31 réponses à ce sujet

[Chris Priestly]

Below are answers to the most commonly asked questions about Origin and Mass Effect 3. Thank you for your patience as we have worked to answer them.

1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store)
Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital.

2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is first installed. Is there also a limit to the number of installations available?
Mass Effect 3 will require a one time, single authorization for the single player game. There is no limit to the number of installs. Playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer will require a constant connection.

3) Is Origin required for the retail versions of the game?
Origin is required for the PC versions of Mass Effect 3, both physical and digital.

4) Will ME3 be available on Steam?
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content.  We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.

5) Is there an opt in or opt out clause for data collection?
Users will be allowed to opt-out of Mass Effect 3 data collection from inside the game.

6) I’ve seen reports that Origin is spyware.  Is this true?
Origin is not spyware, and does not use or install spyware on user’s machines.  In order to allow Origin to install games and their patches for everyone to use, Origin implements a permission change that results in Windows, not Origin, reviewing the filenames in the ProgramData/Origin folder.   This is an ordinary Windows function, not an information-gathering process.

7) Has the Origin EULA been updated following recent questions in Germany?
The German Origin EULA has been updated.  For more information, please review the Origin EULA here: http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas.

8) Is there a double-opt in for Mass Effect 3 marketing emails for German residents?
Yes, we always adhere to the German requirement of a double opt-in standard for marketing emails.  Mass Effect 3 users must opt-in twice to receive these emails.

9)Can I install Origin, install Mass Effect 3 and then uninstall Origin and keep playing Mass Effect 3? Even if I only want to play the Single Player Game?
Mass Effect 3 requires Origin to be played, so you cannot play Mass Effect 3 without Origin being installed. This applies to both the single player and multiplayer games.

10) If I have uninstalled Mass Effect 3 or Origin, do I need to reinstall Origin to reinstall Mass Effect 3?
You must have Origin installed to play Mass Effect 3. You would need to reinstall Origin and Mass Effect 3.

11)If I have installed Mass Effect 3 and Origin, do I need to keep the install/gameplay disc in the disc drive to play?
Once you have installed Mass Effect 3 and Origin, you do not have to keep the disc in the tray


I appreciate everyone's patience on this topic. Please continue to ask questions about Mass Effect 3 and Origin and I will continue to try to get the answers for you.

Edit: Added questions/answers #9 #10 #11.

Modifié par Chris Priestly, 17 janvier 2012 - 06:16 .

[Stanley Woo]

The last few pages have been a discussion of the pros and cons of the console vs. PC gaming industry, arguing about arguing, and other off-topic posts. If you wish to keep this thread open so you can discuss your opinions about Origin and ME3, please let's keep this discussion on-topic.

[Stanley Woo]

apixaez wrote...

I have a very simple question then: Why?

Why am I being forced a client upon me when there is A) a perfectly working client available in the form of Steam.

The game is not currently available on Steam. It is, however, avaialble via other digital download retailers. A product must be offered for sale somewhere, and as always, you the consumer have the right to choose to purchase the product or not purchase the product based on the information available. This information is available in Chris Priestly's first post of this thread. Please review that information. More answers to more questions are being sought by Chris Priestly based on the feedback of community members in these discussion threads. We do not have an ETA for those answers.

the legitimacy of the client in question is questionable (reports of forced datamining, the lawsuit in Germany, privacy infringements)

This information is available in Chris Priestly's first post of this
thread. Please review that information. More answers to more questions
are being sought by Chris Priestly based on the feedback of community
members in these discussion threads. We do not have an ETA for those
answers.

and C) needed in the first place as I do not care for an Origin account or stats or whatever Origin is needed for when it only offers EA games and looks like a "fancy" DRM in the first place?

As always, you have the right to purchase a game or not purchase a game based on whatever criteria you use to make such decisions. I cannot make the decision for you, nor am I here to convince you one way or another. This is a decision that you, as a responsible consumer, must make for youself. Thank you.

[Stanley Woo]

apixaez wrote...
I noticed and I did read it. However I do not appreciate being treated like a child as it all boils down to having Origin on your computer which is the sole issue, no matter where it is made available for purchase. As I apparently have the need to clarify what I meant (shocking really), I will do so. Why am I forced a client upon me when there already is a perfectly working client with less issues doing the exact same thing, but better? Is it EA's sheer arrogance or do they really think Origin will become a success with all the negative publicity it has gotten?

Mass Effect is not currently available on Steam. You cannot get the game on Steam right now. Steam is not currently selling Mass Effect 3.

Whether Origin will "succeed" isn't really the question. The question is what has already been brought up in these discussions by others who feel as you do--whether to purchase Mass Effect 3 or not. And I have very little to do with that decision. i'm just trying to keep the screaming down to manageable levels so Mrs. Fenway in the apartment downstairs doesn't show up at our door again.

We both know the disagreement about the TOS is a load of .. well you know .. and some more fancy talk to make Origin feel like it's the "way forward".

No, we don't "both know" that. the disagreement about the TOS starts with the TOS itself, which can be considered an offer. Now that many of the big questions have been answered, each player and consumer has to decide for himself whether to accept that offer and purchase the game. Some have chosen not to take the offer. Some have suggested alternatives. Some have chosen to accept the offer.

Uh no, the german EULA has been updated, not the one that matters to me. And let's see, general community with a brain:"ORIGIN DATAMINES YOUR COMPUTER FOR STUFF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH! VIEW EVIDENCE A TO Z!" Single person working for the company providing Origin:"No guys, really, it doesn't (anymore)!"

Yeah, you make a pursuading arguement. Unfortunately, whether it still does or not, the damage has been done and trust has been damaged beyond repair.

Then we really have nothing more to talk about, do we?

Thank you for giving me my right to what I am entitled to do with my hard earned cash. I wish you were this easy going with your choice of forcing Origin on me too as I am supposed to buy Mass Effect 3 and not Origin or OriginEffect3. But I do appreciate your comments, it makes you a lot more popular in my book.

The right to do as you wish with your cash was not given by me. I'm just reiterating it since some people tend to forget that such choice and power is ultimately theirs. in fact, it even slips your mind when you mention "forcing Origin on me". The offer is there. We are not offering to sell them separately. Chris Priestly states rather explicitly that Origin is coming with Mass Effect 3. It is up to you, the consumer, to choose whether to purchase the game (ie. accept the offer) or not purchase the game. I promise you, no one here will think any differently of you regardless of your choice.

Thank you for clarifying your position.

[Stanley Woo]

Incognito JC wrote...

Stanley Woo wrote...

I promise you, no one here will think any differently of you regardless of your choice.

Mr. Woo, why do you take your fans and customers for granted? Not even a word of sympathy, or an attempt to persuade us to buy your game at a minimal level. I might have misunderstood your intent, but this roughly translate to, "we don't care if you buy our product or not, take it or leave it".

Question answered in PM because it would have been off-topic for this discussion.

[Stanley Woo]

apixaez wrote...
can you understand from our point of view why I would not go for Origin if there is a better alternative out there with more choices of games with less issues and scrutiny and why I would prefer that client, whether the game is available there or not (yet)?

Absolutely. We all would prefer to have the game we want purchased from the service we want. i am familiar with Steam and its features, yes. i have many games on Steam, including Saint's Row 3.

I already said that I understand it's not really up to you and that I do appreciate your reply, but not in the way it was formulated. And if you really do care about your fanbase I'd say you have a lot to do with that decision. Show trust and respect for your fanbase and they will do so in return. It's a two-way thing.

I can agree with you only up to a point. Your "trust" scenario works very well in large-scale, but has less effect when dealing with our online community, and very little effect at all when you're talking about me and you exchanging messages like this. You are at a distinct advantage when talking about fanbase trust in this context.

what is better? "Losing" (Investment I'd say in exchange for their servers, etc) 30% in definite sales or losing 100% sales by who knows how many exactly by pushing people this way? Besides that, we have a saying in my language .. "customer is king" .. I believe that's a business lesson not taught there..

When dealing with thousands of different gamers from around the world, each with highly exacting and sometimes conflicting preferences, tolerances, suggestions, and demands? And you have to please all of them with a single product? Yes, it would be difficult to adopt a "the customer is always right" attitude for any large-scale developer. but I can't answer your question, as it's leading, arbitrary, and I am not at liberty to respond to that type of hypothetical choice. Again, you are at a distinct advantage in this context.

It has not slipt my mind at all, I'm just saying that I wish you were as easy going with giving me choice when it comes down to Origin considering it's my money. I am just slightly alarmed by your attitude that you do not seem to care whether you make more sales or not. Need I remind you what happened to Ubisoft when they adopted a certain attitude?

I am not here to be a shill. I am here to moderate the thread and try to engage in discussion when I can. I do not have the answers you seek, nor do I have the power to influence the kind of change you are asking for. But I can encourage people to exercise their consumer power, if this subject is indeed the breaking point for them.

If I showed any indication of caring about sales, the community would jump all over me and call me a marketing shill or a corporate yes-man. That may be what you want--a villain you can feel good about railing against--but it'll have to be someone other than me or Chris. We love our community and we know the feeling is reciprocated, but there will be times when we have to disagree on things.

Please do not take this as a personal attack of any sort, I am just concerned the way Bioware is heading, a company I've supported and cherished for a long time, one of the few developers that always stood out for me.

i don't take it as a personal attack, and i appreciate the chance to get to a less rocky ground with you. As long as we have fans like you, I think BioWare will turn out just fine. Just keep telling us where we're going wrong, in your opinion (and let's make it less shouty and more talky, for both our sakes), and we will do what we can to keep making the kinds of game experiences that you and our community want to support.

Again, thank you for your comments.

[Stanley Woo]

At this point, the discussion is veering towards a discussion about Steam. So let's please try and keep this on track so that the discussion about Origin and Mass Effect 3 (and any other/specific/big) questions you have regarding how they work together) can be made known. Thank you, and i appreciate all the support I and BioWare have gotten in this thread.

[Stanley Woo]

Adain878 wrote...

Sadly the only way our point will ever get across is if sales tank. I plan to do my part and hope others will join. But sadly time and time again it's been shown gamer's as a collective are a weak willed bunch.

There is also the distinct possibility that "gamer's [sic] as a collective" may simply disagree with you. I cannot speak for all gamers, but I'm surprised at how many people on the internet seem to be able to. then again, if we always agreed all of the time, the world would be a dull place indeed.

[Stanley Woo]

Adain878 wrote...
Admittedly its a bit of a blanket statement. Queue vocal minority and all that fun stuff. But as I said in my earlier post I'm mainly refering to the MW2 boycott as an example.  Petitions, Rage, and everything else under the sun. Come release day  you find the majority of the people in the Steam group playing the game. 

In the end im just trying to say if the people that care about this ever want to make a point that will be heard it'll take a large number just not buying the game. I'll be one of those people, I gave Origin a chance with BF3. It is trash in my opinion. As a company I trust Valve over EA, I have had better experience with valve whether that be in the front end application, or the customer service provided.

I'll make my point with my wallet even if it'll be insignificant.

I respect your position and admire your determination. i also hold out the hope that some of those who choose not to buy due to Origin will have cause to change their minds, and that they remain within our community to keep talking to us.

[Stanley Woo]

A very off-topic for this thread and somewhat disrespectful line of discussion has been removed from this thread. I really do sympathize with you guys, but you're making it awfully difficult to justify keeping this thread open when you (the general "participants of this thread" you) time and again resort to violating our Site Rules and going off-topic.

Bogsnot1, Ravenmyste and Girlpower23, consider this your warning. Any further attempts to steer this discussion towards company bashing will result in more punitive measures.

I would like to thank some of our forum veterans such as Dragoonlordz and Zanallen for trying to keep this debate/discussion/argument open and on an even keel.

[Stanley Woo]

Some inappropriate discussion of software piracy removed. Such discussion is a violation of Rule #7 of our community's Site Rules, linked at the bottom of every forum page. Let's stop doing that, please.

[Stanley Woo]

Some political discussion removed. if this kind of behaviour continues in this thread, I'm going to start sending warnings to violators of our "no political discussions" rule.

[Stanley Woo]

PC vs. console discussion removed.

Legal threats and discussion removed.

Some other off-topic discussion removed.

[Stanley Woo]

Daeel wrote...

I see they are now dictating what we can/can not discuss here. I wonder why they locked the old one and made a new one for a minor change.

Now I know.

We Moderators have always enforced the rules. And those rules are the same ones you explicitly agree to follow when you sign up to participate in our community. Our Site Rules are also always linked at the bottom of every forum page.

Rules 1, 3-5, 7 and 11 are of particular note for this thread, and Rule #12 covers everything else. Rule #13, of course, allows us to change the rules if we should develop a new way of dealing with threads in the future.

[Stanley Woo]

Daeel wrote...
I am not talking about the general rules. You guys seem to be actively deleting posts or editing them now. I don't see the difference in how the old topic was and how the new one is.Yet obviously how you guys are treating the topic is different. 

Yes, Chris has taken the questions asked in the first thread and started this second thread with the answers he has been able to find and post. Partly, the reason for this seond thread is for people to ask for clarifications and to ask any questions we may have missed the first time around.

We Moderators are also taking a keener interest in this discussion and ensuring it remains on-topic. I do not think the company bashing, political discussions, platform wars or discussions of inappropriate topics is germane to this discussion or helpful for Chris in seeking further questions to try and get the answers for.

I guess I should acknowledge that you and Chris are atleast answering the questions now. Which is great, no complaints.

Still I wonder why so many posts are being edited.

Because they are taking the thread off-topic, and the more people that pile onto them, the faster it goes off-topic.

[Stanley Woo]

Some petty bickering removed.

[Stanley Woo]

DRUNK_CANADIAN wrote...
Good your online, so can you clarify what Chris meant when he was saying it would require Origin installed to play both SP and MP, but you only need to be connected to Origin for MP.

Does this mean it operates in a manner similar to BF3 (Origin client running) or more like (hopefully) Alice, no Origin client running, but still need it installed for some reason, maybe data share or monitor or something (the former looks more probable, but the latter would be much better imo).

You'll have to ask Chris. He's the one getting answers and updating the "FAQ" at the top of this thread.

[Stanley Woo]

DRUNK_CANADIAN wrote...

Alright, thank you, although I have to ask, what is your role? I thought you were associated with the public relations process with ME3 as well?

My role is the same as it's always been: Priestly's sidekick, longtime community Moderator, forum rage target, advocate of responsible consumerism and good science, refugee form the 80's, and all-around Volus.

[Stanley Woo]

*sigh* Dragoonlordz and DRUNK_CANADIAN, can we get back on topic, please?

[Stanley Woo]

A lot of spam, off-topic discussion and bickering removed. Many bans have been handed out.

[Stanley Woo]

Doodledorf wrote...

I think Lumikki summarized very well when said...

"How ever we all have to understand that meaning of break of privacy can be different for different people. There is no right answer for it, because privacy is personal choice. "

The reason I quoted this because I feel rather than attacking other people and their choices for reason mentioned above in quote, it is better to just promote own choices without doing what I just said just now and what Lumikki said I quoted.

I also think it's better to promote your opinion and choice, and encourage others to join you. This is the way we should be debating and dealing with disagreements int he BioWare Social Network. We should not be insulting or castigating others for making their own choices or for sharing their own opinion.

Some people are very upset and frustrated over this issue, yes, and that's absolutely fair and should be discussed here. others are kind of on the fence and not really sure of what to believe or what to do about it, and that's also fair and should be discussed here, since there is a lot of information being shared in this discussion thread. Still others may have issues with Origin but are willing to accept them in order to play Mass Effect 3, and that (contrary to what some anti-Origin folk would have you believe) is still fair and still should be discussed here. Everyone's got their reasons for thinking as they do and for choosing as they do. We should be respecting those who have made a different choice, and if you happen to hold a different or opposing viewpoint, you should be disagreeing with them respectfully.

Thank you.

[Stanley Woo]

Please do not discuss methods of circumventing Origins in this forum. Continuing to participate in such discussions may result in your post being edited or removed, all the way up to and including a forum ban for discussing forbidden topics and failing to heed Moderator instructions or warnings.

[Stanley Woo]

Dragoonlordz wrote...


@Stanley

Seeing as your monitoring stuff could you possibly be able to answer either question I asked on here at bottom of my post?

As i've mentioned before, i'm not the answer guy. That's still Chris. i'm just here to keep the thread from imploding.or exploding or... transploding, i guess.

[Stanley Woo]

Adugan wrote...

Chris refuse to answer my and others' PMs. He is not the answers guy either.

I wasn't aware that Chris had offered up a definite ETA for when he would be able to post answers to folks' questions, least of all that he was answering questions immediately via PM. Last I heard, there was no ETA since Chris didn't know when he'd be able to get answers to questions to y'all, and once he did, he'd update thie first post in this thread the same way he did when he added questions #9-11 on the list.

[Stanley Woo]

Adugan wrote...
Sure, but he can at leas say SOMETHING. He won't even answer my PM.

He can, sure, but he's already said in this thread that there was no ETA on answers and that he was working on it. If you feel he has to answer you, then you're not really asking questions, are you? At that point, you'd be making demands of him. And if you are, I would counsel demonstrating some patience like the rest of the people in this thread awaiting answers are doing.