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Ea staff member caught selling ultimate team pack “luck” for upto $1000

AndyMc1888

Member
Jul 16, 2019
1,020
Hard to make the headline fit for how weird this story is but basically the ultimate team mode where it's based off random pack luck there is evidence of ea staff changing so that instead of pack luck the player gets their chosen choice for thousands of pounds which will obviously completely change the UT economy.

Evidence :


ea response :


Do we expect much widespread reaction from this? Seems pretty wild when money can be used for random packs officially but staff can manually fuck it without any safe guards ? Added to ea claiming this isn't gambling but staff are putting fixed prices on the packs then it is all a bit crazy.
 
2Blackcats

2Blackcats

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,079
AndyMc1888 said:
Hard to make the headline fit for how weird this story is but basically the ultimate team mode where it's based off random pack luck there is evidence of ea staff changing so that instead of pack luck the player gets their chosen choice for thousands of pounds which will obviously completely change the UT economy.

Evidence :


ea response :


Do we expect much widespread reaction from this? Seems pretty wild when money can be used for random packs officially but staff can manually fuck it without any safe guards ? Added to ea claiming this isn't gambling but staff are putting fixed prices on the packs then it is all a bit crazy.
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The fact the ability to do this at all exists is crazy.
 
Joni

Joni

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,508
This is more proof of EA being able to change things on the fly to make some items rarer if they become more popular, and thus lootboxes becoming more scummy. Let's hope EU countries continue to give them shit.
 

Deleted member 5491

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,249
Imagine finding out that a casino would do this.
There would be lawsuits up their asses. That shit needs to be regulated like hell from federal site, cause they can't and don't want to.
It's gambling and nothing of this shit is ethical nor fun
 
Nacho Papi

Nacho Papi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,340
Who can break down what this aspect of the modern Fifa games are for me? Last one I played was like 1998, is this akin to MP dlc?
 
Gibbo

Gibbo

The Fallen
Nov 20, 2017
733
Wouldn't be surprised. Still makes me wonder how someone can have a team of 11 icons
 
Rats

Rats

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,112
Weird how unregulated gambling invites criminal behavior. Who woulda thunk.
 

francium87

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,041
This also feeds into the paranoia that companies could/does find influencer accounts and seed them with better pull rates to push views/popularity/excitement
 

Deleted member 5491

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,249
Nacho Papi said:
Who can break down what this aspect of the modern Fifa games are for me? Last one I played was like 1998, is this akin to MP dlc?
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You can buy ingame moey with real money and with that packs of players for your team (kinda like Panini). They are one of the most known MTX out there and EA said even in front of legislators that their MTX are nothing like gambing and that you can't buy these packs with real money.
Well... as you can see, EA staff can sell single players for huge amounts of money.
 

Deleted member 17676

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,454
francium87 said:
This also feeds into the paranoia that companies could/does find influencer accounts and seed them with better pull rates to push views/popularity/excitement
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Well before the game launched, I am pretty sure EA gave influencers a shit load of coins to promote gambling to kids. It's like a billionaire streaming at a casino. It's not going to make any difference to him, but the poor people (kids in this case) who follow him it will make a difference.
 
poklane

poklane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,933
the Netherlands
Just the fact that some random EA employee can change the odds for specific accounts is shady as fuck in itself.
Edit: do we 100% know if this is actually pack luck being changed or if these items are directly awarded to the account? Quite important imo.
 
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Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,129
poklane said:
Just the fact that some random EA employee can change the odds for specific accounts is shady as fuck in itself.
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That's the biggest takeaway from this.

Like several people can completely manipulate cards drop on individual accounts without anyone finding out?

Someone probably ended up filthy rich because of this lol.
 
Rbrogue

Rbrogue

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
272
That they charged so much tells you that $1700 won't even guarantee you what you want if you go the legit route. Insane.
 

GrinWithoutaKat

Member
Jun 20, 2018
1,269
I don't think 'pack luck' is being sold. They are adding cards to accounts, which we already know is possible since they give real life footballers a bunch of icons to start with and a 99 rated version of themselves. And it's just some rogue employees taking advantage of their position. Not like EA themselves are offering this as a service. They will get caught and be fired.
 

Deleted member 46804

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Aug 17, 2018
4,129
2Blackcats said:
The fact the ability to do this at all exists is crazy.
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It's just programming. You could do the same with a digital slot machine within seconds if you had access to the code.
Mazzle said:
Imagine finding out that a casino would do this.
There would be lawsuits up their asses. That shit needs to be regulated like hell from federal site, cause they can't and don't want to.
It's gambling and nothing of this shit is ethical nor fun
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This has happened before with slot machines. Individuals who do it end up in jail but it is hard to hold the company liable for a single employee's actions.
 

Deleted member 5491

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Oct 25, 2017
5,249
DukeNukum said:
It's just programming. You could do the same with a digital slot machine within seconds if you had access to the code.

This has happened before with slot machines. Individuals who do it end up in jail but it is hard to hold the company liable for a single employee's actions.
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Sure, but this shit isn't regulated right now. It wouldn't surprise me if this leads to more regulations all over the industry. Just liek BF2 lead to legislator being interested in MTX and all that filth
 

Deleted member 46804

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Banned
Aug 17, 2018
4,129
Mazzle said:
Sure, but this shit isn't regulated right now. It wouldn't surprise me if this leads to more regulations all over the industry. Just liek BF2 lead to legislator being interested in MTX and all that filth
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Regulations would be nice but it doesn't solve what happened here. A rogue programmer will always be able to do what they want.
 

Deleted member 46804

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 17, 2018
4,129
binarymelon said:
If they were regulated EA would need to show they were putting safeguards in place to make sure things like this didn't happen.
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Not really. I worked on digital slot machines as a QA guy for a while. Basically we sent an automated test to test the code that we were shipping to regulators who "signed off." The engineer wrote the test and the game code. They could easily change the payout percentage of the game through machine button combinations or other trickery and the regulators would have no idea. The same could happen here. I fully support more regulation around this shit but it would have done fuckall to prevent this scenario. The most that would be different is the employee in question would probably end up in jail. No extra protections for consumers.
 
Klyka

Klyka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,484
Germany
I guarantee you. 100%. 10000%.
Fifa streamers/youtubers (aka "pack openers") have used this and paid for it.
Absolutely. No way it didn't happen.
 
lorddarkflare

lorddarkflare

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,259
DukeNukum said:
Not really. I worked on digital slot machines as a QA guy for a while. Basically we sent an automated test to test the code that we were shipping to regulators who "signed off." The engineer wrote the test and the game code. They could easily change the payout percentage of the game through machine button combinations or other trickery and the regulators would have no idea. The same could happen here. I fully support more regulation around this shit but it would have done fuckall to prevent this scenario. The most that would be different is the employee in question would probably end up in jail. No extra protections for consumers.
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In places where I have worked as a developer, making changes like this is a configuration or database change and not a code change and were strictly controlled and audited.

I can't imagine changing an aspect of the game build itself for something like this. The only thing that makes sense is that they have some bullshit change control processes.
 
Metalmucil

Metalmucil

Member
Aug 17, 2019
1,380
Yeah, if EA actually has the ability to change this stuff in real time, who knows what they could be doing behind the scenes at any given moment. Shouldn't this impact that loot-box lawsuit stuff?
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,046
Misread thread title, click thread title, read OP, get a little disappointed, wonder why I'm disappointed.
 
LossAversion

LossAversion

The Merchant of ERA
Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,714
"This type of behaviour is unacceptable!"

- A company selling slot machines to kids.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,046
Anyhow, lootbox type stuff is awful on a good day. It's almost hard to see this as outstandingly scummy when the baseline's already down there.
 
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