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NCsoft Sued For Making Lineage II 'Too Addictive'
An anonymous reader writes "South Korean MMO game publisher NCsoft is finding itself facing another lawsuit, this time for making games that are 'too addictive.' US Lineage II player Craig Smallwood is suing the publisher for $3 million because he found himself playing Lineage II for 20,000 hours over a period of 5 years. At times, his average play session would persist for over 11 hours, crippling his life and ability to function. A federal judge is allowing the court case to go forward (PDF), stating that the plaintiff has a claim for negligence and gross negligence against the publisher."
3142 comments?
Submission Summary: 36 pending, 879 rejected, 607 accepted (1522 total, 39.88% accepted)?
Yes, surely that is why I have no life! See you in court, Slashdot!
My work here is dung.
US Lineage II player Craig Smallwood is suing the publisher for $3 million because he found himself playing Lineage II for 20,000 hours over a period of 5 years.
The whole victim-mentality that runs rampant makes my blood boil: "He had bad parenting" "She wasn't potty trained properly" "The breweries make beer taste too good" "I have a disease" blah blah blah fucking excuses blah blah blah.
Hey Craig Smallwood, take responsibility for your actions; you're not a victim. In actuality your lawsuit paints you as a blatant parasite.
Trolling is a art,
I firmly believe that Craig Smallwood is an appropriately named man with no sense of personal responsibility.
That said, it will be interesting to see how this court case plays out considering there is NO QUESTION that the developers of these games intentionally try to make them as 'addictive' as possible. There are many studies in the industry meant to determine the appropriate level of payout (loot, level gains, etc) required to keep someone interested all the time.
I'm putting Atari on notice for Asteroids Deluxe and Namco for Xevious! I've wasted far too many hours of my younger days on those two games and I want my quarters back! Waaaaah!!1!
Plus, we should blow up the moon. Thank you.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
If he somehow wins this case, NCSoft should payout with the equivalent of $3,000,000 in in-game currency.
I waste 2,000-3,000 hours *a year* working for my employer. I can't stop myself. I feel that, if I stop, my ability to function in society will end. I must be addicted to work.
Anyone have the number for a good lawyer? (hmm, is that an oxymoron?)
A federal judge is allowing the court case to go forward (PDF), stating that the plaintiff has a claim for negligence and gross negligence against the publisher.
So what the judge is saying is that if online gaming services don't regulate against lengthy usage of their services by adult citizens they may face lawsuits like this? Hopefully this sets a precedent that such a claim is a load of horse shit and should never be considered in a court of law again. Where does The "Science" of Game Addiction draw the line?
In America, you're suppose to have the freedom to do whatever you want with your time so long as it doesn't impair another person's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. This includes, for better or for worse, devoting as much time as you see fit to a game. It's called "responsibility" and I'd rather you accept it before the decision is made for you and you never had a choice to begin with (a la China's government regulations for online game play time).
My work here is dung.
3142 times she walked past her bedroom window, with the curtains just open enough to show her in her lace underwear.
Flirty looks at you as you passed by on your way to the 7-11 for ramen. 0% returned.
Yes, you are the reason she had to hook up with that jock. She is sueing YOU for emotional traume and unsatisfied sexual desire of her self and her close female friends because YOU spend all that time on slashdot instead.
Pay up!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What kind of lawyer takes on a case like this?
One who gets paid regardless of the outcome ?
UPS Sucks
My first thought was "Hmm, I haven't played lineage, apparently I should."
With our country's "War" on drugs, we have a society which perpetuates the idea that addiction is the fault of the dealer. The drug war is socialism for cops and addicts, it takes money from the general population and uses it to "help" a small class of people who are prone to addiction or can't find employment except as a state thug. If drug addicts can get this socialist "help,"why not other addicts? If drug dealers are to blame for addiction, why not video game publishers?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I'm suing you for making your comments too entertaining!
I'm suing you for giving my addiction positive reinforcement and feedback! I also want the logs so I can see which moderators continue to mod me up so I can add defendants to my lawsuit! By the time I'm done sobbing in front of the jury, they'll believe I never had a choice to quit!
What the hell, did you just add me to your friend's list? Oh you better believe that's a lawsuit.
Oh. My. God. Did you see my achievements?! My lawyer's head just exploded.
My work here is dung.
I skimmed NCSoft's defense pdf (linked in the Wired article) and it winds up that the guy in question was involved in real-money transfers and had all of his accounts banned from Lineage II in 2009.
Could that possibly be the REAL reason he's suing?
Also note that "At times" and "his average play session" are contradictory. It's either "at times his play session would persist over 11 hours" or it's "his average play session would persist over 11 hours" and the "at times" bit would be some number higher than 11 hours (probably 20 hours on occasion).
Since we can do basic math, we know it's the average play session that was 11 hours. :)
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
Oh give me a break, it's such an echo chamber in here, the usual screeching about how horrible the courts are, without anyone even looking at what the judge actually did. The problem with this country isn't the judicial system, it's the ignorant people who go from zero to outraged in 5 seconds based on a slashdot summary written by some anonymous guy. The judge is ruled by the Federeal Rules of Civil Procedure. Those rules say you can't just throw out a lawsuit AT THE DISMISSAL STAGE simply because you don't think the plaintiff will win. To survive dismissal, all you have to do is draft your complaint in a way that, if the facts you allege are accepted as true, your claim can move on to the next stage. That's it. The judge isn't saying the guy's going to win, just that under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, promulgated by the Supreme Court, as authorized by Congress, he has to let the lawsuit go to the next stage.
Ah, but FFXI encourages players to leave themselves logged in even when they aren't playing. FFXI allows players to sell items directly to other players through the bazaar system but a player's bazaar is only open when they are logged in. Many players leave their characters logged in while they are at work or while they are sleeping. As a result, the time reported by the FFXI /playtime command can be deceiving.
Yes, there is also the auction house system which allows players to sell items while they are not logged in but some items cannot be sold via the auction house and others are almost always sold via the bazaar system.
Lets face it, if McD gets sued because people like their hamburgers so much they can't stop eating, everybody is a target. Just waiting for the first thief to claim the object he stole was simply to tempting.
On a more serious note, this is exactly what people who claim women cause rape by dressing to sexy are claiming AND have at times got away with.
Anything to get off facing the consequence of your own actions.
And I played Lineage II. It is not that good a game. And you got to wonder what the hell he was doing. These game have no real end-game worth speaking off and with 5 years of 11 hours play, my god he must have reached the end game hundreds of times and done what? What could POSSIBLY keep you playing a dumb grind game for SO long.
No, this guy is just a recluse, a lock-in. He could have been folding paper hats or read soccer scores. The game is not the problem, his own mind is. That is sad, but not NCSofts problem. Just as McD is not to blame if you never excersise and eat a hamburger each and every day.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
When you do the following google search:
craig smallwood honolulu
it becomes evident that Mr. Smallwood has plenty of time on his hands to file lawsuits. This seems to put the lie to his claim that he is unable to function.
As of now, no lawyer takes on a case like this. The plantiff is pro se (representing himself).
The court is allowing a portion of the case to go forward. The summary fails to note that the judge dismissed the claims of misrepresentation, unfair trade practices, intentional infliction of emotional harm, and punitive damages.
The judge is merely determining if there could be a case. The plantiff was hospitalized for three weeks and has on-going therapy. There has been no determination yet that the game is the cause or what liability the game makers may have (the court notes it is limited to levels set in the game user agreement for negligent infliction of emotional distress). In short, the guy has been injured by "something". He says it was the game, and he'll get his day in court to try and make that claim.
It's funny how so many /.'ers complain about people who believe the outrageous stories from [Glenn Beck, Fox New, whatever]. This is pretty much the same thing. The actual story is only about 1/10 what is implied in the headline, but now we have a forum full of people screaming about it
On October 19, 2009, pro se Plaintiff Craig Smallwood (“Plaintiff”) filed a Complaint (“Complaint”) against NCSOFT. Although Plaintiff named only “NCSOFT” in the caption on his original complaint, two NCsoft entities have appeared in this action, Defendants NC Interactive Inc. and NCsoft Corporation, both of whom are named in the Second Amended Complaint (“Defendants”).
He's representing himself. I guess we can't blame a lawyer for this one ...
He's representing himself.
In fact, he nearly got in trouble over it because used an attorney as ghostwriter for the claims. Something that was not initially disclosed. NCsoft tried to get a dismissal because of it, but the court decided that was too drastic. Instead, he is not being afforded the latitude normally given to a pro se litigant. (pages 14-16 of the PDF linked from the summary).
The plaintiff was originally representing himself (and may still be, that was unclear) - and the judge points out that federal courts give a certain amount of leeway to people who represent themselves, as it is assumed that they are at a disadvantage against a legal team (I didn't realize that, I had assumed somewhat the opposite, that courts would be a little harder on someone representing themselves, to make the practice less appealing). But a lawyer helped him amend his complaint (the judge had thrown it out twice, but given the plaintiff an option to amend (because he was representing himself) - after the second time, he apparently had a lawyer help him with it, and she was hauled into court to answer for herself (lawyers are generally not permitted to write documents for the court unless they sign them).
My guess is that the next thing to happen in this case is that NC-Soft will submit a motion for summary judgement, which will likely be granted, and returned in their favor. Reading between the lines, the judge doesn't seem to think too much of the plaintiff's claims.