Why is the chat now only for Premium players ?

[Dalhfire]

Hello,
A long time ago, it was possible to express oneself on a peaceful and lovely global tchat.
It was a good place to find some players to play with.
One day I found a player and I had a great discussion with him ... And it was a really great experience !
And now, I feel like this will never happened anymore ...
As referred to in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...". And even, if I am not an American citizen, I feel like my rights are transgressed.

Shame,

Dalhfire

[Jest Phulin]

As referred to in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...".

Well, as an American citizen, there are two issues with bringing this up:
1) This website is based in France, which doesn't follow the US Constitution.
2) The freedom of speech granted does not mean that anyone has the right to espouse whatever they want using other people's resources. You do not have the right to protest a business from within that business's property, for example. Similarly, you cannot force a newspaper to publish your opinion. This is a private website, they are allowed to limit communication in any manner that they see fit. Even private companies are allowed to restrict the speech of their employees under certain circumstances. Do a search on "social media policy" of any major company.

Also, rstricting the general chat to premium members is an effective way to eliminate spam bots.

[charlenenz]

Wanting to agree with Jest Phulin

[voriki]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...". And even, if I am not an American citizen, I feel like my rights are transgressed.

Aside from what Jest Phulin said, which I fully support, freedom of speech does not necessarily mean that the speech is free.
BGA offers a medium through wich you can speak, but they have the right to charge you for it. Do you also complain to phone providers(or internet providers) that they are charging you subscription fees, making you pay x cents+minute local or out of state calls?
Do you also tell they it is against the freedom of speech that they are asking for your money in exchange for them offering their services and their medium to communicate through?

[KillJaw]

(some good comment deleted)
This is a private website, they are allowed to limit communication in any manner that they see fit. Even private companies are allowed to restrict the speech of their employees under certain circumstances. Do a search on "social media policy" of any major company.

Also, restricting the general chat to premium members is an effective way to eliminate spam bots.

"Spam Bots" Another reason why we can't have nice things. And the biggest, angriest complainers might be the spammers.

[Kayvon]

You only put half of the relevant part in bold. Let me fix that for you.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...".

That's an important difference! And, good news, congress has not made any such law limiting your speech on BGA, so your rights haven't been violated. Or the American citizens' rights, anyway.

And even, if I am not an American citizen, I feel like my rights are transgressed.

So you feel like your rights are defined by a country with which you have no direct association? That's an interesting philosophy.

[Ceaseless]

You only put half of the relevant part in bold. Let me fix that for you.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ...".

That's an important difference! And, good news, congress has not made any such law limiting your speech on BGA, so your rights haven't been violated. Or the American citizens' rights, anyway.

And even, if I am not an American citizen, I feel like my rights are transgressed.

So you feel like your rights are defined by a country with which you have no direct association? That's an interesting philosophy.

They haven't been on for a few days, but I'm not sure they planned on coming back to this conversation a few years later, lol.

[Kayvon]

Too bad. He seems like a genuinely interesting guy.