Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
WOW. i did not know this AT ALL. Apparently you can't get this game in China. lol
m11kj
Posts: 410 Member
Apparently you can't get any games from EA in China. Because Origin does not let you pay from here.
I spent hours yesterday trying to purchase a pack. it's the first pack i purchased since i left US. Why did i spend hours you ask? well first i thought i could pay through my normal way, input my credit card info and done, but nope -- I can't find my country in the credit card drop down list. Alright, maybe it's a bug, i thought to myself, not the first time i've seen bugs on origin, right? no problem.
ok, let's try paypal then. sign in, check out, proceed, buffer circle, -- nope, error message, payment not through.
Alright, maybe it doesn't like Chinese accounts. It's ok, not the first time I see things like that. Sure, let's use my US account then. Let's transfer money from my CN account to US. International transfer fee, paid. Money, transferred. Sure, now can I pay? buffer circle spun and spun. -- nope, error message again, "please try later" it says.
Okay, it is later, let's try again! -- oh, what's new? verification process? you want to either phone or text my already-disabled American phone number to make sure it is me?? ..........YEAH, that marks the end of this method I guess, doesn't it. I mean, I CAN give verizon another 40 bucks to activate my number again, but that's double the price i'm paying for the pack itself isn't it. plus, it's not like i can purchase all the future packs in one go, is it? 40 bucks every time? Ima pass.
Right, right, EA, i give in. Let's turn to good old Amazon, who accepts folks like us. don't get me wrong, it's not like they made it any easier. clicked through a million pages and finally got it to work. okay. finally. it's showing "download" instead of "$xx.xx" on origin. Let's download! -- oh wait, um, 80kb/s..? estimated time 10hrs? oh of course, i forgot to turn on my dear old VPN that i spent $40 yearly fee on! there u go, 1mb/s, not my usual 8-10mb, but much better.
and since i've got a little bit of time, let's find out why that bug of credit card drop down exist, shall we? oh good, there's a thread on Answers HQ...
"Hi,
As requested, I will keep it brief. At this time the Origin Store is not available in China."
oh. oh? oh...
how naive am i.
China blocked google, china blocked facebook, china blocked twitter, instagram, youtube. But China did not block EA. EA blocked China.
I wanted to laugh. Isn't embracing all the global cultures and community what EA is all about? Sims Freeplay has lunar new year and lion dance celebrations, San Myshuno takes inspirations from Shanghai and Hongkong. and think about how there's a whole community of Chinese players and creators out there on tumblr, TSR, MTS...who deliver amazing creations every time.. and all this time what? they can't even get the game without going through a tor-ture online, getting multiple identity checks, spending extra money on various third party softwares, while facing the fact that you actually don't want them to get the game AT ALL??! how do you deserve them, EA?! How??
I'm sorry for the long post and I apologize if I sounded a bit over-reacting. arguing is not my thing and i normally just want to peacefully play and enjoy the game. but seeing and experiencing what my fellow players have been going through for the first time really shocked me. America has taught me to speak up for my rights, to speak up if I feel like I've been treated unfairly. Now I am.
I spent hours yesterday trying to purchase a pack. it's the first pack i purchased since i left US. Why did i spend hours you ask? well first i thought i could pay through my normal way, input my credit card info and done, but nope -- I can't find my country in the credit card drop down list. Alright, maybe it's a bug, i thought to myself, not the first time i've seen bugs on origin, right? no problem.
ok, let's try paypal then. sign in, check out, proceed, buffer circle, -- nope, error message, payment not through.
Alright, maybe it doesn't like Chinese accounts. It's ok, not the first time I see things like that. Sure, let's use my US account then. Let's transfer money from my CN account to US. International transfer fee, paid. Money, transferred. Sure, now can I pay? buffer circle spun and spun. -- nope, error message again, "please try later" it says.
Okay, it is later, let's try again! -- oh, what's new? verification process? you want to either phone or text my already-disabled American phone number to make sure it is me?? ..........YEAH, that marks the end of this method I guess, doesn't it. I mean, I CAN give verizon another 40 bucks to activate my number again, but that's double the price i'm paying for the pack itself isn't it. plus, it's not like i can purchase all the future packs in one go, is it? 40 bucks every time? Ima pass.
Right, right, EA, i give in. Let's turn to good old Amazon, who accepts folks like us. don't get me wrong, it's not like they made it any easier. clicked through a million pages and finally got it to work. okay. finally. it's showing "download" instead of "$xx.xx" on origin. Let's download! -- oh wait, um, 80kb/s..? estimated time 10hrs? oh of course, i forgot to turn on my dear old VPN that i spent $40 yearly fee on! there u go, 1mb/s, not my usual 8-10mb, but much better.
and since i've got a little bit of time, let's find out why that bug of credit card drop down exist, shall we? oh good, there's a thread on Answers HQ...
"Hi,
As requested, I will keep it brief. At this time the Origin Store is not available in China."
oh. oh? oh...
how naive am i.
China blocked google, china blocked facebook, china blocked twitter, instagram, youtube. But China did not block EA. EA blocked China.
I wanted to laugh. Isn't embracing all the global cultures and community what EA is all about? Sims Freeplay has lunar new year and lion dance celebrations, San Myshuno takes inspirations from Shanghai and Hongkong. and think about how there's a whole community of Chinese players and creators out there on tumblr, TSR, MTS...who deliver amazing creations every time.. and all this time what? they can't even get the game without going through a tor-ture online, getting multiple identity checks, spending extra money on various third party softwares, while facing the fact that you actually don't want them to get the game AT ALL??! how do you deserve them, EA?! How??
I'm sorry for the long post and I apologize if I sounded a bit over-reacting. arguing is not my thing and i normally just want to peacefully play and enjoy the game. but seeing and experiencing what my fellow players have been going through for the first time really shocked me. America has taught me to speak up for my rights, to speak up if I feel like I've been treated unfairly. Now I am.
11
Comments
i understand that. but i doubt the market today is anything similar to what it used to be. ignoring the huge potential in Chinese market is not a wise step to any game development's future. We ARE giving money now despite all the barricades, imagine a fully opened market. Look at steam, who put out all the payment methods. I'm not an expert on finance, but I imagine they are making more profit than before.
Chinese players are getting the game with or without it opening. hacking and spambots exist with or without Chinese. LOL. Ironically, it's the hack and spam experts who get the game despite the barricades, cuz they are more tech-savvy.
I should get out amongst the Chinese populace and do some PR work to help things along. It would help with your language skills as well. What do the Chinese play instead of Sims?
as i said, i do have vpn.
I sincerely hope that's the case. I can confirm pure access-wise China isn't blocking origin at all. i can pay through any credit card source other than China as well as download any content. It is origin who is not offering a payment method that supports Chinese bank accounts. don't want to throw any shade (though as if i haven't been in the entire thread lol), but origin/EA has a tendency to be short-sighted as seen by their interesting option of shopping carts.
don't get me wrong. this game IS very well-known and popular in China. look at the creators on tumblr and you'll know. that's why i was so shocked to find out what they need to go through to even get this game.
And lol i'm sorry if i made it sound like else, but I am Chinese, born and bred. it's just i wasn't into video games until i went and lived in the US for a couple of years. Thank you for your suggestions though, if anything, i would certainly work towards getting my ppl more vocal about our situation. and maybe one day things will get better.<3
I find Origin a plumb nuisance as well as even in the UK my "sales" games from them are refusing to work a year after purchase, though someone seems to have got through to them this week as SimCity Complete , at least, has now been updated to work now.
outrun / blog / tunglr
XD see how quickly this thread gets "handled" and got removed from the main area and you'll realize who i really need to watch out for LOL but in all honesty, efforts from both sides would certainly help most.
So did they really move it here to Offtopic? lol
is this sarcasm i honestly couldn't tell lolol i don't think skeletons could get the game banned if ur serious
yep i originally posted it in general discussion.
> Karallyne wrote: »
>
> isn't there a skeleton object in the game that would have it banned from China even if they let it?
>
>
>
>
> is this sarcasm i honestly couldn't tell lolol i don't think skeletons could get the game banned if ur serious
No, I'm very serious. There are many games which need to be appropriately censored before they're allowed to be sold in China. Certain games made in korea and the US are even extra careful as to not include any sort of skeleton so that they can sell them in China. League of Legends for example hasn't included a skeleton character or made a skeleton-themed skin yet, so that they can continue to market their game in China. China also declared another one of EA's games, Battlefield 4, illegal... so I'm just saying, maybe this isn't all as one sided as its being made out to be.
just did some research, and you are right, they don't allow foreign games to include skeletons. the 'surface' reason is there not being a rating system in the nation's gaming realm (i.e. anyone including 3 year old kids can play any game). but don't take it too deep lol, cuz the real reason is they are just as money hungry as this company. countless Chinese games have skeletons. so there's a way around it, you just have to put in some 'effort'. and apparently EA doesn't care enough to do anything. or they do, but are just too fixated on the short term profits. further proves that they don't give a cent to anything beyond money.
i don't think one sided is accurate to describe what im saying lol. i may be throwing heavy shades on EA, but i'm basing it on the fact that China is no better. I just falsely had the hope that EA is somehow better under that skin of gold digging. not to say i don't understand that cuz that's what business is all about. lol
Youtube: simmerbrentley
Twitch: simmerbrentley
Origin: simmerbrentley