BioWare / EA says they will disable your account / games for negative posts.

[Mkilbride]

So recently, a user on the BioWare forums left a negative review of some aspects of Dragon Age II.

He went to go play it, only to find he was banned from it for 72 hours...for his comments made on the forums.

This is out of control these days...I can understand if he did something illegal or whatnot, but because his comments were offensive, you disable the game he paid 60$ for?

Be careful what you say. That’s the lesson BioWare forum user Arno has learned in the last 24 hours, after an ill-advised comment on the BioWare forums has led to his EA account being locked, such that he cannot play his purchased copy of Dragon Age 2 for 72 hours.

It reveals a clause in the terms of service that accompany buying an EA game that will surprise the vast majority who do not read the microprint. Misbehave in the forum (as Arno fully admits he did), and you can have your right to play a legitimately purchased game taken away from you. Forever, if they want to.


Arno made a mistake. He posted a comment in which he said,

“Have you sold your souls to the EA devil?”

In the world of forums, it’s a relatively innocuous remark. But if you’re EA, and someone’s come into your front room, you may not want to put up with such insults. Sure, go say them somewhere else, but not in our house. Constructive criticism it was not.

A response we might expect would be – well, here we’d just mock you in our comment thread, or edit your comment. Keep doing things we’ve asked you not to and we’d block your account. Which is essentially what happened. Arno received a 72 hour ban. But not only from the forum, but it seems his entire EA account.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-forum-bans-can-lock-you-out-of-games/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29

 

[Skyrider]

:-\ Well someone can't take criticisms. Ridiculous that you can't even post your opinions without them banging the hammer on both forum account and in-game account. What has the forum to do with the game? As a game company, you at least expect them to be professional about it. If they have negative opinions, I'd personally discuss it with him/her and or the community.

 

[Z Power]

Their loyalties just went down the drain, mine included. Heck if hadn't been for Mass Effect 3, i would never buy any of their games.

 

[Damaera]

You know this was all on EA's part, I highly doubt Bioware would start doing something like this now.

 

[Zeonix]

Perception is reality. If all anyone can see are happy threads praising the game in conjunction with all of the ridiculously positive reviews with high scores, they'll think the game is the bee knees and buy it. By the time they realize they've been had, it's too late. Gotta protect them profits, you understand?

Sure, people could get out there on the internet and read all the player reviews, but are the kind of people being targeted for this game really going to read player reviews over big name reviews? Probably not.

 

[Z Power]

Since Bioware is owned by EA, it doesn't really matter. Unless Bioware steps out and stops this funkyness from happening, they are just like EA.

 

[DiebytheSword]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Dra...ive-from-an-ex-suspended-gamer-6484816-1.html

He was unbanned.

 

[Deathshot]

Since Bioware is owned by EA, it doesn't really matter. Unless Bioware steps out and stops this funkyness from happening, they are just like EA.

Thats kinda like saying Blizzard and Activision are the same. I am sure it was EA's doing. EA turned into a money grubbing *******s and their games started turning out horrible. Sports games that is.


The only thing that Bioware has done is tried to take over the world with Neverwinter Nights.

 

[Z Power]

They were getting a lot of heat.

 

[Mkilbride]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Dra...ive-from-an-ex-suspended-gamer-6484816-1.html

He was unbanned.

Only to be expected. Imagine the **** storm this has caused already.

Sadly, this will only be more "proof" for them, not to port games to the PC anymore by developers. Le sigh.

 

[Zeonix]

Only to be expected. Imagine the **** storm this has caused already.

Sadly, this will only be more "proof" for them, not to port games to the PC anymore by developers. Le sigh.

Whatever ****storm existed was deleted in favor of pro-DA2 threads.

Also, your second statement is silly. The only way to avoid this kind of backlash is to not make a game that attempts to cater to fans of a specific genre, and then do a 180 and try to appeal to fans of a genre that represents the polar opposite of previous game.

 

[Deman]

Truth be told you can't really pass judgment on an entire company for the action of what possibly could have been one employee abusing his power out of anger.

 

[Damaera]

But I want to blame EA, I can never forgive them for even associating themselves with Bioware

 

[Prozac]

Truth be told you can't really pass judgment on an entire company for the action of what possibly could have been one employee abusing his power out of anger.

That's just the thing. You can. Each and every employee who has the power. to make a decision effecting people outside of the company, represents the company. So you can pretty much blame the company entirely for this.

 

[Synth]

I think this guy works for Blizzard and this is all fake.

WoW is terribly scared of SW:TOR.

If I'm Glenn Beck crazy for this post, oh well.

 

[Mkilbride]

Why would WoW be scared of SW:TOR, which looks like a bad copy of it at this point?

Should be afraid of Guild Wars 2. Better graphics, better gameplay, now has an open world, and no monthly fee, but with the same quality as a pay to play MMO.

 

[Z Power]

Why would WoW be scared of SW:TOR, which looks like a bad copy of it at this point?

Should be afraid of Guild Wars 2. Better graphics, better gameplay, now has an open world, and no monthly fee, but with the same quality as a pay to play MMO.

I agree, GW2 will knock Wow's socks off.

 

[Damaera]

I agree, GW2 will knock Wow's socks off.

Why are you talking about WoW, let alone MMO's in general in a thread about Bioware and EA?

 

[Z Power]

Why are you talking about WoW, let alone MMO's in general in a thread about Bioware and EA?

Because of Glenn Beck craziness.

I think this guy works for Blizzard and this is all fake.

WoW is terribly scared of SW:TOR.

If I'm Glenn Beck crazy for this post, oh well.