Lineage II Addiction Lawsuit Makes It Past the EULA 267
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the four-little-letters dept.
from the four-little-letters dept.
We recently discussed a man who sued NCsoft for making Lineage II "too addictive" after he spent 20,000 hours over five years playing it. Now, several readers have pointed out that the lawsuit has progressed past its first major hurdle: the EULA. Quoting:
"NC Interactive has responded the way most software companies and online services have for more than a decade: it argued that the claims are barred by its end-user license agreement, which in this case capped the company's liability to the amount Smallwood paid in fees over six months prior to his filing his complaint (or thereabouts). One portion of the EULA specifically stated that lawsuits could only be brought in Texas state court in Travis County, where NC Interactive is located. ... But the judge in this case, US District Judge Alan C. Kay, noted that both Texas and Hawaii law bar contract provisions that waive in advance the ability to make gross-negligence claims. He also declined to dismiss Smallwood's claims for negligence, defamation, and negligent infliction of emotional distress."
Re:Eaugh. (Score:3, Interesting)
It must be nice! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:look another US-American idiot! (Score:4, Interesting)
You know, the story of Abraham and Lot always made me think the Christian God is more than a little bit of a sadist. Why exactly would I want to worship a Deity that thinks its hunky dory to ask for the head of one of his loyal follower's children, or makes bets with the enemy that cause one of his most loyal to have his family murdered and to be tortured? If any man did that we'd call him a sick fuck, but a Deity equals that's cool? Then again a whole lot of the bible never made any damned sense to me. Take Lucifer: Here you have the best and the brightest, the number one guy taking a shot at the title. Now he lost the first round but knows they'll be a second shot at the title. So instead of rallying his troops, trying to build a large army and giving them what they need to win, he and his generals are supposed to beat the shit and torture the crap out of those that are gonna be fighting FOR him? WTF? Is he supposed to be retarded?
As for TFA, ever since we saw that bitch, and I'm sorry but she was an absolute bitch that should have had her kids taken away, sue McDonald's because the lazy heifer fed her kids NOTHING but McDonald's for their ENTIRE life and then sued because they were fat and diabetic, then I knew the court system in this country is completely fucked up. What's next? Ohh I got a blister playing HL2, Valve owes me a million dollars! Oh and seeing those install screens on XP and Windows 7 all day gives me a headache, I want 10 million from MSFT AND a dozen top of the line x360s with lifetime XBL gold AND a pony! (Black 2010 convertible preferably) Give me a fricking break! Is this numbnuts gonna have to actually pay for all the time he wastes of the court, or is that just another bill We, The People get to enjoy?
doing the math? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I keep forgetting (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a feeling that if NCSoft put "warning this game has been proven by Court Precident to be extremely addicting" more people would pick it up.
Seriously though - while I believe this lawsuit is pretty dumb (this is right up there with suing a crack dealer because he/she didn't warn you about how addictive it is) some people take addictions differently. I've experimented with various recreational drugs/alcohol etc - many of which are potentially addictive and walked away in each case never to do it again, but I played World of Warcraft since launch up until recently 10-20 hours a week and didn't really realize how much I'd lost up until that time. People I've skipped out on, girlfriends I've ignored, vacations I never did but planned - stuff like that.
What changed was a Chinese hacker raped my account, and while Blizzard fixed everything - I didn't play for like 2 weeks and had realized what happened over the last few years. The bad thing is - if my friends ever moved away or my girlfriend left me I'd probably relapse, but I hope not. Thank you Chinese hacker.
Re:Eaugh. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I keep forgetting (Score:3, Interesting)
And why exactly shouldn't NCsoft we responsible for their actions or lack their off too?
Assume for a moment that MMORPGs can be addictive for some people and assume further that NCsoft has hard data on that. Then that means that they would knowingly let people run into addiction issues and do nothing about it, quite the opposite, they would happily continue to collect the monthly fee. Isn't that negligence or at least not far off? Especially considering that it would be rather simple to do something about it (present a warning after more then X hours a month, start chat with counsellor, lock account or something else).
If you distribute something that destroys peoples life and you know about that (at 11h/day over 5 years it should be rather obvious), you should at least take some responsibility.