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Rumortoid: EA to ban you from games for message board conduct? photo

Here's a curious one for you. There is a fresh new rumor circulating the Innernetz concerning Electronic Arts and a new policy that allows them to ban you from their videogames if they ban you from their forums.

A quote allegedly attributed to Command & Conquer community manager Aaron Kaufman states that forum accounts are being directly tied to Master EA accounts, which would mean that if you were banned from the publisher's message board for whatever reason, the blacklisting would automatically extend to your online game access. 

In other words, message board trolls would have to play the likes of Spore and Red Alert 3 all alone.

If true, this is very harsh and I don't know what to make of it. On the one hand, it's always fun to give a forum troll his comeuppance, but on the other, EA provides no details on what is a bannable offense, and I just can't see banning someone from a game they bought, even if they acted like a moron on the Internet, to be all that fair.

We'll have to wait for an official confirmation, but in the meantime, I'd advise C&C fans to not be dicks. Just in case.


Continue: More rumors stories





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27 comments | showing # 1 to 27

lyfeforce's Avatar
lyfeforce at 10/30/2008 13:03
That sounds like a million butthurt lawsuits waiting to happen.
pendelton21's Avatar
pendelton21 at 10/30/2008 13:06
Im as on the fence as you are, Jim. Trolls deserve punishment, but is this the right kinds of punishment?
pedrovay2003's Avatar
pedrovay2003 at 10/30/2008 13:10
As long as the offense was severe enough, I think this is a fine idea.
casualweaponry's Avatar
casualweaponry at 10/30/2008 13:13
Its out of line. I see EA going crazy with the banhammer after Madden 2009's release; that series always has problems.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 10/30/2008 13:23
Good, maybe it will make people act less like trolls
Kyosji's Avatar
Kyosji at 10/30/2008 13:23
If this is true, and it's tied to all banning. that's sad. EA is full of anal moderators. They banned me for talking about a non EA game and comparing it to Dark Age of Camelot. I found it hilarious since I am a huge fan of DAoC and continued to play it even after EA purchased it with Mythic, and yet they still banned me for even comparing it to another game just because it wasn't EA
Kyosji's Avatar
Kyosji at 10/30/2008 13:24
BTW, I was in favor of DAoC on that particular topic, and that account is still banned to this day.
Lightthrower's Avatar
Lightthrower at 10/30/2008 13:28
Also we need to remember that they banned users who were compaining about the DRM issues of Spore (which is really a situation to complain about!), so it's pretty much like a fascist regime.
Kyosji's Avatar
Kyosji at 10/30/2008 13:30
All worship the EA Empire, or prepare to be cleansed!
Clbull's Avatar
Clbull at 10/30/2008 13:33
So this rumour is that EA are banning game and forum accounts for breaking rules on the message boards. If thats the case for anyone complaining about the DRM in Spore (and now Command and Conquer Red Alert 3), then thats just awful.

EA shouldn't have placed DRM in their games in the first place. It actually punishes the people who buy the game quite a bit.
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 10/30/2008 13:38
I think I've actually heard of this happening already with BF2142.
UglyDuck's Avatar
UglyDuck at 10/30/2008 13:44
I'd just like to remind anyone on the fence that, if EA so intended, they could ban you for literally anything - slander, opinions, rumours, questionable claims, anything. They could cost you hundreds of dollars if they didn't like what you said.

Personal example; A long time ago, I got banned from the Ubi forums for requesting to have a friend unbanned (who himself was banned for disagreeing with a moderator on the topic of religion). If that meant I couldn't play any Ubi games, I would be unable to play dozens of games.

You wouldn't have to be a troll to get burned by this. But we'll see.
mispelt's Avatar
mispelt at 10/30/2008 13:56
Future Headline: Microsoft adopts EA's online policy, LIVE ceases to be
Ninjasnake's Avatar
Ninjasnake at 10/30/2008 14:02
It's not like I play any pc EA games anyway. The disaster that is spore has likely ruined my opinion in all of their future pc outings.
F Whipple's Avatar
F Whipple at 10/30/2008 14:02
Resistance is futile
OutrageousToob's Avatar
OutrageousToob at 10/30/2008 14:14
GOD DAMMIT! I knew it would come to this... This is why I will NEVER buy a game that requires any sort of online activation or company-server-side-DRM. I'd stop gaming before I'd give these chimps the control they want.

I wanted to buy Spore, but I'm glad now I didn't. I don't think EA deserves my money, I don't think the developers that choose to work for this scumbag company deserve my money either.

The fact that they can do something like this (because people STILL for some reason buy their DRM ridden garbage), and take control from their end, is a good indicator as to where this once awesome industry is headed.
PhazonYoshi's Avatar
PhazonYoshi at 10/30/2008 14:26
Solution: Don't post on the EA forums.

Solved.
TewDee's Avatar
TewDee at 10/30/2008 14:45
I can't think of a reason to go to the EA forums anyway. My head may explode from the rage it would induce.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 10/30/2008 14:55
I hate trolling too, but this is inappropriate. People should be entitled to the full list of features that the game that they own contains. Their conduct on a message board should have no bearing.
falinter's Avatar
falinter at 10/30/2008 15:18
@Sharpless

this is just going to prove that we don't buy games anymore we buy the privilege to play a game and they can take it away with out refund whenever they want.
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 10/30/2008 15:59
That's completely idiotic. Banning people from playing single player games? Since when has a forum ban not been enough. This has to be illegal somehow.
Sam Spectre's Avatar
Sam Spectre at 10/30/2008 16:09
I can understand banning someone for tampering with a game but for bad conduct on an internet forum? That's kind of ridiculous.
episodic's Avatar
episodic at 10/30/2008 16:24
Does ban by IP not work now? Are moderators that lazy that they can't keep a check on banning trolls?

This is absolute rubbish. What's the next step EA?
Syn's Avatar
Syn at 10/30/2008 16:43
What a bunch of whiny little pansies. They sound like a 5 year old who had his Wheaties pissed in.

Go ahead and fuckin' do it then you little bitches, and as soon as you alienate your whole fucking consumer base what are you gonna do? Beg and plead? Aside from that being very enjoyable you're just burning yourself.

They're a bunch of asses...
...and they're dumb...

...they're.....DUMBASSES
mix's Avatar
mix at 10/30/2008 17:16
Wow, totally awesome!

The only upside is that people who post garbage on the sites and swear are mostly the ones to be annoying in game...
neveranything's Avatar
neveranything at 10/30/2008 17:18
How is anyone surprised by this? This is coming from EA, the champions of the business model of raping you in the ass with a four foot wide rusty pipe and telling you to enjoy it because EA loves us enough to do it.
Too Much Coffee Man's Avatar
Too Much Coffee Man at 10/31/2008 11:13
The part of this that's most disturbing is they don't list what entails a bannable offense.

So, it being wholly up to their discretion, if someone politely brought up a legitimate grievance with an EA product and it started to become a popular issue for more of the members on an EA board; what's to stop EA from banning that person's accounts in spite, & claiming they gave due warning?

Banning trolls yes, banning anybody who doesn't portray EA as a shining beacon of gaming & embrace PC breaking DRM w/ open arms no.
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Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

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