Make a Game Too Fun, and Get Sued!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 21, 2010

Ah, America. Used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now it’s the land of the entitled and the home of people who don’t want to take responsibility.

So apparently, if you are a loser who can’t get a life and instead spend all your waking hours playing MMOs, you can sue the game makers for making their game so fun and addictive that you just can’t help yourself but let your life go to pot while you play. Sounds way more lucrative than gold-farming to me!

WIRED: Addicted Gamer Sues Game-Maker, Says He is ‘Unable to Function’

The frightening thing is that this lawsuit wasn’t dismissed out-of-hand. Maybe this is the judge’s way of getting back at all the people who kicked his butt at Street Fighter 2 in college. I dunno, but hey, way to create a chilling effect on the entire industry!

You know, the semester I discovered the Stainless Steel Rat novels by Harry Harrison, my grades took a definite plunge. I was blowing off classes to read these books. I’ll betcha I could make a case that my starting salary in my first job would have been higher had my GPA been higher, and all my raises and salary progression from that point on could have been higher building upon that foundation. Yeah, I should sue the publisher for failing to put a warning on those books! I could get hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation!

Or at least a free copy of the new Stainless Steel Rat novel… 😉

Sheesh. So do I need to put disclaimers on all my games now?

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Andy_Panthro said,

In the future perhaps we’ll have similar warnings to the cigarette ones?

Can’t think they’ll be as blunt as “Smoking kills” or the whole cancer thing though.

That whole reading thing though… every time I pass a bookshop I get that craving, another book to feed my habit!
DGM said,

As soon as I saw this story on Hot Air I knew you’d be on it, Jay. Here’s your disclaimer:

“You are responsible for your own computer and your own damn life. If damage results to either as a result of playing this game, it’s your problem. If you don’t agree, don’t run the game.”
Spaceman Spiff said,

DGM,
Indie game developers need to be putting something like that in their license/EULA’s… Sad state of things it is,.
Whiner said,

We know enough about brain chemistry and the psychology of addiction that it’s not inconceivable that someone could develop a computer game that was literally addictive, through triggering the right sort of pathways. But I don’t think we’re there yet, not with Lineage 2.

Sounds more like the poor guy is just depressed and therefore has difficulty functioning.

Interestingly, I’ve seen some (not thoroughly solid) evidence that *drug* addiction quite often isn’t as “addictive” as the public thinks it is either… the biggest problem being that many drug addicts’ lives SUCK and they can’t think of anything even slightly better to do with themselves. Make them less depressed and give them some actual goals and activities that they’re interested in, and suddenly that drug isn’t an inescapable noose.
Calibrator said,

How to make money in happy-happy-sueing-land, Part 17.

—
What are 200 dead lawyers on the ocean floor?
A good start.
Zeus said,

Harry Harrison got his check long before you picked up Stainless Steel Rat. He has nothing to gain from making you endlessly read the book over and over. But MMO developers will lose their jobs if someone puts down their game.

It’s not about the $30 retail box, it’s about the $15 monthly fee.

Aren’t there interviews out there where MMO developers speak candidly about trying to make their games as addictive as possible?
Zeus said,

Er, that should be if *too many* people put down their game, not someone. But you get the idea. 😉
Calibrator said,

> Harry Harrison got his check long before you picked up Stainless Steel Rat. He has nothing to gain from making you endlessly read the book over and over.

Not directly but a fanatic reader will very likely recommend his book (see above! ;-)) and may fuel interest in other readers to buy his book. Word of mouth leeds to increased profits at the publisher who will at first approach the author to write a sequel or a similar book.

> Aren’t there interviews out there where MMO developers speak candidly about trying to make their games as addictive as possible?

I haven’t seen one but I wouldn’t be surprised if the bigger companies employ psychologists (or people reading their studies) and integrate their knowledge into the game design.
Aelfric said,

Not to defend this lawsuit, which sounds just as silly to me as everyone else, but I want to remind everyone that the judge allowing some parts of the case to go forward doesn’t mean he sees merit in it. In order to dismiss a cause of action, there must be no set of facts under which the plaintiff could recover. Could a game ever be so addictive that it amounted to negligence? I rather doubt it, but I am not willing to say it’s impossible. Given that, were I this judge (I am not ANY kind of judge, for the record), I would probably let the suit go forward–but I would almost certainly not be finding for the plaintiff.