Cyber Rat Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Can you check whether you can play DA:O with the DLC if you're Internet is off? I think that was his main complaint, since his save files require DLC to load and the DLC itself refused to load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Yeah, he said he can play DA:O itself just fine without logging in, it's the DLC that's giving him problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Sorry, yea, what I meant was my character on da:o has dlc tied to it, like his. I had no problem loading my character offline, and often forget/ not bother with logging into my ea account when playing da:o. He should be able to access his existing games and saved just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Hmm... strange then. He might be overdoing it then or getting an error for some reason. Still a temp ban from even one game is too much (albeit less than banning all games). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-retracts-game-ban-for-forum-violation/ Well, turns out it was officially a mistake, in which live support and the moderator made some bad calls when asked about the problem. Of course, it could be that EA saw the shitstorm such news could cause and are saying it's a mistake rather than admitting they changed their minds from a bad call. At least the guy got his game access back. If you helped with that Thursday, cool of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Dex- Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-retracts-game-ban-for-forum-violation/ Well, turns out it was officially a mistake, in which live support and the moderator made some bad calls when asked about the problem. Of course, it could be that EA saw the shitstorm such news could cause and are saying it's a mistake rather than admitting they changed their minds from a bad call. Smoooth EA, real smooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 I'm sure this would have been sorted eventually without my involvement. If I helped speed the process along, so much the better. It's quite possible that it was a case of human error where the person who cancelled the account didn't restrict it to the forum only by mistake, but I honestly don't know. As the situation has been resolved I'm not going to ask any more questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 It's quite possible that it was a case of human error where the person who cancelled the account didn't restrict it to the forum only by mistake, but I honestly don't know. As the situation has been resolved I'm not going to ask any more questions. Yea, that's the problem really. I don't think it's necessarily some bullshit excuse by EA because I am aware how moderators or people not high up in rank can say or do things that you honestly shouldn't. On the other hand, it might just be a bullshit excuse and they only reacted when they saw the backlash. Sadly, we'll never know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/15/biowhere-ea-working-on-fixing-game-bans/ Things aren't looking good. The ban we heard of last week wasn't the first time they've done it, just seems to be the first time it's become a large story for the press. EA kinda backtracking left right n centre on what is quite obviously a bit of a PR disaster. I'd had to be working in EA's legal dept right now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 (edited) The legal position is well covered. Working in CS must be a bit of a bitch though. Secondly, one particular aspect of the statement from Wong is very interesting. “it is not our policy to prevent customers from playing a single-player game” According to EA’s Terms of Service, it very much is their policy to do this. Literally. It states, “In response to a violation of these Terms of Service or any other agreement applicable to EA Services accessed by you, EA may issue you a warning, suspend your Account, selectively remove, revoke or garnish Entitlements associated with your Account or immediately terminate any and all Accounts that you have established. You acknowledge that EA is not required to provide you notice before suspending or terminating your Account or selectively removing, revoking or garnishing Entitlements associated with your Account. “If your Account, or a particular subscription for an EA Service associated with your Account, is terminated, suspended and/or if any Entitlements are selectively removed, revoked or garnished from your Account, no refund will be granted, no Entitlements will be credited to you or converted to cash or other forms of reimbursement, and you will have no further access to your Account or Entitlements associated with your Account or the particular EA Service.” One Important thing to note. Just because EA give themselves the authority to do whatever the hell they want, it doesn't mean that it is their policy to do so. EA's legal team spend a lot of time ensuring that they cover for every eventuality, sometimes this makes their rules look onerous, but on balance, EA rarely exercise that power. There are loads of idiots on EA's forums. Plenty of them eat a ban, not all of them lose access to their games. Edited March 15, 2011 by Thursday Next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excaliburps Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Anyone heard of anymore people being banned from accessing DLC or whatnot? I did a write up of something over the weekend. http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/84936/ea-terminates-another-dragon-age-ii-player-account/ Guy in question already said something, but I have to verify it first before updating the story. No word from EA yet either. If you know something similar, hit me up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 There are loads of idiots on EA's forums. Plenty of them eat a ban, not all of them lose access to their games. None of them should lose access to their games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 There are loads of idiots on EA's forums. Plenty of them eat a ban, not all of them lose access to their games. None of them should lose access to their games. Thursday Next wasn't making a statement about if they should or should not lose access to their games. He/She/It was just pointing out that bannings happen all the time, losing access to your game because of it does not. That's the difference between having the authority to do something and enacting that authority (which is when it becomes policy.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 There are loads of idiots on EA's forums. Plenty of them eat a ban, not all of them lose access to their games. None of them should lose access to their games. Thursday Next wasn't making a statement about if they should or should not lose access to their games. He/She/It was just pointing out that bannings happen all the time, losing access to your game because of it does not. That's the difference between having the authority to do something and enacting that authority (which is when it becomes policy.) This wasn't an attack on TN directly. It was more of a jab at EA even having the ability to do so and enforcing it again (based on excaliburp's link at least). Probably could have worded it better. (And I see what you did there, FDS.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 When someone is banned for numerous and severe infractions then you need to look a little deeper than one forum post. They could have a history of linking to torrents or they could be found to be playing a cracked version of the game or using hacks. They may have violated any number of EA rules, some of which you may all agree justifies his ban. Have we all already forgotten about the autistic kid who was boosting his gamerscore? Just because he looks hard done by on the face of it doesn't mean that is the case. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 None of the reasons you mentioned warrant being deprived of a single player game you've bought. Multiplayer games? Sure. Online stats reset? Sure. If you payed for a single player game, you should keep access to it at all times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 The one thing I can see is that the game is the whole reason the person is on the forum. As if it's part of the single player game. I'm not really sure how I feel about this personally as I know they're not doing this for the hell of it. I don't think there's enough info coming from either side. Obviously, most "gamers" are going to side with their fellow gamer and not the big evil scary powerful corporation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 When someone is banned for numerous and severe infractions then you need to look a little deeper than one forum post. They could have a history of linking to torrents or they could be found to be playing a cracked version of the game or using hacks. They may have violated any number of EA rules, some of which you may all agree justifies his ban. Have we all already forgotten about the autistic kid who was boosting his gamerscore? Just because he looks hard done by on the face of it doesn't mean that is the case. If they're playing a cracked version of game then EA wouldn't of been able to deprive them access to it. I guess being able to have your gaming access revoked at will is one of the bonuses of being a legally paying customer And it's a single player game, hacking shouldn't be an issue. Blizzard came across the same issue when they banned people from battle.net for cheating in the single player games. And it's Dragon Age, I've not heard anything but I assume it supports mods. I can't really think of any justification for revoking someones access to a game they paid for. Revoke access to the bioware store to get DLC in future, disable MP access, forum access, no support etc. But don't take away their legally paid for games. It's these kind of dickhead moves by publishers that make people unwary of if they actually own their games and they begin to doubt whether it's worth buying/renting access to EA games in future. Anyway if it was something really serious then EA wouldn't be scrambling around contradicting themselves and trying to handle the PR fallout. They'd of stood by their initial decision, stated explicitly what it was that got the guy banned and continued on their merry way. Which back to the autistic kid getting branded a cheater, that was Microsofts reaction. tl;dr - None of the reasons you mentioned warrant being deprived of a single player game you've bought. Multiplayer games? Sure. Online stats reset? Sure. If you payed for a single player game, you should keep access to it at all times. The one thing I can see is that the game is the whole reason the person is on the forum. As if it's part of the single player game. I'm not really sure how I feel about this personally as I know they're not doing this for the hell of it. I don't think there's enough info coming from either side. Obviously, most "gamers" are going to side with their fellow gamer and not the big evil scary powerful corporation. I'd imagine most gamers are gonna have a hard time siding with the corporation that will turn their games on and off at will. It's part of the transition into digital purchases, gamers are still uncertain, and when companies like EA pull dick moves like this it doesn't help with the uncertainty. Gamers want to be making digital purchases with the confidence they'll still be able to play many moons down the line, just like the disc based games, and that it's not just a very expensive rental that lasts as long as the publishers dictates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 EA hasn't contradicted themselves on this guy as yet. Also, when I refer to hacking or cracking titles, it may not be Dragon Age 2 that he did this with. It may be that the majority of his infractions were of another more serious nature on another title and that his forum post was the proverbial straw. I'm not going to say that EA are definitely in the right. I've been on record in this very forum saying that CS can be (imho) heavy handed. All I'm saying is that casting judgement without knowing the facts could leave you with egg on your face, much like the people who got the torches and pitchforks out for MS when the branded the cheating autistic kid a "cheater". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Firstly the autistic guy: http://tay.gappoi.or...tistic-cheater/ So I'm not some guy instantly jumping on the big company and standing up for the little guy for the sake of it. (Though don't ask me where I did "call it" but I must of done somewhere. Maybe twitter) The contradiction comes in: “It’s not like you get to pick and choose your own punishment when you break the rules. The various punishments, up to and including permanent bans, EA account termination, and loss of access to entitlements, is very clearly laid out and is part of the rules you agreed to follow and be governed by.” Then saying it's not policy to do so and giving the guy access to his games after it gets brought up across a dozen gaming sites. You say CS is heavy handed, but surely if you don't give them the heavy hands to begin with then they can't do this kind of damage. If EA don't intend for a forum ban to also have you lose access to games why put that system in place? Why put any system in place at all that can revoke game access? And if they other infractions were serious enough, why not act then? And if it was based upon other activities, why let it continue to be spread that it was done over as harmless a post as "Have you sold your souls to the EA devil". So yeah, I'd love to make a judgement knowing all the facts, but as it stands EA seem quite happy to let it be known that they can and will remove access to your games and there's no clear guidelines on what will make that happen. So until EA pipe up to say that it wasn't the "have you sold your soul" comment that got him banned from forums and games, then that's the whole facts as they stand now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Firstly the autistic guy: http://tay.gappoi.or...tistic-cheater/ So I'm not some guy instantly jumping on the big company and standing up for the little guy for the sake of it. (Though don't ask me where I did "call it" but I must of done somewhere. Maybe twitter) The contradiction comes in: “It’s not like you get to pick and choose your own punishment when you break the rules. The various punishments, up to and including permanent bans, EA account termination, and loss of access to entitlements, is very clearly laid out and is part of the rules you agreed to follow and be governed by.” Then saying it's not policy to do so and giving the guy access to his games after it gets brought up across a dozen gaming sites. You say CS is heavy handed, but surely if you don't give them the heavy hands to begin with then they can't do this kind of damage. If EA don't intend for a forum ban to also have you lose access to games why put that system in place? Why put any system in place at all that can revoke game access? And if they other infractions were serious enough, why not act then? And if it was based upon other activities, why let it continue to be spread that it was done over as harmless a post as "Have you sold your souls to the EA devil". So yeah, I'd love to make a judgement knowing all the facts, but as it stands EA seem quite happy to let it be known that they can and will remove access to your games and there's no clear guidelines on what will make that happen. So until EA pipe up to say that it wasn't the "have you sold your soul" comment that got him banned from forums and games, then that's the whole facts as they stand now. Isn't this a totally different guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 The quote is from the guy who applied the ban. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 The quote is from the guy who applied the ban. Yes, but this is a different ban. Isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 No this is the DA:O forum/game ban. I split the Autistic bit off separately from the rest of my post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 If it's the same guy then his ban's already been overturned hasn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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