The Like/Hate Thread

[Kaden]

I guess that's not bad but

It still sets an ugly precedent.

I agree.

[Sigfried Hunin]

As far as I understand it he cannot play the games ever now. He paid for them and cannot play them.

[Belle Hibiki]

IF that's true, then that's total bullshit.

Hell, it's still bullshit even if it's just 72 hours.

Regardless, it makes me wonder what's going to happen if TOR fails to live up to its expectations. Are they just going to ban anyone that talks shit about it?

Forums are generally full of whiners, yes, but it's still your game's community, and it does raise valid concerns amongst some of its horseshit.

A 'no negativity' rule is pretty bad. I can't think of any online game that's strong-armed its community into obsequiousness that hasn't gone down in flames. It's like if someone on the Titanic was trying to point out that you're heading for an ice berg, and the captain had him thrown overboard for being a party pooper. Then everyone congratulates each other on what a fine job they did as the ship sinks.

But a forum ban leading to you losing access to your BioWare games? That's even more severe. Who's going to speak out about a game's flaws, even if it's well intentioned, if they risk a ban like that? No one. And it creates a toxic community.

Now, I'm willing to bet that this is just the work of an overloaded, exasperated mod that took shit one step too far. I would expect his shit to get restored, or for a banning to only happen in extreme cases ("you guys are fucking faggots you ruined this game you pieces of shit im gonna kill your kids"), not reasonable feedback ("Play experiences seems flawed, because of reasons x y and z, here are the causes behind them and some solutions").

Still. What the Hell.

[Jonathan Meer]

" How many fingers am I holding up, Winston ? "

" Four. "

" And if the party says that it is not four but five - then how many ? "

" Four. "

The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five. The sweat had sprung out all over Winston's body. The air tore into his lungs and issued again in deep groans which even by clenching his teeth he could not stop. O'Brien watched him, the four fingers still extended. He drew back the lever. This time the pain was only slightly eased.

" How many fingers, Winston ? "

" Four. "

The needle went up to sixty.

" How many fingers, Winston ? "

" Four ! Four ! What else can I say ? Four ! "

The needle must have risen again, but he did not look at it. The heavy, stern face and the four fingers filled his vision. The fingers stood up before his eyes like pillars, enormous, blurry, and seeming to vibrate, but unmistakably four.

" How many fingers, Winston ? "

" Four ! Stop it, stop it ! How can you go on ? Four ! Four ! "

" How many fingers, Winston ? "

" Five ! Five ! Five ! "

" No, Winston, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers, please ? "

" Four ! five ! Four ! Anything you like. Only stop it, stop the pain ! "

(from Chapter 20 of 1984, George Orwell)

[Kole T. Merr]

Can I just say that the ban wasn't even BioWare?

"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."

It was a breach of EA's ToS, and the ban came from EA, not BioWare. So why people are bitching about how BioWare is fucking people out of the games that they bought is retarded.

EDIT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_eSwq1ewsU

[Kaden]

But a forum ban leading to you losing access to your BioWare games? That's even more severe..

'Cept that's not what happened.

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.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/...x/6459941/

Someone saw the post that guy made and reported it. The EA mods looked at the report (whatever it consisted of) and decided the guy deserved a ban. It wasn't directly linked to the forum ban at all; they're independent processes.

EDIT: This whole "issue" is exaggeration and removing things from context in order to create drama. It gets old. I get that it's the internet, but I missed the part where the internet became High School.

[Jonathan Meer]

You don't think it's absolute bullshit that someone would lose access (EDIT: for ANY length of time) to the games they fucking purchased for making an insult? And not even a particularly vulgar insult. EA has to be used to it by now; I don't think I've ever met a person who liked them and their...tendencies.

There most definitely is an injustice going on, regardless of overblown rhetoric.

[Kaden]

There most definitely is an injustice going on, regardless of overblown rhetoric.

Yeah, there is, but it's horribly misdirected.

And no, I don't think it's ridiculous that someone can lose access to something they purchased because of the way they act. People get banned in WoW all the time and they've probably put far more than $50 into their games.

That's a generality, mind. I don't know this guy's specific situation. If he was, indeed, banned from all his EA/BioWare products forever because of a fairly mild jab, then yeah, that blows. If it IS only for 72 hours, then I shrug and say "that sucks." If it was actually for a lot more than saying "did BioWare sell their souls to the EA devil?" then I'd need to know what else it was for before wasting my time arguing an opinion.

This is the definition of High School drama.

[Super Buu]

They crossed the shit line. But the game, so far, is pretty good.

[Rem-13]

The game is a fun game, but its not what was promised when they called all the old Black isle fans over before one was made and promised a return to the times of yore. Maybe we were fools to believe it so but this game is not a progression on the path they claimed to start on. Its still close but it took a turn at the crossroads and I don't see it turning back.

Denying access to games for forum posts for any amount of time for any reason is bullshit plain and fucking simple. I don't care how little an inconvenience it is you don't do it. Call it high-school all you want but its endemic of a larger problem here: these companies think they are renting us the privilege to play their game.

edit: No matter the immaturity of the fans here, I think calling it high-school is wrong. The passion and vitriol maybe immature in their execution but growing jaded and apathetic is not a sign of maturity either. The validity of the source of the emotion is not stained by the childish tantrums.

[Kaden]

edit: No matter the immaturity of the fans here, I think calling it high-school is wrong. The passion and vitriol maybe immature in their execution but growing jaded and apathetic is not a sign of maturity either. The validity of the source of the emotion is not stained by the childish tantrums.

I say that not out of being jaded or apathetic (I recently went through a VERY similar ordeal with NCSoft and am very sympathetic to what has happened to this guy), but simply because this entire thing reeks of drama and people are WAY to quick to jump on the "burn the witch" bandwagon based on second-hand information.

A handful of people know what was ACTUALLY said and who knows what of that they chose to share with the rest of the public. Instead of acknowledging that fact and responding reasonably, people in this thread just want to express their outrage at what they imagined happened.

You say the problem is big companies are treating their consumers like sheep. I'm not denying that MAY be the case. However, I'm also not closing off my mind to the possibility that the problem may be that the consumers are being too quick to blame "the man."

My posts here shouldn't be misconstrued as defending BioWare. I'm not. I'm defending rational reactions. If someone came in here saying "wtf this douchebag got what he deserved and i hope his computer explodes and he dies because of it because i <3 bioware" I'd saying the exact opposite: that there's likely an overreaction on the company's part. No one's posted that, though, so there hasn't been a need for such a post.

[Rem-13]

Fair enough. I'd like to see someone who was against rational reactions.

[Kaden]

I'd like to see someone who was against rational reactions.

I was pretty sure you'd been on the internet before.

=O

[Rem-13]

But those people think they are being rational.

[Ashe]

This is entirely unrelated to the large sum of money that I've just had enter my bank account, but I would like to inform you that any other badmouthing of BioWare will result in a 72 hour forum ban as well as removal of access to your League of Legends, Rift, World of Warcraft, and Minecraft accounts.

Pokemon will remain untouched.

[Kole T. Merr]

Yeah, fuck BioWare!

*continues to defeat the elite four*

[Belle Hibiki]

Maybe I overreacted.

Eh. I went with the information I had at the time.

Thanks for the heads up, Kaden.

[Pinky]

like: alpha protocol.

also, turtles.

[Rafael]

I read that thread, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, although I don't remember exactly what he said. on that note though, I do see several more people getting locked out of their games soon...

Ah, here we go: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/...-of-games/

[Sigfried Hunin]

I'm just saying that there is no reason that being critical of a game should for any reason ban you from anything. The argument that, "It's the rules!" is stupid because then it becomes an issue of having retarded rules.