Banned from Eve Online or ''Why I'm considering to sue CCP''.

[Brad Shepard]

its just a game man calm down, go do somthing else, like, get a date with a girl, or play a real game, if you get sick over a game, a game where all you do is nothing mind you, you need help

(Btw, this is what reading that remind me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc )

 

[Snotnarok]

You have no grounds to sue them on, it's your responsibility to keep and maintain your accounts security, if you fail to do so it is not in any way their fault and they will cite what I've just said. It's your PC, your account, which are both your responsibility, hacking included. These measures can be antivirus and keeping people off your account by not giving away your password. It's not their fault if you get hacked, so why should it be their problem?

Valve does the same thing so if your account did get hacked, just hope they're kind enough to give it back because if not it's not their problem nor do they have to.

And I thought that never releasing my user name and password, having a firewall on my pc and router, keeping my PC updated, having a yearly subscription for NOD32 Antivirus which I use to scan my PC every day, avoiding suspicious mails and websites would be enough to protect the few sensitive information I have on this new Computer I bought 3 months ago.

It's their problem because I have done every thing a human could possibly do to protect my PC and any sensitive information concerning eve online, disregarding the fact that I'm an old player that never breached the EULA before and that they didn't even give me a warning prior to the ban (like they should) and finally they didn't give me any precision whatsoever concerning the reason of the ban.

You're missing the point, I'm not trying to bash on you but perhaps clear your mind, you're going to sue them for something that isn't their fault. If they see your username/account violating the terms in the EULA that YOU AGREED TO or you wouldn't be playing the game, then they are in their right to ban your username. It is not their responsibility to guard your PC and your account, and if it somehow was breached it's not their fault either, how COULD it be their fault? Suing them for something you can't prove you did or did not do isn't going to win you a battle.

But if you ARE in the clear and this is just simply some internal error and they correct then that's great for you really it is, I'm glad for problems working out. I'm not saying you did anything or deserved anything, but you can't sue them if they don't.

It's irresponsible to want to sue a company for executing what is written in the EULA of the game that you signed which no matter what country you live in, you agreed to it, and you AND the company abide by it. That is not their fault and you'd just be wasting the courts time because you're overreacting over a game. So cool off dood because it's not their fault, and it may not be your fault, but if it's in the EULA and your username was found online and violating the terms of service then they are in the right to do so and it will be a waste of the courts time and your money, over a video game. There's tons of other games to play in the world.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Well, maybe you can have them check to see which ISP the last person logged in from. That way if it's not your house, you can more effectively argue your account was hacked.

But since they reserve the right to do whatever they please for any reason, it seems like this is the risk every PC player takes when playing an online game in an environment where consumer rights are completely disregarded. You should also demand a proper reason. Their license agreement may say they can do whatever they wish with no justification, but whether or not that agreement will hold up in court might be another matter.

But suing them would be pointless. You'd waste a lot of money to maybe get your access back. I say, forget about the game and just don't ever buy anything made by that company again.

Thanks for your input on this conversation. This is what I would call a weighted and constructive comment. As for the lawsuit, if it ever gets to the point I might need to sue CCP, (and I say it again, only as a last resort), the consumer protection laws in Quebec work differently from the rest of the world, even from the rest of Canada. Those laws are considerably tougher (for the companies I mean) than in any other place. Since the lawsuit would be filed in the small claims court (lawsuits involving less than 7000 Canadian dollar I think, I paid in total about 400$ over the last 3 years), I would be possible to oblige CCP to either reimburse me that 400$ or unban my account. Also, in the small claims court, you directly go to a Judge to plead your case and they decide if your claim is legitimate or not. Forget the courtroom filled with people and a jury, this matter will probably take 10, 15 minutes to be either approved or not. Like you said, their licence agreement might not hold out in court. In Quebec, it is legitimate to sue a company for a service they got paid for but did not provide, EULA or not, if fundamentally the consumer did not do anything wrong. So the question would be if CCP does not unban me and I sue them, could CCP prove I hacked their game or talked trash about the devs or the mods? Personally I know the answer to that question, since I got wrongfully banned. Of couse, this is all hypothetical, and I hope that tomorrow I will open my mails and at least get a reason for my ban, or them saying they are currently investigating the matter. That's all I want.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

What do you think? Did anything similar happen to you?

The closest I've ever come to getting a headache and throwing up over a game has always involved lots of liquor and cursing, and it was TF2 not an MMO.

That's said, I think there's a legitimate case here. I'm no lawyer but I've got a strong enough logic to rassle down some legal-eze. I see this as improper termination of contracted service and failure to render services as paid for. I say sue the fuck outta them and set the precedent!

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

I'm sorry but I find this ever so funny, Being banned from a game causing you to suffer from Headaches, Vomitting and Depression?

Even if I clarified this matter in an update, you have the full right to find this funny. Hey, I laugh a bit too when I saw the angry german kid on youtube.

 

[Brad Shepard]

You cannot sue them, they own your account.

Right, i remember a case where people where selling there WoW accounts on ebay and Bliz got pissed off

 

[300lb. Samoan]

(Btw, this is what reading that remind me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc )

oh my god... that's incredible. really funny, but also kinda pisses me off - I mean really, if I had a walk-in closet and a home theater set-up in my room when I was that age, I'd fight my parents tooth-and-nail before I'd consider running away. Of course he only said that in the moment, walking in and out of that hamper over and over again probably gave him some perspective!

I have a pretty bad tendency to freak out as well, but never a screaming fit like that - just a couple loud profanities and bang on a drum for a while then it's gone. I did break a few mice back in my CS days...

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

No, you agree to them having the right to whatever the hell they please when you join and all that shit. I wish you could just easily fix this but I really think negotiation with them is your only option.

 

[Juraz]

Only in America pig nation

 

[Woem]

So you skip college for your 2 hour philosophy class because you got banned from a game, then your father comes home and instead of grounding you he says "OK son, we might sue them". Fairly odd parent.

 

[Artemis923]

Only in America pig nation

The fuck?...

OT, sounds like a case of "tough titties", I'm afraid. You can hope that it'll be fixed, but I'd assume the worst if I were you.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Your symptoms of physical illness make sense, ignore people bagging on you for that. Some of them are also probably psychosomatic, so try to calm down about this whole thing. Also, if you play the game with a regular schedual then your suffering from a mild withdrawal effect due to the lack of expected brain chemical release that your body has become accustomed to over the last three years. If this is the case its probably a dopamine issue. Should clear up as your body chemical re-adjusts.

Those are the three main reasons people get banned and you clearly did one of the three.

Unless he was hacked. In which case someone who stole a part of his identity did one of the three.
You might run into difficulty proving you were hacked although i suppose if the access came from a computer you never use you can try and point to that.

I suggest if you do go the litigation route you threaten to sue and then asked that it be settled out of court by granting you your account back with a different passoword and possibly name.
Keep in mind that seeminly petty cases against giant forces can be won. I read about a kid who sued the school for being suspended three days after he gave a mildly suggestive speech. He won damages equal to three days of teachers salary but the school also had to pay thousands of dollars in his and their own court costs.

And come on, it's a video game!

If its a game that charges 15 a month to play then the company just took more than $500 from him and kicked him out the door without even telling him why.

Well, I mean, I was shocked, but then even more shocked to know I felt sick about the whole thing. Heh, now I don't feel so bad about it.

People think that EULA will protect a company like CCP at 100% in every country in the world, While I am aware that EULA gives them some protection, blatantly violating the consumers laws in Quebec probably won't help them.

Thank you for your input, it really shows that you've read the whole first post. We must not forget that my goal here is to get my account back and that's it. The only reason for me to be worried is that I received a ban instead of a permaban. Usually, accounts that suspected to be hacked are simply temporarily banned until the matter can be fixed. So why a permaban for me? Looks like the GM who banned me didn't do his homework (check if last login use same IP as other times, look at history of player, look for past offences etc). I mean, even during Unholy Rage (Raid on ISK sellers accounts) they gave a chance to the offenders, before permabanning the people who went to their old ways. I even praised that operation. But why do I get permban without even knowing why?

 

[gbemery]

You are suffering from being a dumb kid and not having proper priorities in life -syndrome. I mean getting upset to the point of sickness over a silly video game? I recommend you calm down, look at this from an outsiders point of view, and get a fucking grip.

Saying it's just a game is ridiculous. What if someone had spent 3 years building model ships, and was in a club for people who do that, and he was really good friends with the people in the club. This is like someone smashing all of his model ships and burning them. It is many hours of work lost, a lot of money lost. Also all he had to show of it he either has to abandon or rebuild, and that'll take three years.

I don't really have anything to add to this conversation, but I had to set this straight. This would be like if somebody had spent 3 years building model ships in a model ship club where they provided all the materials, location and tools. After the ships were built, they retained ownership of them, even though you had built them. Then, they decide you aren't allowed in the model ship club anymore, and suddenly you don't have access to their model ships that you provided the labor for. Granted, maybe you love building model ships, but they're still somebody else's model ships.

Other than that, good luck OP.

-Logic

No, see, in EVE, you have to put the pieces together, and you pay to play, and then spend time gathering the pieces you put together. This could be likened to buying the pieces and then spending time putting them together. I'm talking packets that contain the pieces you need here. And really, what you have in an mmo is yours until the people running it take it away from you.

I just took anything physical really, because APPCRASH seemed to have a hard time grasping that just because you can't pick something up and show it around, it still matters.

Sorry but in an MMO you don't own anything. Yes you pay to control and build in their environment but it is still theirs (the company). In the EULA you pretty much agree to use their toys by their rules and if they don't want you to use their toys anymore they can take them back for whatever reason they feel like at anytime. So you can spend 3+ years of your life working on things and literally be left with nothing when they take it back...other than a hole in your wallet.

 

[Muphin_Mann]

Only in America pig nation

Except i think he is in Canada. Get over your ethnic bias.

I see this as improper termination of contracted service and failure to render services as paid for. I say sue the fuck outta them and set the precedent!

Agreed, but with the system as he laid it out in Quebec i dont think it can pass into precident even if he did have to sue them to get his account.

Also, remember to ignore the shits who give you a hard time about feeling sick.
Most people wouldnt do any better if their girlfriend of 3 years walked out ont hem for somethign they didnt do and took a few hundred dollars on the way.

And really, the only differance between games and girlfriends is in intensity of pleasure response (high for girls) VS the frequency (High for games).

Of course, if you didnt play Eve so much you wouldnt have to deal with stress or dopamine levels being ont he fritz, so i suppose they could mock you for playing games in the first place. If they did that tho, they wouldnt have any place on this GAMING forum.

Heh, now I don't feel so bad about it

You have had some time to calm down.
Also, you might get headaches for the next few days during times when you would otherwise very often be playing Eve. Might. I cant say for sure since my focus is social psychology and sex and any biopsychology i learn is mostly incidental.

 

[coldshadow]

some people arent even read the whole thing

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

So you skip college for your 2 hour philosophy class because you got banned from a game, then your father comes home and instead of grounding you he says "OK son, we might sue them". Fairly odd parent.

Heh, I might have to do another update. Thanks for pointing this out.

Another clarification : I still went to college, swearing to myself while walking all the way to my class. I just did not get more time to study for the small test we had that afternoon.

And for my parents, they are odd enought, but not in the way you imply. My father didn't guarantee me anything, but he told me that he might ask a few questions of two to his brother who's a laywer. If CCP refuse unban me, and if the case can possibly be won (remember, the laws in Quebec have heavily pro-consumer, more than in the U.S.A. or even the rest of Canada), we could go to the small claims court.

 

[Valiance]

...

Maybe you should wait until they actually, you know, let you know why you were banned.

They'll probably email you something soon.

 

[Deleted]

Sounds you got hijacked by someone you know or someone who knows you (or your character), since they took it for a day and went on a 'virtual joyride', that's my analysis anyways. Since you played for 3 years and suddenly do 'something really bad', of course if its a hacker then he would have messed a bit more with your account instead of getting it banned on the spot.

 

[Doctor_Insano]

First off, they never tell you why you were banned, ever. my brother was banned from final fantasy online for using the inspect button (it comes with the game) they have no real right to ban you, legally speaking, they can't even claim intellectual proprety, examples include courts laughing game companies out of court over gold and or item theft. these items do not really exist, and theft of said items is not illegal. for all they say game companies have fewer rights then they claim to have, and that is that. Sue if you want to, i doubt the company wants any negative press on the issue, i am an MMORPG gamer, and i have been in trouble but never banned for more than a few days, my funniest warning was for ueing the name "lilwhore" for a halfling in EQ, i told the GM's i chose the name because i saw someone with the last name "elfsodomizer" (last names have to be manually verified by a GM for approval)

they simply don't tell you why you were banned, they just say something along the lines of you have violated the agreement. Considering some GMs have been caught cheating in games like EQ, the whole concept of policing the game seems pointless, as the GMs in question weren't even gicen a stern talking to.