EA Introduces a Kinder, Gentler Banhammer

By Brian P Rubin | 16 April 2012 | 8 Comments

A post on Eurogamer today reveals that Electronic Arts has taken a long look at their ban policy for their Origin service in order to better serve their customers. It seems that players who received bans from Origin have now been given the privilege of having single player, offline games restored.

The policy was revised and updated back in March, but word of the changes is just starting to make the rounds now. Says EA on its official help website:

“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. To this end, we will hide inappropriate content, and we will take action on EA/Origin accounts that violate the Terms of Service (TOS) based on the severity of the offense.

If you find yourself with a disabled account, please note that you can still play EA games in single-player mode. For PC games you will need to enable Origin’s offline mode to play games with a disabled account. Go to the settings tab in Origin (the gear icon) and select Go Offline.”

That page also adds that “the majority of banned or suspended accounts are only suspended temporarily.” Phew! That’s a relief.

Via Eurogamer

8 Comments

Posted by James on 16 April 12 at 1:22pm

This sounds like a ploy due to the better business bureau hitting them up with charges of false advertising. They are most likely trying to change their image from Evil and Corrupt to Gentle and Fair. I don’t believe it as of yet.
- Posted by Lucas on 16 April 12 at 1:38pm
  
  I was thinking the same thing.
  - Posted by Brian P Rubin on 16 April 12 at 2:02pm
    
    Make sure you notice that the BBB declaration came after EA changed this policy–news of the policy revision is only now making the rounds on the gaming news circuit. I don’t think you can point to one as the cause of the other in this case.
    - Posted by Mugenite on 16 April 12 at 3:25pm
      
      SHHHHHH!! Let them think the BBB is actually going to do something about EA and Bioware… Angry fans might start burning books and sacrificing first borns again if they found out the truth…
      - Posted by Flabawoogl on 16 April 12 at 10:26pm
        
        +1
Posted by Scorch1138 on 16 April 12 at 1:52pm

Nope till I see a lot of changes EA still evil
Posted by soulprovider on 16 April 12 at 4:21pm

marketing ploy to make them look better nothing more, they knew the damage and now with the advertising email that is a pure insult to gaming in general they cannot hope to restore themselves properly.
Posted by Sangreal117 MD on 17 April 12 at 7:30am

Wow, and doe no one remember the BP oil spill?