Lawsuit – Page 15 – MMO Fallout

Interplay To Bethesda: No, You’re Absurd!

Project_V13_screenshot1 — This is an old screenshot.

Back in April I happily announced that the Interplay Vs Bethesda lawsuit was over, after an investor reported to Joystiq that Bethesda had dropped their suit. Of course, as we discovered in our long and incredibly painful interrogation of investor Frymuchan, Bethesda confirmed that they were not dropping the suit, and planned to continue full steam ahead.

Last month, Bethesda made a claim so ridiculously absurd that I did not report on it out of strong suspicious that the report was fake. As we know so far, Interplay has the rights to create a Fallout MMO, which is what spawned the whole lawsuit in the first place (Bethesda wants those rights back). In their latest claim, Bethesda made the statement that they only gave the rights to the name Fallout for the MMO, and that Interplay had no rights to use anything else from the franchise in said MMO. So…Interplay agreed to making a Fallout MMO that has nothing whatsoever to do with Fallout aside from the name? Bethesda may have had a stronger case just having their lawyer shout out “if the glove don’t fit, you must acquit,” during trial.

Interplay, of course, fired back yesterday calling the claim “absurd” and “without merit,” surely far more conscious words than many of us would use to describe such statements (I’ll start with juvenile, desperate, pathetic, and you can fill in the rest). For a company that is worried about the Fallout MMO never making it to light, Bethesda sure is spending a lot of time and effort to cripple Interplay through legal fees and wasted time.

Then again, when the genre is continuing to take more serious turns, we can always use two clowns in the corner honking their horns and throwing pies in each other’s faces. For comedic purposes. It’s a good thing Interplay talked about the Fallout MMO being light hearted and humorous, because the game itself is already a running joke, not unlike Duke Nukem Forever. Not the happy funny either, but the depressing funny, like laughing at the crazy homeless guy with the tinfoil hat and the “The end is nigh” cardboard poster.

(Source: Gamasutra, linked above)

Codemasters Launches Lawsuit Against NetDevil

Quick joke: What is the difference between Jumpgate Evolution and Stargate Worlds? The developers behind Stargate Worlds are no longer attempting to convince people that the game is launching. Apparently Codemasters has hacked MMO Fallout, because someone said “you’re right, we’re tired of Jumpgate Evolution not being released,” as Codemasters announced this week that they are taking NetDevil to court.

Codemasters has filed a Complaint with the federal court in San Francisco against Gazillion and NetDevil. This is a public document readily available to the press. The allegations in the Complaint are clear and self-explanatory and address issues related to the development of Jumpgate Evolution. During the course of the litigation other documents will become part of the court’s public records further detailing the respective positions of the parties. On the advice of Codemasters’ US attorneys, Codemasters has no further comment at this time.

According to the complain, Codemasters paid $1.4 million to help NetDevil make the game, including footing server costs and customer support, for a title that was supposed to launch in February 2009. Codemasters is also seeking compensation for website, community support, and other services that were set up, at Codemaster’s expense.

More on Jumpgate Evolution well, if it appears.

Codemasters Launches Lawsuit Against NetDevil

Codemasters has filed a Complaint with the federal court in San Francisco against Gazillion and NetDevil. This is a public document readily available to the press. The allegations in the Complaint are clear and self-explanatory and address issues related to the development of Jumpgate Evolution. During the course of the litigation other documents will become part of the court’s public records further detailing the respective positions of the parties. On the advice of Codemasters’ US attorneys, Codemasters has no further comment at this time.

More on Jumpgate Evolution well, if it appears.

It's Finally Over! QOL Vs Allen Ends In Settlement.

File this one under “oh thank God!” Yesterday brought wonderful news from Derek Smart of Quest Online. The ongoing back and forth lawsuit between Quest Online and David Allen has ended. In a press statement, Quest Online announced:

Quest Online, LLC, today announced that the lawsuit filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court (Case # CV2010-010391) in June 2010 against previous LLC Manager and Alganon creator, David Allen, has been settled with the purchase of Mr. Allen’s equity in the LLC; and that Mr. Allen is no longer associated with Quest Online, LLC.

There isn’t much to be said about the terms of the settlement, other than that Quest Online apparently purchased the rest of Allen’s equity in the company, and that Allen no longer had any association with Quest Online. Now we can finally get back to Alganon, and speaking of Alganon, did you know that the game no longer has a client price?

It’s Finally Over! QOL Vs Allen Ends In Settlement.

Quest Online, LLC, today announced that the lawsuit filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court (Case # CV2010-010391) in June 2010 against previous LLC Manager and Alganon creator, David Allen, has been settled with the purchase of Mr. Allen’s equity in the LLC; and that Mr. Allen is no longer associated with Quest Online, LLC.

Atari Vs Turbine: The Aftermath

For people like me, lawsuits are a swing and a miss, mainly because after all of the legal jargon, reading long court documents to figure out what is happening, and trying to get both sides to speak on the case, there comes the inevitable deal breaker: The settlement. A settlement, often out of court, is generally always secret, none of the agreements are released to the public and neither side can talk about who was wrong on what accord.

So you’ll have to accept my apologies when I tell you I was well aware that the Turbine/Atari lawsuit ended, not only that but it ended four months ago, around the time Turbine was acquired by Warner Brothers. The major changes? Not much to speak of, aside from Turbine reacquiring their publishing rights in Europe, although this could be a decision under the new ownership.

The lawsuit went out with a fizzle and not a bang, and it’s anyone’s guess who won, if there is a “winner.” I’m removing the lawsuit category at the end of the month, as it will no longer be needed.

Nerdgate 2010: Lineage II Is Just That Good

1212500952-lineage3_11 — Three Times The Addictive!

When I wrote my “I Can’t Do This Alone” article, I put a lot of emotion into my disgust with the stereotype that MMOers still have in today’s society, of which I don’t think I need to remind you. Every once in a while, however, someone goes and ruins the image for the rest of us, resetting those stereotypes and putting us back a good year or so in progress.

Lineage II is a great money maker for NCsoft, and according to my profit rundown on the company earlier this year, Lineage II is NCsoft’s #3 game worldwide in terms of sales, with both in the Lineage lineage still going strong despite their increasingly old age. But, much like the “dangerously cheesy” Cheetos, could Lineage II be so good that it strips the life away from a normal person? Of course not, don’t be stupid.

News is hitting the stands today of a Craig Smallwood, who is suing NCsoft for making Lineage II too good, causing him to become addicted. According to the lawsuit, Smallwood alleges that he spent so much time on Lineage II that he became “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.”

So where is NCsoft at fault? NCsoft “acted negligently in failing to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game.” Also, according to the lawsuit, Smallwood is claiming that his addiction left him with emotional distress, put him in the hospital for three weeks, and required a regimen of therapy. This is after five years of playing for roughly ten hours a day.

Smallwood is asking for $3 million USD.

Personally, I don’t see where the news story is, but someone asked me to write up about this. Rolling the story down to its basics, and what you end up with is a person with an addictive personality becoming addicted to something. This is really no different than a compulsive gambler or drinker. This addict, however, chose not to take responsibility for his addiction, and instead chose to make a quick grab for cash from the company that provide(d) the product for him.

Another note to think about: Smallwood was banned from Lineage II for real money trading, and my personal belief is that his lawsuit is in retaliation either because he bought gold and was caught, or he’s been running a gold farming troupe with his three accounts and got caught. Smallwood alleges that the ban was to “force” him to play Aion.

So: Before you or anyone you know treats this as “some nerd,” just remind yourself that Craig Smallwood is either an addict or an estranged gold seller/buyer, just one that happens to be able to afford a lawyer. And to the regular news media who will eventually pick this up, and maybe see this page: Us real nerds don’t associate with Smallwood, please don’t build a bridge where a bridge is not needed.

In Plain English: Why ScapeGaming Was Singled Out

Private servers being shut down is nothing new, and as much as players like to discuss the legality of them, at the end of the day they are illegal. Now, being illegal and warranting action are two separate things. Lawyers cost a lot of money (generally around $500 an hour), so paying a lawyer to draft up a threat against little Timmy’s private WoW server that peaks at twenty people who don’t pay anything and crashes every couple of hours makes no sense from a business perspective, and odds are neither Timmy nor his friends on the server are going to just go and start paying for WoW afterwards.

It is this idea that directly corresponds to why you see only certain servers shut down, and generally they fit into two categories: Massive amount of users and profit. You may see developers shut down the private servers with the most amount of players, and that is likely because, unlike Timmy’s server, they can presume a number of those players will indeed go back to playing regular WoW, owing to a newfound belief that any large server will be inevitably shut down and their progress gone. Free servers rarely see the ire of the developer, as they can be somewhat seen as free advertising: a lower quality version to incite people into paying for the full product.

Servers that make profit, either through charging subscriptions or introducing cash shops, are the type that are most likely to face litigation, and this is exactly what happened in the case of Scapegaming. In the case of this lawsuit, launched in October 2009, the operator of the server (Allyson Reeves) was operating a microtransaction system on her server, and according to the lawsuit managed to accrue more than $3 million in fees from players.

I will admit that the extra $80 million or so that the judge slapped on for willful infringement is a little exaggerated, and unfortunately it is required by law and will be appealed (and most likely reduced), but it takes a lot of stones to set up a server you know is already legally dubious, and then go ahead and start making a profit off of it.

Richard Garriot Wins Lawsuit Against NCsoft

If Funcom's money was gold-backed... — I hope NCSoft has plenty of it...

Oddly enough, it was exactly one year ago yesterday (shortly after MMO Fallout began) that I wrote up about Tabula Rasa, where I mentioned that Richard Garriot was suing NCSoft for $24 million for alleged fraud. In his lawsuit, Garriot claimed NCSoft forged a letter of resignation, both to themselves and the community of Tabula Rasa, and used it to get out of contract terms that would put Garriot in control of a number of stock options under the conditions of involuntary termination. In short: NCsoft fired Richard Garriot, and then lied about the conditions of his departure to get out of paying him millions of dollars in stock options.

The jury awarded Garriot $28 million, which NCsoft is of course planning to fight tooth and nail.

Quest Online Fires Back: Countersues David Allen

I don’t feel I have much to apologize for on MMO Fallout as I stand by my statements and comments, and very rarely do I make a factual error. On the other hand, it is equally rare that a procession of articles succeed in embarrassing me as much as the Derek Smart/David Allen series of events that began last year when Alganon officially launched. I’m going to reiterate what I said in March when I wrote up “We’re ****ing Done Professionally,”

“I can only apologize to anyone who disliked reading this as much as I disliked writing it.”

Since Derek Smart has taken over leadership, Alganon has gained significant exposure in the gaming marketplace. By parroting Derek Smart’s initial reaction to David Allen’s lawsuit, I’m not sure what exposure Mr. Smart may be referring to. Out of all of the news I have seen on Alganon, the grand majority has to do with the lawsuits and, in a solely news aspect, Alganon has been barely featured at all.

Suffice to say, the train has departed the station, and there is no going back for my coverage of all things (well…not all things) Alganon, essentially until the game shuts down. I won’t allow myself to just stop writing about a game just because I happen to dislike the rhetoric being thrown around every time I get something to work with relevant to MMO Fallout.

It feels like only yesterday that Derek Smart was on the scene, reminding not only us but David Allen that Quest Online would be bringing legislation against him. Quest Online announced that they are filing a countersuit to David Allen’s defamation lawsuit. In the claim, QOL alleges pretty much what Derek Smart has been saying in the past: That Allen locked QOL out of critical Alganon systems when he was fired, that another employee gave him access to the company’s funds, among other allegations.

More on all things Alganon that has nothing to do with Alganon as it appears.

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