Another day, another unwarranted EA account banning

When these types of things are handled by underpaid, undertrained drones, shit happens. Hardly unique to EA. They just happen to have a lot of customers, so it happens more.
 
This is why i never will post on any EA site. It seems when you post you are targeted by the bann stick.
 
maybe the %25 off was a discount only for premium members, then they went and posted it for the world?

sure they could restrict it to those users, but if EA wanted that promotion to be public knowledge they would of made it public knowledge....
 
NKDietrich said:
When these types of things are handled by underpaid, undertrained drones, shit happens. Hardly unique to EA. They just happen to have a lot of customers, so it happens more.
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The point is that what is posted on an online forum should not have any ramifications on a user's ability to access content they have paid for. This type of bullshit has been happening for at least 2 years now and every time an incident attracts enough mainstream attention EA comes out with some lame ass excuse. The fact of the matter is that EA is the only publisher that inextricably links forum accounts to content access, which in turn gives rise to these sorts of abuses.
 
Hense even though I may own EA games now and in the future - I will never ever use their forums or anything "social" within the Origin service past launching games.
 
defiant007 said:
The point is that what is posted on an online forum should not have any ramifications on a user's ability to access content they have paid for. This type of bullshit has been happening for at least 2 years now and every time an incident attracts enough mainstream attention EA comes out with some lame ass excuse. The fact of the matter is that EA is the only publisher that inextricably links forum accounts to content access, which in turn gives rise to these sorts of abuses.
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That depends honestly. If someone was posting something incredibly inappropriate, as in above M rated content, Adult Only... etc I would be ok with them having their game account banned as well, thats just stupid. Real life threats etc.

I get the point that if account linking bans were rid of all together this couldn't happen, however in some cases, it really should.
 
MrGuvernment said:
maybe the %25 off was a discount only for premium members, then they went and posted it for the world?

sure they could restrict it to those users, but if EA wanted that promotion to be public knowledge they would of made it public knowledge....
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The discount is available to anyone for any game sold on GMG. What they did would be no different to banning someone for stating a given game on steam is on sale at a cheaper price than on origin.
 
defiant007 said:
The point is that what is posted on an online forum should not have any ramifications on a user's ability to access content they have paid for.
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I agree, though I still don't really care. It sucks for people who don't know EA are like that and get banned, but my solution is to not post on their forum. I've had an EA account for years and don't think I've ever posted a single thing on their forums. I can't bring myself to feel scorn for EA when it in no way affects me and has an easy solution.
 
Inu said:
That depends honestly. If someone was posting something incredibly inappropriate, as in above M rated content, Adult Only... etc I would be ok with them having their game account banned as well, thats just stupid. Real life threats etc.

I get the point that if account linking bans were rid of all together this couldn't happen, however in some cases, it really should.
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No it does not depend, anything inappropriate said on a forum can be addressed by simply banning the person in question. It does not give any company the inherent right to deprive a person of goods/sevices they have legitimately paid for.

If you walked into a physical store and began ranting and threatening staff would that store have the right to repossess all the goods you had legitimately paid for?! Of course not, but they would be well within their right to kick you out and forbid you from ever entering the store again. It should not be any different to digital content which has been PAID for!
 
Inu said:
That depends honestly. If someone was posting something incredibly inappropriate, as in above M rated content, Adult Only... etc I would be ok with them having their game account banned as well, thats just stupid. Real life threats etc.

I get the point that if account linking bans were rid of all together this couldn't happen, however in some cases, it really should.
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They should never ever for any reason remove access to content you paid for. Ban the forum account - ok but not game access.
 
Yeah well this is another reason to just quit ea altogether. I have barely played BF in the past two months and feel less and less inclined to return to it. ea is going to have a come to Jesus moment eventually. you can fuck with some people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.
 
Tudz said:
I agree, though I still don't really care. It sucks for people who don't know EA are like that and get banned, but my solution is to not post on their forum. I've had an EA account for years and don't think I've ever posted a single thing on their forums. I can't bring myself to feel scorn for EA when it in no way affects me and has an easy solution.
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I get where you are coming from, the problem is that these companies have a habit of construing apathy as acceptance. The last thing we want is to foster a situation where users are unable to communicate directly with developers out of fear of being banned and losing their games. Like you, I do not post of EA forums for this very reason, but I also do not consider this to be an acceptable outcome as a paying customer.
 
I agree with Defiant and JayteeBates. I'm afraid I do not see what more we can say that hasn't already been stated...
 
defiant007 said:
No it does not depend, anything inappropriate said on a forum can be addressed by simply banning the person in question. It does not give any company the inherent right to deprive a person of goods/sevices they have legitimately paid for.

If you walked into a physical store and began ranting and threatening staff would that store have the right to repossess all the goods you had legitimately paid for?! Of course not, but they would be well within their right to kick you out and forbid you from ever entering the store again. It should not be any different to digital content which has been PAID for!
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If the terms of use state that your can have access to your games removed for things said on the forum, there is nothing to debate.

I am glad that people can get banned in game for things they say in the forums, my experience is that people who are idiots in the forums, are usually idiots in games.
 
And in other news, EA lobbies for Congress to abolish the first amendment.
 
darkstarcow said:
If the terms of use state that your can have access to your games removed for things said on the forum, there is nothing to debate.

I am glad that people can get banned in game for things they say in the forums, my experience is that people who are idiots in the forums, are usually idiots in games.
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Other than the fact that those terms of use are bullocks, if that is indeed the rules, how come as soon as this kind of occurence gets media attention EA back off instead of defending their actions and stating it is their policy?
 
defiant007 said:
I get where you are coming from, the problem is that these companies have a habit of construing apathy as acceptance. The last thing we want is to foster a situation where users are unable to communicate directly with developers out of fear of being banned and losing their games. Like you, I do not post of EA forums for this very reason, but I also do not consider this to be an acceptable outcome as a paying customer.
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But the alternative is to not buy their games in protest, of which I'm not willing to do (there's lots of other reasons I might not buy their games, that's not one of them).

The options we have as customers are to buy anyway and bitch about it or not buy it in protest. I dislike the practice of EA banning people from their games, not enough to drive me to either of those ends. You wanna start a petition? Sure, I'll sign it, maybe they'll listen and maybe they won't. But, don't expect me to start brandishing a sign and protesting outside their office though :D
 
defiant007 said:
I get where you are coming from, the problem is that these companies have a habit of construing apathy as acceptance. The last thing we want is to foster a situation where users are unable to communicate directly with developers out of fear of being banned and losing their games. Like you, I do not post of EA forums for this very reason, but I also do not consider this to be an acceptable outcome as a paying customer.
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you never could anyways, lol.


and i agree with Tudz. i couldn't give a crap about their forums and if they are banning people from it so be it. sucks for those people but they should of read the rules when they made their account.
 
Sounds like you'll are scared of EA banhammer. Just take them to small claims court and ask for full value on each game in your Origin account. Or even easier call the BBB.
 
defiant007 said:
http://forums.greenmangaming.com/topic/2907/

Still amazes me that some users cannot understand the scorn heaped upon EA when you have examples of gross abuses of power such as this.
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Still amazes me people can't figure out not to post how to get around promotion restrictions, and not whine when they get banned for their own wrongs.

Good luck contacting Steam support... you think EA is bad? Hahahahahahahaa... :p. EA is great, if you don't skirt the rules, and their support actually responds within a business day or can be called. Valve/Steam... good luck getting a resolution or proper response within a business week :rolleyes: .

As far as this particular banning? I don't know what happened, so I'm not going to throw out picket signs and start spamming random forums on some schmuck's behalf who appears, at a cursory glance, to have violated the rules and is just complaining for being caught on it.
 
NKDietrich said:
When these types of things are handled by underpaid, undertrained drones, shit happens. Hardly unique to EA. They just happen to have a lot of customers, so it happens more.
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Indeed. I've had a friend who's Steam account was randomly banned , took him months of back and forth with Valve support through email to prove it was his and get it unlocked. As a general rule though I never post on EA forums after that whole mess , I can speak for or against EA freely here and not face some childish reactionary response from EA.

Sometimes the real truth is , you just get some shitty luck. That's life.
 
@Godmachine, yep, happens with a lot of companies. Hence, I post on fan forums and tech forums with a non-linked username where they don't have the ability to randomly ban me be it accidentally or purposefully-but-wrongly. :D Shit happens, sometimes just bad luck, sometimes underpaid/undertrained support people misjudging things.
 
Did anyone even fucking check the link?

He got banned for posting about a deal on Greenmangaming! How the fuck can that deserve a ban?
 
Plague_Injected said:
Did anyone even fucking check the link?

He got banned for posting about a deal on Greenmangaming! How the fuck can that deserve a ban?
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Terms & conditions may state "advertising spam"/"competitor advertising" as disallowed. Pretty typical.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Terms & conditions may state "advertising spam"/"competitor advertising" as disallowed. Pretty typical.
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http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/#section18

11. Rules of Conduct

You may violate the Terms of Service if, as determined by EA in its sole discretion, you:

- Post, transmit, promote, or distribute Content that is illegal.
- Harass, threaten, embarrass, spam or do anything else to another player that is unwanted, such as repeatedly sending unwanted messages or making personal attacks or statements about race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc.
- Organize, effectuate or participate in any activity, group, guild that is harmful, abusive, hateful, racially, ethnically, religiously or otherwise offensive, obscene, threatening, bullying, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, encourages conduct that would violate a law or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable and/or inappropriate. Hate speech is not tolerated.
- Use abusive, offensive, or defamatory screen names and/or personas.
- Engage in disruptive behavior in chat areas, game areas, forums, or any other area or aspect of EA Services. Disruptive behavior includes but is not limited to conduct which interferes with the normal flow of gameplay or dialogue within an EA Service. Disruptive behavior shall also include, but not be limited to, commercial postings, solicitations and advertisements.
- Disrupt the flow of chat in chat rooms with vulgar language, abusiveness, hitting the return key repeatedly or inputting large images so the screen goes by too fast to read, use of excessive shouting [all caps] in an attempt to disturb other users, "spamming" or flooding [posting repetitive text].
- Impersonate another person (including celebrities), indicate falsely that you are an EA employee or a representative of EA, or attempt to mislead users by indicating that you represent EA or any of EA's partners or affiliates.
- Attempt to get a password, account information, or other private information from anyone else on EA Services.
- Upload any software or Content that you do not own or have permission to freely distribute.
- Violate any additional Rules of Conduct applicable to a specific EA Service that you are using.
- Promote, encourage or take part in any activity involving hacking, cracking, phishing, taking advantage of exploits or cheats and/or distribution of counterfeit software and/or virtual currency/items.
- Upload files that contain a virus, worm, spyware, time bombs, corrupted data or other computer programs that may damage, interfere with or disrupt EA Services.
- Post messages for any purpose other than personal communication, including advertising or promotional messaging, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or other commercial activities.
- Improperly use in-game support or complaint buttons or make false reports to EA staff.
- Use or distribute unauthorized "auto" software programs, "macro" software programs or other "cheat utility" software program or applications.
- Use any game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools.
- Modify or attempt to modify any file or any other part of the EA Service that EA does not specifically authorize you to modify.
- Post or communicate any person's real-world personal information using an EA Service.
- Attempt to interfere with, hack into or decipher any transmissions to or from the servers for an EA Service.
- Use and communicate exploits and/or cheats.
- Attempt to use EA Software on or through any service that is not controlled or authorized by Electronic Arts. Any such use is at your own risk and may subject you to additional or different terms. EA takes no responsibility for your use of EA Software on or through any service that is not controlled by Electronic Arts.
- Interfere with the ability of others to enjoy playing an EA Service or take actions that interfere with or materially increase the cost to provide an EA Service for the enjoyment of all its users.
- Unless expressly authorized by EA, you may not sell, buy, trade or otherwise transfer your Account or any personal access to EA Services, Content or Entitlements, including by use of auction websites.
- You may not conduct any activities that violate the laws of any jurisdiction including but not limited to copyright infringement, trademark infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, identity theft, hacking, stalking, fraud and the distribution of counterfeit software.
- Post or transmit unsolicited advertising, promotional materials or other forms of solicitation in-game or in the forums.
- Abuse or exploit bugs, undocumented features, design errors or problems in the game.
- “Role–playing” is not an excuse for violating this or any other policy.
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Do you honestly think posting a deal on BF3 is "disruptive behaviour"?

From the link, it appears EA does not consider GMG to be a "legitimate site".
 
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WarriorX said:
- Post or transmit unsolicited advertising, promotional materials or other forms of solicitation in-game or in the forums.

Seems like this might have been the cause?
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Probably, but it is still flaky. If the guy was advertising the latest and greatest COD game and COD DLC, or some other competitor, or was advertising something completely unrelated, then banning from the forum may be justified.

I wonder if the same action would have been taken if he had posted a Steam, Gamergate or Amazon deal on an EA game available on Origin.
 
Plague_Injected said:
Did anyone even fucking check the link?

He got banned for posting about a deal on Greenmangaming! How the fuck can that deserve a ban?
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Yeah I read the link. Most of the stories I hear about people being banned from the people were d-bags anyway (still don't agree with them losing access to their games, but I find it hard to care when they're arseholes :p), but this one genuinely seems like he got a bit screwed over, hopefully he gets his account back promptly with a warning, or if he doesn't get it back hopefully he gets lots of negative publicity for EA on lots of sites, forcing EA to change their policy.

Honestly I think that's the best way to get EA to change their policy. Buy a game or two, get yourself banned, and then go to every news site and if you can find legal grounds, take them to court as well and then things might start to change. Maybe people bitching on forums will help too, but honestly I'm not sure how much EA cares about bad press on forums given how much they already get for a plethora of reasons.
 
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GoldenTiger said:
Still amazes me people can't figure out not to post how to get around promotion restrictions, and not whine when they get banned for their own wrongs.

Good luck contacting Steam support... you think EA is bad? Hahahahahahahaa... :p. EA is great, if you don't skirt the rules, and their support actually responds within a business day or can be called. Valve/Steam... good luck getting a resolution or proper response within a business week :rolleyes: .

As far as this particular banning? I don't know what happened, so I'm not going to throw out picket signs and start spamming random forums on some schmuck's behalf who appears, at a cursory glance, to have violated the rules and is just complaining for being caught on it.
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And GoldenTiger's version of Godwin's Law rings true yet again. Given enough time, in any online discussion critical of EA, GoldenTiger will eventually show up and attempt to defend EA by pointing to some perceived shortcoming of steam :rolleyes:

And FYI, valve and steam do not ban people from their games for behavior on the steam forums.

As for your last paragraph, this is just another example in a very long list of incidents where EA has unreasonably deprived a person of games they have legitimately paid for. You may consider my thread to be spam, but I consider it to be a public service announcement reminding others of EA's bullshit policies.

I don't know in what warped and perverse universe you think he violated the rules, but even if he did that in no way warrants losing access to his games. Its too bad your entire outlook on these types of issues appears to be entirely driven by an irrational hatred of steam, because otherwise it might be possible to have a rational discussion on the subject with you.
 
As much as I would love to jump on the EA hate bandwagon, there are two sides to every story.
 
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