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."

Good for him

[LordNimon]

Commercial software vendors should be held liable for bugs in their code.

This is why...

[AaronBaker2000]

This is exactly why Sony tries to prevent the sale of virtual items in Everquest. If it can be proven that that these virtual items have monetary value, then the developers can be sued everytime a server crashes.

Generally, I believe that in these situations, we should let the market decide what has value. However, I really don't like the idea of game developers getting sued.

Re:This is why...

[saden1]

This guy invested over two years of his time and money playing and collecting items. This is analogus to my email provider losing all my important emails. I would call them up and say, hay you lost all my important emails and I want them back. I expect them to respond and get all my emails from their backup system. If they say we are not going to do that then you bet your ass I'd sue them. It is not my fault they lost them so why should all the responsibility fall on me? They should have adequate system in place in cases like this and so should game developers/publishers.

Whine less, talk more

[MMaestro]

Note the fact that the article doesn't give any details about how or when the item loss occured. Was there a bug? Did the server crash and his data/equipment was corrupted and thus disgarded? Was there a hacker who hacked into the database and took his stuff? Maybe one of his friends decided to play a prank? Maybe the guy is just an idiot and left the items somewhere and forgot where?

The article gives no information on this; thus the guy gets no sympathy from me.

Re:This is why...

[Anonymous Coward]

I expect them to respond and get all my emails from their backup system.

How is your host responsible for your e-mails again?
Especially if they run POP? Enlighten us here.

Personnaly I think you are retarded ass panzy if you think that someone else is responsible for your property/actions on said property.

This may not be society at large's...

[JeffTL]

...pretentious apathetic-reductionistic opinion, but... The guy's invested time and money, and they've fleeced him by their negligence of backups. He has a right to complain.

make it stop

[August_zero]

If you are suffering mental anguish from losing something in a game that is supposed to be for fun you need to find a new hobby.

I hope this twit gets laughed out of court, I really can't sympathize with him. Its his own fault for holding his imaginary items in such high esteem.

What next? People suing Nintendo because they can't beat super mario brothers? Suing Microsoft because of mental angusih suffered while playing online and getting owned at Mech Assualt? Should I sue Lucasarts because my KOTOR save game got ruined after 30 hours and I had to start over? Where does it end?

Time & Money Investment

[Samus]

I see people here saying he invested his time and money into the game and lost it. I totally disagree. When you make an investement you are placing resources somewhere that they will grow into something better for you. This guy didn't do that. He spent some money and time playing a game. It was pure entertainment, nothing more.
Now he has paid for a service. That service has failed to live up to his expectations. If you have a magazine subscription and the magazine takes a direction you don't like do you sue them? No. You either don't renew your subscription and move on or you cancel it right away and ask for the rest of your money back. Yes the company shouldn't have ignored him but when they gave him the brush off he should have packed up and left.

Re:bleh

[SmallFurryCreature]

Yes and such licenses are totally and utterly worthless. We been through the shrinkwrap licenses and they don't stand up in court. This guy used a paid for product from service that didn't live up to his expectations. This is nothing different then a garage failing to fix your car or an the post office losing your mail. It is now up to the courts to decide if they find that this is just acceptable risk or that the company is accountable for the loss.

We need to stop threating computers as somehow magically excempt from normal law. A game is still a product and I should be able to have certain expectation of a game when I buy it. Just like any other product I buy or in the case of an online game rent.

He will probably lose however. Why? Same reason you can't sue for lost mail. The cost of sending a letter is so low that you can't possible expect guaranteed delivery. If you want that pay more for the well guaranteed delivery option. So I think a judge will rule that the price of the game was not so high as to ensure absolute reliability.