[Update] BioWare community rages over countdown reveal

Update: BioWare head honchos Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk updated the forums earlier today with an announcement, explaining that they understand the community's frustration. According to Muzyka, the region restrictions are a result of unexpected legal complications that would have affected how the contest would be carried out:

We recognize that BioWare has a global community, and the Bazaar this week was originally intended to be an international event to reflect our truly global fanbase. Unfortunately, we encountered some last-minute legal complica tions around how contests can be structured in different parts of the world that prevented us from including all territories in this first event, even though that was our original goal. And for that, we sincerely apologize – our goal with this sort of celebration is to show all our fans worldwide how much we appreciate your support!

That being said, there appears to be more BioWare community events on the way, some of which will expand into other territories. This means some future contests will follow a different structure.

Despite fan rage and a bumpy start, the current Bazaar contest is actually doing quite well, and BioWare's co-founders are rather pleased with the results:

The reception from those fans who have been able to take part in this first event has been incredible – thank you for participating! - and we’re looking forward to future events where we can enable fans from additional territories to also join in the fun.

Thank you all for your continued and ongoing support and participation in the BioWare Community – we really appreciate all your support over the past 15 years, and the future will be even brighter!

Happy ending!

Since mid-March, a mysterious countdown greeted visitors on the Mass Effect 2 website, and speculation left fans drooling. Would it be a major Mass Effect or Dragon Age update? Perhaps official Mass Effect 3 or even Knights of the Old Republic III announcements?

As it turns out, none of the above. The countdown ended earlier today, and BioWare unveiled their BioWare Bazaar, a community-driven auction in April.

Actually, you don't have to spend money -- only time. Essentially, you earn tokens through participation; sign up for the BioWare Social Network, follow and respond to Twitter posts, register your BioWare games, and advertise their titles to your friends. That is the gist of it, so don't be confused by the somewhat lengthy and confusing official rules.

Participation earns you tokens, and said tokens can be redeemed on April 6, when the auction itself begins. Prizes range from travel mugs to special edition gaming PCs carrying a $2,000 street value.

So the whole thing is free, and the auction prizes are pretty great. Yet the community has been flipping out for hours (in thread after thread) since the Bazaar launched. Right now, you're thinking, "What's the problem?"

For starters, there's the whole issue of hype. The countdown went on for some time, letting imaginations run wild. Over-hype is an issue with video games, so the principle applies here. Based on forum posts, it sounds as though the community feels let down.

Then there's the issue of where you live. The contest is restricted to the US, excluding New York and Florida. If you dwell in these two states, Canada, Europe, or anywhere else, then you're just out of luck. This may, however, have something to do with the contest sponsors (Dell, AMD, Gunnar, Kingston, Western Digital) and their aversion to differing tax laws.

Regardless, we wish participants the best of luck. The rest of you can continue spamming the Social Network until it crashes. Again.

Source:BioWare Social Network

Sections:Console Games, PC Games

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