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Is the term "up to" really a hard concept?


Yfelsung

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English is my first and only fluent language, so I've never had problems with English terms such as "up to" or "may".

 

Now, I'm assuming a lot of you must be ESL speakers (English as a second language) so I'm trying to figure out what terminology could be used to help you understand the English concept of "up to".

 

In English, up to is a phrase used to indicate an indefinite number with a definite maximum.

 

For example, if I were to pay you "up to 5 dollars" to mow my lawn, I could pay you any amount from 1 cent to 5 dollars.

 

If I were to be at a party "up to" 10 oclock, I could leave that party at any point before 10 oclock and would still be accurate.

 

Up to can also sometimes be used similar to "around" or "approximately".

 

Now, the word "May" is a little harder. It can both mean "maybe" and also grant permission. "You may go home" could both mean "You might go home" or "You are allowed to go home".

 

So, the sentence "You may get up to 5 days" that was in the November 4th, 2011 "Early Access Details" article would mean either "You might get as many as 5 days" or "You are allowed as many as five days".

 

You'll notice both meanings do not indicate a firm 5 days, only an approximation.

 

Hope that helped all you English as a second language folks :)

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It is a play on words with advertisement. I can argue both sides here.

 

 

If I gave you a glass water after you paid me $5.00 and I said you may drink this drink for up to 5 minutes what do you think I mean? That I may let you start at 1-5 minutes? Most would say that we have 5 minutes to drink it.

 

"may" is not the same as "may be able to"

 

But still, I expected something like 3 days since I pre-ordered in November. I saw the game they were playing with words and understood it.

 

In actuality, I hold no grudge with them because I saw this coming. Still, I am just saying the people complaining have a case all be it a small one.

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English is my first and only fluent language, so I've never had problems with English terms such as "up to" or "may".

 

Now, I'm assuming a lot of you must be ESL speakers (English as a second language) so I'm trying to figure out what terminology could be used to help you understand the English concept of "up to".

 

In English, up to is a phrase used to indicate an indefinite number with a definite maximum.

 

For example, if I were to pay you "up to 5 dollars" to mow my lawn, I could pay you any amount from 1 cent to 5 dollars.

 

If I were to be at a party "up to" 10 oclock, I could leave that party at any point before 10 oclock and would still be accurate.

 

Up to can also sometimes be used similar to "around" or "approximately".

 

Now, the word "May" is a little harder. It can both mean "maybe" and also grant permission. "You may go home" could both mean "You might go home" or "You are allowed to go home".

 

So, the sentence "You may get up to 5 days" that was in the November 4th, 2011 "Early Access Details" article would mean either "You might get as many as 5 days" or "You are allowed as many as five days".

 

You'll notice both meanings do not indicate a firm 5 days, only an approximation.

 

Hope that helped all you English as a second language folks :)

 

People are upset cause there is OBVIOUS room on the servers. And dont feed the "people have work and school" stuff because check at 8 pm central and the servers will be heavy at worst. I think if the servers had more people on them it would be easier to swallow for everyone. Not to mention invites should go on past 12pm central.

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What if they told you you could have up to 10 days of Early Access, but only let 10 people in on days 1-5. Sure, some people had up to 10 days, but the majority did not.

 

They are still advertising up to 5 days of access if you pre order. Do you think, that if someone were to order today, they have any shot of getting 5 days of access? Absolutely not, and Bioware knows this. The system they put in place absolutely prohibits people from getting up to 5 days. If they hadn't extended EA for 2 days, the people who preordered in late July wouldn't have had a shot at getting up to 5 days, yet they continued to advertise that 5 days was a possibility, when it wasn't.

 

"Up to" is a shady marketing ploy.

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What if they told you you could have up to 10 days of Early Access, but only let 10 people in on days 1-5. Sure, some people had up to 10 days, but the majority did not.

 

Perfectly fair, providing everyone agreed in advance, like we did.

 

They are still advertising up to 5 days of access if you pre order. Do you think, that if someone were to order today, they have any shot of getting 5 days of access?

 

This is a separate issue, and yeah, they should take that down.

 

But currently, no one has a right to complain. We're getting the product we ordered in the manner they said they'd give it to us. Anyone complaining wants something additional, like kids usually do.

Edited by JustTed
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They are still advertising up to 5 days of access if you pre order. Do you think, that if someone were to order today, they have any shot of getting 5 days of access?

This is a separate issue, and yeah, they should take that down..

Not really, the release date is the 20th, so IF (and that's a big if because no-one outside of BW knows) everyone who pre-orders now gets in tomorrow they still get their 5 days.

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Why do people not get this. In order for the term, "up to 5 days" to be true, there would of needed to be some chance at getting 5 days early access, even if it was only 1 in a million.

But the fact is if you pre ordered after a certain date, you never had any chance of getting up to 5 days early access.

 

The advertising was purposely miss leading.

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Well the wording of this offer implies that anyone else who pre-ordered will be getting in tomorrow, since that will be the "up to 5 days" limit.

 

If they don't I will rage.

 

no as the OP said the term "up to" is not a definate in itself, if you preordered tonight and redeemed the code, you would not be gaurenteed access tomorrow, as that is not what is being advertised. Its a shady marketing ploy, but its one thats used because it gives the producer in this case Bioware alot of room to maneuver

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It is a play on words with advertisement. I can argue both sides here.

 

 

 

In actuality, I hold no grudge with them because I saw this coming. Still, I am just saying the people complaining have a case all be it a small one.

 

By all means argue for the other side, I am more than interested to try and un-comprehend those words.

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Why do people not get this. In order for the term, "up to 5 days" to be true, there would of needed to be some chance at getting 5 days early access, even if it was only 1 in a million.

But the fact is if you pre ordered after a certain date, you never had any chance of getting up to 5 days early access.

 

The advertising was purposely miss leading.

 

There was a chance, when the game first released for preordering. Your chance decreased every day from that point forward.

 

Since they could not predict preorder numbers, they can't sit there and adjust the "Up to" to 4, then 3, then 2 then 1 as they go, as they can't see the future.

 

You see, we humans are what is sometimes called "3 dimensional beings". We are incapable of perceiving the 4th dimension, time, in anything but slices. Second by second.

 

Due to our limitations as 3rd dimensional beings we cannot "See the future".

 

I know, tough concept.

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There was a chance, when the game first released for preordering. Your chance decreased every day from that point forward.

 

Since they could not predict preorder numbers, they can't sit there and adjust the "Up to" to 4, then 3, then 2 then 1 as they go, as they can't see the future.

 

You see, we humans are what is sometimes called "3 dimensional beings". We are incapable of perceiving the 4th dimension, time, in anything but slices. Second by second.

 

Due to our limitations as 3rd dimensional beings we cannot "See the future".

 

I know, tough concept.

 

well they have not changed the advertisement yet. STOP BEING BROWN NOSING FaNBOYS!

Your so willing to take it up the ***.

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no as the OP said the term "up to" is not a definate in itself, if you preordered tonight and redeemed the code, you would not be gaurenteed access tomorrow, as that is not what is being advertised. Its a shady marketing ploy, but its one thats used because it gives the producer in this case Bioware alot of room to maneuver

 

Soooo, you guys maintain that it's shady not to guarantee a number to everyone? Yes it does leave room to maneuver. Suddenly that's a bad thing? I am truly trying to understand your logic.

 

Unfortunately the thing you are completely lacking is... logic.

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English is my first and only fluent language, so I've never had problems with English terms such as "up to" or "may".

 

Now, I'm assuming a lot of you must be ESL speakers (English as a second language) so I'm trying to figure out what terminology could be used to help you understand the English concept of "up to".

 

In English, up to is a phrase used to indicate an indefinite number with a definite maximum.

 

For example, if I were to pay you "up to 5 dollars" to mow my lawn, I could pay you any amount from 1 cent to 5 dollars.

 

If I were to be at a party "up to" 10 oclock, I could leave that party at any point before 10 oclock and would still be accurate.

 

Up to can also sometimes be used similar to "around" or "approximately".

 

Now, the word "May" is a little harder. It can both mean "maybe" and also grant permission. "You may go home" could both mean "You might go home" or "You are allowed to go home".

 

So, the sentence "You may get up to 5 days" that was in the November 4th, 2011 "Early Access Details" article would mean either "You might get as many as 5 days" or "You are allowed as many as five days".

 

You'll notice both meanings do not indicate a firm 5 days, only an approximation.

 

Hope that helped all you English as a second language folks :)

 

it is indeed, as you said, an approximation. now quit while you're ahead.

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There was a chance, when the game first released for preordering. Your chance decreased every day from that point forward.

 

Since they could not predict preorder numbers, they can't sit there and adjust the "Up to" to 4, then 3, then 2 then 1 as they go, as they can't see the future.

 

You see, we humans are what is sometimes called "3 dimensional beings". We are incapable of perceiving the 4th dimension, time, in anything but slices. Second by second.

 

Due to our limitations as 3rd dimensional beings we cannot "See the future".

 

I know, tough concept.

 

Are you implying they had no idea what their own preorder numbers were? The fact is that they are STILL saying you have a possibility of getting 5 days if you preorder today. They know for a fact that you will not get 5 days if you preorder today. And again, if they hadn't extended it by two days, people who preordered in the first month wouldn't have had a shot at getting 5 days, and they knew that.

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Soooo, you guys maintain that it's shady not to guarantee a number to everyone?

 

Here's what YOU agreed to.

 

You pre-order, then get in between the 15th and 19th.

 

This is exactly what you're getting.

 

Where are you getting lost?

 

Why do you insist upon adding new conditions to an agreement made in the past?

 

This issue is entirely your fault. Bioware is right, you are wrong, and that's that. You can say "fanboi" now instead of addressing any of the above.

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well they have not changed the advertisement yet. STOP BEING BROWN NOSING FaNBOYS!

Your so willing to take it up the ***.

 

Because the advertisement could still be true.

 

it's the 14th, official release is the 20th, meaning getting in tomorrow would still be "up to 5 days".

 

You see, a day is what we call a full rotation of the earth on its axis. This takes around 24 hours and happens, amazingly, like clockwork.

 

So between the 15th and 20th, the earth will rotate 5 times, meaning 5 days will have past, meaning that "up to five days" is still completely accurate as of today.

 

Something you may not know is that the sun doesn't actually "rise", but instead the earth turns into the sun making it appear to rise.

 

Neat, huh?

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