Well, it's based on what Chesire learned as a result of getting Bolo up and playable on the net back in the day, so it seemed appropriate.

Pfft. Here, Gurkburkenen, here's the classic wall of text on the matter for you. Because it sounds like you're actually the one that's confused. And hey, as long as I'm playing StarwarsBlade Alpha er, I mean space missions, I might as well see if I can bust out Bolo on an emulator for nostalgia's sake as well.

Can you not see that your strawman examples here are obviously far more egregious than the actual situation? You're arguing for "common sense" and "plausibility" in a fictional constructed world. And then trying to back it up with examples that stretch the boundaries of plausibility in that fictional world. Never mind that "common sense" and "plausibility" are by any means 100% objective measurements to begin with. It would make a lot more sense to acknowledge that EA/BW just stuck their foot in it this time, poorly handling something that didn't work as they intended, instead of trying to blame players who took advantage of it or simply blundered into it.

(accidental back-button repost)

For The Win, a book by Cory Doctorow you can read for free, all about organizing the MMO workers of the world. Enjoy.

I think you failed to understand my point - the fact that EA has no problem behaving in a coercive manner is the actual problem - and fail to understand that the time isn't free, it's paid for in the original purchase. You missed this, didn't you? "Everyone else is doing it" is not and has never been a valid defense, especially not for denying customers time they paid for by inflicting a coercive requirement instituted solely for the benefit of EA's launch numbers.

That there may exist an end-run around EA's bad behavior doesn't change the fact that EA has engaged in bad behavior, nor that many people aren't going to forget about EA's bad behavior in the future, which is bad for SWTOR in the long run. And that's not even getting into the fact that EA's treating customers badly now is a good indicator that it's going to treat them at least as badly in the future. That some people found a way around it this time simply isn't the point.

That's not a sentence, so I'm not sure it actually states anything. Then again, I was given digital so I'm one of the people who never even saw a box. And those two sentences say right there that 30 days of the paid subscription required is included with the purchase. It doesn't help that I was gifted a pre-order early access... and no mention at all was made of the arbitrary early entry of payment requirement until after nearly a week of early access without it. It just makes it look like EA didn't have the numbers they wanted yet and coerced the signups at the first patch date they could, the 22nd, two days after launch. At BEST this is an ambiguous little clause hidden in the fine print and not stated plainly; but it looks worse in that it only serves EA in an effort to inflate launch subscription numbers and initial profits from those forced to buy prepaid cards earlier than expected or those that don't shut down access to their cards quickly enough. And EA being desperate for numbers makes perfect sense. SWTOR could be be twice the game WoW is and people still won't switch to it if their friends aren't there. People want to be where their friends are. See also: why Google+ hasn't made much of a dent in Facebook. Many people think Facebook is terrible, but stay because that's where their friends still are. No critical mass of movement, and Google+ almost six months later is still only at a fraction of the users Facebook continues to have. And Google+ isn't even something people pay for. (Bear in mind Google+ also had its own be-evil moment - the forced-real-names-that-sound-real-to-Google debacle - which soured a good percentage of early adopters from the start. As EA is doing here with its requirement. You don't have to anger all the users, just enough of them.) Maybe EA can force initial growth to be great like this. But my point remains that it's shady at best, people are going to remember it, and it's certainly not going to convince people to hop over for the long run.

Well, thanks for killing off 10 days of my paid-for 30 days, Electronic Arts. I received SWTOR as a gift, and started playing early access, and finally relented on (temporarily) supplying my card so I could even post here. I could log in and read, but only people with payment plans get to speak, apparently. But today I got a reminder email about not "completing" the steps EA is requiring to play, which led to the post that contains: "We appreciate that Star Wars: The Old Republic may be your first experience with a subscription based MMO. Adding a valid payment method to continue to play is standard practice for subscription based MMOs, and this requirement is mentioned on our retail packaging, as well as in our official FAQs. We apologize if you were surprised by the requirement, and for any interruption to your gameplay." Which aside from not being entirely true (the subscription requirement is stated for being able to continue to play the game but it also states the first 30 days is already paid for) to unverifiable ("standard practice")... it's not a valid argument. To excerpt something John Hodgman said; It is, as a matter of fact, a case of Everyone Else Is Doing It, and that's not even true. This is not a policy that in any way benefits customers. It exists solely to coerce as many people who have already paid as possible into entering a subscription or worse, buying more prepaid time. This is only for the benefit of EA/Origin so they can make the claims they have made about being the "fastest growing MMO ever" and attempt to generate more hype. I suspect, however, that they don't realize it will also lead to SWTOR being one of the fastest shrinking MMOs in history once that initial 30 days runs out, much less the next two months or so. I hope EA enjoys it while it lasts. Customers don't forget how companies have treated them in the past. BioWare seems like an OK bunch, but their falling in with the bad crowd that is EA already makes me want to jump ship, even with the game as a gift.