Gamer Sues MMORPG After Losing Items

xneilj writes "According to Ananova.com, a Chinese gamer is believed to be suing Korean-based JC Entertainment, after losing in-game items in the PC MMO title RedMoon Online. As well as the return of his lost items, he is also seeking over $1200 for 'mental anguish'." The article explains: "Li, from Beijing, had built up his stock of virtual weaponry while playing RedMoon over the last two years... When he discovered all of his awarded equipment had disappeared, he contacted the provider for help, but the company refused to take any responsibility for the loss."

Comments

I was thinking about this the other day.

[GigsVT]

I think it would be funny for an MMORPG to mess with their whiny users sometime. Something like roving bandits that steal items when you are asleep in an inn. It would really drive home the point that you don't "own" anything in the game.

Good to see someone finally takes action.

[Blackwulf]

I've been playing a lot of the mainstream US-based MMOG's over the past few years. And every time a gamer doesn't get their way, they yell "I'M GONNA SUE VERANT/MYTHIC/ORIGIN/TURBINE/SOE!" But they never do, and then wonder why noone else does.

"OMG The server has been down for 10 minutes I'M GONNA SUE!!! Why hasn't someone started a Class Action Lawsuit yet???"

Because EVERYONE who wants to start one always says the same thing. "Why doesn't someone else start one?"

It's good to now see that someone actually had the balls to back up their words with a lawyer, and possibly players can be pointed to the outcome of this...Because I'm pretty sure it's gonna be thrown out of court really really fast. (Yes, I realize this is not a US or even North American lawsuit. I'm just commenting on the principal of actually doing what you threaten...Soemthing we rarely see gamers do, anywhere.)

Re:Good to see someone finally takes action.

[lightspawn]

"OMG The server has been down for 10 minutes I'M GONNA SUE!!! Why hasn't someone started a Class Action Lawsuit yet???"
Because EVERYONE who wants to start one always says the same thing. "Why doesn't someone else start one?"

That's not the problem - the problem is finding a lawyer interested in the case.

While I'm not suggesting a company should be sued if a server goes offline for 10 minutes (or even a day), consider SEGA's case. They asked us to buy Dreamcasts and online titles, factoring the cost into the price of the console/games, then at some point decided to charge for access to some games, and pull support for others altogether.

I bought Alien Front Online less than 1 year after its release - note the "Online" in the title - and called the company after not being able to connect. First, it was "sorry, we'll be up again in a few days", then "sorry, game's offline forever but you can still play the single-player game so you have nothing to complain about".

This would so be an open-and-shut class action case. If only somebody would be interested in taking it, maybe companies would have an incentive not to try this kind of thing again.