BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

March 12, 2011

We are happy to report that an earlier story about a user being banned from the BioWare forums who was then barred from playing his freshly purchased copy of Dragon Age II, is being called a "mistake" by BioWare. BioWare Community Coordinator Chris Priestly said in a statement that this is not the way BioWare handles a situation like this:

"EA strictly enforces the code of conduct at Social.BioWare.com. If a player violates the rules by using profanity, they will be temporarily banned," he wrote. "Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended a user's entire account. Immediately upon learning of the glitch, EA restored the user's macro account and apologized for the inconvenience."

We are glad to hear this, even if it does not jibe with what another BioWare employee said earlier about the situation. BioWare's Stanley Woo said that, while BioWare community bans are usually "forum only," EA community bans are different in that they can affect access to games and DLC, even when the games are single-player.

"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," wrote Woo. "Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow."

I'm going to trust Priestly on this one and chalk the whole thing up to some crossed wires somewhere in the system.

Source: The Escapist by way of Andrew Eisen.

Comments

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Flamespeak on Sat, 03/12/2011 - 21:32.

The guy didn't use any profane words. He asked if BioWare sold their souls to EA and was generally condesecending. When he made a second account to voice his dissapointment about having his single player game made useless for his old account due to his account suspension on a forum, he was told it was EA's fault because someone reported his post.

Kid you not.

Glad his stuff got fixed but this should never have been an issue in the first place.

"

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Positive_Gamer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 01:27.

On a company forum, you can get in trouble for bad mouthing said company.  You don't have to use curse words to be in the wrong.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Prof_Sarcastic on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 08:10.

The quote on this page says "profanity" though.  Either someone isn't telling the whole story, or EA banned someone for voicing dissent (which, while a bit douchey, is well within their rights) and then claimed or at least implied that profanity was used when it wasn't.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 12:44.

Says a lot about the company if they ban those who dissapprove.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Thad on Sat, 03/12/2011 - 13:13.

Chris Priestly is, in my experience, a standup guy, and I'm glad they got this fixed and acknowledged the error.

It's still an object lesson in what a bad idea DRM is in general and EA's DRM schemes are in particular.  If the poster had simply pirated the game instead of purchasing it legally, he never would have had this problem.

I'm not advocating piracy -- I'm just saying that DRM punishes legitimate customers while doing absolutely nothing constructive.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by nighstalker160 on Sat, 03/12/2011 - 12:08.

It is only a matter of time, hopefully a very short time, before this seriously bites EA in the ass. There is NO EULA or license that wouldn't be considered unconscionable that would ban someone from using the single-player experience. 

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by tallimar on Sat, 03/12/2011 - 11:28.

my question is, what was the profane word he used?  does anyone that says EA get slapped on the wrist?

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by MechaCrash on Sat, 03/12/2011 - 08:32.

The fact that I can be barred from playing my single player game is still enough to ensure I will never buy any EA games again.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Coach on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 00:06.

I stopped when Spore came out.  This just reaffirms that decision.  So many games out in the world these days I don't miss anything EA is involved in.  Sorry Bioware.  I only buy things I own so I don't have to worry about this kind of thing happening to me.  You don't get to tell me when I can play something I bought.  Ever. 

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Positive_Gamer on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 01:29.

This is why I've switched, for the most part, from PC to console.  I'll go back once I can play my singleplayer games the way they were intended, offline.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by Dejiko on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 02:13.

The way things are going these days, you may soon need to give up gaming entirely if you want to stick to that.

Re: BioWare: Dragon Age II Ban a Mistake

Submitted by DorkmasterFlek on Mon, 03/14/2011 - 07:28.

If that's what it comes to, then so be it.  Consoles are heading down that road with digital downloads, but you can still play a single player game entirely offline as it stands right now, even an XBLA title for example.  That's as it should be.  The fact that there is an overriding digital account that is required to play a single player game and that it can be revoked by the parent company at any time for any reason is complete bullshit, and they know it.  This is why the PC market for games is dying.  Whine and complain about piracy all you want.  Some people are always going to pirate, but it's shit like this that drives people to pirate who otherwise wouldn't.  The PC mainstream games market is like a fucking Ouroboros these days.  The only hope for the platform in my eyes is the amazing indie stuff going on.  I'll stick to consoles for my big budget AAA titles...for now.

 
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