That's it! I'm done with EA!
I'll keep this brief.
I was banned from posting in The Sims 3 forums because I criticized their developers over what happened a few days ago when their Demo corrupted saved data from the main base game.
In my appeal, I discovered that the ban was because the developers didn't like my comment. That's right, I was banned for criticizing the developers. I even asked about the other people out there who did the exact same thing I did, only using harsher language. They got banned as well.
So, yeah, I can't post information or help other users out by pointing them to a bug report thread because I'm banned for criticizing their developers.
I seriously doubt TTG--any other developer for that matter--would do that.
EDIT: Oh, now this is just great. I now discovered that my ban isn't limited to The Sims 3. It's the entire EA library. My log-in cannot access my accounts on Spore.com or even the EA Store itself. I can only access their Customer Service area with no restrictions. Everywhere else, I'm been banned from even looking at the site as a member/user!
That's... urgh...
I was banned from posting in The Sims 3 forums because I criticized their developers over what happened a few days ago when their Demo corrupted saved data from the main base game.
In my appeal, I discovered that the ban was because the developers didn't like my comment. That's right, I was banned for criticizing the developers. I even asked about the other people out there who did the exact same thing I did, only using harsher language. They got banned as well.
So, yeah, I can't post information or help other users out by pointing them to a bug report thread because I'm banned for criticizing their developers.
I seriously doubt TTG--any other developer for that matter--would do that.
EDIT: Oh, now this is just great. I now discovered that my ban isn't limited to The Sims 3. It's the entire EA library. My log-in cannot access my accounts on Spore.com or even the EA Store itself. I can only access their Customer Service area with no restrictions. Everywhere else, I'm been banned from even looking at the site as a member/user!
That's... urgh...
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Though your experience does sound pretty crappy as well. "Valid criticism? OH NO WE ARE DEFEATED."
But that made world news. I doubt my banning because I criticized their developers for releasing a buggy demo will make a dent at all.
But perhaps I am out of the loop since I have not touched an EA game in a while. I started up Sims 3 for a bit but several things about it when compared to 2 were turning me off, and then I saw their "pay for exclusive items" thing and that's when I went full-on "screw you, EA".
Then again, there's a compatibility bug with their physical game copies that hasn't been fixed since it was found. It just turned 2 years old this month.
Though I will say that I completely gave up on the stealth section on the second game and just ran for it. Still worked.
I've been noticing that as well. They seem to favor their big console titles, like their Sports division as you've pointed out, over the other titles they have in their library. It makes me wonder why they even have those titles, since it is clear all their money is going into other projects that are almost always going to bring them in positively reviewed products.
I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to do that instead of having a bunch of people on one project and then a bare-bones team that can't produce the same high quality product because they are so limited on the other?
guess the thread title is truer than you intended
I guess I'll go back to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 for my creative game fixes, since I can't run "From Dust" on my PC.
I can do it since I haven't used my EA account in years. Let me know what you decide to do.
Even if I was that type, the evidence I have is only a transcript with their Customer Service rep. And their CS team has a nasty reputation of not knowing what they are talking about. In fact, this past summer, they got in trouble for generating too many coupons for xx% off Origins purchases as a way to address customer issues.
But that transcript does say the following:
That right there pretty much confirms that if you criticize the developers and they don't like it, there's a chance they can ban you for it.
Even if you are banned on the forums here you still have access to your games.
And since they merged all those account into one prior to Origins release... Yeah.
Interesting thing I did find in the EULA as far as your online account goes: EA also has the right to delete your account and not tell you why. They do state that there's a 2 year window of inactivity to warrant an auto-delete, but between now and when that 2 year inactivity starts? They can kill your account and not tell you why.
If it did, then I had no idea a similar case happened. Then again, I had no idea was an EA product, so that shows how much I've been paying attention to their game library.
You wouldn't happen to have a link to said internet attention, would you? Like on a Dragon Age fan site or something?
Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me given the "We can delete your account for violating the TOS and not tell you about it" clause.
What's going on with me is simple: You get a ban from one title, you lose access to all the online services EA offers to you no matter what titles you own. If it has online features, they are locked down.
So, yeah, I guess that means I can't play Spore until Friday, nor can I buy DLC from The Sims 3 Store until then as well.
Though I will admit, I'm laughing at the idea of banning me from buying their product.:D
They seem to be missing the point entirely that it was a developer's decision to ban me for criticizing them, and not a forum moderator.
Ironically, they've resorted to the same language I was reportedly banned for using.
Valve is the only AAA game developing company I support anymore.
Sorry for asking possibly stupid questions, but what is a "AAA game developing company"?
I hesitate to give their support staff the same rating, since Civilization 4 (and its expansions) have had duplicate entries in Steam for the Mac versions for well over a year now.
Either way, man that's p. awful. It's a little rude to call someone an idiot, but it's still not worth a banning of a paying customer who is rightfully upset. Have you tried talking to a higher-up, basically anyone better than a forum mod who doesn't seem to be making the point clear anyway? If they're ignoring you, I highly suggest bringing this to the attention of someone other than us.
With Spore it's pretty clear. I'm banned, no new content for your game until the ban is lifted. That means that if I play that game in Offline Mode, once the game has used up all the content it currently has to populate my save game, that's it. I'll be running into empty planets, possibly even given repeat missions/Adventures because the game can't download any new content for me.
I even tried to access my Origin account to check if EA did the biggest dick move they could do and cancel my pre-order and delete my remaining balance from the bank (which they can do according to the EULA). I can't even see that info. The only info I can see is my account settings, and naturally because of the ban, I can't update/change that info.
I've tried to appeal that, but I couldn't talk to a higher authority because you can't get any higher than an actual game developer. All I've been told is that if my EA account gets hit with the ban-hammer, you lose all online features and services. And if your game is like Spore that requires an online connection for one reason or another? You're SOL.
Like I said earlier, I've shopped this story around, and all I've been told is that I'm wrong, I was justifiably banned, and I deserved everything that has happened to me. EA did what they are suppose to do when dealing with "jerks like [me]" because of the language I used to critique them in my post.
Speaking of which, I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I was able to trick the forum and found the thread with the post that got me the banning. EA apparently deleted the post. There's no empty post box or a message from a mod where I posted saying "This message has been deleted." It's as if the post never happened. And the thread was locked because the majority of the posts in the thread that were still kept were saying the same thing I did. Most of them saying that EA should have took the faulty demo down and be held responsible for their error in this marketing effort for Pets.
I've finally reached the point where I've stopped caring. It took me two days, but I'm here now. If they don't care about me as a player and consumer, then I just don't care about them and their game.
Now someone recommend me a God game that isn't made by that company or any of the companies they own that can run on a 9 year old machine. If not, I'll go back to RCT3.
Also, what people told you you "deserved" the ban? Is it a specific forum that you wouldn't mind naming? It's kind of hard to believe anyone out there is really that much of a raving fanperson that they overlook a game company taking away someone's paid-for service "because they can." (really from what I am hearing that's pretty much what it is, since an upset customer calling the developers names after their own mess-up is like the typical routine for big companies)
PS. RCT3 is a fun game, so's Zoo Tycoon 2 in other ways. I was thinking of trying Minecraft soon since everybody talks about it forever, but I don't know if it's really considered a God Game. I actually enjoyed the older Zoo Tycoons and RCTs as well, and older Sim Cities. (4 might still have that EA aspect connected to it)
The Dragon Age 2 forums are, or at least were when the game came out, chock full to the brim of negativity and insults towards the developers. I can't imagine it wouldn't have made the vidya-game news sites if they'd been banning folks left and right at the time.
The other site is a... well, I don't know how to describe it. It's Gaia Online, and granted that the majority of their users are teenagers who know nothing but DragonBallZ and Kingdom Hearts, I wanted to see what they thought about the subject matter. That's where I'm getting the bulk of the "you deserved it because you called them a bunch of idiots and weren't polite about it" and "it's their website, and they can do whatever they want to you."
I recently posted this story on an Extra Credits fan site, as the banning apparently triggered something with my depression and I'm trying to figure out if I have Gaming Compulsion or not. They haven't said much about the subject at hand, since that technically isn't what the topic is about over there. Those that have commented have said generally the same thing as Gaia Online, only in a nicer tone.
I do have the original RCT sitting in my drawer. I can't remember why I didn't like that game, but I suspect it had something to do with the nature of the Scenarios and lack of a Sandbox mode until RCT2.
Never played Zoo Tycoon 2, but I have Zoo Tycoon 1... somewhere... I just have to find it.
I would quote the post for you, but EA deleted it when I went hunting for the thread.
Long story short, I called them a bunch of idiots. I listed my reasons, among them being a two year old bug that hasn't been fixed with an official patch but was fixed within a week by a hacker/modder, the fact that their most current expansion for the Sims kills/disables a game play feature rendering three careers for a player's Sims useless without risk of corrupting the game data, as well as outstanding issues with DLC advertised to do one thing but ultimately won't function because of compatibility issues. And with no communication between the developers and the player community, it's rather upsetting and disheartening to have to figure out how to play and what not to do while you play for the sake of being able to save your game. Even a "We're aware of the issue" post would be enough for a lot of people, but we don't even get that.
In the context of the thread itself, the topic was me asking how the Sims 3 forum community felt about the Sims 3 facebook community claiming that it's the players fault EA's Pets demo corrupted their Saved Game data. Before the thread was locked and I was banned, most of the users that posted said the error was indeed EA's fault for releasing a faulty product and not taking it down immediately once reports of the issue began to flood the forums and not the fault of the player for choosing to download it. I don't know what happened to those users if they were banned or not, but I would suspect they were given what Customer Service told me.