You may remember, back in March this year, a story that threw EA forum user Arno into the limelight. Having violated the rules of the EA forums he was given a 72 hour ban on his forum account. But found that he was also unable to play online with any of his games attached to his EA gaming account, nor activate his single-player Dragon Age II. This led to quite the brouhaha, which eventually resulted in EA’s announcing that the ban had been “a mistake”, and the promise that not only would Arno’s gaming rights be restored, but they would fix the issue to prevent this happening again. They haven’t.
We are receiving information from a number of gamers who have received forum bans for a variety of reasons who are finding they’re unable to play Battlefield 3 (or indeed any other game tied into the EA user account), and worse, when they try to contact EA for help sorting this out, they are either ignored or told it’s tough. So what’s going on?
Three examples we’ve heard of in the last week provide contrasting sympathies for those banned, but always with the same result. The thing to stress at this point is, no matter the reason – nor how valid the reason – someone may have been locked out of their forum accounts, on no circumstances should this affect their ability to play games. There are a whole separate set of rules that might see someone locked out of their EA account (and the legality of these, and EA’s rights to prevent someone from playing a game they’ve paid for without offering a refund, are another matter entirely), and one should not affect the other. As was explained by EA in March. Said EA’s Senior Director of Customer Support, Boyd Beasley to “Arno”:
“Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended your entire EA account. Immediately upon learning of the glitch, we have restored the entire account and apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused while accessing other areas of the EA service.”
However, four days later on 15th March, we were still hearing about the same happening to other EA gamers, and contacted EA to find out why this was still a problem. It was, they told us, still “an error”. After we’d tried to get in touch with Boyd Beasley directly, we received a reply from someone within EA called Andrew Wong, who told us:
“As noted last week, we have identified an error in our system which can suspend a user’s entire account when our terms of use policy has been violated. We are working to fix this and expect to have the issue resolved by the end of this week. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience – it is not our policy to prevent customers from playing a single-player game. Any registered player who feels they have been banned inappropriately is urged to contact EA Customer Service.”
The problem was intended to be fixed by the end of that week, which was eight months ago. So why is it still happening? And why the mention of single-player games in that context? As if a forum ban is in any way related to playing online gaming, when it isn’t offline gaming.
The first person to get in touch with us about BF3 was Nick. It’s hard to sympathise with Nick, to be frank. He made a stupid thread about “teabagging” on the EA forums, and then seemed to be a bit confused that he should get in trouble for suggesting he dangle his “balls” in dead people’s faces. Common sense would dictate that’s not a subject to be raising on a family-friendly forum. His astonishment expressed to us that this should be an issue isn’t endearing. However, less endearing was EA’s response. Following Wong’s advice above he contacted EA’s Customer Support, via email and live chat, and received a refusal to even discuss the matter each time.
We also heard from Rob. Rob’s encounter with EA’s seemingly arbitrary banning process makes much less sense. His account was suspended for having posted a “commercial”. What he had in fact posted was a link to his non-commercial blog, to a guide to “network troubleshooting”, recently updated for helping gamers get connected to BF3. A link that’s been repeatedly posted to the same forums for a couple of years, and better still, has actually been linked to by EA Support themselves. The link, says Rob, is mentioned on their own corporate support site and FAQ! He too found that the live chat support was absolutely useless, with those replying unable to deviate from a script that endlessly, uselessly loops. This led to his being banned from his gaming account for 72 hours, as well as a permanent “strike” on EA’s “three strikes” system. Something it’s not possible for him to dispute.
Then we heard from James, whose tale is even more extraordinary. He has been permanently banned for using the word “e-peen”. (For those unfamiliar, this is short for “electronic penis”, and tends to be used to suggest someone is egotistically willy-waving.) However, he did not even introduce the word. It was in reply to someone else who’d said it, and responded, “Ah, back to the e-peen talk.” He was originally told this ban would be for 72 hours, but on Saturday received an email informing him that it was now to be a permanent ban from his Origin account, with no further explanation given. It was added that the matter was “now closed”. And, as ever, EA’s live chat and customer support are refusing to help him in any way. He’s also been told that his BF3 characters and levels will be deleted.
Update: James explains he was polite and courteous with the EA Live Chat person, who had pointed him toward the email form to request further help. He filled this in, again politely he says, and the next day received an email in response saying,
“Please note that your account [email] has been permanently terminated from the Electronic Arts Online service for violating the terms of services. The account will no longer be accessible in any way, and all property, items, and characters associated currently are or will soon be deleted.”
And the in field explaining why?
“This action was necessary due to the repeated nature of the offense on the account. We regret having to take this final step, but it is entirely necessary on behalf of protecting the Electronic Arts Online community. The violation has already been discussed above so further communication on this matter won’t be entertained. We thank you for your understanding on all the statutes within the Terms of Service, and they still contractually apply to you as per the original agreement, especially the sections regarding terminated members of the service.”
No such discussion had taken place. No such “repeated” offense had occurred. Which makes the refusal to even discuss this ban somewhat problematic. Since he received this email, James has not been able to access any of his Origin games online.
So what is going on? We contacted EA about this last week, but have not had a response, let alone a statement on the matter. We’ve tried contacting some other people today, and will update if we receive a reply. And let’s not forget the statement that EA gave to Shack back in 2008:
“Posting in EA Forums is enabled by an EA Nucleus account — but access to the forums and access to the games are separate. Players who have been banned from EA Forums are not automatically banned from online access to their other EA games. Players can be banned if they breach the Terms of Service or Code of Conduct in a forum, game or service. Each forum, game and service is managed independently by customer support representatives responsible for that specific forum, game or service.”
Now we all know that EA is the devil and what have you.
But censorship is increasingly being thrusted upon us whether we like it or not. Vevo is a pile of shit because every single song from Vevo is censored ... I am not a child, it seems that the majority of governments and private orgranisations are turning the world into a nanny state.
I recently was banned from battle net for 24 hours for calling someone a fag, and I was right in the context of the discussion as he was indeed being one (desert strike - not banning a trolling ally - wanted a cheap win by not playing fair). And as it was my second offence, my first being "herpaderp faggot" - again desert strike, I was banned. Now, if you take a look through my game history, I have been involved in some pretty good e-fights which have involved everything under the sun except for the word fag ... like ugh ... mother fucking cunt nugget - that will not get me banned because swearing is not against the ToS.
But in Australian culture, or at least the local culture where I am, fag/faggot is not a word commonly used for gay people, although it has its roots in that area, there are other words that are used instead. Calling a mate a fucken faggot is perfectly acceptable if he is being one - faggot would translate to roughly "doing something annoying to purposely piss me off" ... where asshole is defined as "using/abusing someone to your advantage", and being a dick is "egotisitical smartass".
See I am a dick, but I am not an asshole.
But 'fag' consitutes "sexual orientation" which is a load of shit if there was ever one. Americans are so worried about being sued that everything is being censored where in Australian Culture it is acceptable. We had a case where a Policeman took a man to court because the man called the cop a prick, the judge agreed that the cop was being a prick and it was thrown out. Another case where the cops took another guy to court cause he told them to 'fuck off' and again it was ruled perfectly acceptable to be used, since those two cases I have not heard of any others making it to court.
When someone is called a fag it is not because you are saying that they are gay/bisexual, it is because they are being fucken cunts.
This kind of Blizzard censorship is wrong, because fully grown adults who are more than capable of being called a name and shrugging it off, are getting thrown in with 11 year old kids and being forced to live by their rules. You find me a bloody 11 year old (no homeschooling) that doesn't know the word fuck and I will eat my words. These words only have power because you censor them, if everyone said fuck as they do in Australia it has lost all of it's power. The very worst word I guess you can say in Australia is cunt, and even then you walk down the city a bunch of our black cousins are gonna be shouting it to us "fucken white cunts" and there, it lost all its power.
Granted this ban was only tied to my NA account and I could still use SEA, but seeing SEA is dead it was as effective as banning me from Starcraft for a single use of a word that no one in their right mind (ie, their head is not up their asses) should be offended by?
For the most part Blizzard are a really good company, but at the same time with the event of Battle Net 2.0 everything you say and do is logged which is not acceptable because it brings up all kinds of ethical and privacy issues which are becoming more and more important (see facebook). How can saying one single word actually put my $60 investment at risk? This is over the top censorship that should be illegal.
lol Really for calling someone a fag, Ive literally gone on there and used every cuss word I can think of, I mean ive said fuck, dicksuck , and alot worse.... and ALOT in a single game, But I said Damn one time on their forums, and an automatic 2 day ban....
If people don't like you saying something like faggot, just don't say it.
Who are you to decide what is offensive?
If someone takes offense thats their fault, If you are scared of what people say, then thats you, and your problem alone, Its not my fault if some idiot hates being called gay or homo, Hell people call me Redneck, cracker, and all kinds of crap, due to my accent, skin color, etc, you dont see me getting pissy when it happens, I joke back, People need to learn to take a joke, This censorship is stupid in the first place, If you dont want it on your game, then make it so when someone says it, It changes it into a lesser form, such as the forums I run, Nigger is turned into Black dude, and God damn is turned into Got dang. Its not a hard thing to do, but No people want to police the internet so bad it kills them.... All it does is take away from everyones internet experience, The more that are banned the less that are left to play, and in a mostly multiplayer game, the less that play it, the less people CAN play it, because once everyones gone, It will be impossible to play. Honestly I wonder how many servers there are just because on a Bad day there is 30 people total in all the Blizzard chat channels... on a bad day there should be over 1 thousand... On a good day there about 75-100(thats being generous), there should be 5000- 10k... WIth over 3 million sold in the US... there should be alot more, So I think the NA server is actually chopped up into many many servers... Just because. It makes no sense that there is so little people online, I can go on say, Warcraft 3, there will be about the same amount of people on there. Whats wrong with this?
censorship is evil no one has the right to ban people from saying stuff except god alone. and btw censorship actually hides the truth which is bad cause people then do not know what not to do... i mean for fucks sake... children should never be put above all else... i wish america would stop making fun of its past and acting like theyve matured... they have not the 70's to 05 were the best days of america's video games/games and even life was better than. but now corruption is spreading like wildfire through "censorship" and i think everyone who loves it should be burned at the stake for abusing it. i mean really we are all fucking adults... so don't treat us like children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You hit it spot on Taintedwisp, offending people is never a problem, the people who get offended, they are the problem.
Now by this I don't mean be a fucken dick and start calling people everything under the sun, ie: dirty jew, sand nigger etc - those are clearly racist undertones because you are adding more to the offending word than needed, see the difference between being a fag and being a fucken gay faggot - the latter uses sexuality, the fore does not. By using those words you know damn right that you are trying to incite hatred, that is just being a fucken cunt and is uncalled for. But there was a guy in a game I just played saying dirty jew etc ... I found out a few months ago I was 1/16th jewish - go me - so I told him ... he called me a jew and I lawled cause obviously I am mixed more than the sunday markets, I didn't get offended even though I could/should have. But why the fuck should I? I am Australian, I have mates who have migrated here in the last 5 years who are more fucken aussie than some white cunts born here ...
Look, in the 60's and 70's everyone fucked their asses off - the result? AIDS in the 80's ... and now I gotta wrap my dick cause my parents didn't. That is cause and effect ... the majority of young parents these days should not be fucken parents - they are using the internet as a fucken baby sitter. That is all I am on the Minecraft server I admin, a fucken babysitter. Blizzard should not act like a fucken babysitter to their fanbase. People need to accept responsibility for their own children instead of trying to past the blame.
I am going to teach my kids fuck, shit, cunt and whatever else I want to, at the same time I will teach them the appropriate times to use them, ie - if you hit your toe against a door and say fuck, its acceptable, if you call your teacher a fucken cunt, then I am going to bitchslap you upside the head. When I learnt the word fuck as a kid, my dad was more angry because I spelt it vuck instead of fuck, he didn't care that I swore (though I was still very well mannered compared to now - now I simply don't give a shit), he wanted me to have correct spelling. So you know what? Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck!
Take a note from Harry Potter, refusing to use the word only gives power to it; He who cannot be named etc.
The problem is on the NA servers though is you get a lot of "white supremacists" in the USA ... which brings it back to religion - radical chistians. On SEA we are a mix of Aussies, Kiwis, Malaysians, Singaporeans and Filipinos and you know what? There is nearly no fucken racial tension or insults on SEA. Yeah in Australia there is quite a bit of 'racial hatred' towards Indians (from India), and you know what, it isn't completely undeserved. I have some good Indian mates and have met a shitload of good Indian people, but as a whole, they are as rude and arrogant as fuck. From their culture, many do not wash as much as we do and they do indeed smell, not as bad as our black cousins who quite a few never wash, but it is still enough to start the hatred brewing. They also "took our jobs", and are poor workers. My mother manages 50+ people and the indian students who come in are as lazy as fuck when it comes to work ethics and end up getting fired, but there is a non stop supply of them, funnily enough the chinese are the hardest working, sterotypes perhaps exist for a reason.
Australians are racist, but so is every other country whether it be China - putting white people on a pedastool - or America - fuck them niggers, wetbacks and any other racial insult there is (forgive me I am not too up to date on my racial insults, I don't use them =\). At least we admit it. We are racist for a reason, we live in the best country on earth, and yet 99% of our problems are caused by immigrants who bring their hatred and racism towards other races into Australia and start living in enclaves and refuse to assimilate with the rest of Australia.
I have many muslim friends who work hard and love their family, granted they don't believe in evolution and neither do radical christians, but hey, they are good people. But there are many muslims who wear the habib and are clearly distinquishing themselves from the rest of the population - and they are in Australia ... women are equal here, everyone is equal, but they put women down so it gets alot of people against them.
The majority of problems people are faced with - they fucken cause themselves and its a direct relation between cause and effect.
Censorship is the first step towards Totalitarianism ... and don't forget, every single communist/totalitarian country started off as a democracy.
There is very little difference in my eyes between government and multi-national corporations.
Its sad that people like you, is protecting censorship.
They are banning people for offensive words because they dont want it to be used against them, they want an all happy weird forum, which doesnt represent the reality. Anyway its their forum they can do with it as they want.
Also the if the game's server is their's too, they can ban you there too. E.A. have big monopoly over the game industry, so you will probably dont find as good games as their's in the same genre.
The only solution is disobedience: use cracked servers and dont buy their fucking game. (The only game I bought in long time is SC2, but I have feeling they are getting more and more profit orientated, which is good for them, but will kill the game.)
wow, I totally agree with you. Censorship keeps color racism up. If people could be racist openly, than they would be probably confronted and would be educated, but currently censorship just gives racism a special charm...
The problem is that countries still distinguished by race and not by ideology/social system.
And yeah sadly our world becoming more and more fascist...
wow, I totally agree with you. Censorship keeps color racism up. If people could be racist openly, than they would be probably confronted and would be educated, but currently censorship just gives racism a special charm...
The problem is that countries still distinguished by race and not by ideology/social system.
And yeah sadly our world becoming more and more fascist...
Theres another problem that most Non americans are unaware of.
The minoritys WANT racism to exist, If it didnt then they couldnt get all the extra stuff....
Indians(Native Americans) and Asians are excluded, I have never heard of either of them Discriminating against white people, Hell we took all the Indians land, The request for a part of their ancestors land back politely, and dont make a big fuss if they dont get it... But black people and Mexicans Cause alot of problems When they dont get exactly what they want, They pull whats known as the race card, which makes the people who dont give in to them look racist... Truth is There arent many racist.. there MIGHT be 1 in 5000 people who have some problems with other race groups(not even enough to actually talk down to them). without racism minoritys cant do as they wish
Fun Facts:
Black man can have an all Black college and scholarship Funded by the government, but if a white man does it for white people, its Racist.
A White man can call a black man a porch monkey and face serious jail time a black man can call a white man a cracker all day and people laugh...
No living white man has had slaves...
ALL races can be racist, but only whites are looked down on for it.
A black man with a low paying job can get food stamps of over 700$ a month, A white women with 2 kids and no job or low paying job is lucky to get accepted at all and if accepted shes lucky to get 280$ a month.
Black people have had a black KKK like group, called the black panthers... no one calls them out for that one though.
If the minority's wanted equality why do they pull the race card to get extras from everyone?
I grew up in whats called the "Hood" I was hazed and picked on for listening to heavy metal music and not wanting to act like trash as 99% of the "Minority's" did school of around 2k black people and only 14 white people... but they were the minority... They(Black peeps and mexicans that lived here) weren't hated because they were black, they were hated because they stole, broke shit, started fights, created gangs, dealt drugs, and all other kinds of things.
Black people are not the problem, A large group of people, who thinks society owes them jack shit, are.
Racism Is alive, Not because anyone Hates minorities, its only alive because minoritys WANT IT around...
Why is everyone else called minorities? Last time I checked white people were one of the smaller ethnic groups, especially anglosaxons, aka, UK US CA and AU. It is everyone else that puts us above them, granted there are a few white people as you said, who have a problem with other races, but we don't purposely put ourselves higher than the rest.
We have a very similar problem in Australia with our black cousins. They don't play the race card persay, but the government is literally killing them with handouts. If you are aboriginal then you get everything given to you, housing check, destroy the house? another house, check. Fortnighly payments higher than white people, free schooling etc. One of the highest elders has came out and told the government to stop giving handouts to aboriginals, because they are literally killing them with kindness.
When the government gives you everything, there is no incentive to work. I see this socio-economic problem all the time, the poor people are poor because they make bad choices, it is not a matter of lack of education because the problem starts at home with their parents, not at the school. When I was at primary school everyone was equal, but now I am in my mid 20's, you know what? The poor people (who went to the same school as me - government schools in australia are actually on par with private schools) are still fucken poor becaues they decided to get drunk, have kids before they were 20, have no income, live off welfare etc. They made their choices, it is their problem.
You do not see this problem in China, you know why? Welfare (for arguments sake) does not exist. Your family takes care of you if you are sick/injured, no family tough luck. This brings strong family ties and gets everyone working, because if you do not work you go hungry, go hungry long enough and you die. What is the result in china? yes a few people are rising above the rest wealth wise, as with any country because they make better decisions. As my father said to me today, if he finds a good piece of investment land that I don't want to buy to tell my mum, even though my mum is fucken divorced with him, because he wants to keep the money in the family. Certain families will always be above others because they make better choices, have better parents etc.
Rags to riches stories usually involve some kind of "mentor" who passes on his knowledge outside of his family tree. I have no problem sharing my knowledge with others, because I know anything they can do I can do better, and if they are better than me then I have to get my ass out and improve myself.
I grew up in a "rich, high class" area full of rich snobs who have the heads so far up their asses that all they can smell is their own shit. I hate them. The same as I have no pity for "struggling, low income" families, because if you have 3-6 kids relying on government handouts then its your own fucken problem. I know certain people who have a few kids getting say 350 a week unemployment, then 150 a kid/week benefiets. Thats like fucken $800 a week cash tax free, fucken the same as a 40 hour week working full time, and free government housing, and you know what they spend the money on? Fucken drugs and alcohol. I can never stress this enough that many parents do not deserve to have kids and should have them taken off them. Your child has ADHD and is prescribed Ritalin and yet after months of treatment his behaviour is worst than ever ... gee I wonder ... stop fucken taking your childs pills yourself or fucken selling them to your friends!
I have many people from all walks of life in my life and from observing them for a very long time have came to the conclusions posted above.
It all starts with censorship and trickles down from there.
The whole minority thing is a catch-phrase I guess now; perhaps more so a cultural minority. In Canada here a lot of non-white people are pretty much white in every way, but there's tons who aren't too... but that's what Canada is about :)
As much as I agree with you Dogmai, I gotta point out two things:
1.
Vevo sure as hell didn't censor that lol. Although you have to sign in to view it...
2. You were playing Desert Strike? I thought these were the maps we shun! lol.
Anyway, this is pretty valid; I see the same thing lol (I'm guessing most of us here went the comp-sci route (or have valuable skills) and thus will find or have found money easily):
Quote:
The poor people (who went to the same school as me - government schools in australia are actually on par with private schools) are still fucken poor becaues they decided to get drunk, have kids before they were 20, have no income, live off welfare etc. They made their choices, it is their problem.
Heres what I dont get... If black people are (African americans...), Then they INVENTED slavery... wheres their punishment for that LAWL... no one cares apparently.
Also Ritalin, just makes things worse. YOu know whats in it? Crystal Meth, Not even kidding....
IT tears you up, you walk around like a zombie unable to eat or think correctly. The pill should be Illegal, I was Diagnosed with ADHD, and put on ritalin, Trust me I was never a hyper person in the first place, you know what happend when I was 8 years old, I went from 95 lbs to 58 lbs and social services Were called.... NEVER NEVER NEVER. Instead solve the problem you have like they did in the old days, Your children act up, WHIP THEY ASS!!!. An Guess what Im 19 years old, No kids, never been to jail, Smart and intelligent(more so the the average at least), No serious problems, I dont hate my parents like the media makes you think would happen. My brothers are 23 and 17, my older bro is a lot like me(though a lot more social of a person), my little bro is kinda dumb.... But he will be okay, NONE of us have had any real problems, So I beg of every parent, Do the right thing, NO PILLS and more asswhoopins.
Pills are for bad parents. did you ever think of sitting down, and hitting them?
-------
China, meh, They dont have this problem because they are Isolated, there is for the most part only Chinese in china. They are a dictatorship who doesnt listen to their people. and dont allow their people to speak.
I grew up poor and we needed welfare from time to time, The problem isn't welfare, the problem is people who fake disability or have a job.. Lately I know im bout to sound like a redneck here, LOL a redneck is a Northern state Union member how did it end up being derogatory to the south, AND THAT IS OUR WORD NOW, its the mexicans, and I say mexicans, because we have free schools here, its against the law not to be in school if your under 16
So we actually pay for illegals to go to school... Not even kidding, also they get ALL the benefits of being an american citizen.
Ending note: If America was built by Europe, and all these "minorities" hate white people so much" then why dont they just leave?, seriously, a little fact here, When Abraham freed the slaves, After the war, he Paid for any black man to go back to africa... not one took it. If black people think africa better they can go there and marvel about ice cubes, and air conditioning, Im sick of their stupid pitty trip ALL THE DAMN TIME...
We've been watching this thread since it got posted, but I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone to take a step back. Swearing is fine, discussion's fine too, but there's a line - this IS a Sc2Mapping board after all, and I'm sure there are other places if you want to have a heavily loaded discussion about racism, immigration, politics, economics and even medicins.
I'm not locking this just yet, but keep an eye out if you want to keep discussing.
We've been watching this thread since it got posted, but I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone to take a step back. Swearing is fine, discussion's fine too, but there's a line - this IS a Sc2Mapping board after all, and I'm sure there are other places if you want to have a heavily loaded discussion about racism, immigration, politics, economics and even medicins.
I'm not locking this just yet, but keep an eye out if you want to keep discussing.
okay Ive scanned around these posts and from what Ive seen its mostly "censorship is bad why do they censor anything." in some cases i would agree that some things really shouldn't be censored because it actually encourages people to try and get away with saying things and such. if people were allowed to say whatever they wanted they would lose interest in doing so. its like being able to have your favorite food every day rather than once a month; after a while, you just get tired of eating it. but that's not to say that all censorship is bad. photographs of war for example, no one really wants to see the mutilated corpse of someone they might have known, there's a reason many soldiers develop post traumatic stress disorder. I don't know if they still censor photos of war, I haven't really been bothered to read a newspaper because of school and other things that pop up.
I think that the main reason that the US is so gung ho over censoring everything is because that in the US, if someone sees an opportunity to sue, they WILL. im sure its not just the US, but people will always sue over the most stupid things. maybe its simply to get attention or maybe its for money, either way, lawers cost A LOT money and companies really don't want to the waste money on insignificant things.
The problem is Mozza that Censorship heavily effects us because we are bound by Blizzard's rules when publishing a map, there have been numerous cases where maps have been banned, dare I mention Rodrigo?
I have no doubt that Tofu will be banned simply because they do not allow me to express my art.
The problem is Mozza that Censorship heavily effects us because we are bound by Blizzard's rules when publishing a map, there have been numerous cases where maps have been banned, dare I mention Rodrigo?
I have no doubt that Tofu will be banned simply because they do not allow me to express my art.
I miss Rodrigo's antics. He was like the Herman Cain of the sc2 mapping world.
To be on topic I slightly read what was bothering domai. censorship is indeed stupid. EA shouldn't ban from games if it's a forum ban. Especially since games always say that the online isn't rated so that means it should be free rain to be however we want. Anyways onto dogmai's ban on bnet. It's kind of your fault. If you're going to play in another countries server you should understand that their definitions are different and one thing might be ok to say in your culture but it's not in another. But still fag is really old news for gays. I thought people were being more technical and calling them homo or gay. Either way the word you were looking for is douche I believe. The hilarious part is douche isn't really offensive so it can be used all the time.
I love how I always hear of these people getting banned for saying a few words that aren't that offensive but when I try to report someone they don't get banned.
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Original Post: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156331
My post contains swearing, don't like it don't read this post.
Now we all know that EA is the devil and what have you.
But censorship is increasingly being thrusted upon us whether we like it or not. Vevo is a pile of shit because every single song from Vevo is censored ... I am not a child, it seems that the majority of governments and private orgranisations are turning the world into a nanny state.
I recently was banned from battle net for 24 hours for calling someone a fag, and I was right in the context of the discussion as he was indeed being one (desert strike - not banning a trolling ally - wanted a cheap win by not playing fair). And as it was my second offence, my first being "herpaderp faggot" - again desert strike, I was banned. Now, if you take a look through my game history, I have been involved in some pretty good e-fights which have involved everything under the sun except for the word fag ... like ugh ... mother fucking cunt nugget - that will not get me banned because swearing is not against the ToS.
But in Australian culture, or at least the local culture where I am, fag/faggot is not a word commonly used for gay people, although it has its roots in that area, there are other words that are used instead. Calling a mate a fucken faggot is perfectly acceptable if he is being one - faggot would translate to roughly "doing something annoying to purposely piss me off" ... where asshole is defined as "using/abusing someone to your advantage", and being a dick is "egotisitical smartass".
See I am a dick, but I am not an asshole.
But 'fag' consitutes "sexual orientation" which is a load of shit if there was ever one. Americans are so worried about being sued that everything is being censored where in Australian Culture it is acceptable. We had a case where a Policeman took a man to court because the man called the cop a prick, the judge agreed that the cop was being a prick and it was thrown out. Another case where the cops took another guy to court cause he told them to 'fuck off' and again it was ruled perfectly acceptable to be used, since those two cases I have not heard of any others making it to court.
When someone is called a fag it is not because you are saying that they are gay/bisexual, it is because they are being fucken cunts.
This kind of Blizzard censorship is wrong, because fully grown adults who are more than capable of being called a name and shrugging it off, are getting thrown in with 11 year old kids and being forced to live by their rules. You find me a bloody 11 year old (no homeschooling) that doesn't know the word fuck and I will eat my words. These words only have power because you censor them, if everyone said fuck as they do in Australia it has lost all of it's power. The very worst word I guess you can say in Australia is cunt, and even then you walk down the city a bunch of our black cousins are gonna be shouting it to us "fucken white cunts" and there, it lost all its power.
Granted this ban was only tied to my NA account and I could still use SEA, but seeing SEA is dead it was as effective as banning me from Starcraft for a single use of a word that no one in their right mind (ie, their head is not up their asses) should be offended by?
For the most part Blizzard are a really good company, but at the same time with the event of Battle Net 2.0 everything you say and do is logged which is not acceptable because it brings up all kinds of ethical and privacy issues which are becoming more and more important (see facebook). How can saying one single word actually put my $60 investment at risk? This is over the top censorship that should be illegal.
lol Really for calling someone a fag, Ive literally gone on there and used every cuss word I can think of, I mean ive said fuck, dicksuck , and alot worse.... and ALOT in a single game, But I said Damn one time on their forums, and an automatic 2 day ban....
@DogmaiSEA: Go
If people don't like you saying something like faggot, just don't say it.
Who are you to decide what is offensive?
If someone takes offense thats their fault, If you are scared of what people say, then thats you, and your problem alone, Its not my fault if some idiot hates being called gay or homo, Hell people call me Redneck, cracker, and all kinds of crap, due to my accent, skin color, etc, you dont see me getting pissy when it happens, I joke back, People need to learn to take a joke, This censorship is stupid in the first place, If you dont want it on your game, then make it so when someone says it, It changes it into a lesser form, such as the forums I run, Nigger is turned into Black dude, and God damn is turned into Got dang. Its not a hard thing to do, but No people want to police the internet so bad it kills them.... All it does is take away from everyones internet experience, The more that are banned the less that are left to play, and in a mostly multiplayer game, the less that play it, the less people CAN play it, because once everyones gone, It will be impossible to play. Honestly I wonder how many servers there are just because on a Bad day there is 30 people total in all the Blizzard chat channels... on a bad day there should be over 1 thousand... On a good day there about 75-100(thats being generous), there should be 5000- 10k... WIth over 3 million sold in the US... there should be alot more, So I think the NA server is actually chopped up into many many servers... Just because. It makes no sense that there is so little people online, I can go on say, Warcraft 3, there will be about the same amount of people on there. Whats wrong with this?
@DogmaiSEA: Go
censorship is evil no one has the right to ban people from saying stuff except god alone. and btw censorship actually hides the truth which is bad cause people then do not know what not to do... i mean for fucks sake... children should never be put above all else... i wish america would stop making fun of its past and acting like theyve matured... they have not the 70's to 05 were the best days of america's video games/games and even life was better than. but now corruption is spreading like wildfire through "censorship" and i think everyone who loves it should be burned at the stake for abusing it. i mean really we are all fucking adults... so don't treat us like children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You hit it spot on Taintedwisp, offending people is never a problem, the people who get offended, they are the problem.
Now by this I don't mean be a fucken dick and start calling people everything under the sun, ie: dirty jew, sand nigger etc - those are clearly racist undertones because you are adding more to the offending word than needed, see the difference between being a fag and being a fucken gay faggot - the latter uses sexuality, the fore does not. By using those words you know damn right that you are trying to incite hatred, that is just being a fucken cunt and is uncalled for. But there was a guy in a game I just played saying dirty jew etc ... I found out a few months ago I was 1/16th jewish - go me - so I told him ... he called me a jew and I lawled cause obviously I am mixed more than the sunday markets, I didn't get offended even though I could/should have. But why the fuck should I? I am Australian, I have mates who have migrated here in the last 5 years who are more fucken aussie than some white cunts born here ...
Look, in the 60's and 70's everyone fucked their asses off - the result? AIDS in the 80's ... and now I gotta wrap my dick cause my parents didn't. That is cause and effect ... the majority of young parents these days should not be fucken parents - they are using the internet as a fucken baby sitter. That is all I am on the Minecraft server I admin, a fucken babysitter. Blizzard should not act like a fucken babysitter to their fanbase. People need to accept responsibility for their own children instead of trying to past the blame.
I am going to teach my kids fuck, shit, cunt and whatever else I want to, at the same time I will teach them the appropriate times to use them, ie - if you hit your toe against a door and say fuck, its acceptable, if you call your teacher a fucken cunt, then I am going to bitchslap you upside the head. When I learnt the word fuck as a kid, my dad was more angry because I spelt it vuck instead of fuck, he didn't care that I swore (though I was still very well mannered compared to now - now I simply don't give a shit), he wanted me to have correct spelling. So you know what? Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck!
Take a note from Harry Potter, refusing to use the word only gives power to it; He who cannot be named etc.
The problem is on the NA servers though is you get a lot of "white supremacists" in the USA ... which brings it back to religion - radical chistians. On SEA we are a mix of Aussies, Kiwis, Malaysians, Singaporeans and Filipinos and you know what? There is nearly no fucken racial tension or insults on SEA. Yeah in Australia there is quite a bit of 'racial hatred' towards Indians (from India), and you know what, it isn't completely undeserved. I have some good Indian mates and have met a shitload of good Indian people, but as a whole, they are as rude and arrogant as fuck. From their culture, many do not wash as much as we do and they do indeed smell, not as bad as our black cousins who quite a few never wash, but it is still enough to start the hatred brewing. They also "took our jobs", and are poor workers. My mother manages 50+ people and the indian students who come in are as lazy as fuck when it comes to work ethics and end up getting fired, but there is a non stop supply of them, funnily enough the chinese are the hardest working, sterotypes perhaps exist for a reason.
Australians are racist, but so is every other country whether it be China - putting white people on a pedastool - or America - fuck them niggers, wetbacks and any other racial insult there is (forgive me I am not too up to date on my racial insults, I don't use them =\). At least we admit it. We are racist for a reason, we live in the best country on earth, and yet 99% of our problems are caused by immigrants who bring their hatred and racism towards other races into Australia and start living in enclaves and refuse to assimilate with the rest of Australia.
I have many muslim friends who work hard and love their family, granted they don't believe in evolution and neither do radical christians, but hey, they are good people. But there are many muslims who wear the habib and are clearly distinquishing themselves from the rest of the population - and they are in Australia ... women are equal here, everyone is equal, but they put women down so it gets alot of people against them.
The majority of problems people are faced with - they fucken cause themselves and its a direct relation between cause and effect.
Censorship is the first step towards Totalitarianism ... and don't forget, every single communist/totalitarian country started off as a democracy.
There is very little difference in my eyes between government and multi-national corporations.
@deleted_7920358: Go
Its sad that people like you, is protecting censorship.
They are banning people for offensive words because they dont want it to be used against them, they want an all happy weird forum, which doesnt represent the reality. Anyway its their forum they can do with it as they want.
Also the if the game's server is their's too, they can ban you there too. E.A. have big monopoly over the game industry, so you will probably dont find as good games as their's in the same genre.
The only solution is disobedience: use cracked servers and dont buy their fucking game. (The only game I bought in long time is SC2, but I have feeling they are getting more and more profit orientated, which is good for them, but will kill the game.)
@DogmaiSEA: Go
wow, I totally agree with you. Censorship keeps color racism up. If people could be racist openly, than they would be probably confronted and would be educated, but currently censorship just gives racism a special charm...
The problem is that countries still distinguished by race and not by ideology/social system.
And yeah sadly our world becoming more and more fascist...
Theres another problem that most Non americans are unaware of.
The minoritys WANT racism to exist, If it didnt then they couldnt get all the extra stuff....
Indians(Native Americans) and Asians are excluded, I have never heard of either of them Discriminating against white people, Hell we took all the Indians land, The request for a part of their ancestors land back politely, and dont make a big fuss if they dont get it... But black people and Mexicans Cause alot of problems When they dont get exactly what they want, They pull whats known as the race card, which makes the people who dont give in to them look racist... Truth is There arent many racist.. there MIGHT be 1 in 5000 people who have some problems with other race groups(not even enough to actually talk down to them). without racism minoritys cant do as they wish
Fun Facts: Black man can have an all Black college and scholarship Funded by the government, but if a white man does it for white people, its Racist.
A White man can call a black man a porch monkey and face serious jail time a black man can call a white man a cracker all day and people laugh...
No living white man has had slaves...
ALL races can be racist, but only whites are looked down on for it.
A black man with a low paying job can get food stamps of over 700$ a month, A white women with 2 kids and no job or low paying job is lucky to get accepted at all and if accepted shes lucky to get 280$ a month.
Black people have had a black KKK like group, called the black panthers... no one calls them out for that one though.
If the minority's wanted equality why do they pull the race card to get extras from everyone?
I grew up in whats called the "Hood" I was hazed and picked on for listening to heavy metal music and not wanting to act like trash as 99% of the "Minority's" did school of around 2k black people and only 14 white people... but they were the minority... They(Black peeps and mexicans that lived here) weren't hated because they were black, they were hated because they stole, broke shit, started fights, created gangs, dealt drugs, and all other kinds of things.
Black people are not the problem, A large group of people, who thinks society owes them jack shit, are.
Racism Is alive, Not because anyone Hates minorities, its only alive because minoritys WANT IT around...
Its like that in every western country. Here in Hungary its probably much worse than in most of Usa...
Same goes for the religions...
Why is everyone else called minorities? Last time I checked white people were one of the smaller ethnic groups, especially anglosaxons, aka, UK US CA and AU. It is everyone else that puts us above them, granted there are a few white people as you said, who have a problem with other races, but we don't purposely put ourselves higher than the rest.
We have a very similar problem in Australia with our black cousins. They don't play the race card persay, but the government is literally killing them with handouts. If you are aboriginal then you get everything given to you, housing check, destroy the house? another house, check. Fortnighly payments higher than white people, free schooling etc. One of the highest elders has came out and told the government to stop giving handouts to aboriginals, because they are literally killing them with kindness.
When the government gives you everything, there is no incentive to work. I see this socio-economic problem all the time, the poor people are poor because they make bad choices, it is not a matter of lack of education because the problem starts at home with their parents, not at the school. When I was at primary school everyone was equal, but now I am in my mid 20's, you know what? The poor people (who went to the same school as me - government schools in australia are actually on par with private schools) are still fucken poor becaues they decided to get drunk, have kids before they were 20, have no income, live off welfare etc. They made their choices, it is their problem.
You do not see this problem in China, you know why? Welfare (for arguments sake) does not exist. Your family takes care of you if you are sick/injured, no family tough luck. This brings strong family ties and gets everyone working, because if you do not work you go hungry, go hungry long enough and you die. What is the result in china? yes a few people are rising above the rest wealth wise, as with any country because they make better decisions. As my father said to me today, if he finds a good piece of investment land that I don't want to buy to tell my mum, even though my mum is fucken divorced with him, because he wants to keep the money in the family. Certain families will always be above others because they make better choices, have better parents etc.
Rags to riches stories usually involve some kind of "mentor" who passes on his knowledge outside of his family tree. I have no problem sharing my knowledge with others, because I know anything they can do I can do better, and if they are better than me then I have to get my ass out and improve myself.
I grew up in a "rich, high class" area full of rich snobs who have the heads so far up their asses that all they can smell is their own shit. I hate them. The same as I have no pity for "struggling, low income" families, because if you have 3-6 kids relying on government handouts then its your own fucken problem. I know certain people who have a few kids getting say 350 a week unemployment, then 150 a kid/week benefiets. Thats like fucken $800 a week cash tax free, fucken the same as a 40 hour week working full time, and free government housing, and you know what they spend the money on? Fucken drugs and alcohol. I can never stress this enough that many parents do not deserve to have kids and should have them taken off them. Your child has ADHD and is prescribed Ritalin and yet after months of treatment his behaviour is worst than ever ... gee I wonder ... stop fucken taking your childs pills yourself or fucken selling them to your friends!
I have many people from all walks of life in my life and from observing them for a very long time have came to the conclusions posted above.
It all starts with censorship and trickles down from there.
@DogmaiSEA: Go
The whole minority thing is a catch-phrase I guess now; perhaps more so a cultural minority. In Canada here a lot of non-white people are pretty much white in every way, but there's tons who aren't too... but that's what Canada is about :)
As much as I agree with you Dogmai, I gotta point out two things:
1. Vevo sure as hell didn't censor that lol. Although you have to sign in to view it...
2. You were playing Desert Strike? I thought these were the maps we shun! lol.
Anyway, this is pretty valid; I see the same thing lol (I'm guessing most of us here went the comp-sci route (or have valuable skills) and thus will find or have found money easily):
Heres what I dont get... If black people are (African americans...), Then they INVENTED slavery... wheres their punishment for that LAWL... no one cares apparently.
Also Ritalin, just makes things worse. YOu know whats in it? Crystal Meth, Not even kidding.... IT tears you up, you walk around like a zombie unable to eat or think correctly. The pill should be Illegal, I was Diagnosed with ADHD, and put on ritalin, Trust me I was never a hyper person in the first place, you know what happend when I was 8 years old, I went from 95 lbs to 58 lbs and social services Were called.... NEVER NEVER NEVER. Instead solve the problem you have like they did in the old days, Your children act up, WHIP THEY ASS!!!. An Guess what Im 19 years old, No kids, never been to jail, Smart and intelligent(more so the the average at least), No serious problems, I dont hate my parents like the media makes you think would happen. My brothers are 23 and 17, my older bro is a lot like me(though a lot more social of a person), my little bro is kinda dumb.... But he will be okay, NONE of us have had any real problems, So I beg of every parent, Do the right thing, NO PILLS and more asswhoopins.
Pills are for bad parents. did you ever think of sitting down, and hitting them?
-------China, meh, They dont have this problem because they are Isolated, there is for the most part only Chinese in china. They are a dictatorship who doesnt listen to their people. and dont allow their people to speak.
I grew up poor and we needed welfare from time to time, The problem isn't welfare, the problem is people who fake disability or have a job.. Lately I know im bout to sound like a redneck here, LOL a redneck is a Northern state Union member how did it end up being derogatory to the south, AND THAT IS OUR WORD NOW, its the mexicans, and I say mexicans, because we have free schools here, its against the law not to be in school if your under 16 So we actually pay for illegals to go to school... Not even kidding, also they get ALL the benefits of being an american citizen.
Ending note: If America was built by Europe, and all these "minorities" hate white people so much" then why dont they just leave?, seriously, a little fact here, When Abraham freed the slaves, After the war, he Paid for any black man to go back to africa... not one took it. If black people think africa better they can go there and marvel about ice cubes, and air conditioning, Im sick of their stupid pitty trip ALL THE DAMN TIME...
We've been watching this thread since it got posted, but I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone to take a step back. Swearing is fine, discussion's fine too, but there's a line - this IS a Sc2Mapping board after all, and I'm sure there are other places if you want to have a heavily loaded discussion about racism, immigration, politics, economics and even medicins.
I'm not locking this just yet, but keep an eye out if you want to keep discussing.
Alright, Ill tone it down a bit, My bad.
okay Ive scanned around these posts and from what Ive seen its mostly "censorship is bad why do they censor anything." in some cases i would agree that some things really shouldn't be censored because it actually encourages people to try and get away with saying things and such. if people were allowed to say whatever they wanted they would lose interest in doing so. its like being able to have your favorite food every day rather than once a month; after a while, you just get tired of eating it. but that's not to say that all censorship is bad. photographs of war for example, no one really wants to see the mutilated corpse of someone they might have known, there's a reason many soldiers develop post traumatic stress disorder. I don't know if they still censor photos of war, I haven't really been bothered to read a newspaper because of school and other things that pop up.
I think that the main reason that the US is so gung ho over censoring everything is because that in the US, if someone sees an opportunity to sue, they WILL. im sure its not just the US, but people will always sue over the most stupid things. maybe its simply to get attention or maybe its for money, either way, lawers cost A LOT money and companies really don't want to the waste money on insignificant things.
that's just my thoughts on the subject.
@Mozared: Go
The problem is Mozza that Censorship heavily effects us because we are bound by Blizzard's rules when publishing a map, there have been numerous cases where maps have been banned, dare I mention Rodrigo?
I have no doubt that Tofu will be banned simply because they do not allow me to express my art.
I miss Rodrigo's antics. He was like the Herman Cain of the sc2 mapping world.
Haha. I do too. Another victim of the popularity system.
@Mozared: Go
Moz I want your santa hat :D
To be on topic I slightly read what was bothering domai. censorship is indeed stupid. EA shouldn't ban from games if it's a forum ban. Especially since games always say that the online isn't rated so that means it should be free rain to be however we want. Anyways onto dogmai's ban on bnet. It's kind of your fault. If you're going to play in another countries server you should understand that their definitions are different and one thing might be ok to say in your culture but it's not in another. But still fag is really old news for gays. I thought people were being more technical and calling them homo or gay. Either way the word you were looking for is douche I believe. The hilarious part is douche isn't really offensive so it can be used all the time.
I love how I always hear of these people getting banned for saying a few words that aren't that offensive but when I try to report someone they don't get banned.