WTF EA

[Nolan]

our forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since its all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned to. It's all one in the same, so I strongly reccommend people play nice and act mature.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55647

[ReZourceman]

Wow. Play nice I guess.

[Gizmo]

A little extreme but I don't see a huge problem.

[Tellyn]

What's the problem? Basically, don't mess about.

[uəʌəsʎɐɾ]

I think it's a bit harsh - effectively you'd be getting fined £35 for being silly on the forums.

... But the simple answer is to not use EA forums :P

[blender]

it takes a real idiot to get banned anyway... so in a way, it is a nice idea. i hope the mods/staff dont get glitzy in game goodies to go with their forum titles.

[Jimbob]

A bit OTT if you ask me. What next, MS banning users on the forums which results in Live Accounts getting banned as well. Dear oh dear.

[Deathjam]

Good on them i say. Internet + anonymity = retards on the net.

[EchoDesiato]

I support EA in this. It's extreme, but douchebags need to get what they deserve.

[Cube]

To be fair, it's likely just a side effect of them merging the forum with the EA profiles and they can't be bothered (they've not really got a reason to) to sort it out.

[nightwolf]

A bit OTT if you ask me. What next, MS banning users on the forums which results in Live Accounts getting banned as well. Dear oh dear.

+1, but it gives the ones being arseholes a good kick up the bum. I could care less as I don't use the ea forums for anything.

[DCK]

It's good that being a d*ck on the internet can have consequences.

[Nolan]

Wow......I'm wholly surprised at the good reactions. This is not a good thing, does anyone here remember people being banned for complaining about Spores horrid DRM? Well do you really think they deserve to lose all of their privileges for voicing their complaints? What if some mod starts abusing power? That's a large headache for people that don't deserve the ban, and whoever they have to appeal too to remove the ban. Like Jimbob said, what if other companies follow suit, this is just not good.

[nightwolf]

Wow......I'm wholly surprised at the good reactions. This is not a good thing, does anyone here remember people being banned for complaining about Spores horrid DRM? Well do you really think they deserve to lose all of their privileges for voicing their complaints? What if some mod starts abusing power? That's a large headache for people that don't deserve the ban, and whoever they have to appeal too to remove the ban. Like Jimbob said, what if other companies follow suit, this is just not good.


At the end of the day, if people don't like the horrid drm, then they shouldn't buy the game, I've never known except maybe one case where complaining on a forum gets a game changed.

[Raining_again]

At the end of the day, if people don't like the horrid drm, then they shouldn't buy the game, I've never known except maybe one case where complaining on a forum gets a game changed.

QFT. Research is the key, before buying something.

Its only a fair policy. People get away with being fanboys/flamers/complainers far too much imo. Bout time the internet was policed a bit better.

[ipaul]

Wow......I'm wholly surprised at the good reactions. This is not a good thing, does anyone here remember people being banned for complaining about Spores horrid DRM? Well do you really think they deserve to lose all of their privileges for voicing their complaints? What if some mod starts abusing power? That's a large headache for people that don't deserve the ban, and whoever they have to appeal too to remove the ban. Like Jimbob said, what if other companies follow suit, this is just not good.

Hurrah, some common sense! I don't care how n00bish some kid has been on a forum do they really deserve to lose the ability to play their games just because they typed a few bad things? I also agree with you on another point, there is quite some potential for abuse of the system. Can't believe so many of you think it's a great idea tbh =P I think Cube was quite accurate as well.

[Nolan]

At the end of the day, if people don't like the horrid drm, then they shouldn't buy the game, I've never known except maybe one case where complaining on a forum gets a game changed.
Well, people bitched about Bioshocks DRM and it was changed. People have complained to EA and they are now working on a tool to allow people redeem their installions after an uninstall. Besides you missed the point that those people complaining about the DRM (I don't know how they went about it rudely or not) would be banned from their games...the games they paid for.

QFT. Research is the key, before buying something.

Its only a fair policy. People get away with being fanboys/flamers/complainers far too much imo. Bout time the internet was policed a bit better.

Policing the internet goes against the internet...

[nightwolf]

Well, people bitched about Bioshocks DRM and it was changed. People have complained to EA and they are now working on a tool to allow people redeem their installions after an uninstall. Besides you missed the point that those people complaining about the DRM (I don't know how they went about it rudely or not) would be banned from their games...the games they paid for.





Buying a game doesn't give you the right to be an arse and break rules regardless. If they act like a child, they get treated like one. It's a simple enough system.

[ipaul]

Buying a game doesn't give you the right to be an arse and break rules regardless. If they act like a child, they get treated like one. It's a simple enough system.

But conversely though, surely a developer shouldn't have the power to block someone playing a game just because they were a bit crude on a forum? It's such a depressingly autocratic scheme =(

[nightwolf]

But conversely though, surely a developer shouldn't have the power to block someone playing a game just because they were a bit crude on a forum? It's such a depressingly autocratic scheme =(

I don't dismiss that it's fair, it's just the way it looks to me.

Losing the forums so I can stay on a game I paid £30 for doesn't matter to me.

[Sheikah]

I think it's a bit harsh - effectively you'd be getting fined £35 for being silly on the forums.

... But the simple answer is to not use EA forums :P

Simple answer is to not buy their games. :p

At the end of the day, if people don't like the horrid drm, then they shouldn't buy the game, I've never known except maybe one case where complaining on a forum gets a game changed.

I agree, so I stole it. And tbh complaining about the Spore DRM has pretty much had a great effect, if only because of the sheer number of people doing so. Anyone considering buying the game who first checks Amazon will probably think twice due to the rating people have given it.

[Jonnas]

I don't care how n00bish some kid has been on a forum do they really deserve to lose the ability to play their games just because they typed a few bad things?

Is it fair to lose something because you decided to be a dick or because you said a few bad things at the wrong time and place? Isn't that how real life works?

As long as EA chooses their mods and rules properly, I see no big deal over this. If things get out of hand, there are ways to boycott such a policy.

[Emasher]

As someone said before, just don't use the EA forums. Can't you just create another account using a proxy or something?

I think this is actually a good idea. Finally someone is doing something about 12 year old americans spamming online services.

[ipaul]

Is it fair to lose something because you decided to be a dick or because you said a few bad things at the wrong time and place? Isn't that how real life works?

As long as EA chooses their mods and rules properly, I see no big deal over this. If things get out of hand, there are ways to boycott such a policy.

Saying offensive things or doing them in real life is in a totally different league to having some forum slagging match. On the internet, the vast majority of the time, we remain anonymous. I just think taking away someone's ability to play games just because they said a few bad things ON A FORUM is ludicrous.

[Nolan]

Is it fair to lose something because you decided to be a dick or because you said a few bad things at the wrong time and place? Isn't that how real life works?

As long as EA chooses their mods and rules properly, I see no big deal over this. If things get out of hand, there are ways to boycott such a policy.

If you say/do something wrong on the forum, I agree there should be consequences, but they should stay on the forum, while conversly anything done in-game should be punished via the game(or particular service).

Think of it this way, your walking down the street and call a nearby officer a prat, and he takes away your driving license. The two things are unrelated, it's a punishment not fitting of the crime.

[Cube]

Saying offensive things or doing them in real life is in a totally different league to having some forum slagging match. On the internet, the vast majority of the time, we remain anonymous. I just think taking away someone's ability to play games just because they said a few bad things ON A FORUM is ludicrous.

Doesn't it just affect playing online?

[ThePigMarcher]

I actually think this could set a bad precident and I would have very little faith in EA having the ability to set the correct rules/moderators in place to make sure that only those that behave like dicks on the forums get targeted.

What's the next step , barring negative criticism about any of their games however constructive those comments may have been relayed (and we all know that the vast majority of EAs games are ripe for some criticism).

May/may not happen , but if EAs relentless pursuit for majority control of the gaming market is anything to go by , then who knows what else they may have in store. Slippery slope , I reckon.

Anyway , shouldn't they be more concerned with concentrating all their efforts on improving the games rather than worrying about what someone has posted on the forums.

[Nolan]

It's been updated
Update: Electronic Arts has clarified to Shacknews that the situation stemmed from a "misunderstanding," explaining that "access to the forums and access to the games are separate" and that "each forum, game and service is managed independently by customer support representatives."

[stuwii]

Been very funny playing Fifa 09- they have used the fifa 06 graphic engine and no player growth- plus they talk about growth information but it is simply not there.

[Dyson]

Been very funny playing Fifa 09- they have used the fifa 06 graphic engine and no player growth- plus they talk about growth information but it is simply not there.

Good for you, how about the topic in question?

I think it's a good idea tbh.

[Nolan]

Good for you, how about the topic in question?

I think it's a good idea tbh.

Well tbh I think your wrong, but that's beside the point since that isn't what is happening. Read the upateI posted, or check the site again and read the update right at the top.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Wow......I'm wholly surprised at the good reactions. This is not a good thing, does anyone here remember people being banned for complaining about Spores horrid DRM? Well do you really think they deserve to lose all of their privileges for voicing their complaints? What if some mod starts abusing power? That's a large headache for people that don't deserve the ban, and whoever they have to appeal too to remove the ban. Like Jimbob said, what if other companies follow suit, this is just not good.

To me, that sounds like bad policing, rather than bad policy.

In theory, this sounds like a good idea to me. You need to think "Why would somebody get banned from a forum?" It's not difficult to be polite, or keep your nose clean.

Then, there's the possibilities of different 'degrees' of banning. Banning for a week, a day, or even a month. A ban doesn't need to be a lifetime's worth.