Written by Citizen Alpha Thursday, 03 November 2011 04:14

For those of you that play games with me know I went out of my way to pre-purchase Battlefield 3 a full month ahead of its release date. I was that confident that the game would be above and beyond and while I'm in game it has yet to disappoint. The sound, the graphics, the everything in this game is just mindblowing and fun. Pre-purchasing a game is a colossal rarity for me, even simply purchasing a game instead of pirating a game is a heavy vote of confidence from me or any technically savvy gamer for that matter. I want to see DICE succeed and continue to create Battlefield games so I eagerly ponied up the cash for their newest game.

Even with a stellar game recommendation I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention the game comes with a monkey on its back. Ok, so that's an understatement, more like a simian army bent on dung flinging its way on to your computer. To run the game you need EA's answer to Valve's steam platform, Origin. You'll also need to open a web browser and have that running Battlelog as well. Let's not forget punkbuster's anticheat software needs to be active as well if you want to be able to play on 99% of the servers out there. Oh and if you want to change your avatar in Battlelog, you're going to have to sign up for Gravatar.

I really hope this article doesn't sway anyone away from purchasing the game. Consider yourself educated as to what you're getting into because I didn't purchase BF3 thinking all this was going to be on board and my biggest gripe is Origin. The service is a memory hog and provides zero functionality that I take advantage of. I can really understand EA's mindset here in trying to complete with a wildly successful format Valve has put into play and profited off of but right now, it's causing the use of the product to suffer. Bottom line: I don't want Origin.

Playing through the single player campaign I ran into a technical problem, my game was fading to black and never coming back right after a very specific mission. Since I have paid for the game I thought, "Hey, I should contact tech support" with the assumption that they may have come across this before since there are already a few complaints out there on the web. While I've got a tech person on the chat I figured why not try to nip this Origin issue in the bud. This is what transpired...

You are now ready to chat with Karen.
you: Hi my game keeps going to a black screen in the campaign after a certain level.
you: Always the same level, always the same spot
you: Right after Rock and a Hard Place
you: I cannot progress through the campaign any further due to this.
Karen: Ok I can try to help you with this. May I first have your email birth date and the place where you purchased your game/
you: ********@gmail.com
you: I preordered from Origin
you: Birthday is ************
Karen: Thank you for that. Please give me a moment to verify your account.
you:...?
Karen: Ok it appears that your account has a different birth date. Could have registered with a different one?
you: Yeah probably
you: I never really put my real birthday, which is the one I just gave you.
Karen: Can you give me the BF3 game code?
you: ************************
Karen: Thank you for that. Please give me one moment.
you: I really hope you're not running me through the account verify ringer to tell me you can't help me.
Karen: Ok well have you tried to up date your drivers?
you: Drivers are updated
you: I'm running on Windows 7
you: All windows updates are in
you: Even the optional ones
you: Vid card
you: You name it, I updated it.
Karen: Just one moment please.
Karen: Ok. Have you tried to uninstall and then reinstall the game
you: No
Karen: Well try that and let me know if that works ok.
you: Right now?
you: Are there any other solutions that don't involve a full install/reinstall?
Karen: Well no I guess that wouldn't be good. I am sorry. Try to do that and if it does'nt work then try to uninstall and reinstall Origin and if that still doesn't work get back with us.
you: I found a forum thread on a random gaming site
you: Citing the exact same problem
you: The solution was to drop the graphics settings and disable origin active in game
you: I tried it, and unfortunately it doesn't work
you: Perhaps though, Origin is the issue
you: How do I get rid of Origin, I neither like it or use it and it eats up valuable computer resources while I'm playing the game.
Karen: Im sorry but you need origin to run BF3.
you: Why?
Karen: I apologize for the delay, I'll be right with you.
Karen: The does not run with out Origin and its drivers.
you: I didn't buy Origin though, I bought BF3, I didn't anticipate running this in the background all the time while I play.
you: Its kind of like going to best buy and buying a TV only to find you can't take it out of the store.
you: Is it because of DRM or something?
you: Ok well, how do I optimize Origin so it doesn't eat up 90k of memory while I'm running BF3?
Karen: Could you please hold.
Karen: Unfortunately there is no way to optimize Origin. We are working on this and will most likely be out with the next version. But at this time please be patient. I am very sorry for this inconvenience but you do need Origin to run because it is not a stand alone game.
you: I'm looking online and there is a work around developed that will remove Origin from the equation which has been recently developed.
you: Seems like it was used mostly for pirated copies of the game however the game appears to launch just fine with it.
you: Will this have repercussions on my account standings? I did legitimately buy the game as well as many other in the BF series.
Karen: Please hold.
Karen: Im sorry but you will need Origin to run the game. Is there any thing else I can do for you today?
you: Yeah this really didn't solve anything. I don't want Origin but I'm stuck with it. My single player game doesn't work. The only solution you gave me is going to take a ton of time and probably won't work. And the only solution I found was by people stealing your game. I feel frankly...bamboozled...for the lack of a better term.
you: I don't mind the price tag. I don't even mind being advertised to. But I its eating into my computers ability to run the product.
Karen: Just another moment please.
Karen: Just another moment please.
Karen: Just one moment please.
Karen: Again I have explained that you will need Origin to run the game. I am sorry for any inconvenience that this is causing.
you: Will there be any repercussions for my accounts standings if I employ one of the work arounds to remove origin?
Karen: I apologize for the delay, I'll be right with you.
Karen: I can not guarantee that there will not be. I do not suggest you go that route.
you: If you can't, who can?
Karen: Just another moment please.
Karen: Just one moment please.
Karen: I am very sorry I was unable to help you with your issue. I do know that EA is very busy working on all issues we are experiencing and all I can ask is that you be patient.
you: They're working on removing the requirement to have Origin installed?
you: I'm confused.
you: That kind of seemed like a canned response.
Karen: At this time you need Origin to run the game.
Karen: I am sorry for the inconvenience but there is nothing else I can do.
you: We've been over this. I know. I asked if there will be repercussions if I remove it using a work around. You said you can't guarantee that it will not affect my accounts standing. I asked WHO can tell me this.
Karen: You need Origin.
Karen: Is there any thing else I can help you with today?
you: I don't want Origin. I found a way to remove Origin. Will that affect my standing with EA?
you: If you can't tell me, who can?
you: My request here is not unreasonable. I understand you're not the person to talk to regarding this issue so I need you to point me in the right direction.
Karen: it wont work work with out origin, if there is anything else i can help you with otherwise, I need to end the chat.
The chat session has ended. Please contact us again if you need further help.

TL;DR: I asked about my single player campaign crashing issue. I got the ole do something laborious and when that doesn't work you're someone else's problem when you come back techie run around. Then I asked how I could get rid of Origin. She said I could not and couldn't reasonably explain why. I asked her who could explain why and she threw some canned responses at me. I told her I found a work around to remove Origin and asked repeatedly if it would have repercussions on my account with EA as I don't want it to affect my legitimately purchased game. I got more canned responses and when I pressed her for answers she hung up on me.

I love the game, I really do, but I think it's absolutely tragic the massive amount of bloat that came with the game. The system requirements should actually reflect all the crap you need to run in the background to make the game run because I'm losing a ton of power just maintaining the bloat. The customer service on this was awful, I was in the midst of typing a response to her and she flat out hung up on me. I didn't end the chat. I wasn't done talking. My questions weren't answered and I was treated extremely poorly.

Now I understand this isn't poor Karen's fault. She's just a cog in a big machine and she doesn't make the decisions however all I was asking for was escalation of my questions and request. Why do I need this and if I remove it will EA punish me? I can understand EA's standpoint here. Steam is a great service, I love it, and I actually welcome the advertisements it puts in front of me. I like great games, I like indie developers, I like sweet deals and gamer swag. What my problem in all of this is I feel tricked into Origin. This is my computer and I have the right to choose what's installed and what is not. Origin removed my freedom of choice and I am angry about it.

What a shame.