• EA's Origin service fucks up, offers infinite $20 off coupons, possibly banning users which took adv
    1,506 replies, posted
[quote="Gamers Association"] It’s tough to stay excited about the excellent [I]Dishonored[/I] or an upcoming [I]Call of Duty [/I]when your wallet won’t stop sighing to ruin the mood. If only some superhero would descend from the heavens and fling us a free game to stay engaged… …Wait, what the heck is the money-hungry EA doing here? Through an apparently very under-the-radar promotion, one sub-$20 downloadable PC title may be picked up for the low, low price of nothing at all via [URL="http://store.origin.com/"]EA’s Origin distribution service[/URL]. Simply stroll on into the this-is-definitely-not-Steam [URL="http://store.origin.com/"]Origin store[/URL], find something special priced at $19.99 or below, add it to your cart, and punch in [B]promo code OS3874XVC[/B] to redeem your free prize! Note that this code only seems to jive for North American audiences, and not all games in this price range work. Still, we’ve seen success with the following list of titles: Battlefield 2 Battlefield 2142 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Bulletstorm Burnout Paradise Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Crysis Crysis Warhead Dead Space Dead Space 2 Dragon Age: Origins Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening Dragon Age II FIFA 12 Mass Effect 2 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Mirror’s Edge Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Need For Speed Shift II: Unleashed The Saboteur Shank Sim City 4 Spore Individual results are inconsistent across different accounts, but anything’s worth a shot for the potential promise of a free game, right?[/quote] For now, the main action I've seen this take place is on the [URL="http://www.steamgifts.com/forum/ucPln/20-origin-coupon/page/1"]SteamGift forums here[/URL]. [quote]My friend got suspended :D I was going to try but did not want to waste my BF3, BFBC2, BF2 Complete, Medal of Honor Airborne Origin account[/quote] [quote]Bought 4 games hour ago, it seems they deleted last 3 games from my acc and only the first one is still here.[/quote] [quote]It worked for me and I was able to use the code once on 3 different Origin accounts. So theoretically you can get as many games as you want as long as you don't mind logging in and out of different Origin accounts.[/quote] If you want to give it a crack, the code is OS3874XVC. [quote="Folstream"] 1. Chrome incognito, don't be logged in 2. Add game to cart 3. Add promo code, game becomes free 4. Remove the game from the cart 5. Login to your main account 6. Re-add the game to your cart. On the game page it should say something like "Sale price 0.00$" 7. Finish the purchase[/quote] [B]Edit[/B] Yeah it's done guys, we had a good run though right? Start posting your swag. :v: [B]Edit [/B][QUOTE=Sensei;38030248]Hey guys, just thought I would post this from another site: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ryn2N.png[/IMG] As much as I wish it weren't true, it looks like Origin intends on punishing those of us who "abused" their mistake.[/QUOTE] [quote="Forbes"]Multiple reports of a coupon code glitch at EA’s online Origin store point to an exploit which allowed customers to enter a coupon code and receive $20 off an infinite number of games. The loophole was first [URL="http://slickdeals.net/f/5325376-Dead-Get-your-free-games-from-Origin-Store-EA-Store"]discovered on Slickdeals[/URL] and quickly spread – as news of free games often does. The code, which could be acquired by taking a short survey, is no longer valid. So let’s contrast two interesting phenomenons. On the one hand, you have a glitch allowing users to essentially exploit EA and get a bunch of the games they offer on Origin for free, and unsurprisingly people jump at the opportunity. On the other hand, you have something like the Humble Indie Bundle, a pay-what-you-want service allowing gamers to get indie games on the cheap and support charity and the developers at the same time. The fifth installment of the Humble Indie Bundle raked in over $5 million. So what gives? Why do people rush to get free games on Origin while at the same time pay for games they could basically get for free in the Humble Indie Bundle? I don’t think this is EA-specific, but I do suspect there’s enough broad animosity toward publishers and sympathy toward indie developers that taking from the former feels justified while giving to the latter feels like the right thing to do. That’s clearly not solid ethics at play [update: I can see the logic behind this works - the coupon is EA-generated, users are just using the loophole from a legitimate coupon, etc.] but you can see how the logic plays out. The big, greedy corporation vs. the small guy is an old story doomed to be repeated. A story doomed to be repeated because, at its core, there’s some big truths in there. The bigness of EA makes them seem impersonal and out of touch compared to small studios. And more than just [I]seem[/I]; they often [I]are[/I] out of touch with their consumer base. Maybe that’s inevitable. This is the core driving factor behind something like Kickstarter, also. Strip away the bigness that creates a divide between content creators and their customers and make commerce [I]personal[/I] in a way it simply isn’t with the big faceless entities like EA. I’ve reached out to EA about the coupon glitch and will report back if and when I hear something. No word on whether EA will take action against anyone who utilized it, though so far it appears no bans have taken place. P.S. One theory I’ve seen floated is that EA did this intentionally to grow its user base. I’m going to call this one as “not likely” in the “not a snowball’s chance in Hell” category. First of all, they wouldn’t take the coupon down if that were the case. Second, it’s just an enormous stretch to think that EA is running that elaborate of a scheme on the hope and prayer somebody figures it out and is then able to spread the news properly, etc. If they wanted to grow their user base, they could use all sorts of upfront promotions and sales to do that. As it stands, probably people who already have an Origin account were the most likely to use the exploit.[/quote]
Pretty stupid of them to ban people when they did something wrong.
Valve didnt even ban when the DiRT3 serial list was leaked, and a half million users had dirt3 for free. They just deleted the game from their steam list
I remember when Ubisoft Australia messed up and had free games on their website, but they took it like a champ and let everyone keep the games they got. If EA bans accounts for this, then they will just continue to add to their already ruined reputation.
I still have RUSE for free after that Ubisoft coupon duplication thing (If you tried to get a steam code from one of the free RUSE serials you used to get with an i7, it adds a free game to the cart, noone really thought of the quantity buttons though)
Lets make predictions, how long will Origin last?
[QUOTE=cNova;38017818]Valve didnt even ban when the DiRT3 serial list was leaked, and a half million users had dirt3 for free. They just deleted the game from their steam list[/QUOTE] Hell even the people who made about 300 fake accounts during the christmas steam event got unbanned, this is a huge fuckup by EA.
Just tried it, got a $20 game for free. If EA bans my account that's okay, just have BF3, ME3, and SWTOR on it and fuck knows I ain't playing those games again.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;38017881]Just tried it, got a $20 game for free. If EA bans my account that's okay, just have BF3, ME3, and SWTOR on it and fuck knows I ain't playing those games again.[/QUOTE] -snip- apparently wanting BF3 is terrible
Origin is really expensive, pretty much everything is cheaper steam. Even with the coupon, I cant be bothered to buy off Origin.
The product code you entered is not valid. Please confirm that the code has been entered correctly.
i got simcity 4 deluxe or w/e. had to use a proxy because the code only works in the us store. if i get banned its not a big deal. i got bf3 and b2k on this account but i have bf3 on the other one too.
[QUOTE=lotusking;38017896]The product code you entered is not valid. Please confirm that the code has been entered correctly.[/QUOTE] It just did this as I tried a second one. Also creating an Origin account isn't going through for me. Did they fix it?
If you live outside the U.S. or Canada it won't work, if you do live in that reigon then I don't know.
EA will ban from Origin for almost anything. It's like they [i]want[/i] people to stop using their service.
[QUOTE=Jon27;38017946]EA will ban from Origin for almost anything. It's like they [i]want[/i] people to stop using their service.[/QUOTE] No they're idiots who think banned users will flock back and re-buy their games again.
They've done this before except they gave away infinite copies of Mirror's Edge.
just bought the sims 2 double deluxe because why the hell not
[QUOTE=cNova;38017818]Valve didnt even ban when the DiRT3 serial list was leaked, and a half million users had dirt3 for free. They just deleted the game from their steam list[/QUOTE] Dude you're like comparing God with Satan.
They didn't ban people back when they accidentally gave out Mirror's Edge, Dead Space and Mercenaries 2 for free [editline]13th October 2012[/editline] Well not me atleast.
[QUOTE=TurbisV2;38018025]They didn't ban people back when they accidentally gave out Mirror's Edge, Dead Space and Mercenaries 2 for free [editline]13th October 2012[/editline] Well not me atleast.[/QUOTE] I doubt it. As long as you buy and it isnt on pre-order the transaction is complete and there is nothing EA can do but let you have it at the cost of their mistake.
Looks like it's fixed
[QUOTE=TurbisV2;38018025]They didn't ban people back when they accidentally gave out Mirror's Edge, Dead Space and Mercenaries 2 for free [editline]13th October 2012[/editline] Well not me atleast.[/QUOTE] fun fact: i havent bought a single game on my origin accounts, got them all because of ea's mistakes. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/F4bxF.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UDqse.jpg[/IMG] havent had a single removed game or banned account so far.
[QUOTE=raviool;38018078]fun fact: i havent bought a single game on my origin accounts, got them all because of ea's mistakes. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/F4bxF.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/UDqse.jpg[/IMG] havent had a single removed game or banned account so far.[/QUOTE] teach me master
Code still works. Just got another sims 2 pack on my main account. The code does not work for pre orders though.
[QUOTE=Lizzrd;38017810]Pretty stupid of them to ban people when they did something wrong.[/QUOTE] I find it pretty stupid that said people abuse a bug in the system to get free stuff and then complain that they shouldn't get banned because it was EA's mistake.
I guess some games are not even worth it when free.
They fixed you being able to use it multiple times on one account.
I got time so I am going to continue to get the last sims 2 pack i want
Aww, not working any more :smith:
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