Blogger Denied Refund for Game EA Won't Let Him Play

[Derek Westlund]

just pointing out that everyone here is saying "game companies have no right to raise our children for us" and all non-gamers are saying "why aren't you companies raising our children for us since we certainly aren't".

EDIT:
also isn't the parent technically the owner of the account and the child is just the user?

 

[Yopaz]

Yes, "register". His father registered for him. His father is, presumably, over the age of 13. There is nothing in there about how old you have to be to play it.

Now you're just arguing semantics; as though the console is going to read that his father, and not the account holder, bought the game...well I guess with Kinect it could be possible but it's still a pretty moronic argument at best.

No, it's not. The terms of use say nothing about how old you have to be to play it. Denying the right to play a game without specifically saying so in the terms of use strikes me as moronic.

Do you think lawyers are paid as much as they are because they look at one rule/law/sentence at once? There's one that states that you need to be over 13 to go online, one that states there's no refunds, those are not written at the same play, but both are valid at the same time because you have agreed on both at some point.

He got no reason to complain here I'd say, he's supposed to read the ToS before agreeing, if the ToS scammed him, well, that shows why you should read it.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

It might be true that it says that he's not allowed to get a refund, but the issue here is that EA and Microsoft didn't make it clear that his kid wouldn't be allowed to play the game because he was too young until AFTER he bought the thing. That's the issue, and that's why he's mentioning this.

I have to agree here, THIS is the issue at hand. The larger point here isn't that refunds aren't allowed, that's fine. What the problem here is that not being told this before spending your money. Had he been told before hand he could then make the decision to go forward or use another option.

 

[Daelda]

It appears obvious to me that the FATHER was the one registering the game. Especially after his repeated contacts with Customer Service. If EA wishes to protect itself, it would be fairly simple for them to require the father to sign a notarized document stating that he (the father) authorizes the child to play "T" and/or "M" Rated games - and then fax that document to EA. EA would then have documentation should there be any claims of "But I didn't know!" in the future. Upon reciept of the document, EA could upgrade the account to an adult account or, they could create a completely new account, with all of the games/achievements/etc from the old account, delete the old account from the system and all should be fine.

Mainly I am saying that there are several options available to EA to both cover themselves legally, while also allowing the father to parent the child as he sees fit - which is the father's right.

Uhhh, he also said he liked to play crackdown with the kid. Who knows what else he does with the kid?

What business is it of yours, mine, or anyone's just what this father does with his child, as long as it does not violate the law? At this point, we have zero evidence that this father is doing anything illegal with the child. He may do things that others may morally disagree with, but that is not our business. No more than it is our business if the father is raising the child as an Atheist, a Muslim, a Fundamentalist Christian, a Vegan, a hunter, a member of PETA, a member of the ACLU, the NRA or any other legal group, belief or activity.

Parents have a right to parent as they see fit, as long as their parenting does not include violating the law. It is currently not illegal for a parent to let a child see R-rated movies, or play M-rated video games. Thus it is withing the parent's discretion to do so and is not the business of anyone else.

 

[XxSummonerxX]

I'm not an American, so I wouldn't entirely know, but doesn't what they're doing violate Freedom of Expression or something? There is no law saying specifically "HE CANNOT PLAY, HE IS TO YOUNG", and by preventing him from doing so or blah blah blah. It's the same reason there are no banned video games or anything in america.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

Interesting.

Alas, it seems that a falsification of age comes as a standard feature on the Internet if you wish to revel in the finer venues of entertainment.

 

[ryai458]

Its very clearly stated on Xbox Live "No Refunds".

 

[Optimystic]

That, and they allowed the account registered to the 9-year old to buy the game. That's a bit shady to me, anyways.

This is the REAL problem here. Thank you.

Microsoft is trying to look all morally upright by keeping a 9-year old out of their bad, bad game, but they still stooped to taking his money.

 

[Splyth]

well it's either that or risk another lawsuit. I'm not saying what they did was right. but they could have handled it a lot worse

 

[Asehujiko]

I never got why it was legal for places to just say "Sorry, we don't do refunds."
Are there not consumer laws about this?

No. Digital media is owned by it´s publisher and they could sue him for defamation and breach of contract over this.

All thanks to the same lovely set of laws used to "fight" file sharing that people here continue to blindly defend because of that.

 

[night_chrono]

I can't believe so many people have missed this:

HE PAID 1200 MICROSOFT POINTS ($15), THE ONLY CURRENCY GOOD ON XBL.

EA OFFERED HIM $20 OF EA STORE CREDIT, NOT VALID ON XBL.

Also the EA online thing covers all of their games now. So someone who is 12 years old couldn't play the latest Madden, Need for Speed, FIFA, etc.

It's not a matter of the games rating, it's the fact that despite the parent attempting to make an account for the child to play on, he is being denied. Yes it says 13+ with activation before you purchase, but if it were me in that position I would think the 13+ applied to me, not the minor just as creating the live account.

 

[Antari]

Another wonderful PR nightmare for EA. When will it stop? ... Probably never. And they know it.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

...You can just change the age of the account, there's plenty of way to do that, offcially or not.

Besides, who ACTUALLY puts their REAL personal info on these accounts? Let that be a lesson to you.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Well, if the TOS wasn't available before purchase, then he most certainly should get a refund once he finds out they include an unacceptable term. Can't bind consumers to terms they don't know.

Also:

"Halo [http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Reach-Xbox-360/dp/B002BSA20M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300154430&sr=8-1] and Crackdown are both rated M, and I play those with my nine year old all the time; this may not make me the greatest parent ever, but it's harmless fun and he's smart enough to know that what's happening on screen is as real as a Bugs Bunny cartoon."

Are you fucking kidding me?

Taking an interest in your child's hobbies? Taking upon yourself the parental responsibility to actually look at your child as an individual and assess what it can handle? Spending time playing with it?

That's infinitely better parenting than someone who just go by the general recommendation, set the Xbox to 3+ max, then leave the room not caring shit about what interests their own child have and what it can handle.

This man encompass true humane family values. Not that moral panic shit the term have since taken on.

DAMN. STRAIGHT.

If this guy has a facebook, I suggest we all tell him how much we respect him for having some god damned common sense...

Of course, he DID have the kid put in his real age...

EDIT:

Oh damnit, I meant to edit this into my last post, please forgive the double post.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

So here we have a responsible parent who actively engages with the joyous past-time of video games with his son. So adamant is he about the fact he goes and purchases a second console so the father and son's co-op play is not stunted by the current gen's inability for decent couch co-op. Then he buys the game online legitimately, with the account intended to play it, only to be told once he's bought it he can't play it.

Honestly this guy is everything we should be trying to defend when it comes to the modern video gamer. It's dick moves like this that cause people to turn to piracy. EA's not doing too well for themselves lately are they?

i agree with most of your post. my biggest problem here is that both sides are right. yes, he should be able to play online with his son if he chooses. but, on the other hand, there's a damn good reason for the age 13 minimum for XBL Gold. tough call.

 

[Escapist Account]

Oh EA, you never cease to make me respect you less and less.

 

[ThomW]

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.

I'm running across your post here on The Escapist a day after moderating your post on my blog. Thanks again for your comment.

 

[jackpipsam]

this is utter bull, I am really sad with Microsoft