Slashdot Mirror
EA Forum Ban Will Now Mean EA Game Ban
An anonymous reader writes "A post on the EA Support Forums from APOC, online community manager for Electronic Arts, outlines a new policy for their new forums, saying users who earn a ban based on their behavior in the forums will be locked out of all of the EA games tied to that account: 'Well, its actually going to be a bit nastier for those who get banned. Your forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since it's all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned to. It's all one in the same, so I strongly recommend people play nice and act mature. All in all, we expect people to come on here and abide by our ToS. We hate banning people, it makes our lives a lot tougher, but it's what we have to do.'" Update: 10/31 12:36 GMT by T : Not so! Pandanapper writes "After a flood of complaints the EA community moderator APOC corrects his statement about how banning you from the forums bans you from your game access as well:"That said, the previous statement I made recently (that's being quoted on the blogs) was inaccurate and a mistake on my part. I had a misunderstanding with regards to our new upcoming forums and website and never meant to infer that if we ban or suspend you on the forums, you would be banned in-game as well. This is not correct, my mistake, my bad."
Fo'shure I'm looking forward to shelling out my hard-earned money (especially in this wonderful economy) for EA titles in the future after seeing this.
I enjoyed EA games in the past. Being a military buff I especially enjoyed their flight simulators. They were mostly stable and fun to play. I cringed when they bought out Westwood because I thought they were going to screw up the C&C franchise, but (mostly) they didn't.
But being banned from online play because I let out a "fuck" on their forums? Or for any reason whatsoever unrelated to behavior within the game? Never mind the insane DRM on their latest output.
Fuck that. No more EA games for me. I'm getting old anyway. Time to switch to online Scrabble or something. Flash DigDug and Galaga FTW.
FIRST the DRM, now this? They really hate players
So, they take away something I paid for - will they refund? Probably not. I wonder how that would play out in a court of law.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
The amount of effort it takes to get things reversed when you feel you have been inappropriately banned. I recently spent a lot of time on web and phone to get my son's account re-enabled for an online game (not EA). Once a manager looked at his remarks in context it was clear that he was not in violation of their ToS. If they are going to do this, they better be damned sure of the training and ability of the people who will be issuing the death penalty to the gamers.
LETS DECOMPOSE & ENJOY ASSEMBLING
EA just doesn't want any money, now do they?
Average consumer will think... "surely only potty mouths get themselves banned from the game by flaming in the forums"
And still buy the game.
The banned person has to buy their games all over again, if they still want to play == more $$$ for the game maker.
Linking games to gamer's internet forum accounts?
Yeah, don't you love that? They've completely eliminated the ability to sell your old games.
I like it. Seriously. It's a big "asshats are unwelcome" sign, meaning rational gaming adults that hate the immature antics are going to have an entire company with an "adult swim" gaming experience.
And I'll bet that overall, the modding of forums *will* improve, when the first small claims or civil cases come to trial, or the first class-action suit happens. I think mods will get clued in very quickly that they'd better be able to completely justify a ban under the new system, because suddenly their decisions have financial impact.
The point is, they're not going to continue getting money if they keep screwing over, on a continuing basis, the people who give them the money.
Then how do you explain the fact that the cable and cellular companies are still in business? ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Really? You think they'll ban you from all forthcoming releases as well? How will that work? Will somebody be stupid enough to get banned from the forums, then buy another game from EA, and sign up for the new game with the banned account? People will probably start sock puppet accounts so that their main account doesn't get banned. Anybody who buys Bioware and then signs up with a banned account is pretty thick anyway.
How is this any different than the signs in restaurants that say "We reserve the right to refuse to serve someone." They don't care if you already paid for your meal, if you're abusing the wait staff, they can kick you out. It's a private establishment, just like the forums/servers/realms/whatever, just because you paid for the game does not give you the right to infringe on the rights of others.
Just because you bought the game does not entitle you to act like an a$$hole in the forums, chatrooms or in the game. I'm all for forums in which if someone is spouting off garbage, the moderator has the right to delete the post/thread and ban the user. I've seen this in many non-game related forums. Most people abide by the rules, and when some nut comes along and spouts junk, it just attracts more people like them.
They're not going to ban someone that uses the occasional off colored language, or and if they're smart they'll warn you that you're on thin ice. Unless it's obvious that the poster is spamming posts etc..
Many games were ruined by a$$holes, take Diablo2 for example. Cheating was so rampant that you could only play multiplayer with people you already knew. If only they could have banned all the cheaters.
This is yet another proof that 99.9% of consumers are sheep.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"Those banned will stay banned, but like most other internet services, its not that hard to create a new fake e-mail account. However, its a lot harder to get a new serial key =)"
Seems like it's pretty easy to get a new serial key, guy. Easier than dealing with the default spyware installation procedure, really. What a dumb thing to say.
hmmm.
1) I call you an asshat. That's not nice.
2) In turn, you demonstrate that you really are an asshat by fucking up all my shit.
3) Interestingly, your actions turned my insult into a fact, clearing me of all wrongs and making me the only victim.
Here's how I see it:
I buy a car from you. Then one day you see me at a stoplight and you don't like my haircut so you carjack me. Fuck everything, I don't care what you want to call it, that's just theft.
EA makes great games, most of which I have played through and through.
I'll always buy their games, if it interests me, as most of their titles have.
Most of you are silver spoon fed arrogant bastards who think EA owes you something.
They don't. They owe you NOTHING.
If I pay them for a game, then they owe me a functional game.
Technoli
That's not a correction or a misunderstanding.
That's a hasty back-peddling move. Expect to see this repeated in about a year. We are the frog in the slowly boiling water, and EA just tried to turn up the heat.
Just another "DOJ fascist authoritarian totalitarian bootlicker" -- Zeio
EA makes great games, most of which I have played through and through.
I'll always buy their games, if it interests me, as most of their titles have.
Most of you are silver spoon fed arrogant bastards who think EA owes you something.
They don't. They owe you NOTHING.
If I pay them for a game, then they owe me a functional game.
Yep, and you'll still be able to use the games even if your account is banned - you just won't be able to use their online services tied to those games.
You people need to get a life. Stop whining about every little slight. This won't even AFFECT most of you morons who are bitching, because you probably don't even POST on their forums! Yet you'll get all self-righteous here - saying you'll never buy another EA game - at least, until they put out another cool one and you go buy it because - after all, did what you whined about on /. really bind you to not picking up the next Need For Speed?
Stop being so stupid.
Oh wait, this is /. As you were.
yeah, but they don't necessarily owe you online multiplayer support within that game, which, as far as i could tell, was the only thing implied to be taken away if you're a knob on the forums.
wow you guys over-react about a lot of stuff...
EA: "we're thinking about a system where, if you're a dick on the forums, we can ban your game account along with your forum account..."
Slashdot Readers: "wtf? you're gonna break all our games? you can't do this! DRM! Wah! Wah!"
Check out the full TOS for the "code of conduct." I wouldn't share that No CD utility with the EA forums :)
Did I say "something" was going to change?! I meant to say that NOTHING was going to change. I misread that word, and that's why I misspoke earlier. I hope that clears everything up for everyone. Stay tuned for future announcements when I try to further clarify what I was trying to say. Enjoy the forums. - Apoc
Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. -Groucho Marx
Would that fly, especially for games that you did not do anything wrong?
I doubt it.
Of course you need a high priced lawyer to make these arguments in court so why bother with that expense, just don't buy EA games.