Lawsuit up!
Something game related finally.
So, I’m all okay with game companies. I don’t believe they’re evil corporate jerks who sit in an office made of gold, discussing around a dark table how to best exploit us. They’re businessmen, that’s what they are. So the only real difference is that they have an excuse. But anyway, while suing a game company is okay if the cause is just, it just is too much sometime. Allow me to take a little part out of an article from my favorite online magazine, The Escapist:
“Agoraphobic PS3 Owner Sues Sony over PSN Ban
Erik Estavillo is suing Sony over being banned from PlayStation Network, claiming that the company violated his right to free speech and has caused him pain by removing his only form of socialization, as he suffers from agoraphobia.
PlayStation Network is important to Erik Estavillo, so when the San Jose resident was banned for inappropriate behavior in Resistance, he had to do something to get it back: file a lawsuit. Estavillo, then, is suing Sony for repressing his constitutional right to free speech and causing him pain and suffering.
The lawsuit claims that Estavillo was “exercising his First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech” in the game’s “public forum” (guessing this refers to the official Resistance message board?) when moderators, who the suit alleges are biased, banned him from Resistance and PlayStation Network altogether.
Taking away his right to free speech would be one thing, but in addition to that, the suit claims that the ban “has caused pain and suffering to an already disabled plaintiff.” Estavillo, it seems, suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Major Depression and Crohn’s Disease. To ban him from PSN robbed him of one of the few sources of pleasure in his life, as Estavillo is an agoraphobic (he’s afraid of crowds) who “relies on [PSN] to socialize with other people, since it’s the only way the plaintiff can truly socialize,” the suit states.
The suit states that Estavillo has medical documents to prove that he really suffers from all those conditions, and okay, if he’s not lying, that really sucks. But this is just plain ridiculous. Estavillo is asking for $55,000 in punitive damages as well as “pain and suffering damages.”"
Okay, it’s cool so far. The guy obviously has issues. But, illness or not, the friendly people at Sony doesn’t like their customers get verbally abused. So something had to be done. Yes, you have issues, but those are the rules. You may not yell at people.
At first, this guy seemed reasonable. But then, this came up:
“Agoraphobic PS3 Owner Sues Microsoft, Nintendo
The agoraphobic PS3 owner who sued Sony because he was banned from the PlayStation Network has launched two new lawsuits, this time against Microsoft and Nintendo.
Erik Estavillo sued Sony after being banned from the PlayStation Network earlier this year for “inappropriate behavior” while playing Resistance: Fall of Man, seeking $55,000 in punitive damages and “pain and suffering.” The case was dismissed in October, with Judge Ronald Whyte ruling that PSN couldn’t be held to the same First Amendment standards as a state-owned body and thus hadn’t actually violated his rights. Nonetheless, Estavillo announced later in the month he had appealed the dismissal and also filed a second civil suit against Sony for $180,000 in damages.
Apparently not wanting anyone to feel left out, Estavillo has now filed suits against the other two console manufacturers as well. He’s seeking $75,000 from Microsoft as a result of his console being hit by the Red Ring of Death; he can’t afford to repair or replace the unit because he’s disabled, he said, so he’s seeking compensation for the “undue stress” he’s suffered since the demise of the unit and the “sadness he will have in the meantime of finding one he can afford.”
His lawsuit against Nintendo, meanwhile, centers around the 4.3 update to the Wii firmware, which disabled the Homebrew Channel. Estavillo used the Homebrew Channel to unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii and the only way to unlock them without it is to purchase Super Mario Galaxy, essentially “forcing customers to buy another game to unlock one character in a different game.” Estavillo is seeking $5,000 from Nintendo as well as an injunction against “deleting, blocking or prohibiting the Homebrew Channel and Ocarina applications.”
Estavillo, who said he also suffers from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and Crohn’s disease, plans to file similar lawsuits at the state level as well.”
Wait, what? Let’s take this piece by piece. First, you sued Microsoft for RROD? They’ve already stated that you can get that, you can’t sue them for something that happens to EVERY console. Besides, you can, you know, fix it or get the Elite version.
Also, he sues Nintendo? For bad firmware update? How about, you know, calling support and waiting until the next update comes? Or are you that obsessed with getting all the Mario Kart characters by the end of the week. Patience, young Padawan.
Also, “plans to file similar lawsuits at the state level as well.” You just shot yourself in the foot, kiddo. You basically revealed that those lawsuits have nothing to do with damages. You’re just an attention whore, and a bad one at that. Or do you think that there is actual money to gain here? But wait, there’s more:
“Agoraphobe Sues Activision Over “Hurtful” World of Warcraft
The crazy-ass bastard who sued Sony over a PlayStation Network ban and then launched suits against Microsoft and Nintendo has fired one last litigational salvo: He’s suing Activision Blizzard because World of Warcraft isn’t fun enough.
The story of Erik Estavillo should be familiar to all of us by now: The agoraphobic gamer filed a lawsuit against Sony in July for banning him from the PlayStation Network for “inappropriate behavior” while playing Resistance: Fall of Man and then last week began a pair of sequel lawsuits against Microsoft and Nintendo for the Red Ring of Death and the 4.3 update to the Wii firmware respectively. But that’s not the end of it; today he announced his “final lawsuit,” filed against Activision Blizzard because World of Warcraft isn’t fun enough.
I make that point twice because although it may sound like a joke, it’s not. Estavillo’s complaint essentially breaks down like this: Blizzard charges too much money for World of Warcraft, a problem exacerbated by the fact that the game doesn’t let people move around fast enough until they’ve sunk enough time and money into it to buy a mount or a “teleportation stone.” But mentally ill people who rely on MMOGs as their primary form of entertainment and contact with the outside world have a tendency to die when they’re deprived of them and since Estavillo himself is mentally ill and doesn’t want to end up like all the other dead MMOGers out there, he wants the game “fixed.”
Oh, and he wants a million bucks in punitive damages “for creating a game which hurts gamers rather than being a bridge of entertainment for them to pursue happiness.”
But wait, there’s more! To support his case, Estavillo has subpoenaed both Martin Lee Gore of Depeche Mode and actress Winona Ryder to testify. “[Gore] will be a witness on ‘alienation’ and the ties it has to World of Warcraft, since he himself has been known to be sad, lonely, and alienated as can be seen in the songs he writes,” he explained in an email to The Escapist.
“[Ryder] and I share a common interest in the book Catcher in the Rye, which is all about alienation,” he continued. “She will be a witness that can explain the significance of alienation in Catcher in the Rye (since she bought one of the original printed copies at an auction) and will also testify to how alienation in the book can tie to alienation in real life/video games such as World of Warcraft.”
It’s quite clear at this point that one of two things is happening here: Either Estavillo is a total nutcase – not just agoraphobic, OCD and all the rest, but completely out of his tree – or these lawsuits are a buildup to some sort of unfathomable attention-whoring punchline. It’s a dangerous game; according to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, people who knowingly bring a frivolous lawsuit before the courts can be slapped with some pretty hefty fines.
And yet… Is there a third possibility that we’re overlooking? Could all of this in fact be another stealth ad from the wild and crazy guys at the Dante’s Inferno marketing team? Is it sloth? Will it be greed? Is it possible that this series of insane lawsuits will turn out to be the most insidious advertisement ever? Of course not – although as explanations go, it makes about as much sense as anything else involved in this case. (And if it is, I’m totally buying the game just for the sheer awesomeness of the marketing.)”
DAAAAAAHH! *slams head in table* What has this world come to!?
First of all, that’s the reason you’re suing Blizzard? Why not just sue them over Starcraft’s lack of LAN? And while you’re at it, sue Infinity Ward for Modern Warfare 2′s lack of dedicated servers. This has to stop.
If you have such a problem with WoW, why are you playing it? Play something else. I hear that Champions Online and Aion is new. The game isn’t designed for mentally ill attention-whores like you, it’s designed for normal shut-in nerds like other gamers. Why shouldn’t Blizzard make money that way, it’s called genius game play design. As said, they’re business men, they’re job is to make money. Also, how many of the 11 million players have you seen complain about this? They can’t fix it to fit one out of several million players.
And what!? You’re calling in Martin Gore, the best song-writer in the world? What has he to do with anything? Oh sure, he’s made songs about alienation, but what has that to do with WoW? He hasn’t ever mentioned it. There are other things that can alienate, and many of them far worse than a bad game. Like, I don’t know, having a divorce, having close ones almost die, go through depression. There are far worse things. And you’re calling in Winona Ryder cause she read the same book as you and liked it? Oh my God, there aren’t like millions of people who liked that book! I don’t think the author wrote the book with the intent to be used in a lawsuit against video games. Get a grip! Seriously, do you have some sort of grudge against video games? Then stop playing and do something else if it isn’t good enough. Wouldn’t it just be easier to get your own developer team to make your dream game? Nobody is forcing you to put up with any of the stuff you’re pissed about. You can just as well do something else. Oh wait, no you can’t, cause then you will end up suing that too.
God, now I’m pissed.
