User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

With all the hype there was for Dragon Age 2, things have been awfully quiet since people picked up the game on Tuesday. Consensus seems to be its a tad disappointing and streamlining it a la Mass Effect 2 wasn't such a great idea. That along with making good/evil choices a matter of political correctness.

At any rate, a fan on the Bioware forums made a criticism of Bioware before launch and basically asked if Bioware had sold their souls to the devil (EA). The post now can't be seen because Bioware deleted it. He had pre-ordered and picked up his game this week - but it won't boot up because EA banned his EA account and everything connected to it.

You know, that whole silly song and dance EA puts you through to access DLC in the first place? Turns out its more than some arbitrary hoop for you to jump through, its can also be used for damage control.

Choose Language | BioWare Social Network

At the end of the post - Stanly Woo of Bioware makes this post:

Please review the EA Community Terms of Service, particularly sections #9 and #11. There are two levels of enforcement here:

1. BioWare community bans are forum-only and can be for as little as 24 hours. These bans should have no effect on your game, only your ability to use all the features of this website/community. these bans are handed out by BioWare Moderators as the result of our travels around the forum and/or issues reported by fellow community members.

2. EA Community bans come down from a different department and are the result of someone hitting the REPORT POST button. These bans can affect access to your game and/or DLC.

Because the BioWare community now operates under the same umbrella as all EA Communities, community members here have all explicitly agreed to abide by and be governed by both sets of rules. Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow.

If there are further questions or concerns, please send them to me via private message. Thank you.

End of line.

In other words, blame us for your forum ban, but blame EA for banning you from the content you paid for. But even if this dude said something that unforgivable - I fail to see how that justifies denying him access to the content he's paid for.

I've seen some rather... unsavory user reviews made of DA2 on Metacritic. Granted, trolling on big releases can be a thing over there, but I guess people have to say it somewhere lest they issue such comments under EA's forums.

I think I'll be sticking with my plans to pick up games like this when the expansion roll-ups are in the used bins. This is just shitty.

[cidbahamut]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

One more reason to not give EA any of my money. That's fucking absurd, blocking someone out of a single-player game they've already paid for.

[Raydeus]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Well, there goes Bioware.

I was very dissapointed at how they handled ME2 (very Matrix Revolutions for my taste) and now this? And that's not even mentioning how freaking retarded moderation is in the TOR forums....

Yeah, I think I'll be skipping BW games for a long time or like BBQ until they go for like 5 bucks on Steam with full DLCs.


Either way I'm staying clear of any EA games from now on.



PS > Stanly Woo can go f*** himself. One thing is to ban someone from a public forum, another very different is to ban someone from playing a single player game they've already paid for.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Here's some more fun.

EA sneaks SecuROM DRM onto Dragon Age II disc- Destructoid

This was a little something EA promised to stop using after a certain lawsuit as it installs Sony's infamous malware onto your PC, back around the time after The Sims 2. Now its back.

Bioware continues to insist SecuRom is not on the retail PC disc, though mounting evidence is proving otherwise.

SecuRom is not on the Steam version.

Oh, and this stuff I've posted - that's just the PR issues the game is facing. There's a whole lot of other problems with the game.

[DakAttack]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

I'm having a blast with the game, I can't imagine what all the fuss is about. Poor voice acting? It's been awesome, so far. Can only play as human? That's the point. Poor graphics? Are you fucking kidding me? They're gorgeous. Way too many people are expecting what they want, rather than what Bioware is actually developing, and they've got some twisted vision of what "hardcore" RPGs are and that this game should have somehow complied with them. All these complaints are issues Bioware has been addressing since the game's first article, long before its release.

As for EA, they're just as bad as Activision. Souless, greedy idiots who are fine running franchises into the ground at even the slightest scent of profit.

[Aksannyi]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

The post now can't be seen because Bioware deleted it.

Oh, but it was screencapped. Saw it on BG this morning.

Huge ass image

[Tickmeoff]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Awesome, I don't actually buy any EA games anyway. Actually, I don't buy BioWare games either. I've tried them all and found them quite boring.

This is also exactly why I rarely buy anything on Steam, even the shit that is on sale for less than $5. One fuck up and they can ban my shit and I lose access to all of those games I legally paid for. Fuck all that noise.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

I'm having a blast with the game, I can't imagine what all the fuss is about. Poor voice acting? It's been awesome, so far. Can only play as human? That's the point. Poor graphics? Are you fucking kidding me? They're gorgeous. Way too many people are expecting what they want, rather than what Bioware is actually developing, and they've got some twisted vision of what "hardcore" RPGs are and that this game should have somehow complied with them. All these complaints are issues Bioware has been addressing since the game's first article, long before its release.

I think they expected a game better than Dragon Age: Origins, but got one that was worse than Jade Empire.

[Malacite]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Wow, that is a whole new level of bullshit right there. I wonder if you could make a 1st amendment rights argument? I'd love to see EA sued over this.

I'm still very much looking forward to Battlefield 3, but I'm really getting sick of these asshat corporations. Gonna rent BF3 1st for sure, then consider picking it up. After the fiasco that was Black Ops I'm loathe to buy any shooters without trying them 1st.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Wow, that is a whole new level of bullshit right there. I wonder if you could make a 1st amendment rights argument? I'd love to see EA sued over this.

Fourms and the servers they're hosted on are considered private property. On private property you can be asked to leave for whatever reason the property owner wants. If PiNG nukes you because he's having a bad day - not that he would, just an example - he's within his rights to do so.

Remotely blocking you from content you've paid for, though, is totally questionable.

Put it this way: If you come in and display destructive and threatening behavior at a GameStop, the manager is within his rights to call the police and Gamestop can have you legally barred from walking on their properties again.

What Gamestop can't do is come into your home and make all your games unplayable for that incident you caused. They can legally tell you not to come back and prosecute if you did. That' sit.

I'm still very much looking forward to Battlefield 3, but I'm really getting sick of these asshat corporations. Gonna rent BF3 1st for sure, then consider picking it up. After the fiasco that was Black Ops I'm loathe to buy any shooters without trying them 1st.

Or you could just support Homefront and Brink instead.

Goldeneye was my first and last Activision game for years to come. I've seen the shit that Infinity Ward and Treyarch have turned the genre into online (Eurocom did a fine job themselves, but ironsights and stat boosters just don't belong here), I don't need a refresher. Doesn't matter to me that they have Bungie, MS has only had ten years to study how to continue Halo.

EA and Activision really don't publish anything that I much want or need. There are plenty of publishers and developers under those publishers that make games I like.

[Malacite]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Or you could just support Homefront and Brink instead.

Homefront is retarded, don't know what Brink is, and I happen to really like DICE. It's kinda the same boat I'm in with Activision - _ - I love Blizzard's games, but I hate Kotick oh so much. Bit of a paradox.

---------- Post added at 05:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

Doesn't matter to me that they have Bungie, MS has only had ten years to study how to continue Halo.

Eh Reach isn't really all that impressive anyway. Fun, but a let down on many fronts and lately the game's just been pissing me off tbh.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Homefront is retarded, don't know what Brink is, and I happen to really like DICE. It's kinda the same boat I'm in with Activision - _ - I love Blizzard's games, but I hate Kotick oh so much. Bit of a paradox.

Some people want to believe in their heart of hearts that a certain publisher owning a developer doesn't affect what the developer does.

I disagree.

The Bioware that has existed under EA is not the Bioware that made Baulder's Gate or Knights of the Old Republic. This Bioware guts content to meet deadlines and repackages it untested as "free DLC" or to sell it, leaving all kinds of bugs in it. This Bioware doesn't believe in consumer choice and has served as EA's mouthpiece on how the DLC is handled. They are very much an EA company to me now.

And DA2 has about as much meaningful choice in it as every JRPG Zechuck has ever ripped on. Good or Evil responses - doesn't matter, same outcome. Even the two endings are like 90% the same.

You can't even offend your allies anymore. I actually respected the idea that a certain decision might lose you a key player it was Bioware's style for years to do that. Now choices don't have consequences. We now have political correctness in dark fantasy.

[Raydeus]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

Fortunately the original Mass Effect (and a big chunk of Origins) was developed before EA.

[Malacite]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

While that's certainly valid with regards to Bioware, it's not the case across the board.


Blizzard may not have all the same people it did before, but Star Craft 2 is still an excellent product with everything you'd expect. Fact is, even though they're owned by Activision, they're pretty much free to do as they damn well please. Which I guess proves that Kotick isn't completely out of his mind, just seriously evil.

Same deal with DICE. I'm not a big fan of EA, but I love DICE and Visceral Games' works. I have no idea how Bungie will perform under Activision's supervision, nor the former top talent of Infinity Ward (now Respawn Entertainment) under EA but as long as they pump out quality stuff I'll buy.

I'll just keep my reservations about DLC firm. And so far, EA's actually been very good about DLC (if not so good in various other areas @_@)

You can't win 'em all man. Gotta pick your battles, and I choose not to lose out on the fun (within reason).

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: User criticizes Bioware, EA bans his access to Dragon Age 2

In my mind, if you're not going to do DLC how Borderlands, GTA IV, RDR, VC/VC2 and Dead Rising 2 have done it - its not worth doing.

Seems like SE is starting to think like Capcom with "prologue" content, while Rockstar likes to do expansion content as stand-alone products, which is also a good way to go about it. Some people think Lost and Damned/Ballad of Gay Tony is better than GTA IV's original campaign.

Meanwhile Borderlands and Valkyria Chronicles just periodically release substantial content. In Sega's case some of that is used as pre-order bonus fodder since it was done in Japan long before US release, but it is one way to go about it and its not rushed or buggy.

The "Day One" DLC, however, is a shitty model and needs to be abandoned. People are starting to see the problems with it and how its really just adding back content to what should have been in the retail release.

I do blame MS largely for this sort of behavior as they were the ones pushing developers to have DLC for the XBL marketplace as a requirement for a while rather than an option early on with 360. Now that we've seen how developers responded to that expectation and we've had enough evidence to know things like Severed could and Hardcore mode could have fucking been in Dead Space 2 anyway - its time to expect developers to shape up and cut the crap.