Mute – MMO Fallout

Third Circuit Court Mutes RuneScape Lawsuit, Again

You all remember Amro Elansari, patron saint of MMO Fallout and guy who is constantly sticking it to the man. What do you stick to the man? Chewing gum, probably.

Last we heard from Mr. Elansari, he had just come off of a failed lawsuit against Jagex over claims that being muted in RuneScape constituted a violation of his freedom of speech, due process, and human rights. Judge Kearney, patron saint of shutting down nonsense, dismissed the case with prejudice noting that a private company like Jagex could not be charged with violations of the constitution. Most definitely they could not be sued on such grounds in state court. Elansari was informed that he could file in federal court should he decide to.

And he decided to, as Elansari appealed to the third circuit federal court who…shut it down immediately. In his appeal, Elansari brought forward a fourteenth amendment complaint which Judges Schwartz, Restrepo, and Rendell noted would require a state actor working with Jagex. If Jagex had a secret state government employee that they were conspiring with to squash Elansari’s constitutional rights, he might have a lawsuit. Elansari did not present any such claim of a state actor, and as a result the lawsuit is kaput.

Elansari also attempted a Title II claim of unequal treatment which would require discrimination based on protected status (race, gender, religion, etc) but Elansari did not make any claim as to his punishment being a result of discrimination. The most recent court filing dismissing the lawsuit is below.

Source: Justia

In Plain English: Court Throws Out Jagex Ban Lawsuit After Five Days

Today’s In Plain English is going to be a short one, but you’ll understand why when you see that the gist of it is about six sentences long. It comes to us from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and involves everyone’s favorite developer of RuneScape: Jagex. Along with their parent company Shanghai Fukong, Jagex last week was sued in Pennsylvania court by one Amro Elansari, who is alleging that Jagex muted him without reason. The lawsuit goes on to claim that the UK developer refused to provide an explanation and denied Elansari’s request for an appeal. Elansari’s suit alleges violations of due process, free speech, and human rights.

Elansari was granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis, fancy legal speak for nulling filing fees, however the court took some umbrage with his claims. Judge Kearney noted that Elansari’s claims of constitutional violations were implausible, adding that the first amendment and its constitutional free speech guarantees do not restrict private entities. More so, the fifth amendment due process clause also does not apply to private companies.

As such, Elansari’s lawsuit has been dismissed just five days after being filed. Elansari cannot make any further constitutional or federal claims however if he decides to bring the lawsuit back on state charges in state court, he absolutely may do so.

As always, MMO Fallout is hosting the relevant dockets at our expense at the Google Drive. As the lawsuit was filed pro se, MMO Fallout has removed some personal contact details from the documents for the sake of the plaintiff.

Jagex Begins Muting Gambling Hosts

Jagex is continuing its war on gambling in RuneScape with a recent hidden update to the game. As we’ve talked about before, one of the most popular gambling methods in RuneScape is called hot/cold, that uses an item called a mithril seed which when planted into the ground produces a random colored flower. The gambler makes a bet on which color type (hot or cold) will sprout. There are other gambling methods, again as we’ve talked about, but the hot and cold is one of the more prevalent.

Players are reporting that Jagex is taking a stand against gambling hosts, however, and have not only given the official go ahead for player moderators to begin muting gambling hosts, but they have also implemented an update to pick up on common gambling phrases and automatically mute the speaker for two days. According to a few reports, the phrase is “h/c 2x” which stands for “hot/cold 2x.” The new policy was implemented suddenly and without a public announcement by Jagex, with many players only discovering the new system once they’d been punished.

More to come on Jagex’s fight against gamblers, no doubt.