Battlefield 3 Boycott Gains Momentum on Reddit

A movement to boycott Battlefield 3 has gained momentum on Reddit, as fans note their displeasure at some of the pre-order goodies EA is offering for those who buy the game early. While pre-order bonuses are nothing new to gamers, it often feels like some bonus items can cause an imbalance in the game and give some players advantages in online play. The boycott was started by Reddit user Ramphastid. Here is the opening salvo against EA:

"As most of you know, EA recently announced an exclusive DLC for pre-ordering BF3," organizer Ramphastid writes on the popular website. "If you don't purchase the pre-order or limited edition version of BF3, you will have to pay extra for the Karkand expansion pack."

Ramphastid goes on to say that the only things not included in the expansion are the guns and ammunition, which he claims "creates an unfair advantage" for pre-order customers.

"The only thing not included in the Karkand Expansion pack is the Guns and ammunition, which will create an unfair advantage people who pre-order. As well, charging people extra to play maps available on day one."

"This was a decision made by EA, and not DICE. DICE and all of us need your help to get EA to wake up and change their decision. The Hive Mind of Reddit has a GREAT influence over the internet, and a lot of the media as well. Whether the rest of the world knows or not."

The Reddit post offers links, twitter feeds and email addresses of various EA employees. An update to the page leaves readers with something to think about:

"I think many people are missing the point. The point is that we don't want paid DLC that is going to split the community into groups of who does or does not have that DLC. You obviously can't join a server if its running a map you don't have. Bad Company 2 gave all its users the DLC for free. Now, I can see EAs reasoning about it from a console stand point (So that they still make a little money off of used games), but there is absolutely no reason for this on the PC. Obviously, you can't buy used PC games. EA, if you won't do this for everyone at LEAST do it for the PC community."

It will be interesting to see if EA will buckle under the pressure of the community and do something to address their concerns. More on this story as it develops.

Source: Reddit by way of MCV