What is an EA Game Changer?

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  • buckeye
    Noob
    • Dec 2013
    • 0

    What is an EA Game Changer?





    There have been many rumors/stories/off the wall assumptions about the Game Changer program through Electronic Arts over the years. It started as well recognized community members that play games and are really good at them. What it has grown into is somewhat of a mystery throughout the community and rightfully so as most of our membership remains silent on what we actually do. With all of the recent negative press with it coming out that YouTubers supposedly being paid by console companies to promote their products, I felt now is as good a time as ever to lay out the basics of what goes on.

    What I Do

    I was invited to join the program back in May of 2011 after I was (much to my own surprise) brought into EA Tiburon in Orlando, Florida during the build up to Madden NFL 12. That being said I can realistically only speak to what the program is since that point. What we do is pretty much what is advertised… we collect feedback and present it to the developers for EA. That is the program in the most basic of forms.

    Each of us that have attended events take a ridiculous amount of input from the community sites such as this site (VSN), Operation Sports, IGN, Tradition Sports Online, as well as suggestions and conversations via social media. I can say that I have personally witnessed guys take in 10-15 pages of notes of items to go over. As for me, I know I went into my last event in 2013 with over 100 points I wanted to discuss.

    Community Events

    Actually though, I am getting ahead of myself as not everyone is able to, or invited to attend community events. If you are invited to attend it will be specifically for the strong point of the game they are doing at the time. For me, it’s Madden gameplay and Franchise (Connected Franchise if you will). What happens when you get there you ask? Well let me tell you… it’s a ticker tape parade and candy bars all around!!! Ok, not really… but there are people who think that is what happens. Basically we spend the first half of the first day going over what the developers are trying to get done in the game. I say trying because not all things can be done at once. The rest of the time we spend talking privately (and in group) with members of the development team breaking down issues and what is acceptable, what is not, what can wait until next year.

    The developers use us as a sounding board for ideas, different ways to implement features and overall feel of the game. We spend around 40 hours each trip “bugging” the game and showing what HAS TO BE FIXED immediately, or what is spot on in terms of presenting a realistic view/outcome of football. Each night we have dinner with the group, discuss points of contention, often times with members of the team there with us. Nothing crazy really, we have a good time. Most of us are around 30 years old with families so pretty much we enjoy ourselves when we aren’t in the studio, but all business when we are there working.



    Developer Interaction

    I assumed on my first trip it would be “shut up and listen” from the developers’ standpoint towards us. That could not be further from the truth. If you take a step back, everything that gets put into a game is someone’s idea. When you tell them you don’t like it, they don’t get offended or upset… they want to know why, and usually respond with “what would you do different”. Most video game developers are that way once they develop a level of trust in you.

    We are to the point with most of the EA development team that they know us all by name and are either happy to see us or cringe because they know they are going to hear it. A great example: I despise the “Ballhawk” feature… it isn’t a secret. When I attended an event last year and they introduced us to “Heat-seeker” I nearly had a coronary. My opinion: They are for noobs. I can’t see how they bring any sort of realism to the game, do I understand why they are there? Yes, I do but they don’t bring the realism to the game that we have been pushing for over the last 3 years. My first suggestion? Remove them or only activate them for Rookie and Pro difficulties! What I actually got was “How about if they are a toggle?”… which means they can be turned off and on by the user. Perfect.. no… better… Hell Yes!

    Now my next point was to make sure they were also able to be toggled in Connected Franchise Mode. Fast forward a few months and I walk into EA SPORTS Season Pass event in San Francisco; I walk into the NCAA viewing room and Larry Richart (from the central gameplay team) smiles and says “Hey, we got the toggle in”.

    The “Off Times”

    When we aren’t at Community Events we are gathering feedback and remotely interacting with the team through our community managers, some of us go directly to certain developers or are asked to look into possible issues that are being reported. If you work on the game, you will receive the game for free. That’s how it goes… sort of a thank you. It is also a bit of a busy time, we are expected to play the hell out of the game and report issues immediately so they can be addressed in day 1 title updates or be worked on for later title updates (rough life.. I know).

    The last thing we hear before we are sent our copies is “If you have time we would appreciate an official review of the game. Please be honest, don’t think we will hold your personal feelings against you”. What they really want is actual reviews that they can guarantee are truthful. If you look on major sites like Amazon and Metacritic you will see reviews submitted by many users that have never played the games and using it as a soapbox or to push an agenda. It happens on all games. Never once has any of our group been asked to, paid to, or coerced into giving an opinion other than their own. It just hasn’t happened.

    Submitting reviews was actually a point of contention for many of us as we all knew this topic would come up. Me personally, I don’t care what anyone thinks… my opinion is just that… it’s my opinion. So, I gave Madden an 8 or something around there, not great… but pretty good. Bought and paid for? Not likely… certainly not with me giving NBA Live a 5 out of 10 (many of us gave it that score or worse).

    Today

    Most of us tend to stay away from gaming sites outside of lurking without logging in and collecting feedback. It’s the nature of the beast really, we chose to do what we do to help make games we love better. When many of us log in on a public forum… it tends to lead to a flame war and I think many of us have decided individually that nothing good will come of it. Others see it as we are there to tell stories. Me, I’m there to tell it like it is as much as I can… if you are wrong, I will tell you so. If you don’t listen, that’s on you. I have drawn the ire of many websites for being me, as well as the ire of the community managers that have to deal with me (pray for them).

    I don’t make the games, I don’t make decisions on games, I help facilitate making them better. Am I special? No, I’m no different than anyone else. Do all of us Game Changers get along? Nope… we rarely do, but out of our debates is where we gain a huge amount of respect for each other… same as each of you reading this. If you can’t have a civilized debate providing factual information then the game changer program, or this site... isn’t for you.

    We aren't paid to provide positive reviews, video, or anything like that... that's completely bogus. There are companies that pay for people in the community (websites, youtubers...etc) to put out positive press. EA isn't one as far as I'm aware. It's possible, but it isn't a part of the Game Changer program.
  • albidnis
    GFX Crew
    • Nov 2008
    • 4035

    #2
    I really enjoyed reading this as I always wondered what you guys did. It's funny because all these guys that complain about EA or game changers would accept an invitation in a hot minute..lol

    I hope you guys continue to represent the community to the best of your ability and be as objective as possible.

    Comment

    • PP
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2010
      • 4994

      #3
      Originally posted by albidnis
      I really enjoyed reading this as I always wondered what you guys did. It's funny because all these guys that complain about EA or game changers would accept an invitation in a hot minute..lol

      I hope you guys continue to represent the community to the best of your ability and be as objective as possible.
      I would not accept. Seriously.

      Comment

      • buckeye
        Noob
        • Dec 2013
        • 0

        #4

        Comment

        • MrBill
          Billy Brewer Sucks Penis
          • Feb 2009
          • 0

          #5
          Good read buckeye. You did a solid job outlining what really takes place in the Game Changers program.

          Comment

          • ThomasTomasz
            • Nov 2024

            #6
            Yeah, I'd accept the invite extremely quickly, and most people are lying if they say they wouldn't.

            Comment

            • spursup
              Noob
              • Dec 2013
              • 505

              #7
              Interesting write-up. Probably wouldn't accept the invite for multiple reasons but nice to know we have people behind the scenes fighting for sim football.

              Comment

              • buckeye
                Noob
                • Dec 2013
                • 0

                #8
                Originally posted by baseballchampion
                Interesting write-up. Probably wouldn't accept the invite for multiple reasons but nice to know we have people behind the scenes fighting for sim football.
                It can get a bit ugly. According to a site I was on for years. I had "great ideas"... "you are spot on man"... the second I became a GC I was full of it and bought out. Same with the Sim Standard guys SimFballCritic and Smitty. When you give pros and cons you are immediately "a sell out"

                Lol couldn't be further from the truth.

                Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

                Comment

                • spursup
                  Noob
                  • Dec 2013
                  • 505

                  #9
                  Originally posted by buckeye
                  It can get a bit ugly. According to a site I was on for years. I had "great ideas"... "you are spot on man"... the second I became a GC I was full of it and bought out. Same with the Sim Standard guys SimFballCritic and Smitty. When you give pros and cons you are immediately "a sell out"

                  Lol couldn't be further from the truth.

                  Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
                  I'd venture a guess that it happens everywhere, it's probably not personal. 2K testers probably deal with that too.

                  I honestly didn't think Madden was a bad game on next gen this year. Obviously not perfect but its not end of the world terrible like some people make it out to be.

                  Comment

                  • leaffan
                    Colton Orr Fan
                    • Feb 2009
                    • 11082

                    #10
                    Originally posted by buckeye
                    It can get a bit ugly. According to a site I was on for years. I had "great ideas"... "you are spot on man"... the second I became a GC I was full of it and bought out. Same with the Sim Standard guys SimFballCritic and Smitty. When you give pros and cons you are immediately "a sell out"

                    Lol couldn't be further from the truth.

                    Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk
                    The main problem is this stuff has been going on for years and a lot of the things people want or things to be fixed still seemed glossed over while EA keeps pushing their failed agenda. I really can't touch on Madden (honestly never played it this year but my gaming habits have gone down hill) but I thoroughly believe the game changers program is what messed up a lot of the EA titles. NHL is the first to come to mind. What that game has morphed into over the last 3 years is so bad guys like myself, wr50l, ravin, killgod ect ect (we put in 100s if not 1000s of hours into the last games) don't even buy it on release day and I'd venture a guess and say all of us (maybe KG did don't know) haven't even bought it this year.

                    I actually tried to get into the program back in 2012 I think and heard nothing back. Then again I'm just a guy who posts a lot and not a figure head of gaming sites which is what they are going for.

                    Leafs offseason training!

                    Comment

                    • buckeye
                      Noob
                      • Dec 2013
                      • 0

                      #11
                      Originally posted by leaffan
                      The main problem is this stuff has been going on for years and a lot of the things people want or things to be fixed still seemed glossed over while EA keeps pushing their failed agenda. I really can't touch on Madden (honestly never played it this year but my gaming habits have gone down hill) but I thoroughly believe the game changers program is what messed up a lot of the EA titles. NHL is the first to come to mind. What that game has morphed into over the last 3 years is so bad guys like myself, wr50l, ravin, killgod ect ect (we put in 100s if not 1000s of hours into the last games) don't even buy it on release day and I'd venture a guess and say all of us (maybe KG did don't know) haven't even bought it this year.

                      I actually tried to get into the program back in 2012 I think and heard nothing back. Then again I'm just a guy who posts a lot and not a figure head of gaming sites which is what they are going for.
                      Not sure how the NHL side of things go as I haven't been up to EA Vancouver yet, but I do know that the NHL guys are pretty hardcore. We have one on-site here now. I have heard some of their complaints about the game as well though. Pushing for realism while still trying to sell the game is a tough spot. Especially when you look at the market for the game (very small). Guys like me from the states that know nothing about hockey want a pick up and play experience while hardcore guys want something representative of the actual NHL. The realism aspect should always win out... but at the end of the day, sales and sustaining the games most likely will always come first. I have met a couple guys on the dev team and they are serious hockey players. They play in leagues up in Canada as well as street hockey (roller hockey) on lunch breaks.

                      I think you will be a happy guy in the coming weeks as we may have a very heavy NHL presence on the site. We are slowly filtering in a few major NHL Series guys right now. Make sure you look up Romotimex9 and his friends you will see around here. All big time hockey guys.

                      Comment

                      • leaffan
                        Colton Orr Fan
                        • Feb 2009
                        • 11082

                        #12
                        Originally posted by buckeye
                        Not sure how the NHL side of things go as I haven't been up to EA Vancouver yet, but I do know that the NHL guys are pretty hardcore. We have one on-site here now. I have heard some of their complaints about the game as well though. Pushing for realism while still trying to sell the game is a tough spot. Especially when you look at the market for the game (very small). Guys like me from the states that know nothing about hockey want a pick up and play experience while hardcore guys want something representative of the actual NHL. The realism aspect should always win out... but at the end of the day, sales and sustaining the games most likely will always come first. I have met a couple guys on the dev team and they are serious hockey players. They play in leagues up in Canada as well as street hockey (roller hockey) on lunch breaks.

                        I think you will be a happy guy in the coming weeks as we may have a very heavy NHL presence on the site. We are slowly filtering in a few major NHL Series guys right now. Make sure you look up Romotimex9 and his friends you will see around here. All big time hockey guys.
                        As hardcore of an NHL guy as I am I always felt the game would benefit from not trying to take itself so seriously and to fix some of the big issues at hand instead of focusing on things like how a player skates and such (which is wrong to begin with). A more arcady feel so to say would be a bigger benefit imo.

                        The NHL presence on this site was fairly big a few years back and has died off because the game is shite now.

                        Leafs offseason training!

                        Comment

                        • buckeye
                          Noob
                          • Dec 2013
                          • 0

                          #13
                          Originally posted by leaffan
                          As hardcore of an NHL guy as I am I always felt the game would benefit from not trying to take itself so seriously and to fix some of the big issues at hand instead of focusing on things like how a player skates and such (which is wrong to begin with). A more arcady feel so to say would be a bigger benefit imo.

                          The NHL presence on this site was fairly big a few years back and has died off because the game is shite now.
                          That is the game I prefer personally but I'm the minority overall... the push for realism is understandable. M favoirte part of NHL 14? NHL 94 mode!!!!! Loved that damn game!!!!!!!!

                          Comment

                          • PP
                            Senior Member
                            • Feb 2010
                            • 4994

                            #14
                            Will die if NHL PS4 is any good. Last 3 years have been shit.

                            Comment

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