GameBanshee Forums

Dear Gamebanshee Members,

Swtorca did a great job of covering this topic [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/dragon-age-series-70/dragon-age-2-post-play-comments-118762.html"]halfway through a different thread[/url], and [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/101927-a-bioware-forum-ban-gets-you-locked-out-of-games.html"]Buck announced this in the news page,[/url] but I really thought this merited a new thread and a meaningful discussion.

As numerous games sites have now observed, a user named VWare posted a [url="http://oi56.tinypic.com/242h5b8.jpg"]thread in the BioWare forums[/url]in which he asked if Bioware "have sold [their] souls to the EA devil?". Shortly thereafter, he was banned from the forum for 72 hours. However, after the banning he found that he was also banned from accessing his EA games and playing Dragon Age II. Stanley Woo of BioWare observed that this is common EA policy.

Before we get too angered by this, it's important to recognize two things:
1. This is an EA policy, not a BioWare policy, so we ought to be careful to correctly aim our frustrations.
2. As far as I can tell, VWare was simply banned from playing the game for 72 hours, not permanently, as some sites have suggested.
3. VWare's post may have been reported by a third party, and the ban may have been automated, and there is a possibility that an EA employee was not directly involved.

The idea that criticizing a developer (on a subsidiary's forum...) can lead to a ban of any sort is a fairly pathetic breach of decency, but I entirely respect a forum administrator's right to do what he damn well pleases in his internet domain.

However, to restrict somebody from playing a game which they bought, not for piracy, or any justifiable cause, but simply for criticizing the mother company, really is inexcusable. What's more, this presents a pretty terrifying image for the future of gaming: if a developer can at any time decide to exclude a player from playing a game (even single-player) at whim, I mean no hyperbole when I say that Free Speech will take a hit. What if I'm too afraid to post a comment criticizing DA2 on a site like gamebanshee, because I'm worried someone from EA will notice and ban me? Before reading this story today, I would have thought such an idea was far-fetched. Now, I'm not so sure.

As far as I'm concerned, this is an appalling violation of gamers' rights, and merits the strongest reprisals a customer base can give: namely, a boycott of EA products, a strongly worded complaint to their customer service department, and as much publicity as this story can get.

I was seriously considering buying Dragon Age II the first time I saw any decent sale on it. I now have no intention of doing so, and I encourage others to follow my lead.

Likewise, I encourage everyone on this forum to consider sending a message voicing their concerns to EA. Their customer support can be reached via phone at 1-650-628-1001, from 7am-7pm, M-S. Their email address can also be found at [url="http://help.eastore.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/78"]this link.[/url]

Finally, I encourage you all to spread this story to as many people and as many forums as you are able. Will the efforts of a few of us boycotting EA have any effect? Almost certainly not. However, one of the internet's prime advantages is its ability to connect thousands of people. If we pass on this story to a few new forums, and if those forums spread it to a few more; if a newspaper or other form of media picks the story up, we might just make enough of an impact to put an end to EA's [url="http://xkcd.com/501/"]ridiculous and glaringly intrusive policy.[/url]

Thanks for reading this; hope you're as concerned as I am.

I never intended buying DA II to start with, and apart from wasting money on DA: O haven't bought anything from Electronic Arts for over a decade.

Stanley Woo isn't Bioware, he's Electronic Arts, he never workled for Bioware, before he went to work for Ea he was at 2K Games.

This is an EA policy, not a BioWare policy

They are both the same thing, Bioware doesn't exist as a company any more, since they sold their soul to the devil as VWare so aptly put it. They are just another part of EA, as this case so clearly illustrates.

PS I applaud your approach, and fervently hope you succeed, but sadly I doubt you will. I will spread the word, but I don't talk to many 13 year olds (EA's target audience) these days, well apart from when I'm playing Evony that is!:laugh:

As galraen I feel like I wasted money on buying DA:O and never even finished the game. Even though at the time I already had promised myself not to buy anything made by EA, I figured that if it's made by Bioware it can't be that bad.

Sadly for me it was. And I will now continue voting with my pocketbook and not buy anything else made by EA, no matter how good the developer making the game is (or was before EA bought them).

Sadly, EA's marketing machine is good at putting up pretty pictures and made for TV commercials that fool most people who will buy just about anything if you made a good enough show to advertise it, but that is not my problem. If some fool wants to waste his hard earned money on this or any other EAWare, let them do it on their own.

This is after all only a game, and there are plenty of other game publishers who have more respect for gamers who will be more then happy to have my business and I'll be more then happy to contribute my money to their businesses for as long as they keep publishing good games.

They are the devil indeed. I will be boycotting EA from now on.

First they bought Westwood Studios and screwed them over, canceling any customer support, dedicated servers etc. for Nox, a bloody brilliant game and shutting finally WS down. Then BioWare is next with the downgrading towards console friendly gameplay and the DLC policy.

Now it is banning people for criticising them and the hidden SecuROM which they outright lied about. And not to mention their despicable levels of greed, their policy is putting out as many games as possible and not delaying them under any circumstances even if they're unfinished (take DA2 for example: the auto attack problem for consoles and the huge texture update for the PC). Look at Blizzard in contrast, they take their time to develop good games instead of pulling some P.O.S. out of their asses every god damn year.

I hope the big guys at EA choke on all their money.

Amanthor wrote:They are the devil indeed. I will be boycotting EA from now on.

First they bought Westwood Studios and screwed them over, canceling any customer support, dedicated servers etc. for Nox, a bloody brilliant game and shutting finally WS down. Then BioWare is next with the downgrading towards console friendly gameplay and the DLC policy.

Now it is banning people for criticising them and the hidden SecuROM which they outright lied about. And not to mention their despicable levels of greed, their policy is putting out games more often and not delaying them under any circumstances even if they're unfinished (take DA2 for example: the auto attack problem for consoles and the huge texture update for the PC). Look at Blizzard in contrast, they take their time to develop good games.

I hope the big guys at EA choke on all their money.

A bit off topic, but I wouldn't use Blizzard as an example to go by. Their merger with Activision is leading them towards the same path. And they've had their share of controversies recently as well. From releasing Starcraft 2 campaigns in 3 different games (rather then 1 like that did with the first game) to trying to force people to use their real life identities on line. To the now infamous quote by Bobby Kotick (CEO of Activision Blizzard) "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."

Ares2382 wrote:A bit off topic, but I wouldn't use Blizzard as an example to go by. Their merger with Activision is leading them towards the same path. And they've had their share of controversies recently as well. From releasing Starcraft 2 campaigns in 3 different games (rather then 1 like that did with the first game) to trying to force people to use their real life identities on line. To the now infamous quote by Bobby Kotick (CEO of Activision Blizzard) "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."

You are probably right. But at least they take their time to develop their games and delay them because they're not finished yet. Maybe that will be changing in the near future though. Let's hope not.

Ares2382 wrote:A bit off topic, but I wouldn't use Blizzard as an example to go by. Their merger with Activision is leading them towards the same path. And they've had their share of controversies recently as well. From releasing Starcraft 2 campaigns in 3 different games (rather then 1 like that did with the first game) to trying to force people to use their real life identities on line. To the now infamous quote by Bobby Kotick (CEO of Activision Blizzard) "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."

To clarify, I recall coming across some articles which point out that the other two chapters of Starcraft 2 will be treated as expansions, and it will be priced as such. Of course it is good news, but it should have been clarified earlier prior to its release when the controversy first emerged. They really should get better PR staff if you ask me as they seem to get themselves into trouble even for the right reasons such as the banning of battle.net accounts when it turns out that these users cheated in multiplayer by using trainers and hacks.

As for Dragon Age 2, I'm not buying it because I didn't find the first game great and not at all hyped up to be interested in the sequel. Haven't tried the demo yet, but will soon when I have the time.

But to prevent access to their game for a period of time for doing something stupid in the forums is going overboard. Just ban access to the forums. That is enough. No need to go and lock him/her out of the game because of that. Really going overboard, not to mention stupid. I've no interest in the game, and it looks like I've got another reason not to buy it.

Don't forget about SecuROM.

As follows :

Electronic Arts has landed itself in hot water with PC gamers after failing to disclose the digital rights management snuck onto Dragon Age II. The disc-based version of the game contains notorious SecuROM DRM -- a controversial bit of software that invites itself onto your PC and is regarded by gamers as glorified malware.

The worst part is that Electronic Arts does not inform gamers about the DRM anywhere -- there's no warning on the game's packaging or website, and it's suspiciously absent from the EULA. Consumer rights advocate "Reclaim Your Game" has been emailing subscribers to warn them of EA's shenanigans, which violates a court order demanding it disclose all instances of SecuROM in its games.

Most, if not all, non-Steam copies of DA2 have Securom and WILL sneak it on your PC. Beware

As for my story with EA : It started in 98 with FIFA 98 which i loved, and still love. I had no complains about EA in DA1 or ME, except for SecuROM in the later one. No real complains about many games they made (except sport ones, which i find a bit pointless.. How many FIFA's have just a differend rooster and slightly tuned graphics, but except that everything the same? ALL of them?)
EA did however cause death of an MMO : Warhammer : Age of Reckoning (i wrote about it a year ago on GB blog. More on the topic there).

I still had hopes for them up to the moment when i played through DA2..
I didnt have any high hopes for DA2, i wasn't a drooling fan waiting for it. Bought it, played, beaten, uninstalled, sold.. and raged on GB forums.

Still.. EA games WILL be bought, and a boycott like this one will have no success whatsoever, due to large part of their customers -liking- EA games. Now, if not the SecuROM and banning someone for saying "Sold soul to EA devil!?" i wouldn't say a bad word about them, other than less and less RPG elements in their RPG's..

Just like Blizzard games will be bought.. But i don't like this comparision. Blizzard is a good guy in my books, and i never had any difficulties with customer service regarding any of their products. I just don't like where they took their MMO.. But like the company, alot. EA i'm disgusted with

I'm in. Nothing good has come from EA, excluding the annual graphical upgrades to NHL series.

First of, I find it totally absurd and unreasonable to ban people from playing the games they have paid just because not sharing the same opinion. Yes, Bioware and EA can ban people from their forums, that's acceptable, but banning players from playing the games they have paid, especially single player games, is just absurd and I hope against law of some sort.

The SecuRom thing could have been acceptable IF they hadn't lied about it.

Lastly, the whole registeration system EA uses comes from that dark hole on our backside. First you need to have EA account. Then, for example FiFa 2011, which I unfortunately bought for PC, requires you to attach some kind of GameFace (sub-account) to your primary EA account. If you don't do that you can't get access to internet content and multiplayer games. Now, the whole attaching system just fails, as I did just what I was expected to do, still the game screaming that I have to attach GameFace to my primary EA account. Even the customer support was not able to determine what's the problem, so no multiplayer matches for me for time being. The only "good" advice they were able to give me was to buy new version of the FiFa 2011, create a new account and try to attach the new game to the new account. Yeah, sure I will do that...

So, no EA games for me again.