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

[Gralian]

This is a joke, right?

This has to be a joke.

They have the power to ban access to your own game and DLC?!

And i thought Activision and Kotick were the baddies. Those guys at EA... They're just ruthless. It's like they don't even care anymore. Worst still, we can't do diddly about it because Activision and EA are the only two "major players" in the publishing sector, and they know it. Sure, you have THQ and whatnot but the real movers and shakers in this industry are holding all the cards and abusing their positions. So much for consumer rights.

 

[Gindil]

This is a joke, right?

This has to be a joke.

They have the power to ban access to your own game and DLC?!

And i thought Activision and Kotick were the baddies. Those guys at EA... They're just ruthless. It's like they don't even care anymore. Worst still, we can't do diddly about it because Activision and EA are the only two "major players" in the publishing sector, and they know it. Sure, you have THQ and whatnot but the real movers and shakers in this industry are holding all the cards and abusing their positions. So much for consumer rights.

There ARE alternatives. Get a PC, get Steam. Love every second of the games.

 

[Venereus]

This is a joke, right?

This has to be a joke.

They have the power to ban access to your own game and DLC?!

And i thought Activision and Kotick were the baddies. Those guys at EA... They're just ruthless. It's like they don't even care anymore. Worst still, we can't do diddly about it because Activision and EA are the only two "major players" in the publishing sector, and they know it. Sure, you have THQ and whatnot but the real movers and shakers in this industry are holding all the cards and abusing their positions. So much for consumer rights.

There ARE alternatives. Get a PC, get Steam. Love every second of the games.

Sarcasm, right? I mean, you do realize Steam has done the exact same thing, right? And they can pull this off a lot more easily.

 

[Gindil]

This is a joke, right?

This has to be a joke.

They have the power to ban access to your own game and DLC?!

And i thought Activision and Kotick were the baddies. Those guys at EA... They're just ruthless. It's like they don't even care anymore. Worst still, we can't do diddly about it because Activision and EA are the only two "major players" in the publishing sector, and they know it. Sure, you have THQ and whatnot but the real movers and shakers in this industry are holding all the cards and abusing their positions. So much for consumer rights.

There ARE alternatives. Get a PC, get Steam. Love every second of the games.

Sarcasm, right? I mean, you do realize Steam has done the exact same thing, right? And they can pull this off a lot more easily.

A VAC ban doesn't do anything other than bar you from VAC servers...

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

This topic needs to die.. right now. Complaining about it here will do nothing to change the situation. Send your hate mail to bioware and move on.

Eh...no.The topic doesnt need to die.

It has great discussion value: it says a lot about the way some gaming companies deal with their costumers and how limited is costumer ownership of a game bought in these days. This is the kind of topic that i like to see here! I also strongly disagree with the fact that discussing this "will do nothing to change the situation"...it´s bad press for BioWare and EA and they might think again before pulling another of these stunts.It´s a bit all over gaming sites everywhere! Hate mail to them will only get ignored and deleted, thus accomplishing nothing.

 

[one of them]

If someone sells you something and then takes it back without refunding your money, that's technically stealing right? If this guy is telling the truth, which he is most likely not, then it would be rather easy to get his account back.

 

[Atmos Duality]

What Bioware did was illegal, and could be tried in a criminal court for fraud or failure to render services.

Why? Opinions (not slander) are protected under free speech.

Anyone arguing about EULAs. Please understand this one fact:
EULAs CANNOT VIOLATE/SUBVERT THE LAW
Corporations/Private entities are not above the law. To argue otherwise is both stupid and absurd.
One can write what they want in an EULA, but the law trumps it. Always. 100% of the time.
If this case is found to have violated free speech (a right protected by law), then that's that.

The only question remaining is jurisdiction; last I checked, both the United States and Canada had laws that protected free speech. Since Bioware/EA is legally located there (depending on who you ask of), the case would have jurisdiction there.

 

[Void(null)]

Well if you sucker-punch a heavy weight boxer, you shouldn't be surprised when he turns around and clocks you. If you get sanctioned on steam, the sane thing happens, you're locked out of your games. If he's that unhappy with them, fuck if I know why he bought it.

Sarcasm, right? I mean, you do realize Steam has done the exact same thing, right? And they can pull this off a lot more easily.

Steam User Forums Accounts are not linked to your Steam Account. Heck the Steam User Forum Bans are not even IP based, so you can just create a new Forum Account immediately after you have been banned.

Even being VAC banned does not lock you out of your account, but instead locks you out of being able to play games on VAC secure servers.

The only time you are locked out of your Steam account is for non payment (Such as reversing a paypal charge) or being linked to payments made with a stolen credit card (Buying or Receiving games bought with a stolen card.)

 

[bfgmetalhead]

Before-hand respect Bioware: 95/100
EA : 10/100

after-event respect Bioware: 70/100
EA :-40/100

FUCK EA! virtually no redeeming qualites at all

 

[Who Dares Wins]

And this is why I hate the modern gaming system, everything is connected. What happened to "open console - insert disk - play".

 

[RedDeadFred]

This really doesn't seem like Bioware. I bet the order came from EA.
Also, I don't have a lot of sympathy for trolls so I don't really feel bad for the guy. Seriously, follow the rules, don't troll and these things won't happen.

It's Easy.

Edit: but this does seem pretty illegal so I guess he should get his money back. 60 bucks is nothing to go to court over. Hopefully EA reverses this.

 

[kickyourass]

I somehow suspect this was more EA's doing then it is Bioware, but then again, as someone said on that thread, you can't tell someone to go fuck themselves, and then complain when they respond in kind.

 

[Ian Caronia]

My last post in this thread: Kotaku and Escapist have jumped onto the story. Between those two, especially Kotaku, word will get spread VERY quick. EA fucked up big with this hidden clause. Let's see where this goes.

 

[Ice Car]

This really doesn't seem like Bioware. I bet the order came from EA.
Also, I don't have a lot of sympathy for trolls so I don't really feel bad for the guy. Seriously, follow the rules, don't troll and these things won't happen.

It's Easy.

I hope you're being sarcastic. How was he trolling, just made an EXTREMELY minor offensive comment, and it's called trolling, and he's a troll?

 

[RedDeadFred]

This really doesn't seem like Bioware. I bet the order came from EA.
Also, I don't have a lot of sympathy for trolls so I don't really feel bad for the guy. Seriously, follow the rules, don't troll and these things won't happen.

It's Easy.

I hope you're being sarcastic. How was he trolling, just made an EXTREMELY minor offensive comment, and it's called trolling, and he's a troll?

He was bashing a company on their forum....how is that not trolling?
I'm not saying what Bioware/EA did was wrong (it's illegal and should be reversed asap) but if the guy had used some common sense this situation could have been avoided completely.

 

[Venereus]

FACT

http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/
EA's ToS reads:
"In response to a violation of these Terms of Service or any other agreement applicable to EA Services accessed by you, EA may issue you a warning, suspend your Account, selectively remove, revoke or garnish Entitlements associated with your Account or immediately terminate any and all Accounts that you have established. You acknowledge that EA is not required to provide you notice before suspending or terminating your Account or selectively removing, revoking or garnishing Entitlements associated with your Account. If EA terminates your Account, you may not participate in an EA Service again without EA's express permission. EA reserves the right to refuse to keep Accounts for, and provide EA Services to, any individual. You may not allow individuals whose Accounts have been terminated by EA to use your Account.

If your Account, or a particular subscription for an EA Service associated with your Account, is terminated, suspended and/or if any Entitlements are selectively removed, revoked or garnished from your Account, no refund will be granted, no Entitlements will be credited to you or converted to cash or other forms of reimbursement, and you will have no further access to your Account or Entitlements associated with your Account or the particular EA Service."

It also says: "Specific EA Services may also post additional rules that apply to your conduct on those services."

CONCLUSION

They can lock you out of your games if you break any of their arbitrarily and unilaterally defined rules, and if those are not enough, they can make stuff up to back it up. And that's not even considering the possibility of them incriminating you, wich you also can't do much against. Seriously, all they need is a reason, and he gave them one. There's nothing stopping them from screwing you over.

 

[Something Amyss]

This really doesn't seem like Bioware. I bet the order came from EA.
Also, I don't have a lot of sympathy for trolls so I don't really feel bad for the guy. Seriously, follow the rules, don't troll and these things won't happen.

It's Easy.

Edit: but this does seem pretty illegal so I guess he should get his money back. 60 bucks is nothing to go to court over. Hopefully EA reverses this.

He wouldn't win even if he did go to court. Not only is it not worth it, he really lacks any legal recourse over it currently. There's no real protection for us as gamers to have the right to play what we buy.

 

[snfonseka]

That is a bad thing to do BW.

 

[Captain Pirate]

My opinion of Bioware has now gone into negative figures.
What utter arseholes.

And wow EA, in the past week I'm pretty sure I saw an article saying how they said they were "On their way back up."

Great start.