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

Apr 28, 2008
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Jabberwock xeno said:
bob1052 said:
Jabberwock xeno said:
Easily Forgotten said:
Eldarion said:
If you don't mind I'm gonna continue purchasing my disks that I can play no matter what. I guess I'm just stuck in my ways.

In all seriousness I'm glad I never bought into steam. If bioware is pulling shit like this, can we really trust valve?
Uh... Did you read the post of the suspended person at all? Or even the title of THIS thread?

He bought the Signature Edition. In a store.

They're doing this with his account, which strips him of his save files and DLC.

Not quite as bad as purely digital distribution's equivalent would be, but purely digi-dist runs that risk.
How so?

Do you need to sign in to play or something?

Anyways, he should sue.
Legal fees to take a major entity such as EA to court for a 50 pound game isn't really worth it. Its not even worth it for the principle.
I disagree.

The industry need a groundbreaking case to set precedent on DRM, the consumer's right to their product, etc.

This shit has gone on long enough.
Agreed. All the massive bullshit they pull with EULA's is just awful. And I don't know whats worse, the fact that they continue doing so much anti-consumer bullshit, or the fact that the consumers don't do anything about it.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Diligent said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
J03bot said:
Pretty sure that's theft on Bioware/EA's part?
People misuse theft a lot of the time. Nothing was actually taken from him. At worst, his ability to play a game was infringed upon, but by his own actions. I don't like the way EULAs are run, but in this country they're currently poorly defined, and companies can get away with a lot. Suspensions that take away game access? Bit harsh. But EA thinks they can get away with it, and they're probably right.

Is it right? Is it even legal? No, and maybe not, respectively. But it rarely matters whether something is legal if you can get away with it.
I don't know man, if piracy is considered theft, then I don't see why it wouldn't work the same in reverse.
And if I accepted piracy as theft, you would have a point there.
 

smeghead25

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Apr 28, 2009
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Negatempest said:
smeghead25 said:
I 100% agree they should have the right to block online play for whatever they deem is inappropriate (not that I believe what you said was at all inappropriate). They should be able to refuse access to forums and online play for people who are generally being assholes. HOWEVER, no single player component of a videogame, whether or not it has to have a permanent internet connection, should be blocked. You pay for it, you deserve to play it. If EA (Executive Assholes) put in a stupid system where persistent internet connection is required, that should NEVER impact on someones ability to play a game they bought.

This is why I only ever buy their games on consoles, or super cheap Steam sales. They don't deserve the money they charge if they can take away my ability to play the fucking game.
Okay, i'm not here to start some debate or argument. I am just here giving information. Okay, because of an in appropriate sentence he typed, he got his "forum" account banned for 72 hours. So he can't make changes to the forum account of register games to it. You need to register DA2 to "start" playing it. So if he had DA2 installed and playable before he got banned, he would still be able to play the game, he just couldn't add more Bioware/EA games to that same account. The ban is no different than the same bans they do here in The Escapist. He just more or less shot himself in the foot.
Yeah I can agree with that actually. But I still stand by my point that single player capability should still be facilitated no matter what. EA are the one's who made the system where a connection to the forum account is necessary to activate the game Even if someone is banned they should have access to the registration component at least. If EA can't provide that, then they shouldn't have an online registration system in the first place.

I would certainly go and download a cracked version if I were him.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Irridium said:
Agreed. All the massive bullshit they pull with EULA's is just awful. And I don't know whats worse, the fact that they continue doing so much anti-consumer bullshit, or the fact that the consumers don't do anything about it.
The latter. They wouldn't try so much bullshit if it wasn't for consumer apathy. If their bullshit started seriously affecting their bottom line due to consumer dissatisfaction they'd shitcan it and try something different.
 

Double A

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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. :(
 

bob1052

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Negatempest said:
smeghead25 said:
I 100% agree they should have the right to block online play for whatever they deem is inappropriate (not that I believe what you said was at all inappropriate). They should be able to refuse access to forums and online play for people who are generally being assholes. HOWEVER, no single player component of a videogame, whether or not it has to have a permanent internet connection, should be blocked. You pay for it, you deserve to play it. If EA (Executive Assholes) put in a stupid system where persistent internet connection is required, that should NEVER impact on someones ability to play a game they bought.

This is why I only ever buy their games on consoles, or super cheap Steam sales. They don't deserve the money they charge if they can take away my ability to play the fucking game.
Okay, i'm not here to start some debate or argument. I am just here giving information. Okay, because of an in appropriate sentence he typed, he got his "forum" account banned for 72 hours. So he can't make changes to the forum account of register games to it. You need to register DA2 to "start" playing it. So if he had DA2 installed and playable before he got banned, he would still be able to play the game, he just couldn't add more Bioware/EA games to that same account. The ban is no different than the same bans they do here in The Escapist. He just more or less shot himself in the foot.
Actually, as part of the online DRM, that account needs to be used for every game, even previously activated ones.

From the banned guy in his thread:
You can't login to Bioware Social. So you can't acces the forums or your personal profile and content. I also tried to login in DA:O, this too doesn't work.
He can't even play Origins for the duration of his ban
 

IronicBeet

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Jun 27, 2009
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Well considering how much a crybaby David Gaider has been lately, this isn't too hard to believe. It sucks, but it's not too hard to believe.
 

bob1052

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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.
 

2012 Wont Happen

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ImprovizoR said:
What they did is illegal. It's that simple. It's his opinion and his right to free speech.
What they did does not abridge his right to free speech as it is interpreted. It could be considered theft though if you consider the fact that he legally purchased the game in question. In a better world it would at least be considered in violation of consumer protections.

However, in the world we live in what they did was legal. Why? Because they have the money to make it so, even if it is not.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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bob1052 said:
From the banned guy in his thread:
You can't login to Bioware Social. So you can't acces the forums or your personal profile and content. I also tried to login in DA:O, this too doesn't work.
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.
 

Caliostro

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Jan 23, 2008
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Eri said:
If you get sanctioned on steam, the sane thing happens, you're locked out of your games.
You really shouldn't talk about things you clearly don't understand.

Your SPUF account and your Steam account are completely separate. You can be banned a billion times on a billion different accounts on the forums and nothing will happen to your games or Steam account.

In fact, even getting VAC banned doesn't keep you out of your games... merely out of VAC-protected servers.

Getting banned from Steam itself actually requires something extremely serious (like credit card fraud or hacking another user's account, etc), bordering on the illegal.

This is just Bioware being retards. Do they have the legal right to? Sort of, yes. Not because "Free speech doesn't apply to everything", it does, but because it's their own private space, so they can do as they will within it. That said, if the person in question had enough money to take this to court, it wouldn't exactly be a done deal for Bioware either. "OH BUT EULA BLABLABLA!". EULAs are worth fuck all in court, and will never override actual laws.
 

Zaik

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*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it. Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats. I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
 

Double A

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Eri said:
Omnific One said:
psicat said:
So what. Steam does it all the time and you still get millions who love Steam. That other companies have similar policies doesn't surprise me nowadays, neither does the fact Bioware would happily implement it with all the trolling they are receiving lately about Dragon Age 2.
Where does it say in the Steam TOS that if you say "Steam is horrible," you will have your account banned and all the games will be worthless? I thought so.

Please think before posting.

Eri said:
StarCecil said:
Eri said:
ImprovizoR said:
What they did is illegal. It's that simple. It's his opinion and his right to free speech.
Free speech doesn't apply to everything. Also he agreed to rules, which he broke.
He also paid ?50 for a game that he cannot now play. Is that right?
That has no bearing on what I said. Regardless, what's done is done.
What's done is done? Nice. So stealing is ok, as long as its "done" in the eyes of an outsider.
What? If you agree to terms and break them, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Yes, that is under normal circumstances.

I looked at the ToS. There are nice, bold sentences at the front of each paragraph. And that's just for a forum (pretty good compared to others and what I'm about to go into). PC games have ridiculously long EULAs... and in legalese. I think if you make your ToS/EULA extraordinarily long and word it in a way where it is incomprehensible to the common man, your customers should not be forced to abide by them.

And for the record, what he said wasn't slander.
 

Dansrage

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Zaik said:
*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it. Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats. I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Again, we don't question the reason for his ban, merely it's severity.
 

StarCecil

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Zaik said:
*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it. Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats. I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
I hardly think making an amusing, semi-critical comment about EA is akin to separatist insurrection.
 

Eri

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Feb 21, 2009
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Caliostro said:
Not because "Free speech doesn't apply to everything", it does, but because it's their own private space, so they can do as they will within it.
This is you admitting it doesn't apply everywhere.
Caliostro said:
Other stuff
I said steam sanctions. Never did I say steam FORUM sanctions. And yeah, the point was they can lock you out of your games, they don't need your say so.
 

Zaik

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Dansrage said:
Zaik said:
*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it. Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats. I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Again, we don't question the reason for his ban, merely it's severity.
Well, to be honest, once these fantards took it to metacritic, the gloves were off. If retarded white collar executives didn't hail it as some sort of almighty judge for the quality of a game, it wouldn't be that big a deal. But they do.

So, I'm fine with Bioware taking that kind of action against the people who are just making themselves a menace because they think they're entitled to be. Was the OP of that thread one of those? I don't know. He didn't properly link his post, and I can't be bothered to look at his posting history. My gut says he's one of them, but that's all I've got.

Still, if you're in Afghanistan, don't run at NATO troops like a bat out of hell screaming "Allahu Akbar!" then cry a river when you get shot.

And yes, I just compared those two. It's the same idea, regardless of how sensitive anyone who reads this is.
 

Zaik

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StarCecil said:
Zaik said:
*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it. Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats. I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
I hardly think making an amusing, semi-critical comment about EA is akin to separatist insurrection.
Didn't read it. It's not that big of a paragraph. I'll break it up for you anyway.

*shrug* Sucks for him, and I'm not saying Bioware or EA or whoever was in the right here, but he picked the wrong time to be posting pointlessly critical crap.

There's a lot of people out there mindlessly bashing bioware just to do it.

Those people *should* have DA2 access cut off for being twats.

I don't know or care whether he actually had a legitimate opinion on anything or not(gut says no, but I have no proof) but if you lives in a city with 50 households, and the 49 other households broke off from your government and started a rebellion, and you just happened to be doing some harmless marksmanship practice with a rifle when your government's army comes and steamrolls all of them, don't be shocked if you get shot too.

It was the wrong place, at the wrong time.
 

Trolldor

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

Just stumbled upon this little gem and wondered what you fine gentlemen thought about it?
I would suggest he takes them to court because they aren't legally allowed to do that.

And this is a fine example of why excess moderation of forums produces only arse-candy.