By now I'm sure most of you have seen the infamous Modern Warfare 2 image (see below) where gamers who were part of a modern warfare 2 boycott list were seen playing the game once it released. This was clearly a case of some gamers complaining loudly about something then turning around and forgetting to vote with their wallets.

In the same year we had the kerfuffle over left 4 dead 2 but shockingly the game went on to sell just as well if not better than the first game.

This year we had the complaints over day one DLC in Mass Effect 3 and this week EA and Gamestop reported that sales of day one DLC were very impressive. From the Eurogamer story( http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-09-ea-ships-3-5-million-copies-of-mass-effect-3-around-the-world)

'US giant GameStop saw 40 per cent of day one customers also buy a download code for the day one DLC From Ashes. "The tie ratio at the register is the highest in their history," Riccitiello said.'

Wow 40%, those are some really impressive numbers which could even be higher given we don't know how many people bought the DLC online.

It is almost creepy how the same pattern seems to repeat itself. Granted the people who complained could have stuck to their guns and not bought the DLC and these sales are just from walk-ins to Gamestop, but that's highly unlikely.

So what do you guys think? Are gamer 'boycotts' and complaints relevant if people don't vote with their wallets? Gamers' actions seem to speak louder than their words in these scenarios and it seems that companies will keep pushing the bounds of what is acceptable.

In a weird way I feel these boycotts actually help boost a game's sales. They get people talking about the game and as a result casual outsiders may be inclined to check out the game.

I'd like to believe that it's because people came to their senses and realized that with the way game development works, there will always be a huge gap of time between feature- and story-complete and ship date.
 
In reality, I have to assume that people are weak willed and happy to shit on something that sounds even the tiniest bit unfair to them, but then the second someone says "No really, it's pretty good," they drop everything and buy it.
 
Also, for what it's worth the DLC is effectively 4-5 moderately long conversations that shed a tiny bit of light on the life of one alien, as well as another biotic party member and an admittedly great rifle. Everyone who got up in arms about it being a massive piece of universe-changing content is 100% wrong.

i bought it. it wasnt on the disc. it was made after the game was finished. im ok with it.

You do realize that 40% tie in rate with game purchases means absolutely nothing if the people boycotting the game didn't buy the fucking game.

@Waffles13: The DLC is on the disc, Bioware lied.

@tunaburn said:

i bought it. it wasnt on the disc. it was made after the game was finished. im ok with it.

You're so naiv it's almost cute.

Even when the internet is full of proof that this DLC has been in the game for a long time already, people eat the shit oh so "honest" Bioware presents them.

@Topic

Well not only is the active internet userbase that's a highly likely Mass Effect 3 customer relatively small, the percentage of people resisting to buy the DLC duo to its controversry - even smaller. People that were pretty sure to get the game but ended up boycotting it completely duo to all that Bioware crap lately? 1-2 guys probably -.-

What about when all those people in the PlayStation Blog comments that said they wouldn't buy ModNation Racers Vita if it didn't have online play and then it came out and no one bought it? Sometimes it really happens, just usually not for the big AAA games.

just get over it, that's what everyone should do. 
People also need to know how DLC is actually made to begin with

I feel like some gamers bitch and moan way too much about fairness. For christ sake, if you don't like it, don't buy it. But don't try and make me feel guilty because I want to support business. I'm not saying it's right and this example is pretty shitty now that all the evidence has (apparently) come out, but stop complaining about everything and just play video games :). Also, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but when I downloaded From Ashes, it was over 600 MB. That seems pretty big for something that was already on the disc, no?

That's because most gamers have no dignity and just join up with the in-crowd. I stick by what I say and I haven't bought Mass Effect 3 at all. I won't buy it new, used, and I won't even pirate. I won't give EA the benefit of them trying to rip me off.

@tunaburn said:

i bought it. it wasnt on the disc. it was made after the game was finished. im ok with it.

(Your avatar is great).

I don't really care one way or the other with this, but it appears it might've been on the disc after all: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116234-Day-One-DLC-Files-Appear-on-Mass-Effect-3-Discs

I can't verify if that's actually true, however.

Really doesn't surprise me. For as much whining, complaining and flaming of Bioware that's gone on recently, of course they're going to buy it. They've got most people by the nuts because its extra content that they really want to play (or at least, think they want to play), and they've got the other half because they want to buy it to pretentiously complain about it or because they think that just little old me buying it won't matter anyway.

Gamers need to get over themselves, honestly. Stop thinking that these huge game companies are your friends and want to cut you the best deal. It's a business. They're trying to get the most amount of money from you with the least amount of work. If you don't like this incredibly aggressive marketing campaign of Day One DLC, which that's all it is when it really comes down to it, then either don't buy it or stick with the indie developers.

I don't like that I bought a game that I can't S-rank the day it came out, rubs me the wrong way.

I find myself pretty disappointed with this dlc not because it's day one, on the disc, or anything of that nature.
 
Having the the dlc crew member be who he is, Bioware once again wrote themselves into a bad place.  If the dlc was in game world changing, it would have been off putting to people who would considering such a thing to belong in the game itself.  But, and by all accounts this is the case, if it is largely inconsequential, the nature of the new character makes that very disappointing.  How can having that guy on your side not change a whole lot of things?

I find myself pretty disappointed with this dlc not because it's day one, on the disc, or anything of that nature.
 
Having the the dlc crew member be who he is, Bioware once again wrote themselves into a bad place.  If the dlc was in game world changing, it would have been off putting to people who would considering such a thing to belong in the game itself.  But, and by all accounts this is the case, if it is largely inconsequential, the nature of the new character makes that very disappointing.  How can having that guy on your side not change a whole lot of things?

@tunaburn said:

i bought it. it wasnt on the disc. it was made after the game was finished. im ok with it.

(Your avatar is great).

I don't really care one way or the other with this, but it appears it might've been on the disc after all: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116234-Day-One-DLC-Files-Appear-on-Mass-Effect-3-Discs

I can't verify if that's actually true, however.

@Turambar said:

I find myself pretty disappointed with this dlc not because it's day one, on the disc, or anything of that nature.
 
Having the the dlc crew member be who he is, Bioware once again wrote themselves into a bad place.  If the dlc was in game world changing, it would have been off putting to people who would considering such a thing to belong in the game itself.  But, and by all accounts this is the case, if it is largely inconsequential, the nature of the new character makes that very disappointing.  How can having that guy on your side not change a whole lot of things?

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Because he happens to be a warrior, who grew up during the war and therefore knew nothing of real Prothean society and never heard anything but rumors about the Crucible. The only thing he really "reveals" is that the Protheans were all gigantic dicks.

Buying the game anyway doesn't make a boycott irrelevant. It makes it not a boycott.

The complaints are perfectly valid since we're just finding out that assets from From Ashes are on the disc themselves, before it went into certification and went gold. They might have finished it AFTER it was sent but it was planned and executed well in advance. Especially considering all of the voice-work with the characters and the scripting involved as well. That is not alright, at all. When someone buys a product that they expect to be complete it should be fucking complete, not have bits held back in an attempt to monetize it further. Would anyone here go to a movie just to have a major scene removed but available if you pay extra? No. Would anyone here buy a car for full price but it had no transmission, but you could always buy it and have it installed? No. Because that's not what's supposed to happen. When people pay full fucking price for something they should get a complete product. Period. Not have bits held hostage at a premium.

That said, gamers are fucking stupid. We've known this for a long time. They say No but end up saying Yes with their wallets, which is why companies like EA and ActiVision think they can get away with this. Sad thing is they are getting away with it. And they will continue to get away with it unless people actually back up their words without being self-entitled prick by pirating it or legislation is enabled to prevent the price gouging. They're only doing it and getting away with it because gaming is still in it's infancy and they think that most gamers are 14 year old kids with unlimited reserves courtesy of mommy and daddy.

Fucking disgusting.

@Turambar said:

@Waffles13 said:

@Turambar said:

I find myself pretty disappointed with this dlc not because it's day one, on the disc, or anything of that nature.

Having the the dlc crew member be who he is, Bioware once again wrote themselves into a bad place. If the dlc was in game world changing, it would have been off putting to people who would considering such a thing to belong in the game itself. But, and by all accounts this is the case, if it is largely inconsequential, the nature of the new character makes that very disappointing. How can having that guy on your side not change a whole lot of things?

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Because he happens to be a warrior, who grew up during the war and therefore knew nothing of real Prothean society and never heard anything but rumors about the Crucible. The only thing he really "reveals" is that the Protheans were all gigantic dicks.

And that's what makes the dlc very disappointing from the other end.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

You don't spend the franchise making an extinct species out to be super awesome and advanced, and then come up with a real live one and go "nah, he ain't special." without making the entire process incredibly disappointing.

They didn't go "nah, he ain't special", though. He wasn't THE KEY TO THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE, and he wasn't a throwaway character, either. Those aren't the only two possibilities - he sat pretty squarely in the middle of those two extremes. It was a good piece of content; its biggest failing was its marketing.

@AiurFlux said:

Would anyone here go to a movie just to have a major scene removed but available if you pay extra? No.

Hope you've never bought a DVD before.

Well, i never buy DLC. I know i'm not going to change the ENTIRE industry by doing that, but i don't like it, so i don't buy it.

I boycotted buying it. I rented it. I think the MW2 thing was the same deal.

Regardless, Day One DLC turned out to be just one of a litany of probs for the game. Sexually.

@CrossTheAtlantic said:

@tunaburn said:

i bought it. it wasnt on the disc. it was made after the game was finished. im ok with it.

(Your avatar is great).

I don't really care one way or the other with this, but it appears it might've been on the disc after all: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116234-Day-One-DLC-Files-Appear-on-Mass-Effect-3-Discs

I can't verify if that's actually true, however.

thanks man. theres no way to know for sure i guess. but the download was like 600 mb so ill just give the benefit of the doubt i guess.

@Waffles13: I think what you meant to say is that all the Protheans were gigantic badasses.

Im glad I bought the DLC. It was a cool character and an interesting little piece of lore to the series and well I just liked seeing that the protheans werent some perfect race and were just as much of an asshole as every other race.