Controversy
On July 9, 2009, an ECA and GamePolitics enthusiast posted the comment at GamePolitics' ShoutBox his "wish for a dirty bomb attack on NYC..." This was sent to the FBI, and shortly thereafter GP, which had allowed the posted comment for twelve hours, removed it, thereby admitting the inappropriate conduct of one of its supporters.
The association had a very public battle with game publisher, Electronic Arts, following the release of Spore in September 2009 due to digital rights management software which was included in the game, but had not been disclosed to consumers. The restrictiveness of that DRM was also an issue and the ECA’s GamePolitics website became the lightning rod which channeled gamers’ discontent. Six months prior, ECA President, Hal Halpin, suggested that game publishers create a disclosure icon for software packaging to alert consumers to the presence of DRM at a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conference in Seattle, Washington.
On December 2, 2009, controversy arose regarding the ECA’s membership cancellation policy, in which the association’s membership terms and conditions were changed without notifying ECA users. The change was made due to an exploit in a partner’s coupon codes. The cancellation policy change temporarily required that members mail a physical letter requesting cancellation while the association upgraded their systems. There were also complaints about the change in the terms and conditions being made without notifying the membership, which struck some members as ironic given the ECA’s stance regarding End User License Agreements. The three week ordeal ended on December 24, 2009 once the promised new modules went public giving members online account termination and an online auto-renewal opt-out functionality similar to Xbox Live and ECA’s listing with the CT Better Business Bureau was raised to an A-.
In April 2010, some former ECA members found their accounts being automatically renewed, and their credit cards charged ECA's annual membership fee. Those renewed ex-members canceled their memberships through the mail during the December 2009 controversy, while other renewed members had canceled their memberships through the online options established in January 2010.
Read more about this topic: Entertainment Consumers Association
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)