Boycott Poll

Disclaimer: (READ BEFORE VOTING or COMMENTING)

I am in no way telling people that they should, or should not boycott EA and/or Bioware.
This is a poll specifically designed to gauge ONE thing - where the community stands on this idea.
This is not an initiative to boycott, this is a poll to gather intelligence. Recon.
No action is being taken at this time.

I am leaving comments open on this thread so people can discuss why or why not, in a CIVIL manner.
If you come here and flame or troll this poll, I WILL turn off the comments, so do not abuse this thread or attack others who have opinions that differ from your own. Friendly debate welcome. Attacking other members for their opinions will not be tolerated.

Note: It is assumed that a boycott on EA will also be considered a boycott on Bioware. That's why there's no option to boycott both on the poll. Boycotting EA will definitely affect Bioware as well.
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Though I think the only villains here are EA, I think only a boycott of Bioware would be effective since it's primarily their fans who are put off by the way they've handled everything surrounding Mass Effect 3's ending. It's a more distinctive market than EA targets and could be the only way to show them we're serious.

No way, I am agreeing to this. There was a time when I thought that I could just boycott EA without harming the developers I love. However, I realized that Bioware isn't the only developer I love under EA. There's Criterion and Visceral, the developers behind the Need for Speed, Burnout, Dead Space and Dante's Inferno games.

I've heard people say that they won't buy any EA game except for Bioware's. Sadly, I feel like if we do this then we are punishing the other developers out there. What did they do to deserve this? They didn't play a hand in this whole debacle therefore they shouldn't be punished for another's crime.

I'm not fully supporting EA, I just believe that there is another way.

I don't really get it, BioWare is by all means EA, BioWare is a divison of EA and EA to make a Mass Effect analogy is "assuming control" of BioWare.
Boycotting one mean you boycott the other, you can't say "i boycott sport games but i'll buy RPGs" because if in the end your cash goes into the same pocket it would be pointless.
And imagine a second that boycotting BioWare hurt its sales and EA decide to dump the brand like they did with Origin / Bullfrog / Westwood when they were of squeezed like lemons, you'll face the Hydra problem with another head spawning / another bought-soon-to-be-dead gaming studio.

EA is notorious for marketing gimmick sales than actual series worth purchasing (e.g., Look at how broken the NCAA and Madden games have been over the years).

That's why there's no option to boycott both on the poll.
I think it is assumed that a boycott on EA will also be considered a boycott on Bioware.
Trying to keep my personal feelings minimal on here since I created the poll, but just clarifying semantics based on your comment, for anyone that doesn't realize. Boycotting EA will definitely affect Bioware as well.

I can't see a boycott of EA being effective. There's a lot of other completely innocent developers who'd get caught up in it. I do believe that it was ultimately EA who was responsible for giving BioWare a hard release date in order to pad their quarterly earnings (ME3 release: 3/6, fiscal quarter ends: 3/31) which resulted in a lot of unfulfilled promises and a crap ending... I'm just not sure what we can do to make EA and only EA feel the burn.

Ultimately, this is going to be BioWare's albatross. If my theory is correct, they can't say anything about EA without jeopardizing their relationship and probably getting sued. I'm entirely pessimistic about them actually changing the endings and only slightly less pessimistic about getting additional Starchild dialogue options. Even if the endings are changed, their name is mud with a lot of their hardcore fans. I sympathize with BioWare but this debacle about the ending is on them. I already have an unofficial BioWare boycott going (I haven't touched the game since I beat it) and I'm just going to follow through on that.

Though I am definitely a supporter of a boycott against EA, it also victimizes the gaming companies it overshadows.

HOWEVER, companies like Bioware and Maxis, should not have sold the soul of their company to Electronic Arts, at the expense of their customers who are not just customers but fans and supporters of something they are passionate about. No matter how compelling the dollar amount was at the time - or bad the books looked.

I'm not sure if any of you know about the history of Blizzard Entertainment, they did it right, only adopted a parenting company that does not meddle with their gaming community. Even when things looked bad for Blizzard, they still held on to their dignity. Please watch the video they released after their 20th anniversary announcement for an in-depth look: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/videos.html#blizzard-retrospective/ They reveal their struggles and how they overcame them. They still to this day remain the most respected gaming company in the industry in my eyes, why? Because they will push game releases until they know they can release something that will delight their users, and if they fail they REFORM IT without pushing back on their community.

Something I posted yesterday--not exactly about ME. But could help someone decide one way or another on the boycott.
So not exactly an ME3 story but still related to how much EA sucks the big one. My husband pointed this out to me. He's not a fan of EA, although he thinks the end to ME3 is fine. He just thought it felt open-ended. And that's OK. I don't fault those that like it; I just don't want to be hammered by those that do for not like it. Anyway, more the point of this link I'm going to post. It's about the new Tiger Woods game--and yes, it's an IGN article, so don't get your pitchforks and torches out just yet--but apparently EA allows you access to 20 of 36 courses and you can rent--yes, I said, rent the other courses for $2 for only a limited time, like a couple of hours. So you don't even get to keep them, you only get to temporarily have them. The only way you could keep them is you played this game for hours and hours and hours. But I don't want to misquote what all this actually says, so you can check out the story if you'd like. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/122/1221576p1.html

Yeah sorry for not properly writing a conclusion
I meant if you want to hurt them then aim for the head, aim for EA, BioWare is just a tool.

The scenario I imagine when we boycott BioWare but not EA: EA just drops BioWare and goes on as usual.
Therefore in my opinion we need to either boycott EA as a whole or nobody at all.

In my eyes EA is testing a lot of business things lately: Lots of overprized DLC, expensive digital goodies in CE, making games Origin only despite the hate, ...
How do they measure their success? Sales. The only logial consequence to make them feel that ME 3 failed is by hurting sales.

-> Boycott any DLC, expansion, prequel, sequel, ... to ME3; As mentioned before I suppose boycotting BioWare would hurt the company we'd like to love more than we want so boycott EA as a whole.

(my post seems a little messy/unstructured, but I can't sort my thoughts enough right now sry)

I already personally am boycotting all products from both EA and Bioware and will continue to do so until I die, or they fix this ending. It's my responsibility as a consumer. It will be much more effective if others join me. Suggestion: add poll choice to vote to boycott both. I would have chosen that but it wasn't an option.

I would like to say that I'd be first in line for a kickstarter of any of these smaller companies if EA drops them as a result of our actions.

Boycotting EA is boycotting Bioware - to boycott EA is a choice for both, because you can't boycott EA without boycotting Bioware.

Or if some BioWare devs decide to ... i think the expression was "to pull an Avellone", to bail out and make their own gaming studio.
I'd be in line too if they push a project on kickstart.

Ah! I see. Gotcha. I want to change my vote then. Hadn't thought of it that way. If I'm boycotting all EA products, that obv includes Bioware products.

Not sure if there's a way to change votes. @Volion ?

To make my position clear, I'd like to remain a customer of a great developer like Bioware but I think the threat of losing many customers has to be real enough that they take significant action, rather than go for a reluctant and minor appeasement.

Well Syrin i doubt that we Retake/HTL could hurt them anyway, it is more a way of life for the times to come and a long time goal than a one time strike.