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[JaseC]

Update (31/10/2016 @ 11:14 AWST): EA is working on restoring support for Myanmar but has still yet to express any intention of allowing users in other countries that were also retroactively banned, such as Iran, to access their purchased titles.

-----ORIGINAL POST-----

Credit to spindoctor, who linked me to this Reddit thread on Steam:

I live in Myanmar, and I own about 20 games on Origin, and have spent hundreds of dollars on the platform. I've bought the full editions of all of the Battlefield games up to this point, with their season passes. I was trying to log into Origin a few days ago, and got a bizarre "Access Denied" message. I googled it, and found that "Origin is no longer available in Myanmar."

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin/New...om-Myanmar/m-p/5572204/highlight/true#M220895

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin/ISP-IP-blocked-by-EA/m-p/5588812/highlight/true#M222597

Supposedly EA is blaming this on complying with US sanctions against Myanmar (which is total crap, considering Steam, GOG, and every single other content distribution network is just fine). Additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th. Still no access to our games that we bought.

None of us has been offered a refund - just a "sorry, all your games are gone."

Remember, if they do it to me, they can do it to you too. Don't use or buy games from Origin. They will take your content away without offering a refund.

Patently absurd, to state the obvious, and seems to be intentional as the EA Answers threads the OP cites are more than a month old. As per the second link, the accounts themselves appear to still be in good standing, however, in which case a VPN will work.

 

[Cerium]

Supposedly EA is blaming this on complying with US sanctions against Myanmar (which is total crap, considering Steam, GOG, and every single other content distribution network is just fine). Additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th. Still no access to our games that we bought.

Ah the good old "Thanks Obama!"

 

[kmax]

Completely absurd.

This is one of the reasons why I don't trust digital, when companies pull stunts like these without compensating their customers. Completely unreasonable.

 

[abracadaver]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

 

[iNvid02]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

Reading is hard

additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th. Still no access to our games that we bought.

 

[MCN]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

Except they are, and so is everyone else. And even so, there's no reason why they should have taken away people's owned games. They could have just forced everything to run in offline mode.

And people think digital distribution is a good idea...

 

[CrazedProfessional]

But physical media is dead!

 

[Xando]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

Additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th. Still no access to our games that we bought.

read the op

 

[kmax]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-end-economic-sanctions-against-myanmar-1473874082

 

[Chobel]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

In the OP.

Supposedly EA is blaming this on complying with US sanctions against Myanmar (which is total crap, considering Steam, GOG, and every single other content distribution network is just fine). Additionally, sanctions were lifted on October 7th

 

[nephilimdj]

Man wikipedia sucks when it comes to Myanmar/Burma, like is nothing about the country between 1950 and 1990s. Even USA relations page starts only 30 years ago.

I assume EA will look into it.

 

[finley83]

A reminder that you should never trust any corporate entity to treat you fairly. EULAs are entirely one sided and state for every digital service that you are merely a subscriber and the service can be terminated at any time without prior notice. GOG at least allows you to download DRM free backup copies in case their service is discontinued. You should never expect access in perpetuity to any digital service regardless of how customer friendly or stable the provider appears to be right now.

Don't think that EA is somehow different from Valve or Ubisoft in this respect - in 5 years time this exact thing could happen on Steam.

 

[Nzyme32]

Digital distribution of games is almost entirely based on trust in the service operator to not do this sort of stuff and protect your ability to play what you buy. If not, it's simply not worth buying in that way.

 

[JaseC]

Don't think that EA is somehow different from Valve or Ubisoft in this respect - in 5 years time this exact thing could happen on Steam.

Valve stopped banning/suspending accounts almost five years ago now in favour of a restriction-based system. If Valve were legally compelled to stop doing business in a certain territory, it'd likely instead take a more measured approach and just place the relevant accounts in a restricted state that prevents the registration of additional content. In point of fact, this is actually already a policy in certain cases, such as suspected fraud.

 

[MUnited83]

How is this EA's fault when they are not allowed to do business with Myanmar anymore?

Even if it was true, terminating his account and removing all his games wouldn't be justifiable( only not allowing new purchases would).

 

[finley83]

Valve stopped banning/suspending accounts almost five years ago now in favour of a restriction-based system. If Valve were legally compelled to stop doing business in a certain territory, it'd likely instead take a more measured approach and just place the relevant accounts in a restricted state that prevents the registration of additional content. In point of fact, this is actually already a policy in certain cases, such as suspected fraud.

I know that's true at this point, but the thing with businesses is they can change ownership or culture surprisingly quickly. You're still reliant on Valve being run by the same people - a merger or acquisition could end that in an instant.

 

[MasterOfPastures]

I know that's true at this point, but the thing with businesses is they can change ownership or culture surprisingly quickly. You're still reliant on Valve being run by the same people - a merger or acquisition could end that in an instant.

Same thing could be said of GOG, and way more likely, since they are a AAA dev. One OK game, and they could lose it all, not to mention being bought out entirely.

 

[finley83]

Same thing could be said of GOG, and way more likely, since they are a AAA dev. One OK game, and they could lose it all, not to mention being bought out entirely.

Exactly. That's why being able to back up your purchases without DRM is so important.

 

[Lister]

I know that's true at this point, but the thing with businesses is they can change ownership or culture surprisingly quickly. You're still reliant on Valve being run by the same people - a merger or acquisition could end that in an instant.

This is a possible issue EVERYWHERE with ANYTHING.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Man wikipedia sucks when it comes to Myanmar/Burma, like is nothing about the country between 1950 and 1990s. Even USA relations page starts only 30 years ago.

I assume EA will look into it.

Read Aung Sun Suu Kyi's 'Letters from Burma' for the story between the those years.
Not a huge fan of hers, but it's probably the easiest available way to procure information about those dark years.

 

[Patrick S.]

Could a fire at Valve's servers theoretically destroy Valve as a whole and make everybody lose their games?

 

[robotrock]

Could a fire at Valve's servers theoretically destroy Valve as a whole and make everybody lose their games?

They are apparently prepared for this and have measures in place to allow you to access your games forever

 

[Atomski]

Could a fire at Valve's servers theoretically destroy Valve as a whole and make everybody lose their games?

lol I hope this is not a serious question..

 

[BibiMaghoo]

Not going to lie, I would flip my lid if my games vanished for this.

 

[paperspace]

Could a fire at Valve's servers theoretically destroy Valve as a whole and make everybody lose their games?

Absolutely, and an asteroid could theoretically destroy earth completely next year, which is way more likely than Valve burning up/shutting down.

Spoiler

But the latter could be a result of the former ...

 

[epmode]

Could a fire at Valve's servers theoretically destroy Valve as a whole and make everybody lose their games?

There's no way that Steam is so centralized that taking down a single location would break the network. They have redundant data centers all over the world.

 

[Shiggy]

Absolutely, and an asteroid could theoretically destroy earth completely next year, which is way more likely than Valve burning up/shutting down.

Spoiler

But the latter could be a result of the former ...

Could cloud servers be a solution here or would the asteroid also destroy the atmosphere and the servers located in the clouds?

Spoiler

(that's what cloud servers are, right?)

 

[Golden_Pigeon]

What about stopping killing Rohingya ?

 

[7DollarHagane]

Origin is total shit, but you gotta use it for battlefield, so..

 

[Parsnip]

Absolutely ridiculous.
Digital is the future, but if you can't trust the store to keep your shit intact, that store might as well not exist as far as I'm concerned.

Tangentially, didn't we just not too long ago have some murmurs about people's games vanishing from their Origin account? Did anything ever come out of that?

 

[synce]

Pretty much why I rarely spend more than $5 on a digital game

 

[JaseC]

Tangentially, didn't we just not too long ago have some murmurs about people's games vanishing from their Origin account? Did anything ever come out of that?

The last update the OP of that Reddit thread provided mentions that he was still missing some games. Whether he got them back or simply gave up remains unclear.

 

[Coffinhal]

But physical media is dead!

You'd need Origin even with a CD version anyway

 

[orava]

Origin is total shit, but you gotta use it for battlefield, so..

Origin has much better client that steam. Of course steam does a ton more stuff but as a game launcher and a store, it's not that good.

 

[michaelius]

Yep digital is merely long term rental and I've got no idea how people are some willingly spending 60+ bucks on games there.

 

[Holundrian]

Origin has much better client that steam. Of course steam does a ton more stuff but as a game launcher and a store, it's not that good.

I see people keep saying that and yet my experience with Origin has been shit all around.
I've last deleted it after DA:I. And I'm kind of prepared to just no buy any EA games anymore if they force me to have the Origin client.
And even if we ignore that it just does not feel good to have this 1 client for those few Bioware games I have.

 

[orava]

Yep digital is merely long term rental and I've got no idea how people are some willingly spending 60+ bucks on games there.

These days you are pretty much fucked in any case if you buy a game in any format and can't use internet for some reason.

 

[MUnited83]

Origin has much better client that steam. Of course steam does a ton more stuff but as a game launcher and a store, it's not that good.

It really, really isn't. Especially after the latest update.

 

[Nzyme32]

Origin has much better client that steam. Of course steam does a ton more stuff but as a game launcher and a store, it's not that good.

Great if that is what you think. I am most certainly of the opposite opinion

 

[finley83]

This is a possible issue EVERYWHERE with ANYTHING.

Not really. When BHS closed down my clothes didn't evaporate. If Sony stops making TVs then they won't come and take mine away. If DVD as a format dies then I still have the ones I bought on the shelf and they still work.

If Amazon goes out of business then all the physical products I bought will work fine, but the instant video purchases I made won't be viewable any more and that's that. Their licence says they can discontinue my access at any time and there's nothing I can really do about it.

 

[SeeNoWeevil]

And people think digital distribution is a good idea...

Yes, and no one ever has lost access to a physical game disc. They're completely indestructable, unstealable and unlosable.

 

[MarionCB]

You'd need Origin even with a CD version anyway

Yep, the problem is the DRM not the digital distribution.

 

[diaspora]

Origin has much better client that steam. Of course steam does a ton more stuff but as a game launcher and a store, it's not that good.

This is true.

 

[WillyFive]

It really, really isn't. Especially after the latest update.

Yeah, the new Origin is prettier than Steam but can barely function and load it's basic features.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Yeah, the new Origin is prettier than Steam but can barely function and load it's basic features.

I was impressed by how smooth and responsive the new overlay was, but then it locked up hard like 3 times in 4 hours and required restarts.

 

[King_Moc]

What about stopping killing Rohingya ?

And the OP is doing that, is he?

 

[staticneuron]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-end-economic-sanctions-against-myanmar-1473874082

I don't understand if

President Barack Obama said the U.S. will lift the sanctions program in place against Myanmar after nearly 20 years,

If EA was complying, how could anyone purchase games in that region? Much less any of the recent games in the past 20 years.

 

[Hentailover]

Guys guys, it all makes sense...

Clearly, Origins is not removed becaue of sanctions, it is part of the sanctions, thus it's now blocked there...

I know I'd consider having EA Origins forced upon my country an inhumane example of political pressure. Finally, people of Myanmar can breathe freely.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

I guess its not worth it to buy games with DRM from companies based in the US.

 

[Aters]

Yep digital is merely long term rental and I've got no idea how people are some willingly spending 60+ bucks on games there.

Tell me what you gonna do with your physical Battlefield copy when you can't access Origin.