EA Clarifies Forum Banning Policy - UPDATED

[grinner_88]

I've been boycotting EA since I heard about the DRM on Mass Effect for PC. I harass and harangue all my friends too. It seems to have little effect though, they still go out and buy the games. So at the end of the day will the average game consumer give a damn?

I think not - and this is what depresses me the most - us game enthusiasts follow this stuff and pay attention and know our rights are slowly being eroded, but the rest of the public don't know and if they did probably wouldn't give a damn!

 

[babyblues]

Why the hell would anyone join those forums anyway? Truly, it is a den of evil.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

When I exchange my money for something like a video game, I expect to own the product. Yes, I bought a license to use the product, but just because the developer/publisher still has rights over the software, doesn't mean I should be at the mercy of the developer/publisher. Whatever happened to consumer rights?

personally this is what i think happened

EA Exec - hey i got a great idea
EA Exec2 - oh really what is it?
EA Exec - well when we ban ppl from the forum let's ban them from the game they payed money for too
EA Exec2 - by george that's a great idea, then they have to go buy a new game and we make more money
EA Exec3 - hey guys you know what that means?
ALL EA Execs - MONEY FIGHT!!!!!
EA Exec - ok it's done
EA Exec4 - hey shouldn't we clear this with legal first?
EA Legal - ummm sorry you can't do that, we'll be sued and possibly lose millions and get a bigger black eye
ALL EA Execs - awww crap there goes that idea

the names have been changed to protect the innocent but there's a good chance it happened that way or at least how i imagine it

tho the picture of JK Simmons made me laugh, i still see him as Schillinger on OZ

 

[TsunamiWombat]

When I exchange my money for something like a video game, I expect to own the product. Yes, I bought a license to use the product, but just because the developer/publisher still has rights over the software, doesn't mean I should be at the mercy of the developer/publisher. Whatever happened to consumer rights?

personally this is what i think happened

EA Exec - hey i got a great idea
EA Exec2 - oh really what is it?
EA Exec - well when we ban ppl from the forum let's ban them from the game they payed money for too
EA Exec2 - by george that's a great idea, then they have to go buy a new game and we make more money
EA Exec3 - hey guys you know what that means?
ALL EA Execs - MONEY FIGHT!!!!!
EA Exec - ok it's done
EA Exec4 - hey shouldn't we clear this with legal first?
EA Legal - ummm sorry you can't do that, we'll be sued and possibly lose millions and get a bigger black eye
ALL EA Execs - awww crap there goes that idea

the names have been changed to protect the innocent but there's a good chance it happened that way or at least how i imagine it

tho the picture of JK Simmons made me laugh, i still see him as Schillinger on OZ

I see him as the head of Tobacco Studies from Thank You For Smoking. Which is SOOO fitting for an EA story...

 

[stompy]

Post

No has challenged the EULAs yet, right? So, no one actually knows if this is legal or not...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Post

No has challenged the EULAs yet, right? So, no one actually knows if this is legal or not...

exactly but most lawyers will tell you if what you're trying will stand up in court or not

 

[stompy]

exactly but most lawyers will tell you if what you're trying will stand up in court or not

However, most law is set up on precedent... which this case will not have to fall back on. The first case to challenge the EULA will be a landmark case (that's the right term, right?) for gamers, developers and publishers.

 

[Amnestic]

When I exchange my money for something like a video game, I expect to own the product. Yes, I bought a license to use the product, but just because the developer/publisher still has rights over the software, doesn't mean I should be at the mercy of the developer/publisher. Whatever happened to consumer rights?

personally this is what i think happened

EA Exec - hey i got a great idea
EA Exec2 - oh really what is it?
EA Exec - well when we ban ppl from the forum let's ban them from the game they payed money for too
EA Exec2 - by george that's a great idea, then they have to go buy a new game and we make more money
EA Exec3 - hey guys you know what that means?
ALL EA Execs - MONEY FIGHT!!!!!
EA Exec - ok it's done
EA Exec4 - hey shouldn't we clear this with legal first?
EA Legal - ummm sorry you can't do that, we'll be sued and possibly lose millions and get a bigger black eye
ALL EA Execs - awww crap there goes that idea

the names have been changed to protect the innocent but there's a good chance it happened that way or at least how i imagine it

tho the picture of JK Simmons made me laugh, i still see him as Schillinger on OZ

I see him as the head of Tobacco Studies from Thank You For Smoking. Which is SOOO fitting for an EA story...

That film rocks. Just sayin'. I'm gonna go watch it right now actually.

 

[Ronmarru]

"...and especially our Customer Support team. =)"

Is it just me or should someone with such an important job as community manager never use emoticons in offical statements?

 

[Fr331anc3r]

Can anyone say Oligopoly. The scary part (coming from a programmer) is how easy for them to ban a DRM game, it already has coding in it that every time it's run, it sends a ping to the publisher/developer/etc... and they can log it to a database and go from there. Nested SSH/databases are not hard to build, and I would be very surprised if EA hasn't got something like this in the works.

My bet (on the conspiracy theory point) is that EA and Apple are going to join together in a GIANT DRM/m4aP fusterCluck and take over the world.