PAX 2010: Stepto's Law of Xbox Live ban protests

Ah, the "Account Suspensions and Console Bans" thread... always makes for good reading. I find it surprising how many "parents" log on to plead the case (grammatically challenged, of course) for their little troublemakers to be freed from "time out".

If those indeed *are* the parents, well that goes a long way to explaining the behavior of their offspring...

X-D

""The more convoluted, overwrought and lengthy the protest of innocence, the probability of it being bullshit approaches one.""

This is the method to which Microsoft determines a customers innocence or not? This is absolutely pathetic and would not be an acceptable form of customer service in ANY place of employment. IF Microsoft chooses to ban someone, the onus SHOULD be on Microsoft to validate it's reasons for the ban with some form of proof. If there's a way to detect hardware modification, or whatever, this should be revealed the the customer at the customers request. I'm confident, that there will come a day when Microsoft will have to pay for it's mass bannings in some form - whether it be from a exodus of pissed off consumers who have been wrongfully banned at some point or whether the government (doesn't matter which one really) steps up and says that these bannings are not acceptable in their current form and must be backed up with tangible evidence.

Regardless, whoever this Stephen fellow is, he sounds like a douchebag and shouldn't be treating consumers this way. Karma's a bitch, Stephen.

they can ban you if they want to... they did it with me and i wont just complain back since the EULA itself give them the rights to do what they want even if its fair or not...

Paying for xbox live its not worth at all, they BAN you without a good reason and then they dont give you back your money.... Anyways im happy that i moved to psn and at least its free and it something happen at least they dont steal your money...

@Themoreyouknow

Your analogy is flawed. The TV company (do you mean cable company?) charging more just to turn the TV on would mean you can't even play your Xbox without paying for Live service. Which isn't true (or have you not heard of Silver membership?)...

And they absolutely DO charge for a reason. It's called "giving the customers a network that's worth a damn". Or did you never notice that the Wii and PS networks are garbage? Our $50 per year is used to invest in the service. I'm happy to pay for it to guarantee smooth gaming & chatting with friends.

I don't wanna wait for my ban to over!

@Tephlon

At no point does the article indicate that this is a "joke". It's stated as fact (or "law" as they put it).

My point was that if a consumer requests a reason for their banning, then Microsoft should be able to provide evidence upon such request. It's to my understanding, that to this day, they have never produced any form of proof to warrant a ban for any customer. I'm not saying that some, or even most ban's aren't justified - just that Microsoft should have to show the justification.

Just because someone complains excessively, does NOT and should NEVER imply someones guilt. If our society was built on that princible, we'd all be f*cked!

Rather than say some douche-bag comment, this Stephen fellow and his monkeys should be sending emails out to each banned member clearly stating WHY they were banned and what evidence Microsoft has for it. Currently, they send just a generic email response with all the possible reasons for the ban, but won't specifiy. So, if someone IS innocent, they have no way to fight it. For example, if MS says, you modded your system - then fine, let me send MS my console to verify whether this is true or not.