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Forums - Gaming Discussion - How Saying Bad Things Can Keep You From Playing A Video Game

Zkuq on 11 March 2011
How Saying Bad Things Can Keep You From Playing A Video Game

Luke Plunkett — It appears that a Bioware fan has been temporarily halted from playing his copy of Dragon Age II after copping a forum suspension. Which is weird since, you know, Dragon Age II is a singleplayer game.

According to a post on the Bioware forums, user v_ware had his account suspended for a period of 72 hours for allegedly saying "Have you sold your souls to the EA devil?". Whether that's actually what he said, or that's all he said, we're not here to judge. We're not forum referees, and what caused the ban is beside the point.

What does interest us, though, is that because v_ware's forum account is linked to his EA Store account, the ban not only stopped him from downloading content for his new game, it apparently prevented him from installing and then playing his new copy of Dragon Age II at all.

BioWare community rep Stanley Woo wrote in response to v_ware's complaint:

Please review the EA Community Terms of Service, particularly sections #9 and #11. There are two levels of enforcement here:

1. BioWare community bans are forum-only and can be for as little as 24 hours. These bans should have no effect on your game, only your ability to use all the features of this website/community. these bans are handed out by BioWare Moderators as the result of our travels around the forum and/or issues reported by fellow community members.

2. EA Community bans come down from a different department and are the result of someone hitting the REPORT POST button. These bans can affect access to your game and/or DLC.

Because the BioWare community now operates under the same umbrella as all EA Communities, community members here have all explicitly agreed to abide by and be governed by both sets of rules. Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow.

Sure, the ban is a temporary one. It's not like he can't ever play the game. But since when did it become acceptable to stop a person playing a singleplayer game for their conduct in a forum?

A similar issue popped up back in 2008, but then, we were explicitly told by Electronic Arts that "Players who have been banned from EA Forums are not automatically banned from online access to their other EA games".

Woo's comments (and v_ware's complaint) that "these bans can affect access to your game and/or DLC" seem to contradict EA's earlier assertions.

Granted, this is a unique situation. v_ware is being prevented from installing his game because he bought it from EA's own store, meaning it requires account authentication; had the game already been installed, then he'd be able to play it and there'd be no issue. So it's not like this is going to happen to people on a regular basis.

The fact it can happen at all though raises questions over the level of control a publisher has over a gamer's "property". Had the player been suspended from an online game for his conduct in said game, then that would be seen by most as acceptable. It's a relevant punishment.

But restricting access to a singleplayer, offline game, even in an incidental situation like this, is a problem. EA's consolidation of online accounts can be a good thing in some cases (I appreciate the convenience of EA Sports games knowing who I am because of my gamertag), but in cases like this, it's also a cause for concern.

Not to mention serving as an example, if ever one was needed, that in 2011 a video game is never truly and 100% your property.

We've contacted EA and BioWare for clarification on the policies regarding forum bans and game access, and will update if we hear back.

Suspended account, Unable to activate and play DA2 [BioWare]

Source: Kotaku

Mind you, this is only a 72-hour ban and prevents access to single-player only because the game has not yet been installed/activated. I feel the issue still exists though.

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So, any thoughts? Personally I find the idea of publishers having this much control over bought content more than just a bit distracting.



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NotStan on 11 March 2011

Well the fact that they have as much control just in regard to one game as console manufacturers have with their consoles is surprising, but not surprising at the same time - if you know what I mean. Loopholes are always in place, what is interesting though is how they've disabled his single player. I think they've taken the comment too closely to heart, should have commeneted on it instead of banning him for 72 hours from the game and forums outright.



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Galaki on 11 March 2011

If true, it'd be ridiculous.

Maybe DA2 requires some kind of online validation during installation that's stopping the user.

Is it PC version, though?



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miz1q2w3e on 11 March 2011

The only time it may be acceptable to do this type of thing is in an online game when one player is harming other players with his actions/words - even then, his chat privileges are all that should be banned - this is indeed rediculous



Zkuq on 11 March 2011
Galaki said:

If true, it'd be ridiculous.

Maybe DA2 requires some kind of online validation during installation that's stopping the user.

Is it PC version, though?

Yes, PC version, and it does have online activation. But I still can't see how banning one from the content he/she has bought, even temporarily, is justified because of forum comments. I'm fine with banning from multiplayer for cheating etc. but not for forum posts. Bad forum posts = forum ban != game ban.

Anyway, I added to the first post that's it's only 72 hours and only because they game hasn't been activated yet. I think it was already there but at least this way people shouldn't be able to say I said something that's not true. I feel my point still stands, though.



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Galaki on 11 March 2011
Zkuq said:

Yes, PC version, and it does have online activation. But I still can't see how banning one from the content he/she has bought, even temporarily, is justified because of forum comments. I'm fine with banning from multiplayer for cheating etc. but not for forum posts. Bad forum posts = forum ban != game ban.


It's not justified. People say bad things behind the monitors.

I think EA just don't know how their system works. LOL.



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Tizona on 11 March 2011

I'm a little confused...Did this guy say what he said on the forum and then go and buy the game after? So he slams Bio Ware and EA for DA2, before he buys it and I assume gives it a chance, and THEN goes and buys it? Just odd.

That said, if you buy something with real money, online or not, No company should have the right to STOP you from using it, just because you said something disparaging about the company. If it doesn't affect other consumers ability to enjoy, hands should be off.



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Mr Khan on 11 March 2011

Small claims court, i still say. Depriving him of access to a $50 product should net $50, since he could potentially have finished the game in that time, and would be a reasonable punishment



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MARCUSDJACKSON on 11 March 2011

not wht i was expecting butits always best to remain civil and most personal opinions should be kept to ones self as it may reflect these actions.

in any case i see the justification based on mostlikely being moded and reported which based on reading seems to be the case and mostlikely stimming from 2 seperate complains.



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Zkuq on 12 March 2011

EA Retracts Game Ban For Forum Violation

Posted by John Walker on March 11th, 2011 at 10:46 pm.

 

Wow, well here’s a crazy update. After being repeatedly told that he was intentionally locked out of his EA games because he broke the rules on the BioWare forum, and that this was in accordance to the Terms Of Service that he’d agreed to, this morning’s internet famous man, Arno, has just been told that it was in fact a mistake.
 

He received an email from EA’s Senior Director of Customer Support, Boyd Beasley, explaining that his “inappropriate language” meant he had received a 72 hour ban from the BioWare Social Network, but that,

“Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended your entire EA account. Immediately upon learning of the glitch, we have restored the entire account and apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused while accessing other areas of the EA service.”

So there you go then. A strange one indeed, after he was told by both EA’s live support, and the moderator who locked the thread discussing the matter (who declined to speak to us), the opposite. But good news for Arno, who can finally play the game he’s paid for.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

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So they decided to unban the poor user? No matter, in my eyes this only makes this look even worse as now it looks like a PR move. The thing is, they can still ban their customers from playing the games they've bought.