Electronic Arts says it has no intention of banning people who don’t report bugs in the SimCity beta.
The list of reasons to dislike Electronic Arts grew a little longer yesterday when word came out that, according to the SimCity beta test end-user license agreement, you could be banned if you fail to report bugs that you discover in the game. Leaving aside the inherent difficulties of dropping the banhammer on someone for not doing something, it’s an undeniably disturbing policy and heavy-handed almost to the point of self-satire.
Fortunately, the blowup has convinced EA to make some changes. “Heads up, Mayors – it’s been brought to our attention that there’s been some confusion regarding the bug-reporting policy in the EA beta test agreement for SimCity,” the company wrote, perhaps just a tad disingenuously, on the SimCity Facebook page.
“Don’t worry – EA has never taken away access to a player’s games for failing to report a bug,” it continued. “In fact, we’re in the process of updating our agreement to make this point clear before the beta starts this Friday.”
The statement also provided a link to the SimCity Closed Beta FAQ, although the document doesn’t actually refer to the contentious EULA clause.
The SimCity beta test runs from January 25 to 28, but if you’re not already in, you’re out: beta registrations are closed and EA is no longer accepting new applications.
Source: Facebook
