What good is $20 that he wont even be able to use? He'd just buy more games that he wouldnt be able to play, or be forced to buy games that he doesnt actually want. It doesnt actually solve the problem - he wants to play battlefield 1942, $20 credit on his sons account wont help that. It also doesnt solve the principle of the problem which is that EA allowed a 9 year old to buy a game that he wasnt allowed to play, and that it didnt mention he wouldnt be able to play it until AFTER it was bought (saying u need to be a certain age for an EA account doesnt point out you need that EA account to play the game you've purchased).Crimsane said:
Blogger Denied Refund for Game EA Won't Let Him Play
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Hell, i still do this out of habit, and I'm 22 now. just so used to picking a random b-day year since i was a kid.D_987 said:
Well, I left the guy a comment on his blog post explaining that the information about the age restriction was indeed disclosed to him before purchase. Hopefully he'll do the right thing and stop spreading his false information about EA and Microsoft not telling him that he needed to be 13 to play.
EDIT: It says my comment is awaiting moderation. Now we just wait and see, I guess. If he lets it be displayed and admits his mistake, no biggie. But if he deletes it instead of making it visible to the public, then I think we can all agree that he's just another irresponsible person trying to make a quick buck and get some publicity, just like that mom who lied about her autistic son's gamerscore reset.
The contents of my comment are as follows.
I tried to be as polite as I could. And there's no flaming, no cursing, no anything that I can see that should cause this comment to deserve being deleted instead of made public.
EDIT: It says my comment is awaiting moderation. Now we just wait and see, I guess. If he lets it be displayed and admits his mistake, no biggie. But if he deletes it instead of making it visible to the public, then I think we can all agree that he's just another irresponsible person trying to make a quick buck and get some publicity, just like that mom who lied about her autistic son's gamerscore reset.
The contents of my comment are as follows.
?At no point during my purchase of BF1943 using my son?s account was I warned that there were any age requirements for the game.?
I do not wish to be rude, but to put this simply, you are wrong. Here?s a screenshot of what you see before you purchase a game on the Xbox 360 console:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/mjc0961/Img_0604-1.jpg
That text box in the bottom right corner is standard on any content purchase you make on the 360. It?s in the same spot every time, so there is no trickery with it being hidden. It is always there and you can scroll through it with the right analog stick of the 360 controller to read it at your own pace and not miss any details. The entire text that is displayed there for Battlefield 1943 is as follows:
?(Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) Battlefield 1943 is a multiplayer-only game that lets you enjoy the thrills of Pacific WW2 battles! Pick your path ? be it as a rifleman, a steel fisted tank commander, or ace fighter pilot dog fighting to protect the skies. Play as a lone wolf or with your friends, coordinating to turn the tide of battle. This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive for storage. There are no refunds for this item. Multiplayer only. For more information, see http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts. REGISTRATION AND GOLD SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED. EA ONLINE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND FEATURE UPDATES ARE FOUND AT http://www.ea.com. YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER WITH EA ONLINE. EA MAY PROVIDE CERTAIN INCREMENTAL CONTENT AND/OR UPDATES FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE, IF AND WHEN AVAILABLE. EA MAY RETIRE THIS GAME AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON http://www.ea.com. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts.?
It says that ?REGISTRATION AND GOLD SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED? and that ?YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER WITH EA ONLINE.? Simply put, they DID warn you about the age requirement before you purchased this game for your son. I can only guess that you didn?t read it for some reason. Maybe you didn?t even notice it; maybe you thought it was just the standard ?online interactions not rated, no refunds, etc? blurb without any other important info you needed to know and decided not to dig deeper into it; I really don?t know. But regardless, the point is that they did in fact tell you of this age requirement before you made a purchase.
And in short, because of that, I don?t think you?re entitled to a refund here. Again, I don?t wish to be rude, I just think it?s fair to get ALL of the facts out there. EA and Microsoft did tell you about the age requirement, and you simply didn?t notice it for whatever reason. That is not their fault and they don?t owe you anything. In fact, that $20 EA Store credit was a generous offer, even if there was nothing on their store you wanted. It was $20 more than they needed to offer you considering all of the facts of this situation.
So yeah. I hope you?ll consider this information before you try to keep spreading this incorrect story about not being told about age requirements before you bought the game. EA and Microsoft did nothing wrong here, and it?s unfair to make them out as bad guys who were out to deceive you when you are the one who didn?t read all of the pre-purchase information provided to you before you confirmed your purchase.
I do not wish to be rude, but to put this simply, you are wrong. Here?s a screenshot of what you see before you purchase a game on the Xbox 360 console:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/mjc0961/Img_0604-1.jpg
That text box in the bottom right corner is standard on any content purchase you make on the 360. It?s in the same spot every time, so there is no trickery with it being hidden. It is always there and you can scroll through it with the right analog stick of the 360 controller to read it at your own pace and not miss any details. The entire text that is displayed there for Battlefield 1943 is as follows:
?(Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) Battlefield 1943 is a multiplayer-only game that lets you enjoy the thrills of Pacific WW2 battles! Pick your path ? be it as a rifleman, a steel fisted tank commander, or ace fighter pilot dog fighting to protect the skies. Play as a lone wolf or with your friends, coordinating to turn the tide of battle. This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive for storage. There are no refunds for this item. Multiplayer only. For more information, see http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts. REGISTRATION AND GOLD SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED. EA ONLINE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND FEATURE UPDATES ARE FOUND AT http://www.ea.com. YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER WITH EA ONLINE. EA MAY PROVIDE CERTAIN INCREMENTAL CONTENT AND/OR UPDATES FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE, IF AND WHEN AVAILABLE. EA MAY RETIRE THIS GAME AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON http://www.ea.com. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see http://www.xbox.com/live/accounts.?
It says that ?REGISTRATION AND GOLD SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED? and that ?YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER WITH EA ONLINE.? Simply put, they DID warn you about the age requirement before you purchased this game for your son. I can only guess that you didn?t read it for some reason. Maybe you didn?t even notice it; maybe you thought it was just the standard ?online interactions not rated, no refunds, etc? blurb without any other important info you needed to know and decided not to dig deeper into it; I really don?t know. But regardless, the point is that they did in fact tell you of this age requirement before you made a purchase.
And in short, because of that, I don?t think you?re entitled to a refund here. Again, I don?t wish to be rude, I just think it?s fair to get ALL of the facts out there. EA and Microsoft did tell you about the age requirement, and you simply didn?t notice it for whatever reason. That is not their fault and they don?t owe you anything. In fact, that $20 EA Store credit was a generous offer, even if there was nothing on their store you wanted. It was $20 more than they needed to offer you considering all of the facts of this situation.
So yeah. I hope you?ll consider this information before you try to keep spreading this incorrect story about not being told about age requirements before you bought the game. EA and Microsoft did nothing wrong here, and it?s unfair to make them out as bad guys who were out to deceive you when you are the one who didn?t read all of the pre-purchase information provided to you before you confirmed your purchase.
I tried to be as polite as I could. And there's no flaming, no cursing, no anything that I can see that should cause this comment to deserve being deleted instead of made public.
Let's hear it for the convenience of downloadable content!!! YAYYYY!!! /sarcasm
Convenience always costs more. This cost the guy a lot more. Poor guy can't even sell it used.
Edit:
By the way, whether the dad has a case or not is moot in practice. It costs a lot more than $15 in my city to file a small claims case. He'd lose even more money by suing even if he won.
Convenience always costs more. This cost the guy a lot more. Poor guy can't even sell it used.
As I understand it, there's absolutely no risk to lying about a kid's age online. Is that what you're implying with "correct" in quotes? Even so, why would a parent assume he needs to lie about his kid's age when he has full control over the parental controls? Why would he assume a company would override his parental judgment? Why would he want to teach his kid it's ok to lie to make sure you get to play a game?D_987 said:
Edit:
By the way, whether the dad has a case or not is moot in practice. It costs a lot more than $15 in my city to file a small claims case. He'd lose even more money by suing even if he won.
completely agree with this, however, recently aquiring a job with customer service/fraud detection, it's actually very very hard to give good service over the phone without stepping on some companies laws/codes dictating what you can and cannot do and what you can and cannot say to the customer, in which most of the time we aren't even given an option to transfer them to our higher ups, and sadly our company is considered one of the better/more organized in the businessD_987 said:
so from a perspective with who he may have spoken with, I cannot blame them, they were simply and more than likely covering their own ass in the process, but still a man should be able to change/let his son play on HIS xbox what game he wants to, it's honest to god bullshit that EA or xbox would have a limit on such a thing with parental consent.
The dad still has a case, because it says "You must be 13+ to register with EA online." The person who registered was most definitely older than 13, and it says nothing about how old you have to be to actually play a game on an EA online account. Someone pointed this out earlier and was shot down for arguing semantics, but I think you'll find that semantics matter in contract law.mjc0961 said:The problem with your rant is that they did put them in the initial purchase description.Belated said:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Battlefield-1943/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841097e?cid=search&DownloadType=Game
Click the "description" link and bam:
And here it is on the 360 itself:
Notice that I accessed this screen WITHOUT buying the product. I still have to select that "confirm purchase" option to actually trade my MS Points for a copy of the game. I have not purchased Battlefield 1943 yet, and I am being told that I must be 13+ to register with EA Online, which is required to play (as seen in the above quote's first sentence, "REGISTRATION AND GOLD SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED."). There is no scam going on here, it told you before you purchased that you need to be 13 or older. And I am not pulling any tricks here; here's a picture of what you see on a game if you have already bought it:
Thus, if your description of how "legal" things are is correct, EA does have the right to enforce this and MS does have the right to enforce the no refunds policy.
I'd honestly say that he doesn't, and that you don't know all the facts of this story yet.Belated said:
No, it's right there on the page. You can scroll through the text with the right stick to ensure that you read at your own pace and don't miss anything. It seems quite clear to me, registration is required and you must be 13+ to register.Andy Chalk said:
[hr]
As far as I'm concerned, the dad should have paid more attention before making his purchase and isn't entitled to a refund because the information is indeed provided before you buy anything.
OT: EA has really been upping the ante lately. It's almost like they realized that Activision had become the new evil empire in the public's eye, and they wanted the title back. Also, insert obligatory rant about why DRM is bad and EULAs are invalid except under certain circumstances, which don't seem to have been met here. I'm too tired to write up the full spiel, but my post history is full of them if anyone wants to look.
The person who registered is his son, who is 9. Therefore, the person who registered was most definitely not older than 13. The dad already had his own EA account as evidenced in the beginning of the story where it says they took turns playing on his account before he decided to buy his son his own copy. Thus it was the 9 year old registering for an account (even if the dad was helping him/doing it for him, the account was for a 9 year old and the rule still applies).Owyn_Merrilin said:
The dad has absolutely no case here. He should see if he can still get that $20 credit, say thank you, and move on before he makes a bigger PR mess for EA and Microsoft who in this case do not deserve it.
Funnily enough, it seems to me that the reason EA (among other companies) is butting into the role of the parent is because they seem to frequently get in trouble when they don't. The parents who actually manually raise their kids AND let them play videogames are apparently an odity nowadays.
Ya'll are gonna hate me for saying this, but I'm saying it because I'm correct.
Parents these days are idiots, they subject their kids to the worse shit ever. "Let's dress my little 9 year old daughter up like a slut!" "Hey little Billy, wanna watch this guy's skull fly out his own ass?" When are you people going to learn that shit like this has negative impacts on psyches?
Nothing crazy like "Video games cause kids to go murder everyone they see." No, I'm talking about walking by, and viewing a homeless bum in the street, no legs, hell, probably no eyes(I saw one walking around Chicago once) and utterly helpless. No emotion that person will have for this poor soul, no pity. They just see another shape. How about the dead girl down the street, whom was molested and had her legs torn off? No fear....no sadness...no disgust.
Shit like this at improper stages ruin a child's ability to feel real, raw emotion, a gift and a curse.
And if it isn't subjecting their children to the worse shit ever, it's allowing them to misbehave, or abusing them too much. I've seen parents whom let kids throw others property around just because they "Don't believe in punishment." Other parents backhand their kids for coughing, or treat them like disobedient things that are meant to be scorned. "He's a terrible rotten child, always had been since he was born, I hate him." God I just wanted to kill that woman and try to give that kid a proper life.
Parents these days deserve to be told what to do; how to raise their kids, because they do a shit job of doing it themselves. It's like all that rage against their own parents turned off the "good parent" switch inside their brains. Probably all the drugs and brain damage from idiotic stunts too.
I support EA in this shit, and if any of you had proper way of thinking besides "Rage against the machine! We are not robots! V is for Victory!" which so many of you spout off which creates just another rendition of repetition.
Parents these days are idiots, they subject their kids to the worse shit ever. "Let's dress my little 9 year old daughter up like a slut!" "Hey little Billy, wanna watch this guy's skull fly out his own ass?" When are you people going to learn that shit like this has negative impacts on psyches?
Nothing crazy like "Video games cause kids to go murder everyone they see." No, I'm talking about walking by, and viewing a homeless bum in the street, no legs, hell, probably no eyes(I saw one walking around Chicago once) and utterly helpless. No emotion that person will have for this poor soul, no pity. They just see another shape. How about the dead girl down the street, whom was molested and had her legs torn off? No fear....no sadness...no disgust.
Shit like this at improper stages ruin a child's ability to feel real, raw emotion, a gift and a curse.
And if it isn't subjecting their children to the worse shit ever, it's allowing them to misbehave, or abusing them too much. I've seen parents whom let kids throw others property around just because they "Don't believe in punishment." Other parents backhand their kids for coughing, or treat them like disobedient things that are meant to be scorned. "He's a terrible rotten child, always had been since he was born, I hate him." God I just wanted to kill that woman and try to give that kid a proper life.
Parents these days deserve to be told what to do; how to raise their kids, because they do a shit job of doing it themselves. It's like all that rage against their own parents turned off the "good parent" switch inside their brains. Probably all the drugs and brain damage from idiotic stunts too.
I support EA in this shit, and if any of you had proper way of thinking besides "Rage against the machine! We are not robots! V is for Victory!" which so many of you spout off which creates just another rendition of repetition.
Well, it'd run them another $60 for a 12 month subsciption if they took that route.rees263 said:
OT: Damn, EA's not too great with the community lately. Makes me wonder sometimes...
He bought xbox live to play a flying game with his son, co-op, I highly doubt that you'd see the kid on his own.GloatingSwine said:
OT: Oh EA, your so....evil.
As mirasiel pointed out, if that were the case, it would be "the person registered to the X-Box Live account must be 13+" rather than "You must be 13+ to register." The person who did the actual registration was over 13, and therefore should have been able to access the content. The whole idea of a child account is that the parents register for their children, and control the content. It was clearly the dad who was doing the registration here.mjc0961 said:
Alright, I hate to double post for once, but holy hell.jackknife402 said:
It's a dude trying to play an xbox live game with his son, where did the giant tangent of kids being demoralized and women getting molested and cut, and homeless people and kids having skulls fly out their anuses come from? It's just a guy wanting to play xbox live with his kid, that's it.
Except we're talking about a 9 year old playing Battlefield 1943, which was rated T, and Halo, which has less objectionable content than many PG rated movies despite the M rating. We aren't subjecting a five year old to God of War here.jackknife402 said:
Uhhh, he also said he liked to play crackdown with the kid. Who knows what else he does with the kid?Owyn_Merrilin said:
Perhaps you should read a bit closer, because a good chunk of what you just said was not even in my comment, except for the demoralized portion. I just set up my post to reflect upon why I thought EA could tell the parent what sort of content he could show his children. Because most parents these days are terrible at raising their children.Normalgamer said: