EA: banning you from games you purchased for negative forum posts

[imaheadcase]

So beta testers can be banned as well for talking bad about a game on beta forums? Talk about the decline of constructive criticism.

 

[Veliko]

So beta testers can be banned as well for talking bad about a game on beta forums? Talk about the decline of constructive criticism.

If the EA boards are anything like the official World of Warcraft forums, there is no constructive criticism going on - just constant overly-emotional bitching about the same things every single day.

 

[Maximilian]

No, EA is the SECOND worst thing to happen to gaming. Next to Activision. :sneaky:

Nah EA have actively ruined companies and franchises, activision haven't really done that at all, in fact they sold off a lot of the IP they dont plan to use a while ago. Unlike EA who has sat on the dungeon keeper/populous/theme park and for all intents and purposes simcity and done next to nothing with them (simcity societies counts as nothing).

EA has stopped now it seems but the damage is done. I mean cancelling dungeon keeper 3 for a frickin harry potter game... gawd... i just cant forget or forgive that lol a harry goddamn potter game...

 

[novasatori]

games should be sold with the eula printed on the box (lol, like it would even fit)
or the cashier/webpage should load it when you're purchasing it

but it doesn't even matter since they can unilaterally change the eula post purchase

 

[gorcorps]

I'm still thinking it's EA most of the time, but oh well.

EA is by far worse than Activision

 

[Rezident]

Sounds like EA alright. EA is the corporation that churns out hackneyed derivative versions of the same game every single year (sometimes twice a year, hilariously) e.g FIFA, Need for speed etc. etc. ad infinitum. EA has never even pretended to care about gamers – they’re in it for the money. Sell as much ‘product’ for as little cost as possible. End of story.

Due to its sheer size EA has incidentally been involved in some good development and I can understand devs using them for publishing, distribution etc. but I’ve been gaming for over 20 years and it’s rare that anyone in the industry or even lowly and clearly uncared-for EA customers themselves have anything good to say about EA. Why is this? EA has sadly become one of those huge, faceless, monster corporations that has so much money and power yet seems to channel all its energy and focus into ‘making more money’ full stop, rather than pushing Gaming forward or, heaven forbid, helping out it’s loyal customers. Now EA seems to be getting even worse, what new anti-consumer tactics can we expect from it as it further degenerates?

They’re not stupid though, I’d suggest that they’ve done the figures and it’s not in their economic interests to spend more helping customers, indeed they seem to be spending more on new ways of hindering customers who dare to criticise them, because their blindly loyal clients will come back next year and buy FIFA version 37.01 anyway.

 

[skace]

EA would be nothing if studios didn't sell out to them constantly. The reality is that EVERYONE is in it for the money, which is how EA keeps getting more and more developers. They offer fat-wad-o-cash, good developer says OK! and settles up fucking over their loyal fans. It sucks, but you and I would most likely do the same and EA will keep making money year after year.

This is why niche titles are so amazing, EA has 0 interest in Dwarf Fortress, Nethack, Desktop Dungeons, Minecraft or anything else, it's too niche. There is beauty in that.

 

[tk149]

That's just evil. fvck EA.

 

[rivan]

Here's the thread where the OP is from:

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1#6460241

EA/Bioware is fucking retarded with their PR.

Clicked, was presented with a "choose your language" screen. No American flag - for "English" I got the Canadian flag.

Lol.

Oh, and fsck EA.

 

[DeathReborn]

Clicked, was presented with a "choose your language" screen. No American flag - for "English" I got the Canadian flag.

Lol.

Oh, and fsck EA.

Technically it should be the cross of St George for English but that's just being pedantic.

I would be interested to see how this holds up in court, First Amendment rights in the US and Freedom of Speech (Human Rights Act) in the UK/EU. Somehow I think it'll be tossed out and EA told to ditch the policy.

 

[llee]

what's interesting here is that they are assuming all customers have internet access in order to view an updated EULA. Unless players are simply renting games from publishers, I don't agree with what's going on here and feel that a time-stamped sort of EULA might need to come in play.

 

[exar333]

EA would be nothing if studios didn't sell out to them constantly. The reality is that EVERYONE is in it for the money, which is how EA keeps getting more and more developers. They offer fat-wad-o-cash, good developer says OK! and settles up fucking over their loyal fans. It sucks, but you and I would most likely do the same and EA will keep making money year after year.

This is why niche titles are so amazing, EA has 0 interest in Dwarf Fortress, Nethack, Desktop Dungeons, Minecraft or anything else, it's too niche. There is beauty in that.

This.

If only Interplay had stuck around and kept Black Isle...

 

[paperfist]

Why does #1 contradict #2?

#1 ...community bans are forum-only...bans should have no effect on your game...

 

[aigomorla]

Well that's a forum I won't be posting in ever.

ditto...

even wearing a mod hat in AT, i only act like a mod in my own section.
The only section where i need to act like a mod is my section.

in all the other sections i am a normal member like all of you guys.
if i get trolled, or im pissed at a game because the DRM's aint working, or something with the game is messed up, i would rant a storm on the forums.

And if i got ban'd for that.. dear lordie..

I think i am gonna black list all EA games now... just avoid them.

Your Steam account and Steam forum account are totally separated. You can be banned on their forums and it does not effect your account with the games.

no i ranted on the steam forums plenty of times saying the game was horrid or bugged up the butt, or lack of support.
They dont touch you for ranting on the game.

They only touch if u start calling out members and doing other stuff that would get you ban'd here as well.

Why does #1 contradict #2?

#1 ...community bans are forum-only...bans should have no effect on your game...

exactly... gaming and forums are 2 different identities.. why should one effect the other?
So you can rant and cuss someone out in game chat, but u cant do it on a public forum?

Doesnt that sound like EA is trying to control information? Are they learning tips from apple?
Sorry i dont play that way..

 

[Nik]

Is that even legal?

I will MAKE it legal.

Of course it's legal. When you agree to their EULA, part of that EULA says "you agree to let us change this as we see fit and we don't have to tell you about each and every change"

and then they simply add in a line that inappropriate conduct on their forums can result in account closure. If they provide a steam-like service where you need to have an active account to play any of your games, poof. You're done.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I will MAKE it legal.

Of course it's legal. When you agree to their EULA, part of that EULA says "you agree to let us change this as we see fit and we don't have to tell you about each and every change"

and then they simply add in a line that inappropriate conduct on their forums can result in account closure. If they provide a steam-like service where you need to have an active account to play any of your games, poof. You're done.

It's not legal in the sense that if it ever went to court the judge would openly laugh at EA for attempting such a thing.

 

[SMOGZINN]

It's not legal in the sense that if it ever went to court the judge would openly laugh at EA for attempting such a thing.

I'm not so sure about that, you don't buy a game, you license the right to play it under certain conditions as listed in the EULA.

What has not been well tested in court is if a closed box EULA, and the ability to change the EULA with out notifying you of those changes, are legal. I think that any legal case would hinge around those two points.

Our legal system has almost completely capitulated to the idea that you never buy things anymore, you merely are purchase the right, to use them by the company that made it, for how ever long the company deems it beneficial to them to allow you to do so.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'm not so sure about that, you don't buy a game, you license the right to play it under certain conditions as listed in the EULA.

What has not been well tested in court is if a closed box EULA, and the ability to change the EULA with out notifying you of those changes, are legal. I think that any legal case would hinge around those two points.

Our legal system has almost completely capitulated to the idea that you never buy things anymore, you merely are purchase the right, to use them by the company that made it, for how ever long the company deems it beneficial to them to allow you to do so.

We'll have to see. I'm fairly certain it'll be laughed out of court, but I doubt EA would let a case go that far. Even if EA had a guy at best buy making people sign the EULA it's unlikely they'd be able to uphold the denying of people to use the product they bought because of activity on their forums. It's kind of sad to see people arguing that well they put it in a contract so it must hold up... that's just not how this stuff works. Companies of all walks and types put tons of stipulations on their sales that they know will never hold up in court even if they made a blood pact with their customers, but they put it in anyway hoping idiots will never challenge it.

 

[zinfamous]

Remember when GW Bush said the Constitution was just a piece of paper?

Well, that was really ignorant and stupid of him, b/c the Constitution is actually a piece of animal hide.

 

[Cerb]

No, EA is the SECOND worst thing to happen to gaming. Next to Activision. :sneaky:

No. Activision has quite a history if general dickishness, no doubt. EA has a history of releasing horribly buggy games, not supporting them, and using illegal and/or unethical practices in their relationships with their employees and customers, resulting in completely wasted customer money, and destruction of potentially good individual games and franchises.

but it doesn't even matter since they can unilaterally change the eula post purchase

This is why we need this sort of thing to happen enough to start taking it to court.

A contract must be agreed to, personally. A EULA that you agree to before purchase may or may not be binding, and as complex as most are, you can bet that half of what it says is invalid. However, changing it after the fact, if it is binding, is another issue on top of that.

Just because they say something in their documents doesn't mean what they say actually applies, but there's no easy and cheap way to figure it out, either.

 

[taltamir]

This probably happens because your EA Community account is the same account that you use to purchase DLC and log in with the game to authenticate the DLC, especially on PC. Having your account banned can affect your ability to purchase new DLC with the same account.

I highly doubt you could be completely locked out of a game by having your account banned. EA games -- or at least, BioWare's games -- do not require you to be logged in just to play the game. Woo's words are "it could affect your access". Not totally ban. So stop blowing what he said out of proportion unless you can come up with an actual example of someone who lost his ability to play the game or DLC content he paid for because of an EA Community ban.

It certainly CAN completely lock you out, it SHOULDN'T completely lock you out.
All they need to do is implement a "silenced" option. Silenced users are banned from the forums, still have access to their purchases.

 

[Carfax83]

The same thing happened to me last year when they banned my account, yet I never had my DLC reinstated. To this day, my DLC is still inactive as far as I know, because I never made a song and dance over it.

Instead, I just downloaded the appropriate cracks and I was able to get all of my DLC back, plus any others that I wanted..

I took screenshots of the correspondence between myself, Chris Priestly (the community manager) and Stan Woo (QA).






That Woo is a real idiot. I can't stand the little sh!t! Just look at my correspondence with him. He didn't even understand the very "rules" he was espousing. :thumbsdown:

You guys can post these pics/links all over the net if you want. I want to expose their hypocrisy.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Stanely Woo is an officious douchebag. Give a man a bit of power and look what happens.

 

[taltamir]

should have sued them carfax

Stanely Woo is an officious douchebag. Give a man a bit of power and look what happens.

power reveals, not corrupt.
Give one man power and he becomes hitler, give another and he becomes shindler.
That woo guy is a douche and EA is evil, bioware went down the sewer after the takeover.

 

[Powermoloch]

i vote with my wallet. that's all that matters to me