My take on the semantics:
I think "sabotage" is probably a fair description of the one-star ratings on Amazon, given that they are designed to, well, sabotage the game's average rating there.![]()
But, so what? The average rating was 5 before the campaign began - the highest possible rating which is clearly absurd. Vanilla RTW deserves a 3 at most, I personally would rate it at a 2. And arguably the "read our lips - no new patches" policy deserves a further downgrade, which would make it a 1. So the 1-star ratings are at least defensible.
As to "blackmail" and "extortion" though, I'm sorry, I don't regard a person exercising his legitimate right to post a review on Amazon as being tantamount to criminal activity.
In any case, I think anyone who reads the latest reviews on Amazon will get a very clear picture of the debate, since the issues have been thrashed out there in the various pro- and con- reviews as well. Readers will quickly realize that (a) there's a deliberate campaign in progress to bring the average rating down, and that (b) some gamers are very dissatisfied not only with the state of the game but also the lack of support from CA.
No-one is being misled. No-one is being tricked. There's just a very open public debate going on, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Oh and BTW, the reviews are probably helping to raise the org's profile since several reviewers have mentioned it by name. So people can come here, read the threads and be as well informed as anyone about the issues before making their choice about whether to go ahead and buy. And that can only be a positive IMO.
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