Video Game Cheating Leads to Lawsuit
Tue Oct 2, 2007 12:00PM EDT
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A watershed legal case is getting underway after an online video game player found himself banned from the system after being accused of cheating. He's suing the game creator for $8,000.
The part of this story I find most amusing is that he was allegedly cheating at Second Life, a "game" which really has no levels or points system and would seem impossible to "cheat" at. Turns out he was cheating in the process whereby land is auctioned to SL residents. Also funny: The guy who's suing is a lawyer.
While on the surface this suit might seem completely frivolous (and I'm sure Second Life creator Linden Lab has terms of service that outlaw cheating of this sort) it will nonetheless be interesting to see how it plays out. Is the lawyer due compensation for money and time invested in playing the game before his account was suspended? What if he can show evidence that he had not cheated to amass at least some of his online fortune? Could he have a legitimate claim that he is owed restitution?
As much as I loathe cheating in online games (you know who you are!), I also fear the knee-jerk reactions of gaming companies that are all too quick to terminate accounts and confiscate all virtual belongings on suspicion alone. For those who might defend Linden Lab, imagine the real world analogue: You get busted cheating in a poker game one time, and the cops take away your house and all your possessions, with no trial or due process involved. You can see how the guy filing this lawsuit might be a bit peeved...
Rest assured, I'm not defending cheating. Because cheaters never win, and winners never cheat. That's a fact. But it might be time to think about a resolution system for online gaming systems that doles out punishments that better fit the crime, especially in "economic" universes like Second Life. If nothing else, a more public punishment system (something like an electronic pillory of shame) might better dissuade others from following the scum in their cheating ways.
Comments on Video Game Cheating Leads to Lawsuit
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2 Posted by klacour on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:52PM EDT Report Abuse
"Because cheaters never win, and winners never cheat. That's a fact." Unless your are the NE Patriots. It IS frivolous - it is a FREE game. anyone that places that much time and effort in the Second Life really needs to check on their priorities in their first life.
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3 Posted by bduranske on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse
Good introduction to this suit. It is interesting how widespread the press on this is getting as they get closer to their (I think unlikely to happen) December trial date. For people who are interested in digging into the details a little bit, I've been covering it extensively at: http://virtuallyblind.com/category/lawsuits/bragg-v-linden-lab/
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4 Posted by marvel.ousley on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:09PM EDT Report Abuse
This lawsuit has been going on for two years, and Second Life is not a video game; it's a platform. The "cheater" was taking advantage of a loophole. I can't believe you didn't bother to divulge any details to illustrate what Bragg was "cheating" at.
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5 Posted by trinitynabob on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:21PM EDT Report Abuse
SL topped out a year ago today. This past week they charged their European customers a whopping 17.5% VAT without any prior warning on all land within Second Life that they owned. They sent out email to some of those customers after the fact. Long story short I think this will be one of many lawsuits to come. Also check out Linden Lab's announcement just prior to the VAT about lawsuits being handled in house if they are less than 10k US. The kicker? The 185.00US$ that's charged for that "service". Linden Lab is not God and their TOS has been a joke from the get go. We all know the other land barons were doing the same darn thing as the guy in this lawsuit. Why isn't Linden Lab going after all of them? Because it would in affect ruin the land market completely.
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6 Posted by computertech82 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse
Because cheaters AWLAYS win, and winners ALWAYS cheat is closer to the REAL motto for online gaming. Punkbuster is useless. It only catches KNOWN cheats, those with enough brain cells recompile the cheat code, instant no detection over and over. It's just human nature, win no matter what, and cheats help with that.
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7 Posted by ottina36 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:47PM EDT Report Abuse
I read the article because I thought it was so weird-how and why would you want to cheat on a free video game-get a life or maybe I should if i was caught reading this article-ha
1 Posted by jairaj on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:27PM EDT Report Abuse
A parallel was seen in other games where players running cheat scripts found their GUID in-validated barring them from online games. I think every game out there should run Punkbuster period.