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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.
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