Am I on a hiding to nothing? - Taking legal action COD peeps

[Chuck328]

Ok, flame away, take the piss etc but what do you think??

So back mid December I was banned from Call of Duty Ghosts (don't even go there with the "Don't cheat/hack/boost" etc comments ) I don't do that. 5 years on Steam and a dozen plus games of hassle free time suggest not?

Anyway, got banned, no reason given, no proof or justification.

I spent some money on DLC, (circa £40) and have a quite a few friends I game with - all of who support me).

Weeks later after of plenty research, I see countless similar posts on Activision/ COD ghosts forums with people having experienced similar. Now I've been gaming long enough to see real cheating and glitching taking place. I just leave and go to another game mode. If you cheat etc you deserve to get banned.

However, with this, I thought, no feck it, why should I take this lying down? I pay for something and it's taken away with no reason/proof/justification - is that even legal? (minefield, I know) etc.

So I'm taking it further, I will consider spending money on this out of principle, but how much of a hiding to nothing am I on?

[anonymous-user]

I don't play any online games, or even really console games, just the occasional bit of Gran Turismo etc but I have recently been reading about the whole on line gaming ban thing and find it quite fascinating.

It particularly seems to be a problem when people come to sell their consoles after being banned as they take a big hit on the price because they have to sell the console as 'banned'.

This seems hugely unfair and the only thing I can liken it to is a car manufacturer remotely limiting your car to 70mph because it detected you had been speeding, and you having to sell the car as being limited and therefore at a reduced price.

The company has effectively remotely tampered with something you own and reduced its value as a result.

I don't see how that practice would stand up in court if it was anything other than a games console?

Edited by NinjaPower on Monday 5th January 23:37

[All that jazz]

Chuck328 said:

Ok, flame away, take the piss etc but what do you think??

So back mid December I was banned from Call of Duty Ghosts (don't even go there with the "Don't cheat/hack/boost" etc comments ) I don't do that. 5 years on Steam and a dozen plus games of hassle free time suggest not?

Anyway, got banned, no reason given, no proof or justification.

I spent some money on DLC, (circa £40) and have a quite a few friends I game with - all of who support me).

Weeks later after of plenty research, I see countless similar posts on Activision/ COD ghosts forums with people having experienced similar. Now I've been gaming long enough to see real cheating and glitching taking place. I just leave and go to another game mode. If you cheat etc you deserve to get banned.

However, with this, I thought, no feck it, why should I take this lying down? I pay for something and it's taken away with no reason/proof/justification - is that even legal? (minefield, I know) etc.

So I'm taking it further, I will consider spending money on this out of principle, but how much of a hiding to nothing am I on?

I would say your first port of call would be to fully read and understand the COD Ghosts game T&C small print. I'd imagine buried somewhere within there will be a get out clause saying that by playing the game you basically agree that they can do whatever the hell they want and you have zero redress in situations like this.

[Chuck328]

All that jazz said:

I would say your first port of call would be to fully read and understand the COD Ghosts game T&C small print. I'd imagine buried somewhere within there will be a get out clause saying that by playing the game you basically agree that they can do whatever the hell they want and you have zero redress in situations like this.

It's a good point, thanks and something I will do. I still remain adamant out of principle what they are doing is wrong though. There is already a class action law suit started in the States about this,, interesting to see if it goes anywhere.

[Chuck328]

NinjaPower said:

I don't play any online games, or even really console games, just the occasional bit of Gran Turismo etc but I have recently been reading about the whole on line gaming ban thing and find it quite fascinating.

It particularly seems to be a problem when people come to sell their consoles after being banned as they take a big hit on the price because they have to sell the console as 'banned'.

This seems hugely unfair and the only thing I can liken it to is a car manufacturer remotely limiting your car to 70mph because it detected you had been speeding, and you having to sell the car as being limited and therefore at a reduced price.

The company has effectively remotely tampered with something you own and reduced its value as a result.

I don't see how that practice would stand up in court if it was anything other than a games console?

Edited by NinjaPower on Monday 5th January 23:37

Fair analogy , principle stands, game consoles should not be exempt, agreed?

Problem with that I suppose is proof of ownership etc? Like I say, bit of a minefield.

Edited by Chuck328 on Monday 5th January 23:54

[castex]

QQ detector is reading mucho butthurt.

[zygalski]

Chuck328 said:

...So back mid December I was banned from Call of Duty Ghosts (don't even go there with the "Don't cheat/hack/boost" etc comments ) I don't do that...

Why do you think you got banned from playing in the online lobbies. Any idea at all?

[Chuck328]

castex said:

QQ detector is reading mucho butthurt.

Na the young'un gamers who whip my butt-hurts...how do they do it?

[Sheepshanks]

All that jazz said:

I would say your first port of call would be to fully read and understand the COD Ghosts game T&C small print. I'd imagine buried somewhere within there will be a get out clause saying that by playing the game you basically agree that they can do whatever the hell they want and you have zero redress in situations like this.

That would surely be an "unfair contract"?

[simoid]

zygalski said:

Chuck328 said:

...So back mid December I was banned from Call of Duty Ghosts (don't even go there with the "Don't cheat/hack/boost" etc comments ) I don't do that...

Why do you think you got banned from playing in the online lobbies. Any idea at all?

Well, this...

...but if you haven't done anything wrong, they've no right to stop you playing, Shirley? No matter what it says in their terms and conditions, they can't just do what they like.

[Chuck328]

zygalski said:

hy do you think you got banned from playing in the online lobbies. Any idea at all?

None.

Regular gamer in Safeguard ( if you know the game) with my mate who lives up the road and others on my friends list and a bit of TDM. Usual standard stuff, win a few loose a few. Next day log in, banned at trying to sign in the multiplayer.

seriously though, I spent time reading Activisions support forums and the number of daily posts from people banned from no reason is significant. I re iterate, you cheat, you should get banned, but having read some of the forums posts I refuse to believe all are guilty of cheating. Back in (circa March) Infinity Ward admitted loads of cross platform gamers were banned due to a glitch in their software. Since then IW have been very quiet....

Edited by Chuck328 on Tuesday 6th January 00:27

[All that jazz]

Sheepshanks said:

All that jazz said:

I would say your first port of call would be to fully read and understand the COD Ghosts game T&C small print. I'd imagine buried somewhere within there will be a get out clause saying that by playing the game you basically agree that they can do whatever the hell they want and you have zero redress in situations like this.

That would surely be an "unfair contract"?

I don't know, I'm no expert, but it would surely be a good place to start. There are an ever-increasing number of companies that have unreasonable T&Cs and simply prey on people not bothering to read them. Banks, mobile phone companies, car breakdown companies etc often come in for criticism for this kind of thing.

Perhaps a more important question at this early stage would be what has the OP done in order to get himself his ban? His post is unsurprisingly light on details there.

[Chuck328]

All that jazz said:

I don't know, I'm no expert, but it would surely be a good place to start. There are an ever-increasing number of companies that have unreasonable T&Cs and simply prey on people not bothering to read them. Banks, mobile phone companies, car breakdown companies etc often come in for criticism for this kind of thing.

Perhaps a more important question at this early stage would be what has the OP done in order to get himself his ban? His post is unsurprisingly light on details there.

Read my last post....

[simoid]

Chuck328 said:

Read my last post....

A strongly worded email, including publicity threats, to the biggest boss you (PH) can find at the games developers.

[Chuck328]

simoid said:

A strongly worded email, including publicity threats, to the biggest boss you (PH) can find at the games developers.

Would you be so kind as to build me a brick wall so I can bang my head against, it would be less hassle as I've tried almost everything else

[FiF]

No help I'm afraid but these random acts are why I will not spend a penny of real money on freemium games. I've seen people complaining they've spent 60 quid on various stuff that's been lost in some server glitch. You see premium stuff nerfed on the most dubious of reasons.

Yes to some extent I feel a bit guilty as the developers and staff have to be paid, but don't have enough spare time to justify spending real money.

Obviously I have some games where have purchased a disc and single player mode is good enough to justify the cost. Eg MoH and so on.

[simoid]

Chuck328 said:

simoid said:

A strongly worded email, including publicity threats, to the biggest boss you (PH) can find at the games developers.

Would you be so kind as to build me a brick wall so I can bang my head against, it would be less hassle as I've tried almost everything else

Have you tried [e-mail]?

[Guvernator]

From what I have read, permanent bans are final and there is NO appeal process. You could spend a lot of time and effort trying to get this reversed and still get nowhere and just end up being frustrated. I know it might seem galling now but life is too short, just move on and play another game. If it's any consolation, Cod Ghosts is crap anyway

[jayemm89]

Out of curiosity, surely it is his gamertag which is banned and not his console...?

I don't really play much online but I would have thought there is some sort of "three strikes" or "warning" or something with getting banned? Possibly not, but just a thought.

I guess the issue with modern games and console games in particular is you are forced into playing the game via their network of servers - not like it used to be and is to some extent still with PC games - ie. anyone can set up a server and decide whether they do/don't want to allow people

[Grumfutock]

Well I have no idea on how likely you are to win this but I will say, good on you!

Cheating has stopped me playing online games. Between aimbots and hackers it has ruined it and I refuse to even bother now.