Poll: Who is in the right here?

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

This policy has caused numerous problems before and it'll continue for a long time yet. It's a dick policy by EA, but that guy agreed to it and as accepted all punishment for any and all misbehavior. If he doesn't like it then he shouldn't have agreed to it.

I hate to say it, but EA are in the right here, despite how wrong that right is.

 

[Savagezion]

It's funny how people are actually defending trolls.

EDIT: Imagine you buy a season pass for an amusement park for your family of 4. One ticket each is $60 (the price of a game). A season pass for everyone is, lets say, $300 (super cheap). If the jackass wants to show up and starts yelling some BS like "Israeli jets r gunna cum hit your home for real, cuz I don't liek how ur slushies look!" he, and his family, can and should be banned from the premisses. No refund, no use of his $300, not illegal, not immoral.

Same fucking thing.

LOL no it isn't. It's like buying a video game, going online and saying something rude on the internet and having the game get taken away from you. It is illegal to not give him the refund. What if EA saw a post of yours and said "I don't like the 'tone' of your post" and took your game away for being "self-righteous" and they don't want people like that playing their game? Suddenly, I bet you would think a refund would be in order. If they don't want him playing their game, fine, but give him the 60 bucks back. More than likely they will give him the right to play his game back before legal action can be taken place. They are just trying to make a point to their community with douches like him.

For a clearer view, this is what I originally put so I mostly agree with you but lets not pretend EA is acting on some type of right:

The consumer is in the right justifiably but EA is in the right technically. This is some shit I would do if I ran EA though. People need to quit being douchebags. If I caught you being a douchebag in my community, I would make things as hard on you as I could and show you how much of a douchebag I can be. (I would give you your games back in a few days) What we are seeing is one douchebag getting mad at another douchebag for being a douchebag. It doesn't matter who's side you take. Both sides are douchebags.

It doesn't take a genius to learn not to be a dumbass and make an EA account. Even if you must make an EA account, don't post there. There are plenty other gaming forums to post to that can't take away your games. Why post on the one with a history of it?

 

[Vault Citizen]

The moral of the story here is stay away from the EA forums.

 

[Savagezion]

If I ever told an Iranian: "Seen any Israeli or American jets flying by, lately?.. If not, you will, soon... in real life. "

I would expect criminal charges filed against me. I can't see why people are trying to justify this.

Criminal charges? I don't even know what to say to that, honestly. It is a random guy on the internet talking crap on another one. The court systems around the globe would be overrun with too many cases. What would these criminal charges be exactly?

 

[Savagezion]

If I ever told an Iranian: "Seen any Israeli or American jets flying by, lately?.. If not, you will, soon... in real life. "

I would expect criminal charges filed against me. I can't see why people are trying to justify this.

Criminal charges? I don't even know what to say to that, honestly. It is a random guy on the internet talking crap on another one. The court systems around the globe would be overrun with too many cases. What would these criminal charges be exactly?

Damn, I forgot the part of the quote where he said the planes would be 'hitting your home soon'. That is a threat. Harassment by way of threatening physical harm.... 'for real'.

The thing, it wasn't a random guy. A random guy wouldn't have his account linked.

When I say random guy, I mean like "regular Joe". This guy is in no way connected to military intelligence, I assure everyone. I also doubt he owns a jet. I doubt he has any way to make this "threat" come to fruition. Thus, it makes it an opinion or guess at best, and a crappy one at that. What it is, is a racial/cultural slur joke based on limited knowledge of world events. If it is a threat, they have to prove he had any type of means to execute that. You can't file charges against someone for saying "I am gonna kick your ass" or even "I will kill you" for "Harassment by way of threatening physical harm.... 'for real'". You can get a restraining order, you can file a report. But you can't file charges.

 

[Savagezion]

Criminal Harassment: When someone willfully and maliciously engages in a knowing pattern of conduct or series of acts over a period of time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial
emotional distress.

A lawyer could easily argue that the racist tone of the comment caused his client substantial
emotional distress. Jewish and Iranian discord is not a joke. It may be to you, but not to others.

But 1 time does not show a pattern or series of acts. It was once. That is not harassment, that is a remark.

 

[Fayathon]

It's bullshit, anything that you purchase you should have the right to play. That said, he should be banned for inflammatory comments on the forums, but only on the forums. If he takes his foul attitude to the game and garners enough flak there then they should ban him from the multiplayer of the game in question. Of course if he become a problem in another game then I would view a widespread banning as an appropriate response, the guy's not getting the hint to calm the fuck down.

 

[Tiamattt]

Uh, I guess by letter of the laws EA set and the guy agreed to, EA would be in the right here. That said the punishment itself is overkill and worse hurts them more then it benefits them. Imagine if say he only got a forum ban and we all heard about it, everyone would be totally behind EA since they'll come off as the the undeniable good guys that hands out punishments that fits the crime.

But here they come off as ruthless dictators that will exile you out of their country(or worse) for non-capital offenses. Besides the damage to their reputation one of their employees had to waste time dealing with the OP when he could've been doing something more productive, and worst of all they pretty much guarantee that they'll never see a cent from a former loyal customer ever again, possibly even more depending on how many friends/family he can get to boycott EA thanks to this.

TL-DR: A forum ban would've solved the problem without costing EA any time or money and would've helped their reputation rather then hurt it.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Was it harsh? Yes it was but does EA have to right to not let someone play on their servers(if they use servers on the consoles) then yes they are right. I am going to have to say EA was right but not really fair in the scope of the punishment.

 

[Giest4life]

When you pay for a service, your still bound by the rules of the service. If you pay to get into an amusment park, are a total PRICK in the park, they can kick you out, and don't owe you a refund. That's perfectly fair and reasonable.

Now granted, this guy was a prick on the forums and was kicked out of the game... I'm not sure i'm cosure with that. It'd be like being kicked out of one park, then being banned from the local ceniplex. Just because the parent company is the same.... I'm not sure that's "right" but i'm pretty sure it's prolly legal...

The amusement park analogy is incomplete, and thus misleading. The management of an amusement park can throw out a prick without a refund on his ticket, but they cannot take away the things he legally paid for while he was in the amusement park. Any food or miscellaneous purchases made in the park are still his and he has the full right to use them.

You don't have to pay to join a forum. EA should be only able to ban entry into the forums or revoke his multiplayer privileges (but that is debatable). They shouldn't be able to stop him from playing the game he paid for, and if the EULA or ToS say otherwise, then they need to be challenged in the court.

 

[Wintermoot]

it would be the same as the escapist banning you from watching a video here after a rule violation EA has the right to suspend/ban him from the forums but not from playing stuff he paid for.
PS EA this is negative publicity for you also you PERMANENTLY lost a customer.

 

[Kingsnake661]

When you pay for a service, your still bound by the rules of the service. If you pay to get into an amusment park, are a total PRICK in the park, they can kick you out, and don't owe you a refund. That's perfectly fair and reasonable.

Now granted, this guy was a prick on the forums and was kicked out of the game... I'm not sure i'm cosure with that. It'd be like being kicked out of one park, then being banned from the local ceniplex. Just because the parent company is the same.... I'm not sure that's "right" but i'm pretty sure it's prolly legal...

The amusement park analogy is incomplete, and thus misleading. The management of an amusement park can throw out a prick without a refund on his ticket, but they cannot take away the things he legally paid for while he was in the amusement park. Any food or miscellaneous purchases made in the park are still his and he has the full right to use them.

You don't have to pay to join a forum. EA should be only able to ban entry into the forums or revoke his multiplayer privileges (but that is debatable). They shouldn't be able to stop him from playing the game he paid for, and if the EULA or ToS say otherwise, then they need to be challenged in the court.

Now hold on, I think i missed something here... He can't play his single player off line campains? He has a disk right? They blocked THAT? I though they only blocked the MP aspect of the game, and i guess other games tied to the EA account.

If they somehow can shut your disk game off, there's got to be something illegal about THAT, you paid for that product and have it in hand.

NOW, if it's a computer game and he's using the online service, kind of like steam or origin, maybe they can do it then... i'm not saying it right but steam CAN ban people's account and it cost them there game libary. It's one of the main reason I still tend to favor having a disk in hand, but, i've made exceptions for a few games i just can't find, or, really cheap ones I'd eat the cost for and not care THAT much. But then, i tend to behave myself so all i have to worry about is steam going belly up or me getting hacked i suppose.

Ok, i'm off track. *My* understand was he was blocked from the MP. That's OK if your a prick IN the MP... IMO of course. (I said as much in my first post i belive) It's streaching it to block him for being a jerk on the forums, but, i think they CAN do it, legally, I just don't think it's right. (punishment fitting the crime and all that) And i really don't agree with banning him for other games tied to his EA account, if he hasn't DONE anything wrong in them. And i sure as hell don't think they should be able to disable his disk copy of the game, like, EVER. (how would they do that anyways?)