BioWare bans guy for saying "I'm 12 and what is this"

[Sovvolf]

Are we seriously giving Bioware shit because one of their community moderators wasn't aware of a fucking internet meme? Jesus Christ.

Welcome to the internet, where, regardless of the situation, the big company is always in the wrong.

 

[Scentless Apprentice]

How exactly do you know the user was a "douchebag"?

There's as much evidence to support that he's a douchebag as there is to support that he was banned because Bioware is stupid/malicious. It's all just presumptions, and your presumptions will be decided by whatever your personal confirmation biases are.

If you have a pro Bioware bias, you're going to imagine this was maybe the umpteenth time this guy had a post flagged, and the mods finally lost their patience with him and jumped on an opportunity to suspend him. There have been innumerable accounts of people feigning rough treatment on forums, and a little digging has revealed they'd been instigating all along.

If you have an anti Bioware bias, you're going to say "Aha, this confirms what I've believed all along, EA and Bioware robble robble robble", and nod your head sagely, as if you'd uncovered the Ark of the Covenant, and not skimmed a Kotaku article without any attribution whatsoever.

The most likely scenario is that the mod in question didn't like the poster/meme in question, and decided to follow the letter of the law and suspend his account. This scenario allows for A) arrogance and stupidity on Bioware's part and B) the poster in question being a douchebag.

Because, really...have you been to TOR's forums? Douchebags are not in short supply. If I was a mod over there you'd get stories like this 500 times a day.

What? The guy was banned because a mod thought he was underage. There's no evidence of him acting like an asshole. Did you read the story?

 

[Scentless Apprentice]

Wow. He said one completely harmless sentence and you decide he's a douchebag. Unbelievable.

The internet is not serious business all the time and it is possible that people may be making a joke.

With all the people who think memes are the worst think ever for reasons I can't figure out, it wasn't exactly hard to assume you were being serious.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Now if we could only we could start banning people for talking about slender wooden shafts with sharp metal tips and certain hinge joints found in the leg....

As for the topic at hand....I really do have to kinda laugh at this. BioWare isn't paid to keep up-to-date on the meme's going around the internet. If an account holder comes out and says "I'm 12, what is this?" then that's an admission of a ToS violation and thus BioWare is perfectly within its right to ban the guy.

This is definitely up there towards the top of "silliest reasons someone has ever been suspended indefinitely (which is the proper term for "permanently suspended")" list, but I mean come on...the guy DID say he was an age that was too young to have an account.

My call on this one: rampant stupidity on both sides.

People need to take responsibility for what they say.

And that's exactly why I don't blame BioWare for doing what it did. Strictly speaking the guy admitted to breaking the ToS. However I'd imagine that BioWare could have checked to make sure that the account itself was set-up by an adult what with the credit card information and what-not. Unless it's against the ToS to let your child get on your account.

Assuming you log in with your old republic account (Same email and password etc etc) they could have, but that wouldn't have proved much. Stigma states that the 12 year old usually doesn't share the game with his parents. They're gonna assume the person posting with the account is the account owner.

 

[Lilani]

His usage of that meme qualifies him as a douchebag.

But he's still a paying customer. The fact that EA bans so many paying customers out the door for such frivolous reasons, and without even double checking the facts behind them, is a testament to how little they care about their individual customers and how sure they feel about their continued income. If EA doesn't cut this out, they're going to dig themselves into a hole that will be nearly impossible to dig themselves out of. Consumer trust is extremely difficult to earn back when lost, given it's not already a lost cause.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But he's still a paying customer. The fact that EA bans so many paying customers out the door for such frivolous reasons, and without even double checking the facts behind them, is a testament to how little they care about their individual customers and how sure they feel about their continued income. If EA doesn't cut this out, they're going to dig themselves into a hole that will be nearly impossible to dig themselves out of. Consumer trust is extremely difficult to earn back when lost, given it's not already a lost cause.

We've been saying this for 20+ years, and look, there's EA, still doing their thing. In fact, they're bigger than ever.

I think the "This huge company will pay for all their misdeeds, and mistreatment of me, the paying customer" lullaby is just something we sing to ourselves at night to feel better about all the rough handling EA has given us over the years.

 

[Triangulon]

I have to support Bioware on this one. There seems to have been little need to repeat said meme and there is no reason to suggest the Mod should have know about it (I've never heard of it). Furthermore, they have a responsability to ensure their terms of service are abided by. I'm sure there are many more important things for people to be getting up in arms about.

 

[Lilani]

But he's still a paying customer. The fact that EA bans so many paying customers out the door for such frivolous reasons, and without even double checking the facts behind them, is a testament to how little they care about their individual customers and how sure they feel about their continued income. If EA doesn't cut this out, they're going to dig themselves into a hole that will be nearly impossible to dig themselves out of. Consumer trust is extremely difficult to earn back when lost, given it's not already a lost cause.

We've been saying this for 20+ years, and look, there's EA, still doing their thing. In fact, they're bigger than ever.

I think the "This huge company will pay for all their misdeeds, and mistreatment of me, the paying customer" lullaby is just something we sing to ourselves at night to feel better about all the rough handling EA has given us over the years.

20+ years ago they weren't banning people from their services for forum posts with swear words that they didn't write, but simply had their name in them. 20+ years ago they didn't have obnoxious DRMs and region locking that kept customers who wanted to pay for and use their products from doing so. 20+ years ago these misdeeds couldn't be revealed and shared with the rest of the gaming community all around the world in a matter of minutes.

EA may be making the same number of mistakes percentage wise, but the community is much more united, much more informed, and in a much better position to reveal this ugly underbelly and force them to address it publicly. And in the last few years we've been doing it, and it's had some visible effects. Extra Credits got to sit down with representatives from EA's marketing department after they put out that open letter about their atrocious ads. Have they changed? Not really, but they haven't put out anything that bad since. And even more importantly the community has been made aware of it, we know they're aware of it too, so that will be useful to use against them when they get really bad again later. By the pure will of the community, we forced them to address their support of SOPA. And they have been forced to recognize the community's opinions on Origin, which aren't getting better, so if they wish to hold a candle to Steam in the community's eyes they will have to do even more work to improve in the near future.

The winds are beginning to shift, and it's definitely not helping EA's "we're big enough to not care for the customer" attitude stay valid. With developers like Valve out there quickly growing as the "gamer's developer," they're going to have to step up their game. Customer service hasn't been this major of a component of video games before online play and digital distribution. And I'm not sure if I can say EA will collapse if they don't start making changes to the way they handle customers, but I will say even wind can grind a city to dust given enough time. Time and time again companies have failed because they refuse to concede to new market demands. Wagon and wheel makers died out if they didn't sell cars and car parts when motor vehicles hit the scene, theaters who refused to put in sound or color died out, camera companies and film that refused to switch to digital didn't make it out either. And now, the video games market is demanding customer service. So we'll see who makes it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

20+ years ago they weren't banning people from their services for forum posts with swear words that they didn't write, but simply had their name in them. 20+ years ago they didn't have obnoxious DRMs and region locking that kept customers who wanted to pay for and use their products from doing so. 20+ years ago these misdeeds couldn't be revealed and shared with the rest of the gaming community all around the world in a matter of minutes.

EA may be making the same number of mistakes percentage wise, but the community is much more united, much more informed, and in a much better position to reveal this ugly underbelly and force them to address it publicly. And in the last few years we've been doing it, and it's had some visible effects. Extra Credits got to sit down with representatives from EA's marketing department after they put out that open letter about their atrocious ads. Have they changed? Not really, but they haven't put out anything that bad since. And even more importantly the community has been made aware of it, we know they're aware of it too, so that will be useful to use against them when they get really bad again later. By the pure will of the community, we forced them to address their support of SOPA. And they have been forced to recognize the community's opinions on Origin, which aren't getting better, so if they wish to hold a candle to Steam in the community's eyes they will have to do even more work to improve in the near future.

The winds are beginning to shift, and it's definitely not helping EA's "we're big enough to not care for the customer" attitude stay valid. With developers like Valve out there quickly growing as the "gamer's developer," they're going to have to step up their game. Customer service hasn't been this major of a component of video games before online play and digital distribution. And I'm not sure if I can say EA will collapse if they don't start making changes to the way they handle customers, but I will say even wind can grind a city to dust given enough time. Time and time again companies have failed because they refuse to concede to new market demands. Wagon and wheel makers died out if they didn't sell cars and car parts when motor vehicles hit the scene, theaters who refused to put in sound or color died out, camera companies and film that refused to switch to digital didn't make it out either. And now, the video games market is demanding customer service. So we'll see who makes it.

Well, you've convinced me.

I just want them to release a proper Ultima IX.

 

[Eri]

But he's still a paying customer. The fact that EA bans so many paying customers out the door for such frivolous reasons, and without even double checking the facts behind them, is a testament to how little they care about their individual customers and how sure they feel about their continued income. If EA doesn't cut this out, they're going to dig themselves into a hole that will be nearly impossible to dig themselves out of. Consumer trust is extremely difficult to earn back when lost, given it's not already a lost cause.

We've been saying this for 20+ years, and look, there's EA, still doing their thing. In fact, they're bigger than ever.

I think the "This huge company will pay for all their misdeeds, and mistreatment of me, the paying customer" lullaby is just something we sing to ourselves at night to feel better about all the rough handling EA has given us over the years.

20+ years ago they weren't banning people from their services for forum posts with swear words that they didn't write, but simply had their name in them. 20+ years ago they didn't have obnoxious DRMs and region locking that kept customers who wanted to pay for and use their products from doing so. 20+ years ago these misdeeds couldn't be revealed and shared with the rest of the gaming community all around the world in a matter of minutes.

EA may be making the same number of mistakes percentage wise, but the community is much more united, much more informed, and in a much better position to reveal this ugly underbelly and force them to address it publicly. And in the last few years we've been doing it, and it's had some visible effects. Extra Credits got to sit down with representatives from EA's marketing department after they put out that open letter about their atrocious ads. Have they changed? Not really, but they haven't put out anything that bad since. And even more importantly the community has been made aware of it, we know they're aware of it too, so that will be useful to use against them when they get really bad again later. By the pure will of the community, we forced them to address their support of SOPA. And they have been forced to recognize the community's opinions on Origin, which aren't getting better, so if they wish to hold a candle to Steam in the community's eyes they will have to do even more work to improve in the near future.

The winds are beginning to shift, and it's definitely not helping EA's "we're big enough to not care for the customer" attitude stay valid. With developers like Valve out there quickly growing as the "gamer's developer," they're going to have to step up their game. Customer service hasn't been this major of a component of video games before online play and digital distribution. And I'm not sure if I can say EA will collapse if they don't start making changes to the way they handle customers, but I will say even wind can grind a city to dust given enough time. Time and time again companies have failed because they refuse to concede to new market demands. Wagon and wheel makers died out if they didn't sell cars and car parts when motor vehicles hit the scene, theaters who refused to put in sound or color died out, camera companies and film that refused to switch to digital didn't make it out either. And now, the video games market is demanding customer service. So we'll see who makes it.

When I often read things you post, I disagree with a good number of them. This, however, 100% is an agreeable post.

 

[ConstantErasing]

This is the kind of situation that strikes that unusual spot of being simultaneously extremely funny and extremely sad. As usual I am not sure whether I should laugh or feel depressed about the human race.

 

[Greni]

The dickery in this thread makes me sad

Is this the Bioware hatewagon or have I just stumbled into a theater in the middle of a rehearsal?

OT: I have no words. What astounds me is how game forums seem to be tied to the games. Banned on the forums -> banned from the game. Is this where consumerism lead us?

 

[Erttheking]

People get banned from this site for things like not putting enough words in their posts, I don't see anyone making threads complaining about that. Seriously are you just going out of your way to look for things about Bioware to complain?

 

[Bagged Milk]

I used to post to the Bioware forums but then I took a meme to the knee.

seriously this was stupid, but unless I know the context I can't really judge whether this is right or not. If he was trolling and just generally being a dick yet still within the area of not being banned, then, yeah whatever. But if it was just a random post then this is just wrong!

 

[Logiclul]

See, this is the kinda shit that stops me from playing TOR (along with the 0.5 ms lag and the likes). EA and Bioware are terrible when handling anything, from in game problems to random forum posters.

This actually makes me want to play.

+100 cookies to Bioware for banning the guy over that.

I'm still laughing.