#1 - April 17, 2012, 9:53 p.m.
So Zarhym said on Twitter last night that he is very close to the people in charge of beta invites and they are in fact going by subscription time and annual pass sign-up date. He called the fact that thousands of people with accounts as late as 2010-11 and late AP sign-ups are in, while thousands of people with accounts since 2005-06 and Day 1 AP sign-ups are not, "cirumstantial evidence." First of all, I'm not sure that Zarhym actually knows what the term circumstantial evidence means. From the way he was using it, I think he thought it meant "weak evidence," unaware that circumstantial evidence from which only one reasonable inference can be drawn is just as strong as direct evidence, especially when there are thousands of pieces of that evidence. For example, most crimes in America are convicted without any direct evidence. The circumstantial vs. direct evidence distinction is something largely created by Law & Order and other television dramas.
Why do people like Zarhym continue committing to this lie about beta access order. Why not just tell the truth? I have been thinking about it for weeks and still have not been able to come up with a logical reason for them to lie about this when they could have easily just given no reason at all and said it's random. It probably would have been the smarter business move too. I really don't know what they were thinking. Not a smart move for customer relations, hopefully the tanking subscriptions the last couple of weeks will teach them a lesson. EA is currently learning the hard way, looks like it's Activision's turn.
