Pizza (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh FFS - this isn't reddit!
Re:Pizza (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Pizza (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Pizza (Score:4)
Open your eyes,
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Easy come, easy go...
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I need no cheater tools, because it's easy spell, easy score
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a little QI, little JO
Re:They screw up all that BUT (Score:5, Funny)
p
o
o
screw
h
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neither, they're trying to find some friends to play word games with them.
Re:How is this newsworthy? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:How is this newsworthy? (Score:5, Informative)
From 2003 [absp.org.uk]
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.
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Because every time you refresh you can show a new ad.
Because hurr durr lets try and save some money, switch dictionaries around.
Because a new manager/bean counter wants a fat raise.
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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.
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Who the hell is Sadim?
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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.