Lawsuit claims IGE dug too greedily and too deep
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Economy, Events, real-world, Exploits, MMO industry, News items, Legal, Academic, Virtual worlds

Since the announcement was made, Antonio has already been flooded with letters of support from the WoW community. The reason for the support is not only because Antonio is trying to end gold selling, but because he is an active member of the virtual community he feels has been wronged. "The lawsuit," says case consultant and professor Greg Lastowka, "has more of a feel of a community trying to enforce its rules rather than a game company trying to enforce its power over the participants." The community is a strong one, and to add to the power players wield, the game companies are taking a stand with them. Blizzard has announced that they support the lawsuit and stated that gold selling is a very serious concern of theirs.
The case dives headfirst into a world with no clearly defined boundaries. The Florida justice system, having issued a subpoena to IGE demanding their transaction details, accepts that the subject of virtual law is real enough for concern. This is a good sign for players since their rights are also what are at stake. As Hernandez's lawyer, C. Richard Newsome, asks, "what are the rights of the [virtual world] community members when they go online?" The community members supporting Antonio have made one thing crystal clear concerning that question. They desire a fair game and hope to collapse IGE's virtual gold mine right on top of IGE's head.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-08-2008 @ 12:43PM
Vort said...
Good Luck.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 1:30PM
Ghen said...
This will be interesting. Its always fun to watch the courts wrestle with the idea of virtual property and who owns what.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 10:39PM
Imbalance said...
While I agree with getting rid of gold farmers, Im afraid this case might set a dangerous precedent. Judical Review in the American government was created by way of a court case. The court deciding that they did in fact have jurisdiction over the WoW economy and could enforce court orders to regulate the economy scares me.
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