The publisher has responded saying they’re ”planning a policy update” that will ”include more equitable rules” on account suspensions. EA want to make sure the ”time fits the crime.”
Gamers are rightly concerned that a ban on a forum meant no access to their online EA titles, and apparently contact with customer support was anything but helpful.
”With every game and service EA offers, we take the satisfaction of our customers very seriously. We discourage cheating and strive to maintain a high level of integrity in both our games and our forums. Therefore when someone violates our Terms of Service, we are forced to take actions that can include suspensions and other measures,” said EA.
”We do not take those decisions lightly – however the integrity of our services and the satisfaction of our customers requires a clear set of rules.” The crux of the problem are user bans on the EA forums for breaking certain rules which leads to customers unable to access products they’ve paid for. This is a big no-no and likely illegal.
”We have listened to our customers and are planning a policy update which will include more equitable rules on suspensions – we want to make sure the time fits the crime,” continued EA’s John Reseburg.
”As with all technology updates, these changes take some time to implement. Meanwhile, we urge any user with a question about suspensions or our policies to please contact us at (866) 543-5435 so we can address their specific situation.” This will hopefully lead to a ‘disconnect’ between forum and gamer accounts so bans on one don’t cross over.
Sure it’s happened to most of us - we play a match and things aren’t going great and sometimes we rant. Bad mouthing someone or thing on a discussion forum is quite different though from being an online cheater. They should be treated and held to account separately, or I feel a class-action lawsuit over the horizon. What say you, video gamer?
