EA Continues Horrible DRM Practices
Update: Looks like EA has backpedaled, saying the ban was a mistake. Here it is from rps. Still, until they fix the issue with DRM that makes this a problem in the first place, I intend to be wary of making purchases from them. But they have fixed the banning issue, which is what they needed to do.
EA, you can’t have my money. Your acquisition of Bioware, a company known for making excellent rpgs, had me rethinking this stance because I love their games. Then you did it. You banned someone from playing games they purchased for making a snarky comment on the forums. Be sure to read the post at the bottom of the image. This is not ok in any sense of the word. Your DRM gives you too much control of games purchased by gamers. Once they buy it, it’s theirs to play as much as they want, and I don’t care what your terms of service or EULA says about it, you don’t do squat to change their ability to play that game.
The comment wasn’t even worthy of a forum ban. Yes, it was critical of you. Guess what. You’re a giant corporation. Even without shady business practices, you’re a target for this kind of thing. Get used to it, and shrug it off like a big boy.
“Have you sold your souls to the EA devil?” That’s the comment that got this gamer banned from the forum and playing his games. A touch stupid to say this in EA’s house? Yeah, I can see that. Ban worthy? Certainly not. And if EA cared what gamers think about them, they wouldn’t do this kind of thing. Obviously, they don’t care about our right to use products we purchase (and again, I don’t care what the EULA of TOS says here) , or they wouldn’t do this. They also don’t care what people think about the company and trying to fix it. They just want to whitewash it, using underhanded and unethical methods to do so.
Will I miss playing the awesome games put out by Bioware? Absolutely. But EA, you’ve gone too far. Again. No more money for you. I’m not buying any of your games until you strip this kind of DRM from your games, and make right the things you’ve done with the DRM already included in your releases.
How about we all stop buying EA products until they change their ways? Seems like a good solution to me. Even though I’ll miss out on Bioware’s excellent offerings, apparently I risk that even if I purchase the game in the first place if EA ever sees me being critical of them, so why bother?
In any case, you have the information now, so you know what your money goes to support when you make your purchases. Spread the word, let people know that EA reserves the right to do this with any game bought from them that uses this DRM system. The more people who know, the better off everyone is.
Here are some more news pieces on this:
