Tag: lawyer

How To Avoid A Lawsuit #1: Fortnite Cheater Edition


Good afternoon, internet.

In honor of my upcoming completely fictional cookbook “A Million Ways To Roast Twitter Users,” I have decided to put out a new column series expanding on the In Plain English brand. The series is titled “How To Avoid a Lawsuit” which you would know if you read the title of this piece. Every so often I am going to talk about ways you, the user, can avoid being hauled into court and be forced to hire me once I graduate from law school. I don’t offer family discounts.

Before we begin, I’d like to insert some disclaimers; (1) I am not yet a lawyer and as such none of this should be taken as legal advice, (2) this column is meant for edutainment purposes only and while it will lower your chances of being hauled into court, it cannot guarantee a 100% success rate. Check your local laws before applying, (3) some of the steps are based on an assumption that you have done something bad. MMO Fallout does not condone whatever these actions are, the suggestions are merely in response to you actually doing them, and (4) most of your problems can be solved by simply following step one.

For the first HTAL, I’m going to discuss Epic Games, Fortnite, and people cheating in Fortnite. Those of you who read MMO Fallout or at least keep up with our In Plain English articles will be aware that Epic has presently hauled at least a dozen Fortnite cheaters into court. None of the cases have actually gone to trial with the rest being voluntarily dismissed with the plaintiffs agreeing to permanent injunctions against the defendant and the threat of deep fines should they violate the terms of the settlement. Still, it provides an answer to every Fortnite cheater who has asked “what’s Epic going to do? Sue me?” Possibly!

So let’s go down the list of how to not get hauled into court, Fortnite Edition.

1. Don’t Cheat At Fortnite

This one is the easiest and essentially acts as patient zero for the rest of the list. You shouldn’t be cheating at competitive multiplayer games anyway because it makes you look like a pathetic rat creature, but given the history and details surrounding Epic’s Scared Straight program with cheaters, you really don’t want to cheat in Fortnite. It’s not good.

Like I said, this is basically patient zero. Epic to my knowledge has never sued anyone for not cheating at Fortnite, but they have for cheating at Fortnite. So if you don’t want to be hauled into court by a company with the kind of money to bribe just about every developer on the planet Earth, don’t cheat at Fortnite.

2. If You Get Banned, Stay Banned

One big connecting trait of Epic’s lawsuit defendants are that they kept returning to the game after being banned for cheating. It’s like insanity but for stupid people. I’m not aware of any Fortnite-related lawsuits where a person was banned once and then Epic immediately launched into court, and of the numerous dockets I have read the defendants in question were banned 20+ times and in one or two cases might have been using automated software to create a new account.

If you for one reason or another decide to cheat at Fortnite and you get caught and Epic bans your account, just take the L. Accept your ban, maybe work on being a better person, and go do something else with your time. You’ll thank me a whole lot more when you are not hauled into court.

3. Do Not Upload Your Cheat Videos To YouTube

This is another major connecting trait between Fortnite lawsuit defendants. If there is one thing that Epic hates more than people cheating in Fortnite, it’s people putting videos on Youtube of themselves cheating at Fortnite, and absolutely people using those videos to advertise where you can get those cheats. The more subscribers and views you have, the more likely these videos will show up on Epic’s radar, the more likely they will haul you into court, and odds are the more they will demand from you in damages.

See this one is actually really important because if you do get sued, this is going to affect what Epic wants out of you. Normally Epic does not actually ask for money with their lawsuits against cheaters. Instead they basically push the lawsuit into a settlement with the defendant agreeing on injunctions. Don’t use Epic products, don’t cheat at Epic products, don’t create or distribute cheats for Epic products. On the other hand, Epic has a habit of assuming that anyone advertising Fortnite cheats has a monetary investment in those Fortnite cheats, and that’s when they start making demands for monetary damages. Trust me, Epic has the resources to wring you dry if they want to, and you are not in the right.

4. Do Not Counterclaim A Copyright Strike

In order to dive into this tip, we must take a moment to talk about fair use. Fair Use allows for the use of copyrighted material in certain purposes such as education, parody, or criticism. Despite what the internet has told you, the Fair Use doctrine is not a “you can’t sue me” button. Think of Fair Use as more akin to a trap card in Yu-Gi-Oh! You have to wait for the opponent to make a move before you can use it. Fair Use comes up at the lawsuit and is actually an admission of copyright infringement. What you are saying is that while you did infringe on the entity’s copyright, the extent is legal. There are no definite measures on what is fair use, just past rulings that can be used as a metric, that is up to the court to decide on a case by case basis.

This takes us back to our discussion. With people who post Fortnite cheat videos to Youtube, Epic has predicated lawsuits by issuing copyright strikes taking down the person’s cheating videos. When the person files a counterclaim, that is when Epic sues. When you counterclaim a copyright strike, what you are essentially saying is “I am in the right, and I will see you in court.” After that, the copyright holder’s only option to further their claim is to file a lawsuit. Which is exactly what Epic has been doing.

5. Don’t Cheat At Fortnite

Don’t cheat at Fortnite. Do all of these things and you are probably guaranteed to not get hauled into court by Epic Games for cheating at Fortnite.

[Column] Fact Check: You Can’t Teach An Old Jack New Tricks


Who would have thought that reality, not unlike Hollywood, would start running out of ideas and reboot failures from the 90’s for the modern day audience?

Grab your Nintendo 64 controllers and crack open a Mountain Dew Surge kids, we’re going back to the past to give a platform to one of Florida’s worst attorneys. Jack Thompson, best known for his failed campaign against the games industry ultimately leading up to being disbarred in disgrace for disparaging litigants, making false statements to tribunals, etc, has once again returned to exploit school shooting victims and this week ran an op-ed in The Washington Examiner (archived) to remind us of something we all know: Jack Thompson has no qualms about lying to push his agenda.

So to follow up this piece (and I do recommend reading it for yourself), I decided to roll a point by point fact check for Jack’s major topics.

1. The FBI finds fascination with violent entertainment to be a trait of school shooters

This is true, and Jack even links to the FBI report which, since I read the thing, also recommends not doing exactly what Jack did, create a profile of the typical school shooter calling it “shortsighted, even dangerous.” As it also turns out, people with violent tendencies tend to be infatuated with violent media, however there hasn’t been a conclusive study that would indicate that the latter can cause or enhance the former.

“One response to the pressure for action may be an effort to identify the next shooter by developing a “profile” of the typical school shooter. This may sound like a reasonable preventive measure, but in practice, trying to draw up a catalogue or “checklist” of warning signs to detect a potential school shooter can be shortsighted, even dangerous. Such lists, publicized by the media, can end up unfairly labeling many nonviolent students as potentially dangerous or even lethal.”

2. Jack filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of students killed by Michael Carneal

This is true, what’s also true is that the lawsuit went horribly for Thompson and crew. The case can be researched as “James v. Meow Media,” and if you want to see Jack’s poor grasp on the law even going back to 1999, just take a look at this case. Thompson and crew sued two porn websites, game companies, and the distributors of the films Natural Born Killers and The Basketball Diaries, whose products were all consumed by the shooter.

The lawsuit made claims on negligence, product liability in regards to producing a “defective” product, and the RICO act. Let’s focus on that last charge to prove my above point, RICO for those outside the loop stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, it is a law specifically built for bringing down criminal organizations allowing prosecutors to take down bosses who order crimes committed despite not actually committing those crimes themselves, and Thompson thought that they could use this against porn websites for allowing a minor to access their content.

The case was dismissed on all counts and then appealed to the 6th circuit who in turn dismissed it. According to both courts, it was beyond a doubt that the plaintiff had no facts to support their claims.

“A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.”

3. The Columbine Shooters Trained on Doom

This was beyond incorrect in 1999 and it still is wrong despite Thompson’s desire to repeat it as though it were common fact. Anyone with the most basic level of understanding of video games would be able to tell you that Doom, with its technology so basic that it has auto-aim and does not allow the player to do things like look up or down, can not train someone in how to fire a gun, how to maintain a gun, real world tactics, or anything else related to the operation of a gun or battlefield tactics.

The idea that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris “trained on Doom” is pure nonsense.

4. The American Psychiatric Association found that violent video games shift teens toward the aggressive end of the spectrum

Again, more false claims from Jack. An APA review from 2015 found that there is a link between video games and increased aggression, however they also state that there is no conclusive evidence linking violent media to actual criminal acts of violence. The APA even released a statement calling claims like the one Thompson makes a “disservice.”

“Journalists and policy makers do their constituencies a disservice in cases where they link acts of real-world violence with the perpetrators’ exposure to violent video games or other violent media. There’s little scientific evidence to support the connection, and it may distract us from addressing those issues that we know contribute to real-world violence.”

Thompson also notes the “American Pediatric Psychiatric Association,” an organization that we could find no evidence of existing.

5. The World Health Organization has classified video game addiction as a mental disorder

That has no bearing on this conversation.

6. The military uses video games to desensitize soldiers to killing

Purely fictional statement, one created and repeated by fellow anti-video game zealot David Grossman. There is no evidence that the military uses video games to desensitize soldiers and the Army and Marine Corps have vehemently denied claims of such training methods. This claim is nothing but an urban legend created by people with goals similar to Jack Thompson’s, to be thrown out as fact by people like Jack Thompson.

7. An FTC Sting Operation Found That Retailers Are Still Selling Violent Games

Another sentence, another lie. I know this because the FTC publishes its papers and in 2013 found that “video game retailers continue to enforce age-based ratings, while movie theaters have made marked improvement in box office enforcement.” The sting found that only 13 percent of undercover shoppers were able to buy an m-rated game.

8. The Fraudulent and Deceptive Trade Practices Act Could Be Used Against Retailers

No, it couldn’t. I’m going to explain this in clear terms because Jack doesn’t seem to understand the difference between video games and cigarettes or alcohol. Cigarettes are age-restricted by federal laws created by the Food and Drug Administration. You need a license to sell cigarettes, alcohol, actually any legally age-restricted merchandise and that license comes with agreements to follow laws and regulations on what you can sell, who you can sell it to, and how much you can sell and when.

It is illegal to sell alcohol or tobacco to minors, in fact it’s illegal in a lot of places to be a minor in possession of alcohol (but not cigarettes, incidentally). There is not a law in the United States that makes it illegal to sell violent video games to minors. Jack Thompson should know this, he spearheaded legislation in Louisiana that was shot down and referred to as a waste of taxpayer money.

9. Conclusion

When the Florida Bar disbarred Jack Thompson, they note that he had showed a total lack of remorse or even slight acknowledgment of his inappropriate conduct, concluding that there was no evidence that Thompson would be open to rehabilitation or even appreciate the basis for why such rehabilitation would be needed, and removed his privilege to practice law permanently and without the opportunity for reinstatement.

Over a very extended period of time involving a number of totally unrelated cases and individuals, the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.

Nearly ten years later, it looks like the Bar’s opinion was correct. Jack Thompson hasn’t changed his tactics. He still doesn’t understand the law, apart from the pieces he’s willing to twist far outside of their legal definitions to fit his claims, and he still doesn’t understand the basics of video games. He is willing to lie, throw out hyperbolic opinions as established fact, and has seemingly no ability for self-awareness.

I’m not going to call on the Washington Examiner to censor Thompson, but running an op-ed by a man who torpedoed his professional career by lying to the courts, especially without noting the man’s long history of absolute falsehoods in regards to the topic that his editorial is covering, is giving undeserved credibility to the simply incredible.

Chaturday: The Jack Thompson Reboot


This Chaturday I want to talk about Jack Thompson, because as we all know Hollywood and that means endless reboots and sequels of franchises, the kind we wish would have gone away after the last sequel flubbed in theaters.

The Jack Thompson reboot comes nearly ten years after the film franchise ended what was an otherwise spectacular and gripping series finale. Thompson, perennial anti-gaming lawyer of the series, played an opportunistic attorney and from 1997 to 2007 made himself into the anti-hero of sorts, chasing digital ambulances and wasting no time in taking advantage of murders to forward his zealous campaign against the evils of violent games. We got to see Thompson’s trademark “bad cop, incompetent cop” routine as he took all roads necessary to get results, from harassing defendants to intimidating witnesses, quoting non-existent studies and generally making false statements. We enjoyed Thompson’s antics because, much like Wacky Racer’s Dick Dastardly, at the end of the day he was destined for failure. The modern day Al Bundy.

And in 2007 we learned that the Jack Thompson series would come to a close with a gripping series finale in which Thompson was brought before the Florida Bar and disbarred for his various activities over the series, from making false statements to disparaging lawyers, and even that short mid-season spinoff where Thompson was practicing law outside of Florida. We were left with Thompson sitting on his motorcycle, driving off into the sunset with one parting message. “I’ll be back.”

Granted I could be mistaking the Jack Thompson show with something that happened in real life.

The season premiere has been covered by Rolling Stone, Jack Thompson has officially returned to prime-time television and this season is starting off with Thompson returning to offer his assistance in a school shooting in Marshall County, Kentucky in which a fifteen year old shot and killed two students, injuring 21 others. The shooter, it’s discovered, may have been a violence-addled video game addict and only one man is up for the job.

Thompson (the character, not the actor) is still trying to get back on his feet after we saw him ride off ten years ago. Without his license and with his credibility still in shambles, Thompson took the classic TV approach and offered his work pro-bono, mailing just about anyone involved with an authority and functioning mail box. And who can forget that heart-wrenching climax when he turned to the camera and said:

“What happens in the case of heavy users of video games is that when they have the virtual reality taken from them, they will set out to make it real reality,” Thompson told the newspaper. “They do this without being fully appreciative of what they are about to do.”

An AV Club review of the episode notes this statement as forced scripting, noting that an educated adult, even one with Thompson’s established history of false statements, would posit that the murder was the result of the shooter getting his video games taken away. Perhaps a decade of absence has made us forget the absurdity of the original source material.

With The Walking Dead not returning to AMC until the end of this month and Brooklyn Nine-Nine likely on hiatus until April, it looks like Primetime television may have put up just the show it needs to keep viewers attention until something more interesting comes on.