14 DAY TRIAL // A problem linked to how publisher Electronic Arts policies its official forums has reared its ugly had once again, resulting in lock-outs from both Battlefield 3 and the Origin digital distribution service for those who behave badly on the forums.
Back in March players noticed that those who were banned for the way they behaved were unable to play content that was linked to their official accounts, like Dragon Age 2.
Electronic Arts described the problem as an error and promised to fix it.
The launch of Battlefield 3 resulted in increased traffic on the official Electronic Arts forums and in an increased number of bans and players who can no longer post have also found that they are unable to log in into the Origin digital distribution service and that they are unable to play the first person shooter from DICE.
Customer support has responded to their inquiries by saying that it was the official policy of the company to ban those who have violated the Terms and the Services agreement linked to the forums and that bans can be appealed.
It makes little sense for gamers to be unable to play a game that they have bought legitimately for something they have said on a forum and the public outcry will probably force Electronic Arts to separate the two elements of its policy.
Origin was launched with great fanfare by EA, which sees it as a long term rival to the Valve made Steam, but at the moment the service lacks the number of titles and the install base to do that.
If the forum ban issue is not solved fast potential Origin users might be driven away by the prospect that they could loose access to their digitally purchased titles because of something they say on the official forums.