It’s time for the truth people. Thats right. Here is a brand new episode of OTGT here on Real Otaku Gamer.
On this episode, it’s all about controversy surrounding EA. Is it right for gamers to be denied access to offline games/features if they are banned in an online forum?
Can a company prevent gamers from playing a game offline if they are banned via an online account. Is it right for EA to do this? All of this and more in the video below.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeETK2kRkbk[/tube]
O-T-G-T. Only the Goddamn Truth and nothing but the truth.
No. Just no. EA has done some pretty sorry things in its nearly 30-year history, but this one definitely crosses the line.
When I buy a game at retail, I own it. The publisher does not have the right to restrict my usage of it. End of story. Our rights of ownership are protected by the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.
When a publisher or developer can punish a paying customer for criticizing them, their executives, or the way they do business, by denying us the use of something we paid for and we own, that’s unacceptable. If a government agency did this, people would be up in arms. Why should it be acceptable for a private corporation which isn’t even a government agency to do this?
The implications of this go far beyond gaming.
Bioware’s Chris Priestly did later issue a statement saying that the banning of the user’s Dragon Age 2 game was a glitch and that the user’s access had been restored, but this was after Stanley Woo had cited clauses from the Terms of Service justifying the banning.