Final Fantasy XI Inadvertently Sparks New Law In Illinois
If there is one thing you don't want to do, it's to piss off a politician. As much as I love Square-Enix, they did just that. Well, they actually angered the friend of a politician.
Alex Edwards played Final Fantasy Online for a few months, then grew tired of the game... His parents Frank and Cinda, who were paying the $13 a month subscription, tried to cancel the account online.But Final Fantasy didn't offer Cinda a way to do that online, and didn't offer her a contact phone number, either. The Edwards finally found the number via their credit card statement -- but when they called, they spent an hour and 45 minutes on hold before someone answered the phone...
But unfortunately for Square Enix, who makes Final Fantasy, Frank Edwards is an alderman in Springfield, Illinois and a good friend of his local State Rep. Raymond Poe.
The final outcome was the proposal of a new Illinois state law that would force online service providers to have a simple way to cancel their services online, without the need to mail a form or contact customer service over a phone line. The long and short of it has been abbreviated in this condensed legal babel that I barely understand:
...an Internet gaming service provider that provides service to a consumer... for a stated term that is automatically renewed for another term unless a consumer cancels the service must give a consumer who is an Illinois resident: (1) a secure method at the Internet gaming service provider's web site that the consumer may use to cancel the service, which method shall not require the consumer to make a telephone call or send U.S. Postal Service mail to effectuate the cancellation;and (2) instructions that the consumer may follow to cancel the service at the Internet gaming service provider's web site. Makes it an unlawful business practice for an Internet gaming service provider to violate the new provisions.
Anyone who has ever tried to cancel a subscription to pretty much any online service (see: AOL, Rhapsody, etc) will tell you that often these processes are abysmal and often result in calling some number and having to convince the person on the other end of the line that you really do not need their service. I know I've had my fair share of these experiences, and it has actually polluted my ideas of subscription based services in general. Bureaucracy aside, I kinda wish this law was national.
Final Fantasy XI Cancellation Woes Conjure Up New Law in Illinois [Game Politics]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 1 August 2008
· Comments (20)
Other stuff like this: cancelation, endless hassles, final fantasy xi, illinois, laws
Name: Dave
interestingly enough, i recently canceled my WoW service online, and it really couldn't have been easier... but that's what i would expect from a company that has the good sense to make their games compatible with both windows and mac os.
OMG, I want that to be nationally recognized. I have had to go though this problem with companies like XM, Rhapsody, and ReplayTV. They are obviously making it difficult to cancel in the hopes that people will give up or re-think the idea. If anything, the shotty way they deal with customers only strengthens my resolve to cancel that service. As far as gaming goes, XBL is the same way, and that just sucks. But as long as they maintain a quaility service, I don't forsee myself trying to cancel.
As a resident of Illinois and an avid Final Fantasy XI Player I felt like this was a specialty news item just for me :D
PUP FTW!
Save a Chocobo ride a Galka!
Asura, we know Drama.
Lordwafik is a whore.
Smokeone is straightedge.
I play FFXI and live in Illinois. I currently have had to recently cancel an FFXI account. Well at least suspending it for a few months to get my life back together.(It's a cruel master, like heroine) Didn't have any problem at all canceling it from within the Playonline viewer. How ever if my account was hacked for some reason. They could still log in reactivate my Content ID and buy max characters, go do crazy RMT shit and then overdraw me at the bank and call Square Enix(Ancient Japanese Bureaucracy Mystic Philosopher Most Non-rewarding ninjas) " to try to cancel my account, and they would only make you jump through hoops finding obscure registration codes found on the original game and confirming every piece of information about you, and then telling you they can't do it right now and can only wait two weeks while they do an investigation to cancel your account your getting over drawn at the bank over it. (If they bought all content ID's and did character moves could seriously rank up a ton in bills, 25 for character moves, each character is 1 dollar, after the first 12 dollar something first one, can make up to like 32 additional characters...) So I felt like this law directly affects me. Or at least will ease my pain in the future. Worst of all losing my relic weapon. Since I just decided to quit after it all happened. Now new mythic are out and I'm so wanting to go back for them. (It's literally that addicting. Spent bit over two years upgrading a single Dynamis Horn(Balld+2 was worth it in the end) while practically not existing in real life).
Rule number one kids. FFXI is so much more powerful then World of Warcraft, in an emotional experience. It's like living in jail in a way.
Funny, I did it pretty easily through Play Online. It wasn't difficult at all.
Horray! I battled FF11 when I tried to cancel it. I finally had to out-right cancel my card so they would stop billing it. XM was the same way, though they continued to bill me even on a canceled card, and disconnected me 4 times on the phone when I called to cancel.
as others have posted here, you CAN actually cancel your FFXI account online through the Play Online Viewer...
so im not sure what this guy was doing... lol its actually one of the easiest online games to cancel honestly lol
Select [Content ID] on the main screen, then select [Cancel ID] on the next screen, and then type in your account name and password. That's it.
I'm not sure why these parents were having such a difficult time. Based on the original article, they sound like they're just attention-seeking morons.
The secret is to deactivate your actual PlayOnline account. It stops your ContentIDs from charging you, but doesn't delete them. :)
FFXI is very addicting. I tried to quit like... 4 times. My longest break was 9 months, and my characters were all still there. I've been off the stuff for... 11 months now. :)
What is the number..? ive been looking for months, and whenever i call they r busy. Email me with it?
@ Tony...
Ya what about those of us who no longer have that computer? For example, I gave that computer to someone else a while ago, I should be able to do it from the website.
Even thou I am an European resident I welcome this law in Illinois.
When you pay a regular fee to someone you expect some minimum level of service. This service to cancel the subscription on the Official Online website of the service itself should be natural but it isn't for many online services.
I hope for you that this becomes either a) US-wide law or b) companys including SE start offering that kind of service on their own.
Even if the authors of the bill were wrong about THIS particular experience with Final Fantasy XI...the bottom line is that there ARE a great number of online/subscription services that DO require you to jump through hoops to cancel their services and/or billing.
Calling the authors of the bill and their friends a 'moron' is hardly helpful.
I never called the author of the bill a "moron". And I am neither trying to be helpful or unhelpful; I am merely stating my opinion given the information that was reported.
The original article says that "[they] didn't offer [the mother] a contact phone number" on the website, and that she had to resort to checking the credit card bill. She obviously didn't check the website very well, because all you have to do is click on [Service & Support] on the front page, and there it is, bolded and in size-40 font. There's also a web-chat client available for those who cannot or do not want to use the phone (which doesn't apply here, as per the article).
She must have also missed the fact that, on the same support page, there is a Q&A database, which explicitly tells you how to cancel your account (article Q11116) if you type in the phrase "cancel account" or anything similar.
My point is that now some more useless legislation is going to be drafted up and pushed because two parents, for whatever reason(s), couldn't be bothered to use the information already available to them. There are more pressing matters that need the attention of the government.
I stand by my original statement - these parents are morons.
I think that this is something that alot of online companies are doing and its bollocks.. I spent quite a few hours just tryin to find out how to cancel xbox live online.. only to discover.. OH WAIT.. you cant because aparently a company like mircosoft who loves keeping things easy and simple for the consumer would rather have a moment to pressure you into keeping their useless service.. Wish someone in the UK would put this into effect
I could care less about the back story behind the legislation. I know many more valid stories (I have quite a few of my own experiences to add to the mix) that make this legislation a fantastic idea.
A lot of companies practice deceptive tactics to try and keep revenue streams flowing.
"I stand by my original statement - these parents are morons."
read the article and new law carefully, it doesn't say online but through the companies website. yes they missed the phone number, oops, but that doesn't change the fact that doing it over the phone was an arduous process.
gee, i don't know, if i'm a parent i don't think that i should Have to go onto my child's computer to cancel an online subscription, especially if the company has a web presence.
Okay a good law for companies that are just stupid. But what I find most interesting that it specifically calls out gaming. No mention of other online services, which is really part of the problem. RealPlayer and their SuperPass subscription is almost impossible to cancel. It's a few hour wait on the phone.
...but that doesn't change the fact that doing it over the phone was an arduous process.
In that case, I'm guessing you've never had to deal with the Social Security Administration, Social Services, Medicare/Medicaid, and similar programs on a regular basis. Now which do you think the government should be focusing on: improving the telephone communications systems of a video game that maybe 200,000 people use for enjoyment, or improving the phone communications systems of state/federal services that tens of millions of people use for survival and basic needs?
You can always call your Credit Card company and tell them you are disputing the charges and/or do not want any more charges from the company. Another good method is call your Credit Card company and tell them you want a new card with a new number as a security precaution. Then sit back and let the stupid company figure out why they can't charge your card.