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Lawsuit?? Good luck with that. I give you the
Terms of Service.
Regarding your claims slander is a specific legal term:
SYLLABICATION: slan·der
PRONUNCIATION: slndr
NOUN: 1. Law Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation. 2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone.
VERB: Inflected forms: slan·dered, slan·der·ing, slan·ders
TRANSITIVE VERB: To utter a slander about. See synonyms at malign.
INTRANSITIVE VERB: To utter or spread slander.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English slaundre, from Old French esclandre, alteration of escandle, from Latin scandalum, cause of offense, stumbling block. See scandal.
OTHER FORMS: slander·er —NOUN
slander·ous —ADJECTIVE
slander·ous·ly —ADVERB
Unless EA has said something about you publicly this does not apply. I have to wonder what their legal team may have to say about some of the dev bashing posts on these forums and the blog.
Regarding the customers legal rights in the game:
Beta tests:
All Beta Tests (Closed And Open):
(1) As a beta tester, you are invited to play beta games for the sole purpose of evaluating the games and identifying errors. Nothing in this Agreement, or on this site, shall be construed as granting you any rights or privileges of any kind with respect to the beta games or content that you find here. The beta games are provided for testing on an "as is" "as available" basis and we make no warranty to you of any kind, express or implied.
(2) When playing some beta games, you may accumulate treasure, experience points, equipment, or other value or status indicators. This data may be reset at any time during the testing process, and it may be reset when the particular game completes this testing phase. In this case, all player history and data will be erased and each player will return to novice status.
(3) By selecting a "Play" button to start a beta game, you agree that: (i) playing beta games is at your own risk and that you know that the games may include known or unknown bugs, (ii) any value or status indicators that you achieve through game play may be erased at any time, (iii) EA has no obligation to make these games available for play without charge for any period of time, nor to make them available at all, (iv) these games may be available only by subscription once the testing process is complete or at any time in the future; (v) EA’s Terms of Service apply to your use of the games during the testing phase, and (vi) if it is a closed beta test, you will keep all information about the beta games confidential as stated above and not disclose such information to any other person.
(4) Beta Test accounts are non-transferable under any circumstances
6. LIMITATIONS ON WARRANTY AND LIABILITY.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT THE USE OF EA ONLINE, EA ONLINE SOFTWARE, AND THE INTERNET IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. EA ONLINE, EA ONLINE SOFTWARE, EA’S PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, THIRD-PARTY SERVICES AND PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, UNLESS SUCH WARRANTIES ARE LEGALLY INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION. EA PROVIDES THE SERVICE ON A COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE BASIS AND DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE AT TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF YOUR CHOOSING, OR THAT EA WILL HAVE ADEQUATE CAPACITY FOR THE SERVICE AS A WHOLE OR IN ANY SPECIFIC GEOGRAPHIC AREA.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY DISPUTE WITH EA OR ITS LICENSORS IS TO STOP USING THE SERVICE, AND TO CANCEL YOUR ACCOUNT) YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT EA, ITS SUBSIDIARIES, LICENSORS AND AFFILIATES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY ACT OR FAILURE TO ACT BY THEM OR ANY OTHER PERSON REGARDING CONDUCT, COMMUNICATION OR CONTENT ON THE SERVICE OR USE OF EA ONLINE SOFTWARE. IN NO CASE SHALL EA OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES, LICENSORS, AFFILIATES', EMPLOYEES', OFFICERS', OR DIRECTORS' (COLLECTIVELY, "EA AFFILIATES") LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED THE AMOUNT THAT YOU PAID TO EA FOR THE SERVICE. IN NO CASE SHALL EA OR EA ONLINE AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF EA ONLINE, EA ONLINE SOFTWARE, THE INTERNET OR FOR ANY OTHER CLAIM RELATED IN ANY WAY TO YOUR USE OF OR MEMBERSHIP WITH EA ONLINE. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS, EA’S AND EA ONLINE AFFILIATES' LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. EA DOES NOT ENDORSE, WARRANT OR GUARANTEE ANY THIRD PARTY PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERED THROUGH EA ONLINE AND WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing contained in this Agreement limits EA’s liability to you for fraudulent misrepresentations, death or personal injury caused by EA’s negligence, or any other liability to the extent such liability cannot be excluded or limited as a matter of applicable law.
So in reading the ToS this lasty paragraph is about the best you can hope for. Altho I doubt it would be an easy task to prove this. Maybe if you can afford an attorney that is willing to battle EA over your $9.99. Of course there is the paragraph above that states that EA or you may cancel the acct at any time for any reason. Threatening legal action would seem like a good way to get your acct cancelled.
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To which, I would like to add:
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
OTOH, I believe that Nate is right and we should stop bashing the devs - but - since I would not want to see anyone injure themselves trying to hold back the anger, I suggest we all start bashing *Nate* instead. [thumbsup]