Forum Ban Locks Player Out Of Dragon Age 2

Does it make sense that they can stop you from playing a game you purchased based on something you said on a blog/forum? That cant be something allowed, in other words we took your money for a product and because "somebody" hits a button you arnt allowed to play it. Would they be able to stop you from playing a game perminately.

I was considering purchasing this game and think I now will not. I cant support a company that would take your money and then stop you for using there product because of something you said. If that were common practice Microsoft would have broken into my house and taken my XBOX360 for all the crap i said when i got my RROD

Well, how lovely of EA to take your money then not "allow" you to use what you bought. While the Orwellian lack of free speech on their website is onerous at best, the deniel of the use of the purchased product is matter that should be taken up in a civil court of law. If i was this user I would demand an instant refund or litigate. Again, not because EA banned him from the website but because they denied the use of a paid for product. IMHO.

The new news is that DA2 also installs SecuROM and sure as shit I checked and it did....."https://support.securom.com/removaltool.html"

Let me add i don't care for friolous lawsuits by any means but EA is not God, or the PC police. A precendant could be set here as to how far a corporation can go in these kinds of matters. For the better or worse.

wow. The forums I sorta get. But to lock him out of a game he purchased seems completely ridiculous to me.

speech is free. consequences can be costly.

The "partnering" of big government and big corporations is a dark and "liberty free" future. For our good of course.

LULZ...they spent money on the game and STILL got banned.....Fat old man, "You shouldn't pirate games kids"...Kids, "why rich old fat man?". Fat old man, "well for one jesus can see you do it and 2 you can get 'teh banz hamber'"....Kids, "well you just banned those kids and they bought the game, so I'll keep my 60 bucks and risk the ban".

Clever girl....

This is why I now rarely purchase games (pc or 360)...only ones where it comes out that this BS isn't applicable. Every generation of product we lose more and more control. Back in the days when just CD keys and 'can't have the same CD key online in two places' were common, things weren't quite so bad. The line was crossed a long time ago; not only with all the BS new restrictions and controls, but also with the increase of 'general whoring' of the customer. That abomination of an X360 port called COD5 comes to mind.

Ironic what they are doing to smother the flames will only fan it.

It would seem that the dark future Hollywood has portrayed for decades where the corporations and not the government run the country are about to be upon us. With console companies denying you the right to mod/hack the machine you paid good money for and now software companies being able to prevent you from playing the game you paid money for a dark future is indeed upon us. Imagine a year from now MS de-activating all of your MS software because you posted somewhere that MS is the Devil trying to devour your soul. (Which of course they are.)

I hope that the people rise up and work hard to keep this from happening. Unfortunately politics is funded by big business and not by the people and money always wins.

1 less game I'd try or purchase. If that company is so sensitive to that sort of criticism they should make it very cheap in first place.

Another thing is that several gaming companies especially in the MMO niche set absurd and clearly abusive/unlegit contract clauses. Or perhaps it's time to teach Law to teenagers, I wonder...

That is as nonsensical as it could be. It is like you are not allowed to eat your cake because you broke a traffic rule. Commenting in forums and getting banned from playing the game purchased legally? So if they can't get the pirates, they will bully their own customers. Wow. Just wow.

That's it, I am pirating this game. I could see if this was an oversight but the fact that they defend this as a community rule? Hell no.

EA sucks. They don't patch their games. they treat their employees horribly. They just suck.

I'll never buy one of their games again, I know that much. This just reiterates that.

This guy should sue EA. Wasn't there a court case in which a judge determines that physical copies of software (licenses) could not be controlled by the software maker? In other words, we can sell our licenses. We can make digital copies of them for safekeeping (even though Terms & Conditions prevent it)?

Can a software company revoke your license to use the software after you've already purchased, now own, and installed that software? I can see preventing you from logging into an MMO which requires you have access to their servers. But a game that runs in a single player mode on your own PC? That's ridiculous and overreaching if you ask me.

This is why I don't buy ANYTHING related to EA, even if the developer is Bioware. Screw you EA.

Oh and so much for paying legitimately for a game and STILL getting banned from it just because they don't like your sarcastic comment. Are they going to start locking you out for off topic posts next?

What's interesting, is that with the vanilla install I have no issues. Once I downloaded and installed the "High Resolution Textures" update it always pops up and fails to read the DVD in my drive on the FIRST attempt. Every single time. If I hit retry it always works.

Doesn't happen on my wife's PC which does NOT have the High Res Texture update. And again, no problem until I installed the update. It's quite annoying, because the game opens and gets to the main menu before it pops up to tell me it couldn't read or validate the DVD.

This remember me, that I got banned by toms hardware forums .. because I used a bad word to exprees my emotion about the hd 6990 on its review. I was kinda shocked but I lernt -.-"

...and this is why I don't buy any games with any form of DRM whatsoever. I paid for it, and come hell or high water, or lack of internet connection, I'm going to use it. If I have it physically installed on my PC and have a legal copy of the data, then you have no right to control or limit the operation of my machine in any way, shape, or form.

I used to respect EA. No longer.

Good way to piss off a customer who pays your salary.I would fight back and cancel my subscription.

You don't have any rights to free speech on someone else's forum, you abide by their terms and conditions. I find it bizarre and unreasonable that they locked him out of his game which he purchased, though. There is probably something in the EULA that highlights this so I doubt he can do anything about it.

If it were me, I'd demand a refund and threaten a lawsuit. Hell, I might skip the threatening and go straight to suing. Is going 72 hours without playing worth paying the lawyers? No, but EA's games have gone too far. Setting an example would be worth paying the lawyers.

And to think I was going to pick this game up tomorrow... Not anymore.

I love how these companies continue to screw over and piss off their legitimate customers in a vain attempt to stomp out the pirates.

I originally purchased DA on disc and bought DA:Unlimited off steam when it was on sale (for less than I would have paid to get Awakenings/DLC added to my original disc copy). I've had to edit a stupid xml file in order to get access to Awakenings and I've had to run their validator half a dozen times because my DLC keeps losing 'authorization' randomly (making it so I couldn't access my save file). It really ticks me off because I enjoy the game (it has some pretty good 'Nintendo Hard' moments) and I've loved all the bioware titles (NWN and Jade Empire still hold places near and dear to my heart) but this anti-pirate nonsense since EA got involved is really starting to affect my gameplay directly.

I have to admit, my recent experiences with DA:U have actually caused me to NOT buy a game, purely because of the DRM nonsense involved with the title. Maybe once EA decides to not punish it's legitimate customers I'll pick up the game. Until then, I have plenty of titles in my Steam library to pass the time.

Well he just proved a point,... they are the devil

clearly he was making a direct attack on their religion, EA is not the devil, they merely serve him

Does it state anywhere in the EULA that public criticism of the developer or the publisher is against the terms of use? I don't think so.

http://www.bluesnews.com/s/119629/ [...] ban-lifted

Code Red over at BioWare!

another reason to go pirate !!!!ARGHHHH

I was going to purchase this game before I read this, now I'm not. I'll not support a company that will bully it customer's over what it perceives as a bad post. I think I'll not be buying any more EA games in the future either until they stop this policy. Just remember they need us we don't need them.

That was exactly by the rules and you are all wrong
I just informed about you to EA. All your games belong to us.