An Apex Legends player has apparently been permanently banned from all EA games for writing “stfu”…
An Apex Legends player has sparked controversy after sharing a message from EA that says he has been permanently banned from all of their games. This was caused by a chat message that Electronic Arts deemed to be in violation of its harassment policy.
In a Reddit post on November 19, user THEVAN3D shared his ban message showing that EA had ordered a permanent account ban after he was found to have written “stfu” in chat in Apex Legends.
This is the English abbreviation for “shut the f**k up”.
The message read: “We consider this to be harassment. You can no longer play EA games on this account.” The post quickly went viral, soon being shared on other subreddits and on social media. The player confirmed that the ban meant he was unable to access the Electronic Arts app, rendering all his other games unplayable.
EA issues a permanent ban for Apex chat messages?!
As the post went viral, others shared similar experiences. However, it became clear that this permanent ban was the result of several temporary bans accumulated previously. Although THEVAN3D claims to have only received one ban in the past, also for chat messages, others have claimed it was a three-strike system.
Another player also revealed that he received the same permanent ban from all EA games after writing “Mfs trash” in the game’s chat. However, he confirmed that this was their third such messaging attack. However, THEVAN3D claims this was only his second ban. The previous one was a temporary suspension for typing “xtfu”. Okay, he still wanted to write “stfu”, but he couldn’t…
EA requires all players to accept its “Charter of Positive Gaming,” which essentially governs respect, cheating, inappropriate content, and the law.
Indeed, Electronic Arts states that violating these rules may result in “limitation of your account” or even “withdrawal of your access to certain or all EA services.”
But many players feel that such a game-wide ban is too strict for messages like “stfu” or “mfs trash”. One player said: “Banning someone for saying ‘stfu” is f**king ridiculous. Apex community is soft.” Another argued: “Saying stfu is not harassment though.” Well, Electronic Arts apparently disagrees.
The banned player contacted EA Customer Service to appeal. But he received a simple answer: “After thoroughly investigating your account and concern, we found that your account was acted correctly and will not remove this sanction from your account.”
Do other game platforms also ban you for saying “stfu” in online chat? Or is it just EA that’s so sensitive?
byu/THEVAN3D inpcmasterrace
