Bioware blocks user from playing his store-bought copy of DA2, for bad-mouthing EA?

Double A

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bob1052 said:
Double A said:
aegix drakan said:
Ok that's just wrong. Suspend him on the forums, fine, good, that's perfectly appropriate. But preventing him from activating his game that he BOUGHT?

That's just not right.
Well, forum mods on just about every site I've seen (barring this one and four others) are complete assholes.

I seriously hope this isn't Bioware's official policy now. If it is, I may even have to cancel my preorder of ME3 out of lost respect. :(
Since Bioware essentially has become a direct extension of EA's body (my first instinct wanted to say something other than body, but I'll keep it clean) and as such this isn't necessarily Bioware's policy, but it is the policy that they will call their official policy and that they will be enforcing.
Infallible Logic hits Willing Suspension of Disbelief! It's super-effective! Willing Suspension of Disbelief faints!

Good-bye, BioWare. May you find your true self once again. But until then, we must part ways. :(
 

TiefBlau

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EcksTeaSea said:
TiefBlau said:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

OH WOW.

In any case, I'm just wondering, can they do that? Can they take away access to a product that he paid for because he said something they didn't like? This sounds really, really sketch. I can only imagine their argument would be that he's "being disruptive on the live chat", but even that is a long shot in my opinion, since it was a single comment.
They can. Why? You broke their terms of conduct. Sure you can say he has the freedom to say whatever he wants, but if you break the rules in the process then you're going to get punished. Whats so sketch about that?
What's sketch is that what they're taking away isn't a service, on their terms, but actual property, on the user's terms. It'd be like seeing someone disruptive on a game's multiplayer chat and not only taking away their access to multiplayer, but single-player as well.
 

Double A

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EcksTeaSea said:
Double A said:
EcksTeaSea said:
Three day suspension for breaking the code of conduct? He should be happy. I don't care if that thing is too long for you to read, you hit the I agree button. You are now bound to those rules. There is no issue here and EA/Bioware used their power as he agreed to them. All of you princesses suck it up. Don't like it? Don't buy games then.
There is a serious flaw in your argument.

Games are fun.

On the other hand, dealing with asshole companies like EA and Kotickvision are not fun. I seriously don't see how you can defend them. Sure, it's just 3 days, but it's the principle of the matter. EA fired artillery at one tiny little protest. It's a gross overreaction to something that was, ultimately, meaningless.
That is not a flaw at all. Why? Because while its an overreaction sure, I can agree with that, he still broke their rules. Companies are now allowed to do what they see fit to him for breaking their rules that he agreed to even if he didn't read them, be it a complete ban or a suspension. There is no flaw in my argument.

EDIT: Jaywalking is still a crime, whether the police fines you or not. If they do fine you, you have nothing to say, you broke the law. What are you going to do? Sue them?

Little example in the edit.
Fine, not a flaw. I was looking for another word, but couldn't come up with it.

I was trying to say that EA should have issued a warning of some kind. This is just ridiculous. Continuing these actions (and everyone knows they will) is just going to bite them in the ass later.

And when it does, I'll be ready.
 

SovietSecrets

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Nov 16, 2008
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TiefBlau said:
EcksTeaSea said:
TiefBlau said:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

OH WOW.

In any case, I'm just wondering, can they do that? Can they take away access to a product that he paid for because he said something they didn't like? This sounds really, really sketch. I can only imagine their argument would be that he's "being disruptive on the live chat", but even that is a long shot in my opinion, since it was a single comment.
They can. Why? You broke their terms of conduct. Sure you can say he has the freedom to say whatever he wants, but if you break the rules in the process then you're going to get punished. Whats so sketch about that?
What's sketch is that what they're taking away isn't a service, on their terms, but actual property, on the user's terms.
The games you buy are not your property. That money you spend just gives it to you on loan forever.

Double A said:
EcksTeaSea said:
Double A said:
EcksTeaSea said:
Three day suspension for breaking the code of conduct? He should be happy. I don't care if that thing is too long for you to read, you hit the I agree button. You are now bound to those rules. There is no issue here and EA/Bioware used their power as he agreed to them. All of you princesses suck it up. Don't like it? Don't buy games then.
There is a serious flaw in your argument.

Games are fun.

On the other hand, dealing with asshole companies like EA and Kotickvision are not fun. I seriously don't see how you can defend them. Sure, it's just 3 days, but it's the principle of the matter. EA fired artillery at one tiny little protest. It's a gross overreaction to something that was, ultimately, meaningless.
That is not a flaw at all. Why? Because while its an overreaction sure, I can agree with that, he still broke their rules. Companies are now allowed to do what they see fit to him for breaking their rules that he agreed to even if he didn't read them, be it a complete ban or a suspension. There is no flaw in my argument.

EDIT: Jaywalking is still a crime, whether the police fines you or not. If they do fine you, you have nothing to say, you broke the law. What are you going to do? Sue them?

Little example in the edit.
Fine, not a flaw. I was looking for another word, but couldn't come up with it.

I was trying to say that EA should have issued a warning of some kind. This is just ridiculous. Continuing these actions (and everyone knows they will) is just going to bite them in the ass later.

And when it does, I'll be ready.
Might bite them in the ass yeah I totally agree, but as far as legality and such, EA/Bioware are in the clear.
 

Lord_Panzer

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That is one hell of an overreaction. Seriously. "So BioWare, have you guys, like, sold your non-existent embodiment of spiritual-essence to the company that now oversees you, or something?"

The fact that it's legal doesn't take away from how much of a dick-move and a power trip this is.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Between There and There.
Country
The Wide, Brown One.
Negatempest said:
RhombusHatesYou said:
bob1052 said:
He can't even play Origins for the duration of his ban
Monkey balls. Once a Bioware game is authenticated online it can be played without logging in. Hell, once you've authenticated the game you can add it to your firewall blocking list and it'll still run fine.
Exactly. I played Origins when my internet was up and down. I remember getting REALLY annoyed by the "Can't access servers" popped up MANY times during my Origins play. I think the OP of the Bioware forum site must have said that he could not log into the Origin thread/forum as well.
No, you can log onto the Bioware/EA servers from within the games for... shit... well, stats tracking, character profile updates, various tasks, and to activate DLC and unlockables. Not sure exactly which ones apply to Dragon Age... been a while since I went through it all. Doesn't matter. Anything installed/activated before the banning/suspension would be fully playable.
 

llubtoille

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mireko said:
Please review the EA Community Terms of Service, particularly sections #9 and #11. There are two levels of enforcement here:

1. BioWare community bans are forum-only and can be for as little as 24 hours. These bans should have no effect on your game, only your ability to use all the features of this website/community. these bans are handed out by BioWare Moderators as the result of our travels around the forum and/or issues reported by fellow community members.

2. EA Community bans come down from a different department and are the result of someone hitting the REPORT POST button. These bans can affect access to your game and/or DLC.

Because the BioWare community now operates under the same umbrella as all EA Communities, community members here have all explicitly agreed to abide by and be governed by both sets of rules. Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow.

If there are further questions or concerns, please send them to me via private message. Thank you.

End of line.

I have no idea who to blame at this point.

We need a little more context, but it seems that the user got themselves suspended from EA's side as opposed to being suspended by BioWare mods. It's an unnecessarily harsh punishment, but it could be an unintended side-effect of the suspension. Of course, since we're talking about EA they could just be fucking with him for fun. Their ToS does come with a laundry list of reasons to wreck your shit, after all:

11. Rules of Conduct

You may violate the Terms of Service if, as determined by EA in its sole discretion, you:

- Post, transmit, promote, or distribute Content that is illegal.
- Harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another player that is unwanted, such as repeatedly sending unwanted messages or making personal attacks or statements about race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc.
- Transmit or facilitate distribution of Content that is harmful, abusive, hateful, racially, religiously or ethnically offensive, obscene, threatening, bullying, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, encourages conduct that would violate a law or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable and/or inappropriate. Hate speech is not tolerated.
- Use abusive, offensive, or defamatory screen names and/or personas.
- Disrupt the flow of chat in chat rooms with vulgar language, abusiveness, hitting the return key repeatedly or inputting large images so the screen goes by too fast to read, use of excessive shouting [all caps] in an attempt to disturb other users, "spamming" or flooding [posting repetitive text].
- Impersonate another person (including celebrities), indicate falsely that you are an EA employee or a representative of EA, or attempt to mislead users by indicating that you represent EA or any of EA's partners or affiliates.
- Attempt to get a password, account information, or other private information from anyone else on EA Services.
- Upload any software or Content that you do not own or have permission to freely distribute.
- Violate any additional Rules of Conduct applicable to a specific EA Service that you are using.
- Promote, encourage or take part in any illegal activity including hacking, cracking, taking advantage of exploits or cheats and/or distribution of counterfeit software.
- Upload files that contain a virus, worm, spyware, time bombs, corrupted data or other computer programs that may damage, interfere with or disrupt EA Services.
- Post messages for any purpose other than personal communication, including advertising or promotional messaging, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other commercial activities.
- Improperly use in-game support or complaint buttons or make false reports to EA staff.
- Use or distribute unauthorized "auto" software programs, "macro" software programs or other "cheat utility" software program or applications.
- Modify or attempt to modify any part of the EA Service that EA does not specifically authorize you to modify.
- Post or communicate any person's real-world personal information using an EA Service.
- Attempt to interfere with, hack into or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers for an EA Service.
- Use and communicate exploits to gain unfair advantage in a game
- Attempt to use EA Software on or through any service that is not controlled or authorized by Electronic Arts. Any such use is at your own risk and may subject you to additional or different terms. EA takes no responsibility for your use of EA Software on or through any service that is not controlled by Electronic Arts.
- Interfere with the ability of others to enjoy playing an EA Service or take actions that interfere with or materially increase the cost to provide an EA Service for the enjoyment of all its users.
- Unless expressly authorized by EA, you may not sell, buy, trade or otherwise transfer your EA account or any personal access to EA Services, Content or Entitlements, including by use of auction websites.
- You may not conduct any activities that violate the laws of any jurisdiction including but not limited to copyright infringement, trademark infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, identity theft, hacking, stalking, fraud and the distribution of counterfeit software.
so re. the above ToS s.11 rules,
would he be in violation of
"- Transmit or facilitate distribution of Content that is harmful, abusive, hateful, racially, religiously or ethnically offensive, obscene, threatening, bullying, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, encourages conduct that would violate a law or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable and/or inappropriate. Hate speech is not tolerated."?

for implying that EA is the devil...

EA must give warning before terminating an account unless it's in "violation of this Terms of Service, illegal or improper use of your Account, or illegal or improper use of EA Services, Content, Entitlement, products, or EA's Intellectual Property as determined by EA in its sole discretion."

If posting a very tame opinion on their forums is considered improper use of EA Services, then that would be a very good reason not use their forums.
 

sumanoskae

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Lord_Panzer said:
That is one hell of an overreaction. Seriously. "So BioWare, have you guys, like, sold your non-existent embodiment of spiritual-essence to the company that now oversees you, or something?"

The fact that it's legal doesn't take away from how much of a dick-move and a power trip this is.
Come to think of it, I agree with you?
 

tinkyxiii

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This is a strictly offline, single-player game. The only reason you would even need to be connected to the internet would be to show off pointless achievements. He paid good money for a special edition (of which he can't use the SE codes apparently). He speaks his mind and gets banned from not only the forums, but other games he has bought and paid for.

Yet some of you think this is right?

It's cute that companies have you convinced that you don't actually own the games you play. Just like they seem to have some of you convinced that their precious TOS forms and EULAs are somehow legally binding. They have every right to ban him from the forums (in which free speech is NOT protected), but they have no right to stop him from playing games he legally owns.

However he has a lovely recourse for all this: The game is already cracked, the DLC is out, and by going this route Bioware/EA has no control over you or your games.
 

Bags159

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tinkyxiii said:
This is a strictly offline, single-player game. The only reason you would even need to be connected to the internet would be to show off pointless achievements. He paid good money for a special edition (of which he can't use the SE codes apparently). He speaks his mind and gets banned from not only the forums, but other games he has bought and paid for.

Yet some of you think this is right?

It's cute that companies have you convinced that you don't actually own the games you play. Just like they seem to have some of you convinced that their precious TOS forms and EULAs are somehow legally binding. They have every right to ban him from the forums (in which free speech is NOT protected), but they have no right to stop him from playing games he legally owns.

However he has a lovely recourse for all this: The game is already cracked, the DLC is out, and by going this route Bioware/EA has no control over you or your games.
This. Thanks for putting my thoughts down on paper.
 

Bourne Endeavor

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EA: "If you say something we dislike, we'll ban you from playing games you bought."
Customer: "Go right ahead. I'll just start pirating them for free."
EA: "That's illegal!"
Customer: "Yep, piratebay likes to make that widely apparent. Too bad you can't do shit about it."
EA: "... PIRATING IS EVIL!"
Customer: "Sucks to be you."

More or less what this little incident will enforce for that individual. And here EA wonders why people pirate with trash like that happening.
 

Double A

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EcksTeaSea said:
Double A said:
EcksTeaSea said:
Double A said:
EcksTeaSea said:
Three day suspension for breaking the code of conduct? He should be happy. I don't care if that thing is too long for you to read, you hit the I agree button. You are now bound to those rules. There is no issue here and EA/Bioware used their power as he agreed to them. All of you princesses suck it up. Don't like it? Don't buy games then.
There is a serious flaw in your argument.

Games are fun.

On the other hand, dealing with asshole companies like EA and Kotickvision are not fun. I seriously don't see how you can defend them. Sure, it's just 3 days, but it's the principle of the matter. EA fired artillery at one tiny little protest. It's a gross overreaction to something that was, ultimately, meaningless.
That is not a flaw at all. Why? Because while its an overreaction sure, I can agree with that, he still broke their rules. Companies are now allowed to do what they see fit to him for breaking their rules that he agreed to even if he didn't read them, be it a complete ban or a suspension. There is no flaw in my argument.

EDIT: Jaywalking is still a crime, whether the police fines you or not. If they do fine you, you have nothing to say, you broke the law. What are you going to do? Sue them?

Little example in the edit.
Fine, not a flaw. I was looking for another word, but couldn't come up with it.

I was trying to say that EA should have issued a warning of some kind. This is just ridiculous. Continuing these actions (and everyone knows they will) is just going to bite them in the ass later.

And when it does, I'll be ready.
Might bite them in the ass yeah I totally agree, but as far as legality and such, EA/Bioware are in the clear.
I doubt this alone'll bite them in the ass. It's even legal. What I'm counting on is everything combined. They've had at least 10 years of misdemeanors like this to really big dickmoves like their DRM.
 
Sep 14, 2009
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Sober Thal said:
Read what you agree to.

They have every right to do this.

It should send a message to people who feel they are entitled to post whatever they want on the internet. Don't get me wrong, you can... but when you do so on someone else's site, beware the banhammer.
simple as this really, yes that was pretty harsh to do, if anything it should have been "justifiable" with a forum ban but still, it's in the rules, so gotta deal with it.

really though, don't do stupid shit and just enjoy your games and everything will go smooth, not too hard, is it?
 

Double A

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Bourne Endeavor said:
EA: "If you say something we dislike, we'll ban you from playing games you bought."
Customer: "Go right ahead. I'll just start pirating them for free."
EA: "That's illegal!"
Customer: "Yep, piratebay likes to make that widely apparent. Too bad you can't do shit about it."
EA: "... PIRATING IS EVIL!"
Customer: "Hello pot. Meet kettle."

More or less what this little incident will enforce for that individual. And here EA wonders why people pirate with trash like that happening.
Fixed.
 

Lord_Panzer

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Feb 6, 2009
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Double A said:
Bourne Endeavor said:
EA: "If you say something we dislike, we'll ban you from playing games you bought."
Customer: "Go right ahead. I'll just start pirating them for free."
EA: "That's illegal!"
Customer: "Yep, piratebay likes to make that widely apparent. Too bad you can't do shit about it."
EA: "... PIRATING IS EVIL!"
Customer: "Hello pot. Meet kettle."

More or less what this little incident will enforce for that individual. And here EA wonders why people pirate with trash like that happening.
Fixed.
I wish to 'Like' both of these posts.
 

NeoSpriggan

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I dont see what is honestly so horrible about this. 72 hour ban for saying something only a fool says, practically right in their faces no less. Perfectly reasonable. Its not that bad.
 

johnzaku

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That is utterly ridiculous. I understand say a temporary suspension or a penalty, but locking a guy out of his games that he legally payed for? That is complete bull.

EDIT: oh it is temporary? then nevermind.