If people hadn't kicked up such a fuss over it, would the issue have been corrected as quickly as it was (if at all)? Just something to think about.

Yes, they had the same problem as before and it was solved relatively quickly, and without a gigantic fuss.

Wait, hold up, I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. Pretty much this exact same thing happened before, EA/Bioware were aware of the underlying problem that would cause people to wrongfully lose the ability to download/install games they'd purchased, and this issue wasn't corrected?

Edit: Also, the [censored]storm doesn't seem to have really started until a Bioware moderator replied to the initial report of the problem with basically "That's the way things are, tough luck." Given that, I'm rather skeptical that the problem would have received further attention if it weren't for the backlash.

Maybe it isn't a problem that can be rectified so easily? Have you seen how crappy the programmers are for bug testing the games they sell? Hell even the best developers out there usually launch with some bugs, where it goes from there is anyone's guess. Most of the time they never seem to get patched. I could easily see it being over looked, more so if it's that rare.

Actually out of the two known cases one guy resolved his problem with quite the civility behind closed doors. How was the moderator too know there was ever an error? Not to mention he's hired for that forums division with a lack of tools. We also don't know what actions he took, but it must have been positive reactions because the problem was resolved. If you guys don't want to look at the pile of evidence so high it can crush earth that's fine. Let me know now I'll just stop wasting my time.

It seems more like you're the one ignoring the facts of the matter in your efforts to be an apologist for EA/Bioware. The base problem was that EA Community bans would also lock people out of being able to download and install their games (and it seems these bans could be issued automatically, simply as a result of people hitting the "Report Post" button). If your information is to be believed then EA and Bioware were aware of this issue, yet took no steps to correct it. This particular case started with with http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1 thread, in which someone on Bioware's forums tried to bring attention to the fact that an EA Community ban had resulted in him not being able to install his freshly purchased copy of DA2 and asked for the issue to be addressed. That thread ended with a post from a Bioware moderator that basically amounted to "That's the way things are, tough luck" followed by locking the thread. It was at this point that Kotaku, Slashdot, and other news outlets started running with the story, and from there the [censored]storm just grew until Bioware went into damage-control mode and fixed (this particular instance of) the problem.

Now, maybe if the guy had kicked off the whole thing with an barely coherent, hate-filled rant, or if the initial Bioware response had been along the lines of "That definitely shouldn't have happened, let me look into it and we'll try to get it fixed" then I'd be willing to cut them quite a bit more slack. However, given the way things actually played out I'd say the backlash was not only fully called for, but absolutely necessary, and if the underlying issue hasn't yet been fixed (I haven't seen news one way or the other on this) then I'd also say that there hasn't been nearly enough of a backlash.

That guy is not in the PR department, that's why the blunt response. Though personally i prefer dealing people that say it straight instead of the typical PC PR BS one usually gets. Like the CEO of Stardock who has in many cases said "I don't want you as a customer" (not to me, mind you ). Maybe it's just me, but if i'm being an [censored], they have the right to tell me i'm being an [censored].

Sure, though I don't see how his comment was, in any way, insulting enough to prompt such a response.

The customer was wrong in that he broke the forum rules, and did deserve a punishment proportional to that "crime", but the company was wrong in that they handed down a punishment he did not deserve. They should be apologizing for that, not blaming the customer that it happened in the first place or those who defended him for overreacting -- they shouldn't have been given a reason to in the first place.

They did apologies! If they didn't he would still be banned from his games.

Yes he said "Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow", and then "End of line" in those exact words. It not only was not the end, but this unusual situation did not make him question whether there was maybe a bug in the system and that forum bans should not also be game bans. His response made it seem to everyone reading it that this game ban was intentional.

They need to step up their game and prevent this; they already have a lousy reputation due to DRM.

Lolololo @ Bioware/EA

:nono:

I agree I think that EA has gone a little too far on this. I understand if the person is being a complete dike but if he or she paid money for his game he owns it as long as he doesn't pirate the game. Piracy is also a problem but that's not even the main issue here. I see this move by EA as being the setup to the eventual death of PC games. DRM's are bad and will destroy the PC business, heck the only reason that PC games are still made is because of Modding and Graphics. There is only so much tape that you can put on somebody before they say enough and just stick to console games. Microsoft isn't a Saint by any means but EA in comparasion makes them look like a cute and adorable Kitten. I like Bioware as a company but EA will destroy them one day.

While the mods don't get paid at EA, I could be wrong, they still do represent the company. That would be like Summer or Hungry Donner or any other BSF Mod saying "Tough luck, better not do it next time." You just don't say these things when you represent a company. I wonder if this mod will be suspended, or fired over that comment.

I highly doubt that the mod will face any disciplinary action as a result of this, nor do I believe that they should face any such action. However, if EA/Bioware wanted to learn and improve from this incident (hah) then they should take it as a lesson to provide greater guidance to mods with regards to how to handle these kinds of situations (basically have a clear path of escalation towards getting such issues sorted out, with guidance to treat each case as a legitimate problem that needs to be resolved, at least until a judgment can be made at a higher level).

:verymad: Enough of the talk about a moderator on another site. That would fall under our "cross site trolling" rule.