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Superpoke Players Sue Google
mikejuk writes "SuperPoke Pets is another casualty of Google's aggressive spring cleanup... But unlike other users of Google's trashed software, Superpoke users have decided to fight back with a class action. The aim is to recover the money they spend on virtual gold used as a currency to buy clothes for their virtual pets. The total 'amount in controversy' exceeds $5,000,000 — a sum that is credible given that there were at least 7,000,000 users. So if you are considering adding a virtual currency to your app you might want to think of the future."
I dont want to live on this planet anymore... But really, unless there was a 'we'll never shut down" clause in the user agreement I dont see the idiots winning this one.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
but only if you promise to buy REAL clothes this time.
Perhaps it is cloths that the then tailor into clothes?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I'm sure the SuperPoke EULA had provisions stating that all virtual currency purchased for use in-game was non-refundable, no matter what.
In light of that, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out in court. If Google doesn't settle, and loses, we could possibly see an EULA-affecting precedent come out of this.
why would you shut something down that has 7 million users spending 5 million dollars?
We are suing Google because we have no life and are stupid. We can prove, in court, we have no life and are stupid. Pay up Google.
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If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
This is why I pay the rent instead of buying fake money with real money.
The one thing I don't really get, superpoke had a rabbid insanely loyal fanbase... why didn't they just port it to G+, leave it in the games tab just like all of their other games that can't annoy people who don't use it, and basically have millions of people with a reason to sign into g+ on a regular basis? That being said, I also don't see a single way that the users can even expect to have a shot in a million at this, games with microtransactions shut down, it is a fact of life. That is what you get when you buy image files on someone else's server.
Since the only one able to implement this scheme are the copyright owners who do not wish to, they must bear the cost of their monopoly while they have it.
Somewhere a TF2 player sporting a $1500 Unusual hat is chuckling about how cute this is.
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
I can understand spending money on DVDs, CDs, or even actual pet clothes (and note here that I'm not a fan of clothing for pets), but virtual pet clothes? In this time wherein our economy has seemingly reached some form of heat death...spending anything on something that doesn't actually exist is just too much...
As a side note, if this behavior isn't unique, this does explain the state of our economy to some extent...
I'm not sure the SuperPoke! Pets are the user I can connect with best with, and as a lot of people this does sound like small peanuts to me... ... but on the other hand, I do understand the basic anger that people feel at having Google senselessly buy out companies and then closing their product down. Occasionally, they will reopen (for instance, GrandCentral became Google Voice), but it seems like more often than not, Google acquires companies and then just dilapidates and sinks whatever they created.
Is there a point to this?
I have some satisfaction that some people are finally taking them to task for this, as it does seem a bit like the Borg of Star Trek, who assimilate other cultures and just discard absolutely everything that doesn't fit within the Borg model (speaking of which, when is Google going to get Borg Icon on Slashdot, since it seems like it's been some time since it more accurately described Google than Microsoft?
If they win (which they probably won't) it would set a dangerous precedent that would effectively kill all future MMO's from ever existing...
Imagine this:
Blizzard, 3-4 years from now, decides it's time to finally shutdown World of Warcraft... It's remaining 6 Million users plus a couple Million former users decide to sue for damages for lost time and money from subscription fees and game time. The amount would be somewhere in the ridiculous amount of a couple hundred Billion dollars. "I lost my job to get my toon to level 150 first! Now they just want to take that achievement away from me?!? All those thousands of days of game-time... No, I will be compensated for lost time and money (from not going to work like boring people)."
It's bound to happen eventually...
(Disclaimer: I play WoW)
I think the judge should first remove all money spent on one use items that were then used. The players got benifit from the item so there is no reason to get a refund. Next all items that were purchased prior to the last month of play whose value is less than $100 should be excluded. If you had a item for a month then you got your use out of it. Google should refund the rest.
closed. Refund? No.
Google should send them real life pets.
Superpoke Pets was a game that Google acquired when they acquired Slide. Users can purchase virtual items like clothes with real money. Google has decided to end the game (various reasons). Google has created an export tool but users complain it doesn't work quite right. So now a class action lawsuit to refund users' real money to the amount of $5M for all 7 M users. The main plaintiff personally spent thousands herself. Am I the only one that thinks there is no basis here?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Google needs to add wear and tear to the clothes so that as time goes on they look rattier and rattier. After a few months the clothes finally develop holes and fall off on their own accord. After all the clothes have disintegrated they can shut down the servers. ;-) It is sure to be cheaper than paying out 5 megabucks.
Some sad people have spent a lot of money on virtual goods, believe the service should be run in perpetuity and have failed to read the terms and conditions which doubtless say otherwise.
If Google loses this one, we can use it as a precedent to attack obsolete DRM systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Restrictions_Management#Obsolescence
Real money spent on virtual clothes for virtual pets.
I just cannot make the mental leap to understanding that.
What's " real " about our " money "?!!!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Right, so Google should now ask for money from businesses who have moved up in their rankings?
Someone needs to call Superpoke PETA!!!
Then when I get kicked out of my flat, I can sue the landlord for all my rent back.
Recompensate only those who got less than 3 months of service out of it. If you like interpolation or extrapolation or want to avoid the edge, recompensate those partially who got less than 6 months of service, too.
Hey don't blame me, IANAB
Wait, so Google managed to collect $5M in revenue in exchange for "virtual" goods (basically, nothing) and still couldn't manage to make Superpoke profitable? Hey Mit Romney, what was that you were saying about about how the Government is so inefficient but private enterprise does a better job?
Spending thousands of dollars on a virtual pet? Please. That's more than a dog or cat costs to operate, and is getting into the range for horse owners. Arguably, though, if Google marketing materials encouraged people to invest money in virtual pets, they may have some responsibility for devaluing the asset.
(Social networking for people with no life is profoundly depressing. I'm currently doing some analysis of spam on Twitter. So I have to look at Twitter's feed of randomly selected public tweets. The typical content is so banal that the ones the spam filter selects as spam, based on domains in links, are more interesting than the non-spam. Spam is written by pros, while tweets are written by amateurs.)
This will hopefully be a few more people that will learn the lesson not to buy imaginary shit.
SuperPoke! was a social media application that was made by independent developers and was later acquired by a company called Slide. It allowed social media users to do such things as hurl virtual sheep at their friends instead of just "poking" them. SuperPoke! Pets evolved from this, taking the same artwork and building a virtual pet environment.
Superpokepets.com was created as a stand alone web application. People could migrate their pets from the social media sites if they wanted. All of this, plus several other social media applications, were owned by Slide when it was acquired by Google. Google allowed Slide to continue to operate semi-autonomously for some time, but has since decided to dissolve/disband it. Employees will be assimilated into the Googleplex and the apps will be shut down. If Google were to continue to support this application, they would have to fund enough servers, databases, support desk, etc. for a 7M+ userbase. Apparently it was not worth it to Google to keep it running.
I don't believe that the social media versions of this application ever had a virtual currency, but I might be wrong. From what I read, currency was added after the web application was created and I suspect that it was only available there.
Interestingly, Google did go so far as to create a standalone version of the environment that users could migrate their pets to if they wished to keep playing with them. Apparently this is a bit buggy, and does not support interacting with other users, but it was a good idea. Might be nice if they were to open source either the standalone application, the web application, or even both. From the sound of things it doesn't seem like they are looking to sell it off. My kids loved to play in these sorts of virtual worlds when they were younger, and if I had the code I would have been willing to stand up a small version for my children and their friends.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
Most class action settlements lately seem to result in gift certificate rewards (because, presumably, after you screw me, what I really want is money locked into your services). Google might pay out in something like Google Voice credits. Although, IMO, this is kind-of a bullshit case anyway.
There are countless examples of services people pay for that could leave them high and dry if they are not careful:
1. Gift Cards. Often have expiration dates or monthly service fees that eat away the value of the card even though the card has been paid for with real cash and the company keeps, and usually reinvests, this cash. And the card is no longer redeemable if the company goes bankrupt.
2. Overpayments on credit card balances. Just before the banking crisis and TARP bailout, a group of executives at one of the largest banks debated on whether overpayments on credit cards would be a monetary asset belonging to the individual, or free cash for the bank. The executives concluded that they had the full legal right to re-appropriate any overpayments to the corporate asset sheet, but backed away from this plan just before it was about to go forward because of fears about public backlash.
3. Obsolete products. Think about the 1.3 million customers who bought HD-DVD players and drives. They cannot play their HD-DVD movies on Blu-Ray players and they cannot play Blu-Ray discs on their HD-DVD players. So many of them are stuck with two players and a movie collection divided into two completely different incompatible formats. Over the span of a single lifetime a movie aficionado might have to buy the same movies in five or six different formats just to be able to view their favorite movies with current technology. And support for obsolete technology (such as media, spare parts, repair services) fades quickly.
4. Legal tender. Want to talk about fake money? How about the US Dollar, which is a FIAT currency backed up with no physical or practical value other than the "full faith and credit" of the US Government. Same can be said as well for most government bonds, certificates of deposit, and other instruments. The potential for a collapse in "real" currency value or a default on government bonds is just as real as the discontinuation of SuperPoke gold.
5. Coupon books and discount memberships. Do I need to elaborate?
6. Insurance. Even though there are some government regulations in place and most insurance companies are insured by an even bigger company, like AIG, there is no absolute guarantee that insurance will be available to bail you out when you really need it. If they don't find some way to categorize your claim into one of their many and ambiguous exclusions, there is still the potential that an insurance company and it's backer could both go bankrupt at the same time, leaving you on your own without compensation for your losses. Government may bail you out, as happens with some natural disasters, but this has not always been the case.
7. Warranties, guarantees, service contracts, and other contractual provisions. Again, if the company goes out of business none of these "fake" products are likely to be available to you. In some cases, even your contractual rights can be violated. If the company you buy from has agreed by contract not to share your personal information with outside parties, that contact can be (and in some instances has been) nullified in bankruptcy. In one recent case the personal information collected under such terms was sold to another company for top dollar in a corporate bankruptcy auction.
8. Your rights in general. There are no guarantees that your rights, statutory or constitutional, cannot be revoked at any time, either by the legal procedures that already exist, or by illegal actions taken by powerful dictators, corrupt bureaucrats, or foreign invaders. Your rights in a court of law are also hindered by the practical reality that holding your ground and defending your rights in court involves court costs, attorney's fees, legal services (such as process servers or expert witnesses), and potentially a truck load of office supplies, stamps, and clerical services, not to mention your limited time that you might need to earn a living to support a family. Getting help from law enforcement or an attorney general is apparently possible fo
Anyone dumb enough to buy this crap deserves to lose their money.
And BTW: Ive got a stairway to heaven for sale..
so, governments spending 100+ bn/year to railguns and whatnot, is something better ?
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Could the real purpose for the lawsuit be to try to convince Google not to cancel the game? Maybe it's cheaper to leave the game server running instead of wasting resources on a lawsuit. Plus, with Google's do no evil policy, maybe they're trying to show that Google is hurting people by shutting down this game. And Maybe Google should reconsider. It would make more sense to move this game inside of Google+ and get a few million more Google+ users instead of throwing it away and upsetting their users. Just some thoughts.
This is why I pay real money for a temporary permission to squat on somebody's property instead of buying fake money with real money.
I was with you up to the point you said Legal Tender. Unlike many of the other examples which are an instant refusal to pay, legal tender takes time to inflate. Even through colossal economic mismanagement in a time of crisis the worst rates of hyper inflation ever realised were 190% a day (Hungarian currency in the 30s). However this was a worst case at the peak. The Hungarian currency moved exponentially a lot like the Zimbabwian dollar. Both these currency showed signs of massive economic distress long before they got to the hyperinflation point giving people with a clue time to bail out and switch to a more stable currency.
But in the end if you don't bail out you're still left with something tangible, the cash itself. These days the 100 Trillion Zimbabwian dollar note exchanges hands for about $5 on ebay. The full collection of $1 all the way to the $100000000000000 goes for about $40. The US nickel is worth more as scrap metal as the currency, so if you hold onto it during hyper inflation it would gain value in comparison to itself.
Your comparison of fiat currencies to situations where your entire collection of something could be instantly and immediately devalued at a press conference doesn't really make sense.
I emptied a European bank account and converted all my EUR to AUD about 5 months ago. I had notice in the forms of economic indicators that it was wise to sell something at a time people could buy it. Bankruptcies give no such notice.