it's reasons like this why i'm buying CoD WaW instead of NFS undercover, so there you go one less guy EA.

Why do people still buy EA games when they treat you like this? Why do you keep this company in business? They sell you the same game every single year. In their defense, there's only so much you can change about football, but really, stay away from this devouring company.

Please note, I am not defending EA whatsoever and I think the forum ban + game ban is absolutely ludicrous. That said...

I'm not sure why the article says there is nothing on EA's ToS page. Section II, Article 10:

10. Rules of Conduct.
You may violate the Terms of Service if you:
- Post, transmit, promote, or distribute Content that is illegal.
- Harass, threaten, embarrass, 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.
- Transmit or facilitate distribution of Content that is harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable. Hate speech is not tolerated.
- 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, âspammingâ or flooding [posting repetitive text].

etc etc etc. it goes on. Basically any of that in there would violate the ToS and would warrant a ban.

Guess I'm gonna have to pirate their games now. Such a shame. I wonder how long till they get a DDoS?

EA GO FUNK YOURSELF

After reading 30 or so posts of "This is why I don't like EA", "They can't do this", "This is that and that is very bad" and so on, I just couldn't be bothered to keep going so, if this has been said, great.

What the f*ck are you people on about?
Obviously, you should not be locked out of a game you've purchased. If that is what EA is saying that is just bat-eating crazy. But if getting banned on the forums means you can't play on /their/ multi-player servers, that is perfect.
Someone who is a jackass and whatnot on the forums are likely not to be a contribution to any other community-type form of communication, and likely no form of communication at all.

A person who has the mental make-up to violate that standard rules that pretty much goes for anything (rude, racist, stupid and so on) then I don't want him in any forum I would use, nor would I want him on any server I play on.

In fact, I would pay EA more if they could keep people who can't behave away from any place I would like to hang out.

I don't have an issue, as long as they refund your purchase price when they do it like Stardock does. (Yes, Stardock is willing to tell people that they don't want them as a customer, which is ballsy and respectable)
If I was thrown out I'd sue in small claims for refund of purchase price- and I could argue they violated the implied warranty of merchantibility.

remind me never to go on the EA forums.

@GrimCW:
In the end they will get their money anyway. If he buys that used copy, then another person looking for a used copy will have to buy a new one instead.
In the end, EA will have sold exactly as many games as there are games in people's living rooms.
Boycotting means actually not buying the game, no matter where you buy it.

so..... the titles we PAID for can be taken away for doing something they dont like?..... isnt that illegal.... just another lawsuit waiting too happen..... FUCK EA!

Well if this dont give people an even more incentive to just download games from the internet and applying cracks to use them i realy dont know what will.

EA lost a good portion of there customers here i'm guessing. Same as when BF2042 future combat came out with there ingame comercials thing *sigh* when oh when will game publishers ever learn *eyeroll*

Nanny-State mentality.

Welp, im totally never posting on EA's forums ever again. Too dangerous.

@VinLieger: Just stop buying games from EA. The games are 97% shit anyway.If they want to treat the consumers like that hit em in their wallet.

[] forums . ea . com / mboards/ thread.jspa?messageID=4409692�

APOC responded about this article clarifying what he actually ment: [forums.ea.com]

@GiGOD:
I agree. Every time I hear any news about EA it makes me say "well, I don't think I'll be buying any games from them any more..."

wait, i've got it!
EA is trying to beat Comcast as the least popular company in america

um excuse me? now i realize the first amendmant does not apply to a private forums like these, and banning someone for being an idiot (or showing evidence of SecuROM's nastiness) is fully within their rights. but when does that give them the right to disable your PURCHASED product?
seriously, i though limited installs was horrible, but the implications of this are insane

I thought this was exactly what they said they weren't doing the last time this issue came up...

So ultimately EA is going to Ban their own customers that get banned on there forum site? Simply put this is bad for business.
I can understand why EA is tying into the Master EA Account. But what does a forum banning have to do with stop using their products altogether?
EA's support staff just went gestapo or extreme. I just hope that EA support staff has sufficient oversight to avoid frivolous bans on users.
This would be up the alley of the "EFF" (electronic frontier foundation) if it ever got to that point. Here's hoping sufficient community leverage comes to bear and EA makes a sensible about face on this issue.

Local laws will prevent them from making you unable to use purchased goods. Especially in Europe governments are very protective of consumer rights.
Try this in the Netherlands, and you have a PR shitstorm on your hands.
The only way to work around this is temporary bans to make people feel the pain, but not to run into THA LAW

@roflcopterflightschool: Yeah, because mean words really should equate to losing your entire EA games collection.

Well you can always create a second master account to use on the forums, all you need is two emails.

ive had this happen, this is VERY old news, i was in an argument with someone about bf2 modern combat like 4 years ago. and ea didnt even give me one warning, just, hey whats up, your outta here. good thing i can just make a new email. but the worst part was, for xbox and ps3, if you link your ghamertag or psn name. then your fucked right in the facehole, my gamertag was banned from EVERY ea games online capabilities, i waited till my year ran out, which was about a month after and got a new gamertag. they ar epretty much overly retarded over at ea

I find this rather pathetic of them. They're telling people to 'play nice and act mature', but at the same time are threatening to pull the ban hammer on people if they don't like them.
Whether they deserved it or not, EA is acting very immature themselves. Thank god I don't play EA games online...yet.

Nice job, EA. Now I can pirate your games and not feel bad for you guys. :3

@MCKWZ: Fixed.

@Valhawk:

yeah, but you shouldn't HAVE to do that.

in reality you can do that to the games too, i actually have like 3 EA accounts (2 of my own doing, one for BF2/BF2142, one for EA Downloader, and the third was because THEY screwed up my EAD version of Crysis and MADE me make another account on a different email, just to credit me a free working copy of the game)
but its not something you should need to do to protect your investments.

EA is gonna kill themselves doing this to people, and the law will uphold it in the U.S. as people catch on.

The obvious response to this is to never post with your game account, and create a forum account with a totally unrelated throw-away email account. They if your forum account gets banned it does not effect your game account.

@KillerBee: It doesn't matter what it said when you read it. Most EULAs and TOSs contain wording similar to we reserve the right to change any portion of this license without notice.
tldr: the EULA is essentailly anything they say it is.
Its a nail in the coffin of contract law is what it is.

Wow. Well if they drop the ban hammer, I'm sure plenty of gamers will drop the law suit hammer and the BBB complaint hammer. Given that it's not in the EULA for existing games, EA would be violating said EULA and could be in breech of contract. Bring on the class action suits!

F*ing EA.

How is this generating a good reputation as a company? How?

Oh, man! I just got banned from Madden for reading this post. D'oh!

oh as for it being registered to one account, in case anyone knows of that catch 22 they also don't mention in their EULA's.

i haven't gotten any of their new stuff, but as i recall from crysis, the only one locked to a single key single account is the digital versions.

the hard copies are able to be re-registered, or at least have whole new in game names applied to them.

And why exactly would you want to use the EA forums in the first place?

@InfernoT: wait a week after the release then buy it from a dissatisfied customer on ebay and EA won't get a penny of your cash, and you can still play the game!

EA's doing this just to stop people from telling them off for their shady buisness practises, horrid DRM, and rude tech staff.
one more reason not to buy/play EA games unless used or second hand.

they just keep adding to my list of reasons as to why i'm boycotting their products, don't they?

Hmm, On one hand this is awesome... because it will curb trolls quite well and on the other hand I think it's crazy to lose the rights to play your own game unless you really bring it on yourself. Simple answer is just don't use the EA forums... I didn't even know they had any.

oh yah its so hard to get another serial key. i got 6 in 2 minutes. row row fight the powah.

Can you say "lawsuit?"

theres something called "freedom of speech" that should extend to forums. you don't wanna make a moderator or someone in EA upset cause they'll ban you and then you can't play ur games. I really don't see the point with this. a forum community should have no say in whether or not you can play ur own games that you purchased, online or not. you pay for a product and you are entitled to what that product promises, even if you are a d-bag. if this is true then every EA game with online play should have a big sticker on the back that says "if we ban you then this feature is useless".

I'm looking forward to the future article of somebody complaining about a technical issue, and after hours and hours and dozens of help tickets, they just delete any evidence he was there. After posting again about his problems, they just outright ban him, and so he goes to the press, and a whole new EA fiasco begins...

@stetsonblade:
Well we'll see as to what the standards are, the recourses given, and the full repercussions. If it's a hair trigger permaban on evn3e the single player then, yeah bring out the pitchforks. I somehow doubt that doomsday scenario.

Wow... just wow. This is an incredibly bad move for EA

PR-wise, especially in the wake of the Spore DRM bruhaha.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a retraction of this statement or some sort of announcement assuring us that he misspoke.

WOW SO ALL I HAVE TO DO IS BE A GOOD PERSON AND NOT TRASH TALK?!?! BUT THATS SOOO HARD!!! MAN I HATE EA FOR MAKING RULES THAT ARE EASY TO FOLLOW!!!!!!!!

@Leanid:

Constructive criticism of legit issues is fine. But what passes for discourse on a typical message board will hardly get anything done.
If it leads to widespread censoring, there are PLENTY of alternatives to share those thoughts. And will likely be struck down legally if the censorship is about legitimate failures on EA's part rather than whining.

Don't forget the official smiley face at the end of the threat.

WHAT THE FR**KING HELL!!!
No company should have the right to prevent someone to play there games. Period. even if it is preventing online, suspension definately, but banning HELL NO!

A great reason to buy hard copies of your media as opposed to just a digital one.

@endaround:

My thoughts exactly.

This is a class-action lawsuit just WAITING to be filed.

Until EA can figure out what it can and can't do in terms of legalities, I'm not buying any of its games.

@animexplorer: Yes, being banned from Spore is equatable to the treatment people received in Gulags. Not an overreaction at all.

@VinLieger: If this actually happens to anyone please let me know. I'd like to ask the Cyber Law people at Harvard Law about it, and would like a concrete case with specific conduct to cite.

Really really really bad policy. I hate trolls as much as the next person, but you can't ban people from games for forum misbehavior, which moderators enforce overzealously and without any uniform, objective standard. Another monumentally stupid idea, and one that will surely bring the wrath of the gaming community down upon this collection of epimethean morons. They need to get some common sense.

Is EA fucking insane?!?!? Their PR department must be balling over the idiocy of their execs.

@Kia:
That is why I never liked them much. As I said.

This is seriously one of the worst things I have heard a publisher/developer do to their community members. This will not solve the problem of people acting like asshats on the internet, only piss people off when they realize they wasted their hard earned money on games.
-1 for EA.

@saruxiii: "....as long as it's in their ToS and the user agrees to the ToS, then it's completely legal. "
i wouldn't quite go THAT far....

And this is why I'm a console gamer.

@FrasierAndromeda: First amendment doesn't touch it:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First amendment really only addresses cases where Congress tries to silence people. Private businesses can censor you all they want. :P

As for getting a refund, good luck - most stores will only exchange for the same title, to address defective media. They won't chance that you're buying it, copying it, and getting a refund.

@VinLieger: this probably only applies to online play seeing as how online play and forum usage are both online services. also, as long as it's in their ToS and the user agrees to the ToS, then it's completely legal.

I don't get why this is a big idea when you not going to misbehave. Its like the death penalty for murder, as long as you don't break it, why should you be worried?

This is a good thing. Less dicks in our games.

@roflcopterflightschool: my sentiments exactly.
gamers need to take more responsibility for their actions. actions people take in games reflect who they are or who they want to be. although games may be cathartic or simply be a way to escape reality, i think anyone can understand the simple concept of following the rules. all you have to do is not be tool or not get talked into being one, and what do you know, you can keep gaming.

This is like during communist Russia: You say one bad word about Stalin and you will be sent to Siberia.

easily remedied. if you want to be a douchebag just make a douchbag account. name it accordingly so you know it's the right account to be a douchebag. ead_bag@gmail.com
crisis averted, over and out!

@antialias02: "A license isn't a blank check to play a game."
It's a series of tubes.

EA:

Please rate your EA customer service experience:

[ ] Excellent

[ ] Great

[ ] Take away my games

[ ] Take away my games

[ ] Take away my games
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey.

More proof that you don't actually own any EA game. I bet in the ToS it says you merely hold a license that they can take away at any time.
I don't agree with people acting like jackasses on forums, but this is ridiculous. Nazi-EA sucks.

Fuck. That.

This will not blow over well for their fans.

This is just a Clas action lawsuit waiting to happen
wich will force EA to remove such policy
and refund those who have been banned

They also secretly wish that all their games
were pirated so they dont have to take no shit

Good. It's a tragedy companies must resort to taking away your games to make you behave simply because our parents and culture have failed to ingrain proper social conduct into our 35 year old children.

@BigDragon:

And I suspect this will quickly be said to be false to. It's just people on the internet talking tough.

@Frankie23: i meant because you don't have to sign up to it to view the forum...they do own it, but it's open for the public and anyone (even if they don't own a EA game) can sign up
i checked the post on their forums that Kotaku linked above...9 pages long of mostly fluff...gad, all they care about are post counts...their forums are a joke anyways!

I guess he hasn't heard of keygens. I don't support piracy, but if anyone pulled a dick move like that, I would just boot up a keygen and get another key for something that's rightfully mine.

@fuchikoma:
Gotta say I agree to that.
Stardock's policy states that if they revoke your license, they will give you a refund. They have done this in at least one case. (Some f-tard who was really causing them trouble, they refunded his purchase, and pulled his license)
They had valid cause, so the Wights and Fweedoms party doesn't need to squawk here. Their official reason basically went:
"The troll's complaints were untrue and intentional, and were costing our tech support people more money then his purchase price, so we do not wish him as a customer."
This is on their forum as of yesterday. Stardock supports their games quite well, so this wasn't them being lazy and half-arsed either.
Here's the kicker though- I trust EA a hell of a lot less then I do Stardock. The only company I trust less then EA is Sega.

@Frankie23:

Its really quite simple.

If: They are only banning you from the MP portion

Then: All they are saying is that if you cheat, you get banned from the game and the forums. If you spam/flame/shitpost too much... you get banned from the game and the forums.
It's a totally different story if they lock you out via DRM.

This is why you never go to official message boards.

What the fuck is this shit. Seriously. You break people's games because they dick around on your forums? No. It does not work like that. It does not work anything close to like that. It's like Ford taking the key's to someone's car because they got convicted of some obscenity law.
The fuck.

This is outrageous, can't possibly be legal. Someone call Jack Thompson.
Oh wait...

Stardock does this as well, you get banned from their forums seriously enough, you will not be able to get your game supported.
It's right on their forums- search for a guy named Evil Stormbringer (only one they've done it to so far)

Looks like EA are making a bid to put the final nail in the PC gaming coffin.

@insaneo: See second comment replies on first page.

I am ok with this.
Because really, if you aren't a moron on the internet, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
If you are, you don't deserve any sympathy.

Eek, that's brutally harsh. Way to play nice with your customers. Even the explanation makes it sound like they are their enemies

While I hate forum trolls, I'm already expecting the lawsuit that will come from this.
I mean, using hacks and illegal stuff in a game is a very good basis for banning online accounts, but being banned on a forum that could be completely unrelated to a game doesn't justify banning a whole online account.
Even more because the user payed for it.
This is censoring, a blatant and obvious attack against freedom of speech (since people who complain about DRM are being banned), and completely illegal and inconstitutional.
I hope whoever took this decision will have a lawsuit up his ass and regret for the rest of his life for trying something like this.

Just another of the many ways that EA is taking money out of your pockets :\

Sheesh, what a bunch of donkey dung! EA can go "F" themselves, after the "Orange Box" fiasco on the PS3. Who the "F" do they think they are, anyways. I paid good money for that game, and now they won't even support it like on other platforms. What a terrible, terrible company. Now they want to ban people from games? Only jack*sses ban people from forums, anyway. What are they, children? Kiss my business goodbye, EA, not to mention my *ss

@drlard: A forum is not a public domain. If you register and agree to TOS, you're doing that so you can operate in their private realm. They own it, and they can kick you out if they wish. Now, the legality of tying that to your games is a different question, but we'll see how that shakes out...

@prizm: They've been doing this forever. It happened to me back when Madden 2004 was out.

@ChimDeathmonkey:

If they can get as far as stopping offline play if that is the case then banned members should take their games back with reciepts and demand refunds. EA could only ban your access to their servers not software on yours. I am not a legal professional so this is just my opinion, plus there could be Constitutional 1st amendment free speech issues but I would agree to a time limited ban to make the point and then if after 3 times being warned then you could lose access for longer periods and if that did not work then go longer.

But will eventually happen if gamers can break their addiction to games is to boycott EA games by not purchasing new games from EA but rent them for a time to send a financial message to EA...

Indeed the issue with measures like these is who decides what goes and what doesn't. EA would have to be very careful as to whom they give the authority to make such decisions.

one more reason to not buy EA Games...

I feel like I'm going to throw up with EA's slimey ways. Even though I try my best to not buy any of EAs games. EA seems to keep buying every gaming company out there so in the future once EA owns the gaming industry and I get banned for dissing them like I am right now, I can no longer play any games that I spent thousands of dollars on over the years.
Basically a Muli Billion Dollar company punishes people by taking their money away and removes the use of the games.
Ugh it angers me, I wish the Government would close EA down with their evil monopoly.

Section 10 of the Terms of Service, which you link to, has a list of possible actions that can lead to you losing your account privileges.
Also, the biggest issue here is that we have no idea if this is referring to being banned from playing your games altogether, or simply from playing multi-player on EA's servers. The former is unacceptable. The latter seems fine with me. If you're a douchebag on the forums, chances are pretty good you'll be a douchebag on their servers.

Ea boards suck anyway I have found out more info from other websites that had some ea people posting on it rather than their own. You can also make an account that isn't liked to your gametag or real email address

There is a clear difference between being nice in the forum, and voicing legitimate concerns. Since EA has not published a list of criteria, they have exercised the right to judge everyone as fair game. I don't see any good out of this. What EA is saying is they can ban you for anything.
My advise to legitimate gamers is to avoid using the forum altogether and take their concerns to a third party forum like Neogaf.

I believe a few lines from "Clerks." are in order.
"Now here's the part where he says he's just following orders. Friends, let me tell you about another group of hate mongers that were just following orders. They were called NAZIS and they almost wiped out an entire race!"
Friends... let me tell you about yet another group of hate mongers. They are called EA Nazis and they're trying to ruin an entire gaming community.
I'm not a troll nor do I pirate software, except for mame roms. But I think if they plan on censoring people by banning them for offending others, then they should get banned for offending gamers with sub par games and the ruination of some of the best franchises we've ever known.

In no way shape or form is this legal. If you purchase a game, you own it. A matter of free speech keeping you from something you own is doubly litigious. There's no way that this is ok.

So one slip-up and all of a sudden you can never play an EA game again? Not only are they looking to lose customers, they're actively getting rid of customers.
Retarded.

if they are such big assholes. Then i want someone too hack there website. And have a text saying something about that they should remove the drm. And it will stop when the stupid shit is gone. Then of course there should be different hackers each time. The funny thing is that they loose more on this shit. They spend money on things that doesn´t work. That means there iq is as big as a punctured ballon, there´s not even air in it...

Oh look it's another reason to boycott EA games. As if they needed to give me ANOTHER reason.

@VinLieger: @KillerBee: You're forgetting something here. SPORE is single-player only. There is no 'online component' to the game, aside from downloading and caching things other people have made. What he is saying is you will NO LONGER BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME if you get B&.

I seriously have to question the motives of EA on the potential of banning their gamers for disagreements on their forums.
On a different note, being as I don't buy their games, it shouldn't really concern me, other than the fact that it can set a very bad precedent where other game companies can decide to follow suit.
But if the article holds water, I can only imagine that there will be a lawyer somewhere that would be more than happy to contest this in a "class-action" lawsuit (Stated or not.)
I'd also imagine that various state Attorneys General would follow suit.

@Dao2SKP: Once paid for, nothing should EVER restrict access to *MY* content.
If forum rudeness is so much of an issue, issue warnings and then yes, ban people, from the forums.
If it continues in game, then restrict their chat & voice to "friends list only".
EA is too full of themselves with this "we're taking your ball and going home" attitude, and frankly it reminds me of the spore DRM issues.
This is the type of thing that alienates your customer, like the RIAA does.

Ugh, this sets a bad prescendence.
Is there clear guidelines as to what will constitute a ban?

Who has the authority to ban?

Is there an appeal process?
Well, thank god for piracy, right?

I doubt this is legal...seriously. I'm sure EA questioned their army of lawyers, but maybe the lawyers just said "Welllll no, we can't legally do this...but we can say it repeatedly, scare the shit out of all the kids on the forum and keep every one in line. Best part is, every one keeps on buying our games no matter what we do anymore, it's amazing!"

@houser: Take away the whiners and trolls and all you have is a huge circle-jerk over the company. Complaining is one of the few ways that a consumer can actually get things changed.

sounds like our government.

@roflcopterflightschool: Or you could just ignore the trolls and flames, but I guess too many people are retarded to be able to do that. Alternatively, grow some thicker skin godamn pansies. People have the right to complain. Its the reason why non-shithole countries don't shoot protesters anymore.

EA CAN FO, I WILL PUT MY FRIENDS OFF BUYING ANY EA TITLES FNG LITTLE HITLERS.

EA has done it again first There DRM thingy with spore(securom)

Then this :S
damn EA can suck ;c

Getting locked out/banned from a free forum is one thing, but being banned from a game that YOU paid is too much.

Stupid idea, people will just comment under fake accounts that are not linked to EA games

@VinLieger: ohoho... cause you didn't purchase the game ;p Don't you know why we all hate on EA?
Also: While I'm sure there's numerous references in the eulas for both games, just note that a eula has never held up in court :P

@fuchikoma: amen brother!
if they want to play smug and say "it's easy to make a fake email, not so easy to get a new key"....then i will not buy another EA game until it's known that this ridiculousness is taken care of....
also if piracy is such a problem, they should know EXACTLY how easy it is to get a new key...i don't take too well with threats....especially when i do buy games and now have it over my head if i don't play nice on a forum run by VOLUNTEERS then i'll lose my toys...thanks but my parents lost that over me LONG ago, i don't need it from a fucking company

This is a ridiculous policy.

When were the ToS checked and found to contain no "criteria for behavior that may get you banned." because I think that section 10 - Rules of Conduct are most like just that. It could be that EA have hastily added this section and I am loathe to suggest that our dear Kotaku would miss this after perusing the document.
Either way, EA were crazy enough with the whole DRM farrago but now they seek to ban people from using the games they have paid for because of comments!?
Madness.

This is like buying a HDTV and the rules say no porm can be viewed on the TV, hense if you do they will lock it out and you cant even watch cable or play games on it because they told you not to view porn? OMG EA is really getting power hungry. I imagine that these same rules would come to the EA console as well...lol ?

YIKES...!

@Brickd: Lets see, dropping good games in favor of three dead franchises, not to mention keeping one of those franchises from finding a new publisher comes to mind.

@NotAnEvilLobbyist: i've visited the ea forums (during the BF2 stats outage last summer) and the moderators were volunteers...unless it has changed since then....
all i'm saying is a forum is a public domain that you don't need to purchase a license for a game to access and think it's total BS that they are trying to make these claims.
i can see Steam's idea about cheating....banning from all your games and what not...but not for a ban on a public forum moderated by (i'm sure their "supervisors" are EA employees) volunteers.

I've always kinda thought of EA as bullies anyway. They come in and take over games and destroy them. The Sim series and Earth and Beyond for example...

I love how the media depict video games as sources of violence, then the video game companies say that the fault lies on the negligent parents, and then, little by little, video game companies actually ACT LIKE PARENTS.
I really, really wish there is a crime actually based on a EA game, just to see an EA spokesperson say "We don't understand, he/she was so well-behaved in the forum!" ...

hey everybody, STOP BUYING EA GAMES FOR PC.
it's not that complicated, people. by all means, continue to buy their games for consoles (i still do) but for gods' sake don't buy them for PC. all you're doing by supporting their PC business is telling them "it's okay, EA. we LIKE it when you rape us and treat us like cheap whores. we looove abuse."
fucking stop it.

Talk about overkill, because we all know that in reality, the innocent will suffer.

Do that many people even use EA forums?

@Derangel: no it'll be cheap for EA and cost prohibitive for any individual who would actually like to sue

@VinLieger:

I think I smell a lawsuit a-brewin' over this!

This is illegal through and through.

this will never hold up in a court of law. they must render unto you services for whih you have paid. they cannot legally withhold said services because they don't approve of your disposition.

Typical.

I don't see what the big deal is...don't acting like a fucking idiot. You signed the ToS and User-Agreement.
Instead of saying: "EA Y0u and URS gAmeZ FUckING BLOWWWWW."
say, "EA I do not like your company/game because..."

I thought they also did this with 'major offenses' in Battlefield 2142? By banning PB id's or something like that if I remember correctly.

I've been a moderator before (but you really don't need to be it to understand, just some basic common sense), I must say this approach to the situation is plainly ridiculous. You only end up attracting more hate and flaming/trolling on the forum.

@OrielBee: No, it's nothing like this. It is closer to you buying a CD, then going to that band's concert, getting drunk and getting kicked out, then the next day the band sends someone to confiscate the CD that you bought 2 months ago.

@Coleman811:
Recently a large number of people were banned from Pandemic's forums for asking why they had yet to hear anything about the Mercs 2 patch that was supposed to be delivered (I believe it originally slated for the 4th and is STILL not out on the Xbox).
Should those people, who were only wondering why the patch they had promised which fixes crippling issues in a game they paid 50 dollars for was more than 2 weeks late, be banned from Mercs multiplayer? It wasn't as though there was a thread that said "Here's what's going on with the patch: we're sorry" there was literally NO mention of where it was and anyone who asked was banned.
Sorry but I'm not ok with game companies having that power. Especially with console games where you can't set up private servers, and even more so with notorious cocks like EA.

Just because something has been placed into a Terms of Service contract, does not mean it has legal footing. There are limitations on what contractual agreements can or cannot contain. By no means am I saying EA cannot do this. However, I doubt there Terms of Service have been tested in court, either. The bottom line is they will receive suits over this, eventually. Truthfully, I can't wait.

This is why you don't buy anything from EA, I stopped buying from them about a year ago.

EA is like the villain that tries to be good but just can't resist their evil nature

this sounds like something the Hat Guy from XKCD would do.

@fuchikoma: seconded.

It's not as absurd as people think it is... let's say you pay for a ticket to a sporting event or concert... you walk into the venue and act like a total asshat to the staff and others... do you think as the big mean bouncer is throwing you out, they're going to stop b/c you're yelling "FREEEDOM OF SPEACH!!!!!11" No, shithead. They'll take your money and tell you to gtfo. And if it's a club/bar they'll ban your ass from coming in, no refund.

I don't get why people feel they are entitled to act like dicks on the internet just because of anonymity... if you wouldn't spew the bs in the real world, don't do it online either.

@stetsonblade:
Its also been the case on some boards where criticizing the mods or owners of the site. For example, look up the "Rantings of madmen" incident on CTRL ALT DEL, in which thousands of innocent users were banned simply for viewing a thread that contained allegations of illegal activity (sexual in nature) against Tim Buckley. He is also known to instantly ban others who criticize him on the forums.
Now think of a mod like that had the power to ban you from your games as well.

I wonder what they'll do if someone says something they don't like yet it isn't against the rules... And that's exaclty the reason why I don't like this. Yeah, I'm not going to buy an EA game anytime soon. Well, Rage could be an exception but that's only because of id. However, tie it to some EA stuff and no way I'll get it.

While you could be banned from "online" portions of the game, there is no legality in banning people from "the game" itself. EA thinks it is a little more powerfull than it actually is.

As an example, Adobe's stupid marketing decisions (the astronomical $2500 asking price for their Creative Suite packages) are the #1 reason their software is so often pirated. Realistically, I can see bad public relations decisions like this from EA creating an even bigger piracy problem than they already have in the near future. EA needs to realize that their consumer base is computer-literate and online every day, meaning that bad online publicity like this reaches them and influences their decision about buying vs. pirating.

I'm pretty sure EA is covered by the End Users Licensing Agreement that you have to accept before you can install the game. Since almost nobody actually reads the entire agreement before clicking it, you may want to have a look before you make claims of legality. Just because it's a crap policy doesn't mean it's illegal.

@Coleman811: "Act like a immature little f&%$er then be treated like one. " that's fine, but you REALLY want to give these people the control to do that?
what if you have a disagreement with one of their moderators and get banned?
this quote is ABSOLUTELY disgusting:

"Those banned will stay banned, but like most other internet services, its not that hard to create a new fake e-mail account. However, its a lot harder to get a new serial key =)"
actually, it's EASIER to get a new cd key, will it be legal? no....but creating a fake email address and taking on a different persona isn't either

@NotAnEvilLobbyist: By "enforced on their servers" I mean that they have the capacity to ban people in the game for out and out blatant abuse, racism, etc. if they so desired because it causes a detriment to the gaming experience for others.

People understand it as buying the game because no one can take the time to read (or often, understand) the EULA.
What they're doing (or not?) I suspect, is totally legal. Like others said, you buy a license to play. A typical modern EULA states:

- Any damage caused by their software isnt't their fault.

- You buy a license to play, and a physical copy of the game. The license is needed to play, and they may revoke it at any time.

- If they do revoke it, you have no recourse, and no refund will be given.

- They may also change the terms of their service at any time.
For whole online services, you also often see:

- They may upgrade the system/TOS at any time. The upgrades will be required to get basic functionality. To keep the functionality you had under the terms you agreed to before, you must now agree to whatever new terms they put forth... or not. You can always go without anything and throw your money away. (F'n PSN... I do not agree, but I'm not throwing away $450 because my system stopped working online! One-company keiretsu or not, EULA or not, if they try anything I'll take 'em to court AND win.)
WE NEED TO STOP AGREEING TO THIS BULLSHIT. What makes it even worse, a trap even, is that by the time you see these, you've unwrapped the game, so no one will accept a return on it because it's software. Your freedom as a consumer amounts to the idea that you're free to buy a disc and manual for $60 and then not use them if you don't agree to a last minute revocation of any rights you had, but all sales are still final. Who's really going to stop there and not just say "yeah, whatever. I agree!" I strongly suspect this is highly illegal, though EULAs as "contracts" typically fail in court anyway as anyone including babies and housepets can sign them, and it's not even a signature. I don't know what it is for LBP because I was pressing "ok" to a bunch of boxes and it only appeared for 1/4 second. That wasn't agreement, in court it could be deemed a trick with little argument.
We need some massive class-action lawsuits to ensure fair EULAs, or maybe simply have a universal industry-consensus EULA with a version number on it so you can read it once and be done with it. "This game is bound by the standard Sony/MS/Nintendo license agreement 2008, version 1.1" and so on. Because we all know that less than 1% of us actually read the entire text, and consult our lawyers to decypher tricky parts. (I skim the whole thing for flagrant abuses, but ultimately assume little legal clout is behind them.)

@Dijkie1337:

It's ridiculous, moron.

@drlard: I think you are misrepresenting what a forum run by enthusiasts is like and what the EA one is. For forums such as these, they are the EA forums, regulated and moderated by EA employees. Only they have the authority to ban someone and in this situation, they apply your behavior to the terms you agreed to when you installed the game. The forums are seen as an extension of the game's environment, in their eyes, as their sole purpose is to discuss the game. If you misbehave on their forums, you are misbehaving on their game, as they see it.
If you want to talk trash incessantly about the game, do it on a private forum. They want the same civility that is enforced on their servers to be carried over into the game. EA has the rights over the forums and over access to the goodies that come with the games. They have every legal right to control access to both.
Bottom line is, EA is still a company and they will not ban hundreds and thousands of people for mere dissent. While the theoretical ability to do so is there, the practical side of EA will limit these bans to egregious violations and will most likely institute some sort of warning system before an outright ban, except in situations that border on extreme.

@kend7510: I like the idea, the 'net's full of enough tossers. but is that a game ban or a ban from MP modes online?
Because you can't stop someone using their media just because you had a disagreement with them, but you can stop them using your service if they've violated ToS just fine.

This only effects all those idiots who have it coming.

If only every video game forum could do this, they might actually become readable.

Fascism lives on. Just when you thought they ran out of ideas. Next... EA lightning squads, to break into your home, smash and burn your computer. That'll teach us to talk back.

And EA gets the "Sucks Ass" award yet again!
Hooray! Woot! Yeah Baby! You guys still have the touch!

Just another reason for me not to buy EA games. First DRM and now this. Not that I'd do things to get banned but this is just rediculous...

R-E-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S
Screw EA.

@Vrank92: As far as I know the EULA has never stood up in court. A forum TOS is a different animal. You have to agree to those before joining. Legalities aside, they will get sued if this happens. Whether or not they win those lawsuits really isn't going to be the point either. It won't be cheap for EA.

Bungie's been doing this for a long time.
How nice would it be if you could get banned from, say, WoW, for being a douche on Kotaku? This place would be a lot more pleasant. Hooray for accountability!

Think of how this could expand in the future, as companies try and phase out physical media. It goes way beyond forums. For example, if you call customer service and the call ends poorly, can they block access to your paid content? It's cool that you can download games and movies. But I really like having the physical discs.

And now EA is back to normal. *takes back everything good that he said about EA in the past 6 months* I certainly hope that they're happy with themselves.

i smell a lawsuit :3

@KirbyMorph: I don't plan to, but I can see it now already. I've already had issues dealing with their customer support and being screwed out of a game Ive purchased for well over a year, erring on the side of caution lets say this happens again and I make a post about how the drm has short changed me. Who's to say history wont repeat itself, their helpful people once again treat me like crap, only this time not only have I lost the ability to play the game on my main pc, I lose the ability to play it on any pc ever again.

Seems too severe. Ban 1 set of forum(s)+game at a time. Act like a jackass on the RA3 forums and get banned from RA3.

I'm pretty sure this is actually effecting your statutory rights (at least in the UK). A paying customer is being denied usage from an owned product because they talked dirty.
Imagine phone tech support for a new laptop and yelling at the help desk folk for messing you around then have them come around an take the pc back. You wouldn't stand for that.
Granted, you are just being banned from server access, but isn't that server access an advertised feature (a free one) on the back of the box?
And yes, the EULA for the EA user account stresses that the access is at their discretion and yes, you sign it by clicking ok. But would it stand up in court?
Perhaps someone who is affected should get a solicitor onto this because it sounds ropey.

This is why I hate EA.

The fact that EA will be the ones determining what is banworthy conversation is bad. This wouldn't be bad at all if it was, say, a ban from your EA account for a few weeks. That way it's still very punishing without robbing people of the product they bought.
Anyone with a pair of eyes can see that this is just adding more and more justification to piracy. And what if some forum glitch tags you as banned if you did nothing? This could be quite a nightmare for EA if they don't reconsider their supposed 'solution' to forum trolls and people posting things they don't like.

I don't think they can ban you from playing the game, just online. So if you are "banned" just dont connect to the interwebz while playing

@SeraphX2: Its not a 10 day authentication anymore.

Well, I thought that Activision was taking the reins for biggest douche in the industry this year...looks like EA took control of them once again.
Well played EA...well played...

One more reason to not feed the giant anymore.

It's becoming more and more evident that EA wants us to buy our games, but hates when we play them.

Hahaha, good luck with a forum without people writing on it...

You've got to be freaking kidding me. Even if this is legal, it's absolutely ridiculous. God, I effing hate EA. -_-

How does this make any sense? Dear customer, because we don't like you, we are taking our shit back. Please leave all copies of your house key on the kitchen counter when you leave.
Still not as insane as nintendo, though.

@343winks: EA has never considered the user as buying the game. Look for the interview about digital distribution where the EA guy talks about thinking of consumers as buying a license to use the product and not owning jack squat.

@prizm: I wouldn't say legal. It's not ethical. Legalities are covered by their ToS.

Fuck you EA, im still going to buy RA3, im just not going to bother talking about it in the EA forums

I smell pending "class action lawsuit". I didn't hate EA before but this is seriously fascist.

For anyone questioning the legality of this, remember that you clicked to accept the EULA, the EULA that contains terms such as...
From Crysis EULA:
Licensor may revoke or terminate this License at any time, for any reason or no reason, in its sole discretion. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein this Agreement and the License granted to you herein shall immediately terminate, without the requirement of any notice from CRYTEK to Licensee, upon Licensee's failure to comply with or breach of any term or provision of this Agreement.
That's right, "for any reason or no reason". Suck it.

BRAVO!!! I fully support this. EA has a HUGE set of brass ones.
Hopefully this courageous act will cut down on all the F'ing trolls out there.

Ironically, this will probably only drive more people to piracy.

While I do think the objectivity of forum posters and moderators can be called into question, I do think it's a good step.
Though I will say, this should only be used against online play. You act like a jackass online in a game forum, you get penalized. You should still be able to play off-line.

This is a terrible policy.

Maybe next time I'll get credit for my tip, oh well.
Anyways, really dumb to tie forum and game punishment together. Excessively dumb to tie forum punishment to all games.
He only mentions PC games also, what about people who have linked their Xbox Live IDs for Skate flash videos, do they lose all EA online functionality on Xbox too?

I think this is a good policy actually. It adds a little responsibility to gamers and internet users. The internet is one place where people think they can get away with anything. This will cause them to think a bit more about their actions before doing or saying something stupid. And it only blocks multiplayer and online content, so there really can be no complaints about it. You could still play the standalone game if you were stupid enough to get banned in the first place.
Though I think criteria on EA's part would be a bit more helpful.

@Slatz_Grobnik: true a license can be revoked, but someone who moderates a forum isn't exactly who i would want in control of my license
does EA not know how forums work? i mean, you're going to get assholes...but suck it up princess....what i say on a forum should NOT dictate my game playing status with said company
what happens if i have a problem and get banned because i made a fuss? i now lose potentially 3-4 games i bought because some dickhead who "donates" their time to a forum decides i'm "out of line"....sorry, but it doesn't work that way, and if it does, i won't buy another EA game....it's just not worth it...i'll be damned if a company tries to tell me how i can or cannot act and take away my "toys" like they are supposed to be my parent

@Sammo21: When did EA ever start getting it's act together? From what I see they never stopped pushing DRM on their consumers. @Ashkihyena: I'm just wondering why Activision are assholes? Seriously, I don't know. Did I miss something?

Yea, we arrived.
You don't own anything anymore. For 49 Euros, you get a limited license to play the game as long as EA likes you.

why would you post something on their forums anyways? o_O
as i understand... you buy a game but you don't "own" it... its more like you rent it but you get to keep it. They still have the rights on the game and they can do whatever they want. Thats why if you screw the game up you can't get another copy... at least that is what their agreement consists off... i wonder when people are gonna start opposing this kind of control that they are setting. EA is trying to monopolize the industry... Its still to be decided whether this is going to be something positive or negative.

@Pandar: It is really frustrating to want something so much and not being able to buy it because the seller's trying to put this shit down your throat. I was expecting EA would drop all this DRM and censorship before Mirror's Edge was released for the PC, but everyday I am more certain that I will simply not play the damned game.
When will EA realize that people are starting to get [scared of/pissed off by] their tactics?

@VinLieger:
User aggrement!!!! I think this is a great idea, I just wish sony would start watching their accounts more and do that same thing,.... IE socom clithers and haters.

All the more reason to pirate EA games and EA games alone.

Hey, no "thanks to MSUSteve"? I submitted a tip for this story yesterday! :-p

Wow, so EA once again reminds us that they are the gaming equivalent of a puppy mill. I already did not like these tards, but this kind of "play nice or we will take ALL your toys away" approach never worked in the past, and won't work here either. "Offensive" is subjective in nature, so unless EA lists out any and all behaviors, in a SPECIFIC fashion, they are asking for trouble. Then again I assume they think they can buy their way out of that too.

@LULCATS:
You might think this does not affect you or even benefit you now, but it's fundamentally wrong that they lock you out of your game for your activity on forums.
Next thing you know they'll ban you for saying stuff they don't like (DRM complaints), and then you'll have to include "EA ROCKS" in all of your posts.

Did we need another reason to not give them money? Well we got one anyway. EA doesn't even remotely resemble what it was 20 years ago when you could count on them to publish a good product and not just make a money grab.

".... so I strongly recommend people play nice and act mature."
HAHAHA good luck with that EA. I wish you a lot of luck.
~19

@Sammo21: Seriously, it kinda seems like EA and Activision are vying for the biggest assholes of the gaming industry award with the crap that they're pulling.

Obviously neither you nor I know exactly what the banned people said, but I assume it wasn't just that they complained but hey complained in the way most people complain on the internet, with derogatory and inflaming remarks. I am certain that if they complained in a reasonable manner (without cursing, inflaming, etc.) they would not have been banned. I am definitely all for sticking up for yourself as a consumer, I think you are right but there are ways to do it without getting banned.@NovaBlack:

Good job, EA. You're just giving the pirates a new reason to not give you money.

That sounds a lot like stealing.

@brent_r: I think most of us are talking about the single player, offline portion of the games. You realize people would be banned from that as well?
And a ToS can be challenged in court, it is not a solid legal document.

I've never visited EA's forums,(and I'm too lazy to read 4 pages of comments to see if this was answered) but can't you make an account specifically for the forums to post with, and another specifically for your games that you never post on the forum with? I have to wonder how much this will affect most gamers.
I do not agree with EA's policy on this though. Cutting you off from game content just to get you to shut up about how bad their policies are is a horrible PR move.

Does this mean they're going to start tying the DRM to specific user accounts instead of specific machines?
Ignoring the whole banning thing for a second, tying the DRM to an account (e.g. like Steam) instead of a machine is at least a step in the right direction.
But Spore's DRM is still tied to machines and not accounts - so I don't understand how they're going to do this (unless they patch the game to make the DRM work differently)

@Vrank92:
So has anyone actually taken a game back because they don't agree with the EULA? Anyone want to try it? Would you get a full refund?

@houser: It's not about me getting banned. It's about what is right. I don't think it matters how annoying a troll is, and I know annoying trolls. I feel like the WoW forums and the game itself is filled with the most annoying and aggresive trolls ever.
However, if you pay $50-$60 dollars for a game, you should not be banned from playing the game. At least not the single player portion. If the multiplayer part is hosted on the companies servers, then yes, you could be banned from that. I understand. However, not the single player game. That will only lead to lawsuits, and bad press.

Well EA has official made it so I will never purchase another one of their titles ever again. The DRM was bad enough, but this really breaks the final straw.

@houser:
I guess the main reason why people get upset about this sort of stuff is because it can be abused. I don't think there's a system that's ever been in place and not been gamed by someone somewhere. There have been plenty of cases of mods on boards taking a dislike to a user and banning them for minor infractions. Having your account linked to your whole EA collection could result in a monetary loss of hundreds of pounds worth of your investment. Who polices EA? Who do you go to when you're banned unreasonably?

If I get locked out from playing a game, I want my money back. How can they lock you out of something you already paid for, anyway? If it's a one-shot payment deal, as I'm pretty sure Spore is...that's just nuts.

That's bullshit. I get that they don't want people to be stupid on their forums, but this is too extreme.

finally! Forum go-ers will have to start acting like decent human beings. all for it!

@houser: It makes perfect sense. We should do that with the forum trolls on WoW. We should do that with the trolls in WoW. We should do that with the annoying people in life, too. We can arrest and throw those people in jail forever. Perfect.

hey EA. ur doing it wrong.

weak.

Oh oh, I hope EA Community Management thought this through otherwise I could see them getting into some serious legal trouble 'cause this smells very fishy.

no way this is legal

Wow. While, I'll be the first to agree that there are total idiots out there who might deserve a ban.. I can easily see a crappy customer service agent using this as leverage to get someone to accept whatever crap they tell them. I've had plenty of poor customer service experiences. I'm sure that if a company had a physical product that they could keep you from- it would be deemed illegal. Gotta love software license.. you own nothing but an agreement that you can use the product.

Well, since I obviously can't say this in the EA forums,

FUCK EA!

We could really use this on Bungie.net. Would get rid of a lot of the trolls and spammers.

sounds about right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So saying something like, "Fuck you EA and your draconian bullshit company, I hope you burn slowly in a tire fire and are subsequently ravaged by 1,000 feral camels for the rest of eternity in the fire pits of hell!" would get me banned in-game too? Thats a shame.

@KirbyMorph: because it's about the principle.

Remember back when you owned the things you bought? Man, those were better times.

I'm all for banning someone from the forums, but taking away their right to play the games they purchased is just wrong.

@zeroknight:
or complain about DRM. Search on kotaku, theres an article about many spore forum users being banned for complaining over drm.

Oh fuck them. Now they're on my shit list.
Ban me from your forums, fine. You don't BAN me from shit I BOUGHT unless you're giving me my money back.
I'm gonna set up dummy accounts to troll their forums.

I might have to support piracy just because of this...

I got dibs on [eacommunity.org]
(well, not really, but someone other than EA should)

@antialias02:
Im sure you are right. No doubt they did. But its all pretty recockulous.

@InfernoT: Do you spam and flame their forums? If not, why should you care?

@LULCATS:

Yeah, either way 9 times out of 10 if you get banned for whatever reason... you deserved it. Im surprised this thread is getting so many comments... it makes complete sense to me, Act like a immature little f&%$er then be treated like one.

Blizzard needs to do this, like 4 years ago.

There goes my RA3 purchase.

Hmmmm? I suppose I need to throughly start reading the EULA's on stuff then huh? Though I'm sure it's only gonna turn me into a more cynical person. Oh Well ignorance ain't bliss.

@roflcopterflightschool: I don't care how much of an ass somebody acts, if they spent $50-$60+ on a new game and they get perm banned for a forum post then that is insane. Sure, ban his forum account all you want, but how could you even think about stopping him from playing a purchased game?

@Staggy: Just because something is in the ToS doesn't mean it is legal. Lot's of illegal stuff happens and can be prosecuted even though someone tries to make provision for it.

So, if they said if you got on their nerves in the forum, they could come slit your throat at night, that makes it legal?

Hahah! Brilliant EA, bungie should do the same to fucktards on their forums

@liquid_kore: DOH! Just realized you DO have a console since you are getting Gears. I thought you were thinking about getting Dead Space for PC.

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.:
This is old news, however I visit the C&C forums dailey and there are a lot of idiots on the forums who flame and spam pointless topics and generally cause misery.
I've only seen a few people get banned from the forums but that is only for very serious violations of the ToS (that I've never seen either). So I don't think this is much to be scared about, generally people who have got banned in the past were not the kind of people you'd want to play the games with anyways, but I can really only speak for the C&C community.

That's pathetic. Who is this person, is he at all important? To me it seems like an irrational rule made up on a whim with no logical grounds simply to strike fear into people. And after quickly checking the link to the forum post, it seems a lot of the members there are your typical "lol first" type of crew, doesn't seem to have any much sense of authority. Makes you wonder if the claim has any weight going for it at all...

@MrFunbun:
you do realise people complaining about spore DRM on the spore forums were banned right?
Hardly what id call being inflammatory or offensive, merely sticking up for your rights as a consumer.

@Sloopydrew: Yea it definitely is bullshit that people should be threatened like this. EA needs to keep their idiot community managers on a leash, even if this isn't true it is killing EA's public image
p.s: If you have a console you should rent Dead Space at least it's kick ass.

Jeez.. EA's like a babysitter who catapults a baby off the roof if it spits up on her.

@Juthan: FUCK EA!! how about that i dont own no games from you anyways.....so i can bad mouth EA all i want buddie

I've had nothing but problems with NHL '09, a game I LOVE to play, when I actually CAN play it without a widespread "disc-read error" freeze.
I've logged many a complaint on EA's forums, as have others, as this is a problem that should have been addressed prior to the game's release, or at least with a post-launch patch.
Yet, nothing has been done, not even acknowledgement by EA.
So, will all of us who complain about a faulty product without a fix be banned as well?
One has to wonder if EA just doesn't like to receive its deserved negative feedback.

@Vectortuff:
no no, its buy a game for $60 bucks, try and get it working due to the crappy DRM, and when you cant activate it, you complain on the forum and THEN get permanantly banned from playing the game lol.

@GTTeancum: A license can still be revoked. That's why it's a license, and not an outright purchase of property.

I smell a lawsuit coming in the future from a banned member. It is bound to happen...

You all better watch it. I was hired by EA to patrol other sites as well to check for people flaming EA. I have been told I can haxor anyone I want if they are badmouthing der fuhre... um, EA!
Also, I was asked to submit to you all, our potential new slogan: EA: ALL YOUR GAMES ARE BELONG TO US!
I dare someone to say that don't like it!

@Vectortuff: @roflcopterflightschool: well your statement there is just wrong. blogs and forums are there to express yourself. and know what i need a daddy to tell me what i can or cant say. because of people like you is that EA is thinking of taking this absurd position. we are gamers and one of the main things that gets us mad is rulesss. we dont like them and never will. maybe you should move to board games and play with old people so that way you are not offending anybody.

*your SPORE account will be banned too.
You'd think a community manager would have good grammar (it being the syntax for communication and everything).

And EA wonder why they have such a big problem with piracy?!

@KillerBee: You fail to realize alot of the current games even require single player to authorize occasionally. If you can't get your game certified through the server every 10 days, you're screwed, even on single player.

@BloggyMcBlogBlog:
And thats the reason you all should download/not buy games from EA! ^^

I am so for this. The forums are part of the game's community and think EA has the right to use this kind of punishment to help maintain the community. Naturally like 343winks said they shouldn't and I'm sure wouldn't ban over something trivial but there are so many stupid, racist and inflammatory comments on the internet I am sick of reading. I love the idea that people can be held accountable and reprimanded heavily for their distasteful remarks.

@Sharkz: Thou dost speak it true.

Why are you people so worried? You've got to do some pretty serious stuff in order to get banned on the forums. If you want "rights" act like an adult and with some maturity and the only thing you'll notice is less racist/spammers in your online multiplayer experience.

Locking people out of games they have bought for doing things the company doesn't like isn't new to EA (if this is true).
You can get banned from mmos for breaking their overbearing Terms of Service as well, even if you have months left in a pre-paid subscription or what have you.
I don't think it's right but it's not really evil EA so much as evil game corporation guys in general.

@GTTeancum: I am almost 100% sure that it only blocks you from the multiplayer component. I've been playing Spore for two weeks without the online component, because I was too lazy to make an EA account. I don't know about Red Alert, but yo can play Spore without being Online.

Well, just when you think EA is getting it's act straight it goes and shove's you right back in the locker. This legal stuff, including DRM, needs to be straightened out quick, or else people like EA and Activision will be calling all of the shots without us having anything to do about (in terms of our purchased product). I can understand being banned from a forum, but from the game itself? Wrong.

This just fills me with hate. I already won't buy EA, but now I won't buy it SO HARD

@VladMalice: I'm sure EA questioned their army of lawyers, too, before making a public announcement.

I question the legality of this.

@Cosmic_Bard: That is, 'should *not* be shocked'...

so basically i buy a game for $60 bucks and still EA can ban me from playing WTF!!!! have you heard of freedom of speech!!! so if the games sucksss ass i can say anything about it. Thank god i don't buy games form this Studio and looks like i aint buying in the future either. I can say whatever the hell i want and if i pay for something and i have the right to say anything about the product i purchased. Corporate Cock Mongrels thats what you are EA!!!

Holy shit, gamegestapo much? Hell, even I'd be tempted to start hacking the EA forum accounts of my enemies and start getting them in trouble, it's that obvious an idea. For all the horror and asinine content this post entails, none of us should be shocked in the least that EA would stoop to something like this. They know they have all the cards and can treat their customers like shit and still get away with it. I guess the only real solution is to stop buying EA. I'll be the first to snap my discs in half if you're with me. :P

@GTTeancum: A license isn't a blank check to play a game. If you break the license agreement, your rights go out the window. EA may be ruthless but it isn't stupid: they wouldn't be doing this if their lawyers didn't already give it a shiny gold seal of approval.

@VinLieger: Do you actually read the TOS and EULA or do you scroll to the bottom as quickly as possible and click agree?
100% of EULA and TOS include wording that states (in a nutshell) that they can cut off your access to servers at any time or shut the servers off altogether. These games have single player components that will not prevent you from ever playing the game again, you simply won't play with others.
So lose the "legality" argument, because you lost that argument when you installed the game.
Bottom line, don't be a douchebag, cheat or hack and you'll be great.

If they really implement this the way it is posted, I think their DRM blowback will be a calm ocean to the tsunami ahead for EA...

Wow, that is fucked up beyond words.

@SLiFE:
yep. And lets not pretend ea are doing it for any other veiled reason.
Its ridiculous. I mean they could make it less obvious,DRM complaints skyrocket, and this happens.. wow.. hiding your motives well EA.

@liquid_kore:
I think some of us are just getting sick of the constant threats and bullying behavior.

1. EA does something stupid
2. Everyone Complains
3. EA ignores everyone
4. People still buy the games
5. ???
6. Profit
Rinse and repeat

@Sweetsauce: good example.

So while I've been looking forward to playing Red Alert 3, this helps me make up my mind. I will not be buying the game. I still can't wait to play it, and I will.

@Derangel: Couldn't one argue that since you cannot see the EULA until you install the disk, and that since once the disk is opened you cannot return it for a refund, that you should at least be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price since you were only informed of what the licensing agreement was after you had purchased the game? If not, i REALLY hope you could, that seems sleezy as all hell... I'm really starting to get pissed at EA now...

They just want people to steal their games....

well im sure this will be a new negative point to mention on all the 1 star reviews for their games
(75 1* reviews on amazon.co.uk already for RA3).
Cant complain on the forum if it doesnt work, cos theyll ban you and deactivate it so it DEFINITELY wont work .

oh well, the more I hear of them being dicks, the less games I will buy from them, why? cause I don't trust EA.

@BloggyMcBlogBlog: Just another reason why EA sucks ass.
Fixed?

EA = Dictators of gaming

It does seem harsh but lately, I only seem to enjoy message boards and forums with Draconian policies of conduct.
So on one side I think it's horrible and sets a poor precident.. however, on the other side of the coin, people online are very out of hand and maybe we need a somewhat fascist shove the other way (just for a little bit) just so everybody can relearn some civility.

@uppitycracker: That would depend on the DRM. You might not be able to access the single palyer legally if they freeze the account you use to authenticate the game with.

Jeeze how quickly everyone forgets. Pretty sure this will end in the same way the Spore threat did.
[kotaku.com]

Okay. That does it. I will never buy an EA game new again. Used purchases that don't make the company a dime or rentals for me (too bad for EA, as Dead Space was going to be my next purchase after Gears of War 2). I tend not to misbehave in forums, but what EA is doing is ludicrous.

@VinLieger: I don't blame them for wanting to get rid of immature assholes that like to do nothing but yell about the exact opposite of everything.

@VinLieger:
... but the fact is that license is still purchased. That gives you free right to play said game as you own a single license to it. What it sounds like they're doing would be akin to Microsoft locking you entirely out of your Xbox 360 if you're banned from Live. Hopefully like you said before and it just locks out multiplayer and updates.

this is bad -- that is way overkill, and will get out of hand.
i mean lets say you go to the forum to complain about a bug, and to let people know about it -- how do we know that won't warrant getting banned.. or if a mod doesn't like you.
what a load of ass tbh; further proof that EA are sh!t

All this means is you'll have to use another account to bitch about stuff. That way if it gets banned no loss!

EULA's have a mixed record of holding up in court. In addition if enough people to them to small claims on the matter they would be throwing away millions of dollars to moderate their forums, which would be ridiculous.
If there customer service was better maybe the forums would clean themselves up?

Wow, just wow EA, just when I think you're moving away from Activision's spot as the most evil game company, you go and try to take that position back.

oh the funny thing..
better not go on to the EA forums to complain about this.
You may get your games banned.
Totally illustrates the unfairness.

@SNK-Jorge: That's never happened to you? Or at least you've never heard of that?
To quote a future Darklord of the Sith:
"Are you an angel?"
But I do agree with your point, though it would be more akin to having everything you own get tossed out cause you acted up. I guess be on good behavior. If everyone else is, it should be a lot harder to get caught up in the moment and type something you'll regret.
I guess my point is, even without having the standards spelled out, what do y'all plan on DOING on those boards that will get you permabanned from all your games? Be civil, don't troll, and think before you type. It would be how most of you would act with nominal strangers in real life if you aren't a d-bag, so why is it suddenly such an onerous proposition?

The funny thing is EA is doing this to their fans (who would post on EA forums anyway?) instead of their haters. But that's what you get by signing a contract with the devil (by buying their games).

I wonder if the moves in games toward "moral choices have game consequences" and this sort of crackdown are both a response to the way anonomity breeds bad behavior online? Either turns off customers, you know, something probably EA takes very seriously indeed.

@VinLieger:

I really don't think that this guy has the power to do this.

Hes the C&C community manager, so if they do ban someone, then their account is shut down, if the person contacts EA, I promise that they will have their account up and running again in minutes.

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.:
Actually, because you do not negotiate with EA over the ToS they have a lot less weight than most contracts. My understanding is that such a contract as this would not be enough to prevent a lawsuit. However, I Am Not a Lawyer

@roflcopterflightschool: Whaaaaaa your inflamatory words have hurt my feeeelings. Whaaaaaa someone please police these nasty words for me, i can't handle it. Whaaaaaaa. I need someone to censor things for me so i don't have to look at them. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Well, it's a good thing I haven't bought anything published by EA since Shaq Fu.

@spock11384: A community manager already threatened this when Spore came out and was smacked down by EA. It really is just some moron thinking they have more power than they do.
[kotaku.com]

Well I'll just never go to their Forum now so I won't have to worry. Thats Really lame though.

what???
you CANNOT ban some1 from all their games tied to an account for 'misbehaving' on a forum.
today 'misbehaving' means flaming,
but tomorrow? What happens if you complain about DRM? I mean, if thats 'disruptive' couldnt they technically ban you for that?
If anyone thinks its acceptable, you are plain mad. It cannot possibly be legal. Yes it can be in the EULA, but that doesnt make it law. In the uk we have the Unfair contract Terms Act, to protect consumers from this sort of thing.
Oh and it isnt a coincidence that 'misbehaving' (aka complaining) has increased recently due to the stupid DRM polices used by EA, and that this now gets announced. Its merely an attempt to stop people publically outing their frustrations.
Anyone who has read George Orwell's animal farm will see a mad similarity here, and that story didnt end well.

@VinLieger: Considering EA owns the games and you only purchase a limited use license when paying for it, its perfectly legal.

It's shitty...really shitty...but I'm sure it's also perfectly legal if you read the fine print in their EULA.
But regardless of what their "ten high-priced lawyers" accomplished in tying their online forums and games together, I'm in automatic disagreement with any policy that fucks with a gamer's cash and the product they rightfully purchased.
(That being said, I'd like to know how well modded the EA forums are. If it's anything like GameFAQs where the mods are perfectly content to sit on their hands and let the boards turn into the anus of the internet...well then no one has the right to penalize you for doing their job for them.)

@Asbestos_Underwear: Eh I've been on heavily modded boards before. It just makes everyone civil and maintain a more dignified tone overall.

And back up their isht rather than talking out their asses safely behind the anonymity of the internet. Overall a better experience.

So much for free speech huh.

"its a lot harder to get a new serial key =)"

Yet another bold move in EA's Convince Everyone To Pirate Our Games strategy.

Up next: John Riccitiello will personally drive to your house and slap your mother if you buy one of their titles.

See this is why I dont like EA to much (even know half of my games are from EA) but I bet lots of people will get banned accidentally or for something they didnt do because EA is that evil....If I ever got banned from my game for whatever reason I would have to bomb some stuff haha..
NO TV AND NO VIDEO GAMES MAKES BODABO GO......."crazy??"

DONT MIND IF I DO!! JAHGDJHABKJDHBJAHBGDHSADJHSKHD

EA SUX.
*~*

Dammit EA, you're just taking every step possible to make me not buy RA3, aren't you? Which is pretty damned impressive since I still love and play 2.

DRM complaints = banhammer?

Check the legalese in your ToS.
Online games especially, your account is technically a "service" they provide and they've reserved the right to suspend or end it at anytime.

This is why I never liked EA much. They do stupid stuff like this. Forum is one thing, but locking someone out of a game? Come on. They bought the game from you. I understand if someone cheated in the game or hacked it, but from a forum post? This could put their post in the forum to a stand still because people would be too afraid to post from getting banned.
Okay EA, but you better make banning issues really high because just about everyone flames in a forum. They must do something REALLY bad for that to happen.

Shorter EA: PIRATE OUR GAMES!!!

This is ridiculous. I understand banning someone from the site, possibly even from playing online with a specific title, but banning you from playing any EA game is just absurd. It is even sillier seeing as they can't tell you straight out what is going to upset them and it is at the forum moderators discretion whom they choose to ban. It is akin to having a parent buy you a gift, and taking it from you when you act up. EA better re-think this bologna.

Just another reason why DRM sucks ass.

Haha, nice. Hopefully this means there will be a smaller chance I'll encounter trolls in my online gaming.

What a way to create a white wash community. It doubt it will work though. Give it a few weeks and the credibility of opinions expressed in that forum will be considered to have the same weight than movie reviews in the Burger King magazine.
I doubt that that's an expressed goal.

Sadly, they can do (almost) whatever they want. Bury it in the fine print, keep some good lawyers on retainer, and they're good to go.

@VinLieger: As much as those like you an I who are appalled over something has extreme as this, they probably have enough bullshit strewn through their End User Agreement and ToS to make any kind of legal action completely inert.

@prizm: ToS. I mean, has anyone actually read that stuff? Who knows what horrors lurk within its depths?

I can not see this being legal. To lock you out of a PURCHASED item....seems impossible. Maybe banning you from the online side, ok, but normal play, dont think so.

Classic EA.

I'm for this, forums almost anywhere can get out of control for no reason. This will get gamers where it hurts, their games and hopefully make them think before they type their next inflamatory comment.

What are they the Church? I know there are a lot of jackarses around but to impose moralities on a game that you PURCHASED is not right.

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: Pretty sure their forums are just full of people complaining about random issues.
No loss.

@VinLieger: i'm sure its all covered in their Terms of Use and EULA. i mean, i would think you'd still have access to the game, just not the multiplayer with that account, but either way its EA, i'm sure they've covered any tracks

So the mods at the EA forums are losing control and resorting to ridiculous last ditch means in an attempt to regain control? Lame. Very lame. I would like to see some examples of posts that are ban worthy, just so I can gauge for myself how egregious these offenses are.
Pansies.

plain ridiculous.

@VinLieger: By not being a d-bag.

I doubt that this will stick. What are they the Chinese government? You say something controversial and they lock you up forever. This can't be legal in any sense of the word.

Theres gotta be some sort of illegality in this somewhere. If you rightfully purchase a game how can they legally stop you from playing it?

Overall this will hurt their forum in activity (I've never been anyway) but less flaming and spamming?