next »

[Dacke]

So they are not responsible for their behavior, because they got lots of money for it?

[Toom]

I'm saying that if the conditions of their contract says that they've got to abide by EA's rules, then that is what it is. It's bullshit behaviour, I don't think anyone's contesting that, but if it affects the player's experience of the game rather than being a 24-hour forum ban then it is categorically EA and not BioWare's bullshit behaviour. You've never had a boss who's made a horrible decision that you quietly let slide because to say otherwise would cost you your job?

BioWare have obviously got the clout to not necessarily have to worry about feeding themselves or paying rent if EA kicks them, but they're also hip-deep in development and promotion of some very expensive projects. I'm not saying they're absolved of responsibility. I'm saying it wasn't their fucking responsibility in the first place.

[Dacke]

"I was only following orders" is an understandable explanation but not a valid excuse. EA's bullshit is now Bioware's bullshit. It's a choice they made and there is no reason to not hold them accountable for it.

You've never had a boss who's made a horrible decision that you quietly let slide because to say otherwise would cost you your job?

No, I haven't and I don't think I ever will. How about you?

edit: Firing someone because they make critical remarks is illegal here.

[deathtotheweird]

knew it was a matter time before my beloved rock paper shotgun picked the story up:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-forum-bans-can-lock-you-out-of-games/

To summarise, EA can take away your access to your purchased games at their sole discretion, and not offer any refund. That’s what you agree to when you buy an EA game. And of course this is not unique to EA. We are very aware of other services with similarly draconian bans, and are actively investigating them.

So be warned. There’s no legal recourse here. The EA terms are clearly laid out, and you are required to agree to them before you can install a game they provide. And their rules are ambiguous enough that they can choose to ban you at their own discretion. Oh, and of course it can all be avoided by just not posting on their forums. Or at least not being rude if you do.

[Ben_Hurr]

So, EA,
Great evil publisher? Or the Greatest evil publisher?

[deathtotheweird]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-retracts-game-ban-for-forum-violation/

Seems it's been resolved.

However, considering the press that this received it wouldn't be too far-fetched that they just said it was a glitch to get past the bad publicity. I dunno though.

[Dacke]

From the comments on that page:

Humans are the truest glitches

[Eibx]

Now that's just the stupidest move to prevent bad publicity.

[LemonScented]

Seen the latest?

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/03/dragon-age-ii-features-hated-securom-despite-previous-ea-claims.ars

They really don't want people to buy this game, do they?

[mcc]

Then, EA scratched their head and wondered why people are buying their games on consoles instead of PC so much these days.

[s0]

Bioware should go indie.

[eva]

lol

[Eibx]

Seen the latest?

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/03/dragon-age-ii-features-hated-securom-despite-previous-ea-claims.ars

They really don't want people to buy this game, do they?

That's just sad. Seriously sad.

[Blademasterbobo]

Then, EA scratched their head and wondered why people are pirating their games on PC.

fix'd

[Zaphos]

The recent comments on the ars technica story seem to indicate it's not actually securom, but some other software from the same source that looks a bit like securom.  Hmmmmm.

[Μarkham]

How do you "accidentally" code a forum-access-limiting ban to prevent access to purchased games?  Why is their game system looking up the forum ban flag?

[deathtotheweird]

What I'm guessing is that when you log in to the forum or log in to the game it will check your account for access and if they banned you from the forum it would cause a conflict when you tried to log in to the game with the same account.

But then that still doesn't make sense to me either. Which is why I don't believe it was a bug or glitch.

[Mipe]

I guess the account is just that - account. To ban them from forums, they probably set a disable flag on the account. Oh, guess what? It works for games as well!

[JackieJay]

But I guess EA doesn't really care much about their image.  Their marketing kinda tells the whole story.  

With all due respect sir, but if EA got this big was because they know a thing or two about PR and marketing. I can't really imagine you or anyone else here giving EA PR or marketing lessons.

[battlerager]

But I guess EA doesn't really care much about their image.  Their marketing kinda tells the whole story.  

With all due respect sir, but if EA got this big was because they know a thing or two about PR and marketing. I can't really imagine you or anyone else here giving EA PR or marketing lessons.

too lazy to look up right name of logical fallacy