Scrabble - How To Piss Off Your Loyal Players

How many months has it been since Electronic Arts (EA) released their new Scrabble game on Facebook? It's been almost two months now since EA put their new "improved" game into open beta, even though the testers from their closed beta test gave them all they needed to know at the time, that the new game was severely flawed. And did EA explain why they released a new game? No. Even now, EA is saying little in response to the continuing litany of complaints.

To be fair, EA has announced that, in a month, they will release a new version of the game that has the old look and feel as an option. But that gesture has largely been ignored, while more and more people clog the Scrabble Facebook pages with complaints. (See ScrabbleEA and Scrabble, as well as Bring Back The Old Scrabble.)

We can only speculate why EA foisted this new game on us, knowing full well the feedback from the beta testers. Some argue that they wanted to push out more ads to the players. However, they tried that before with the old game and backed down after getting an earful from its players. Others suggest that they wanted to encourage players to invite more of their friends to the game. But heck, it's already one of the most popular games on Facebook. Surely everyone on the planet knows about the game.

Here's my theory: I suspect EA had to make a change because they had to. Maybe there were some incompatible API changes that caught EA off guard, forcing them to rush out a poorly written replacement game. After all, the old game still had problems of its own. I often had to use a different browser just to play the game. But it just made no sense to make such a drastic change. If there were impeding API differences, why couldn't the old game be modified?


EA hasn't been forthcoming with explanations, while the revolt among Scrabble players grows. Who knows how many have left the game with no intention of returning? Many people complain about opponents who have just abandoned their games. EA is now in a difficult situation. What do they have to do now to regain the trust of its Scrabble players?

First, EA needs to understand that Scrabble players in general are fairly intelligent people. By its very nature, the game attracts people who like to play with words. You can't easily dismiss such a group.

Second, EA needs to be forthcoming, and honest in its communications with its Scrabble players. They need to acknowledge the problems in a way that's not condescending. Scrabble players are not happy. EA staff need to accept that, and plan appropriately.

Third, EA needs to explain honestly why they made the change. Public relations experts have learned long ago that people can easily sniff out BS, and that sincere honesty is really the only way to handle PR nightmares, such as this. If the reason was an API change, then tell us. If the reason was that someone within EA thought that the new game had a better user interface, then tell us. Or, if the reason that that EA thought they could make more profit, then that must be admitted as well. EA has already lost the trust of its players. It's up to EA to do the right thing to bring them back.

And of course, fourth, EA needs to fix the problems with the Scrabble game. Offering the "classic" look and feel is part of that. But the bootflow errors, loss of scores, incorrect scoring, slow loading, etc. all need to be corrected. I know many programmers like to call them "bugs", implying that somehow tiny six or eight-legged creatures are somehow responsible. But the more correct term is "defect". These are all example of defective programming that never should have gotten out of the programming shop.

Whatever EA says publicly now, it will be picked apart by a group of extremely upset people. As I wrote before, Scrabble is an emotional issue for most players. EA needs to understand how best to make a public apology. Probably the worst thing EA could say now is "just get over it, get a life!". For many Scrabble players, Scrabble is an important part of their life.

Cheers! Hans