Ooblets devs banned me from their discussions for calling them out, citing "harassing devs, de-railing discussions"

[TJK10Able]

Not sure where I would post this, but I thought it's worth mentioning.

The developers of Ooblets banned me while I was trying to leave a negative review for their game on Steam with all of their Discord quotes, citing "harassing developers, de-railing discussions", when in reality, I was linking them to a video from YongYea explaining the controversy regarding the Epic Games Store exclusivity that proceeded the devs to permanently ban me from their Steam discussions.

Here's the Imgur link with two images, one with the ban and one with the negative review. https://imgur.com/a/DLqp7fS

And for context, here's the video explaining the controversy surrounding Ooblets announcing it's Epic Games Store exclusivity.
youtube.com/watch?v=xdfB8VDCVtQ

[Chaosolous]

You can contest it in your community notification by making a ticket with the link they provide you.

[Lora Grim]

The Ooblets devs are pretty horrible people from what i've seen/heard.

[TwisterCat]

I'd go bug them, but I don't want to have to contact Steam Support after being stoned by yet another kangaroo court. Anyways, funny they'd even come back to Steam. Epic money not enough?!?!

[Haruspex]

The Ooblets devs can run their community how they see fit. You can call them out elsewhere, but that forum is their house, and they were within their rights to kick you out of it.

I'm certainly an outspoken opponent to Epic's strategy of buying exclusives, and I think the dev's pointed comments at complaints to them going exclusive were in very poor taste at best. It's certainly not how I would recommend a developer perform public relations. They lost a lot of good-will points there.

However the game itself seems cute and fun, and at half off I bought my wife a copy today on a whim. She's really enjoying it based on the happy noises she keeps making as she plays on her Steam Deck.

[TwisterCat]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

The Ooblets devs can run their community how they see fit. You can call them out elsewhere, but that forum is their house, and they were within their rights to kick you out of it.

I'm certainly an outspoken opponent to Epic's strategy of buying exclusives, and I think the dev's pointed comments at complaints to them going exclusive were in very poor taste at best. It's certainly not how I would recommend a developer perform public relations. They lost a lot of good-will points there.

However the game itself seems cute and fun, and at half off I bought my wife a copy today on a whim. She's really enjoying it based on the happy noises she keeps making as she plays on her Steam Deck.

It's not actually their house, if they start falsely banning people they're damned rights going to get in trouble with Steam.

I just don't want to be the chief to bait out a false ban and take the hit for the team.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by TwisterCat:

Originally posted by Haruspex:

The Ooblets devs can run their community how they see fit. You can call them out elsewhere, but that forum is their house, and they were within their rights to kick you out of it.

I'm certainly an outspoken opponent to Epic's strategy of buying exclusives, and I think the dev's pointed comments at complaints to them going exclusive were in very poor taste at best. It's certainly not how I would recommend a developer perform public relations. They lost a lot of good-will points there.

However the game itself seems cute and fun, and at half off I bought my wife a copy today on a whim. She's really enjoying it based on the happy noises she keeps making as she plays on her Steam Deck.

It's not actually their house, if they start falsely banning people they're damned rights going to get in trouble with Steam.

Unless they are breaking the rules they signed with Steam, they can essentially ban people for anything.

[TJK10Able]

Originally posted by TwisterCat:

It's not actually their house, if they start falsely banning people they're damned rights going to get in trouble with Steam.

I just don't want to be the chief to bait out a false ban and take the hit for the team.

This! That was the case with the Domina dev back then if I remember correctly.

[Hammer Of Evil]

well, its their community, unlesss they game banned you unfairly, theres probably no repercussions for silencing you.

also, most ppl tend to victimize themselves without explaining their actions here on steam, and they might have a very different story compared to the one you're telling here.

i'm not going to take your side till I see the full story.

[TwisterCat]

Originally posted by SlowMango:

Originally posted by TwisterCat:

It's not actually their house, if they start falsely banning people they're damned rights going to get in trouble with Steam.

Unless they are breaking the rules they signed with Steam, they can essentially ban people for anything.

They potentially could, even if everybody says they wouldn't. You can, after all, be banned from all forums if multiple bans are given across multiple forums, it's not like it's not a serious infraction to give out bans on a whim.

If they wouldn't then the moderator would be kicked by the developer anyways, if good reason was given to. Not like I care enough to find that out, though. Better uses of time.

Not just bans anyways, the developer has a history of doing things that would violate TOS.

[kilésengati]

Tough ♥♥♥♥.

When game companies divide the PC platform with incentivised exclusives, I shun them and their products. Simple as. Even moreso when they ban people for voicing their opinion in a reasonable manner.

[TJK10Able]

Originally posted by Hammer Of Evil:

well, its their community, unlesss they game banned you unfairly, theres probably no repercussions for silencing you.

also, most ppl tend to victimize themselves without explaining their actions here on steam, and they might have a very different story compared to the one you're telling here.

i'm not going to take your side till I see the full story.

This is probably a good place to start. https://ooblets.com/2019/07/we-did-the-thing/

[Magma Dragoon]

If I released a game on Epic and Steamers got mad I'd ban them from my hub too.

[Polverrati]

You mean the same devs that openly mocked their community then cried victim when they faced backlash would now silence criticism? Nooooo, they wouldn't.

[funewchie]

I didn't know Ooblets had come out on Steam recently.
Thanks for letting me know, OP.
I've been waiting for ages for it.

[Haruspex]

Originally posted by TJK10Able:

Originally posted by TwisterCat:

It's not actually their house, if they start falsely banning people they're damned rights going to get in trouble with Steam.

I just don't want to be the chief to bait out a false ban and take the hit for the team.

This! That was the case with the Domina dev back then if I remember correctly.

No, the Domina devs were actively breaking Steam's rules with news posts and patch notes. Banning someone who wants to derail discussion on the game itself to talk about how they are upset about things the dev said elsewhere a year ago doesn't break the rules.