'Alienated' gamer sues WoW for ruining life

[Questor]

A quick perusal didn't show this anywhere else:

An obsessive World of Warcraft player is suing the makers of the game for ruining his life, quoth a gleeful Grauniad this week.

Erik Estavillo is seeking $1m (£600,000) in damages, claiming the orc-tastic roleplaying game has turned him into a blank-eyed basketcase who can no longer function in the real world (as the lawsuit itself appears to prove). Having apparently become addicted to rampaging around some made-up mountains clobbering other collections of pixels with big clobbering weapons, Estavillo is calling pusher on the WoW developers, whom he accuses of "sneaky and deceitful practices".


Estavillo of San Jose, California, has further played a legal blinder by summoning sullen Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore to explain "alienation" to the court. Gore is a fine choice of expert in this regard, having penned a host of dead-inside yet catchy tunes such as 'Walking In My Shoes' for the long-lived electro-pop band, beloved of isolated Eastern European youth. He has furthermore spent upwards of two decades performing in the shadow of the far more attractive and less poodle-headed Dave Gahan.

The complainant has also subpoenaed the living heck out of petite, light-fingered actress and former Depp tattoo subject Winona Ryder. Presumably her love of JD Salinger's proto-emo classic The Catcher in the Rye qualifies her in his eyes to explain how the themes of alienation therein apply equally to such immersive games as WoW. See? Do you see?

Estavillo's wish list of experts is also believed to include* Radiohead keener Thom Yorke, the spirit of Karl Marx, eerily youthful emo shouter Jared Leto of 30 Seconds To Mars, and actress Sigourney Weaver, because she was on her own in the middle of space at the end of Alien wearing just her vest and pants and that kind of says something about... yes. [What about Camus? What about TheThe? Ed]

The Raniguad** explains that Estavillo's computer-induced alienation and concurrent litigation is by no means a new thing - he has previously filed suit against Microsoft (broken Xbox having caused undue stress), Sony (which banned him from its network and thus violated his right to free speech, he alleged) and Nintendo (which blocked some Wii software and ruined everything somehow).

We look forward to all this being over soon and for the sweet enveloping arms of oblivion to claim us. ®

* No it isn't.

** Yes, we know this isn't usually how this paper is referred to. What of it?

So this guy seems to be a bit of a serial plaintiff, but I also wonder if he's not just a little bit off his rocker.

[Ryan Thunder]

Meh. It was bound to happen some day.

[Darth Wong]

I like how he doesn't even vaguely mention his hidden assumption that a game company has a duty of care to produce products which could not possibly be psychologically addictive to anyone.

[Steve]

WoW addictive? Ha. Lightweights.

Paradox games like Victoria and Hearts of Iron 2, now those are addictive as hell. "Just one more game month, I must beat the Russians to Berlin! Then I can go to bed!" Beats raiding anyday.

[Edward Yee]

Depends on the raid... not just which raid instance, but also the raiders and circumstances... actually led a PUG through my first-ever Onyxia 25, AND we cleared it with many of the members sticking throughout it!

But anywho, the other version I've heard of this claims that in fact his suit alleges that it's all because he can't go outside and socialize due to agoraphobia and various mental disorders, so the only happiness in his life is video gaming, of which he was allegedly deprived of by the RRoD. The Nintendo affair was from him claiming that Nintendo forces people to buy one game to unlock characters in the other... when his solution was to pirate the former on his Homebrew Channel, a subsequent firmware update put a stop to that.

Oh, and those "sneaky and deceptive practices"? Supposedly characters move artificially slow and force the player to take longer to get where they need to go. Never mind that there's a run toggle that's on by default (the slow walk is mainly for RP), and the last two patches have both been introducing "going faster, earlier" changes (i.e. Hunters learning their run-speed increase earlier, mounts and riding training being available dramatically earlier than in the past)... seriously.

[Lord Revan]

I wonder why Blizzard signifigantly reduced Azeroth's size to facilitate faster movement and gameplay if they wanted people to move "slow" (in lore it takes about a week Kargath (horde base in the badlands) to the entrence of Blackrock mountain, in game it takes about a minute maybe 2 if you're not slowing down on purpose).

Yes I'm being sarcastic.

[Oskuro]

Oh, and those "sneaky and deceptive practices"? Supposedly characters move artificially slow and force the player to take longer to get where they need to go.

Yeah, those are called time sinks, and have something to do with the fact that Blizzard charges players for month of play.

Of course this guy probably never thought about a notion called delete your characters, unsuscribe and uninstall the game. Guess it's another case of someone who blames everyone but himself for his lack of willpower.

And what's with all those references to singers and actors and whatnot? I've read the article and still don't understand what all that is about.

[open_sketchbook]

If this guy wins this case, I can take Toady One for everything he's got, seeing how many hour of my life Dwarf Fortress has consumed over the last two years. At the height of my obsession, it was getting difficult to read; all I saw was goblin, whale, elephant, elf... This eventually prompted my switch to tilesets.

[Vendetta]

Bear in mind that the same person recently sued Sony over being banned from the Playstation Network for violating terms of use (he lost), and is also currently suing Microsoft and Nintendo.

I very much doubt this will last long, and hope he receives the professional help he actually requires.

[Broomstick]

I am convinced that people who become addicted to WoW are the sort who will become addicted to something, being that sort of obsessive personality.

Yes, the game can pull you in. But no one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to play. You can set timers to limit your time on line (when I play before work I set the in-game alarm to remind myself of the time, hence, I've never been late to anything because I'm playing WoW) Simply stop making your monthly payment and Blizzard will cut your access off for you.

Folks who get addicted to video games have problems beyond just gaming.

[Steve]

Folks who get addicted to video games have problems beyond just gaming.

But Berlin! I have to beat the Russians to Berlin!

*plays another game month trying to bypass German defenses*

(Actually I'm joking, I'm not even playing HOI2 right now. But I'll probably play again soon....)

[Ghost Rider]

Pfft, he's just jealous he's not playing back in the day for 15 hours a day for one month to achieve his Grand Marshall title.

[Tolya]

Im surprised that this guy doesn't want to drag hardware companies to court as well. Starting from IBM. They facilitated the means with which his life was destroyed!

If this guy wins (unlikely) then I think gaming corporations will quickly be reduced to small dev shacks like in the early 90's.

We can forget Dragon Age 2 then... it's Lunar Lander 2 for everyone!

[Oskuro]

If we follow this "logic", he'd have to eventually sue god for desinging the human brain so poorly that it requires the addiction mechanic to function.

[Stark]

WoW addictive? Ha. Lightweights.

Paradox games like Victoria and Hearts of Iron 2, now those are addictive as hell. "Just one more game month, I must beat the Russians to Berlin! Then I can go to bed!" Beats raiding anyday.

I know you're joking, but people seriously post things like this. 'A game bought by nine people is way more addictive an an MMO with millions of monthly subscribers because... I like it! Honest!'. It's asinine.

The 'deceptive' practices are hilarious; not only are they not deceptive (since they're openly discussed) but timesinks are a natural part of play in an MMO because of people like him who play all the time. Turns out stretching the content and increasing the time required to get anywhere is a reaction to obsessive gamers, so really he should sue himself.

And then go play some niche strategy title with a terrible UI because it's relevant somehow. People 'victimised' by MMOs (which are incredibly open and examined) must be 'victimised' a lot in their lives.

[Broomstick]

He's also going after WoW because, being successful, they have MONEY.

[Stark]

Sadly for him this also means they have Infinite Lawyers and he'll run out of money before they do?

[Themightytom]

If we follow this "logic", he'd have to eventually sue god for desinging the human brain so poorly that it requires the addiction mechanic to function.

You know there probably IS one poor schmuck named God who hates his parents for naming him because he's always getting subpoena'd for this kind of shit.

[Oskuro]

The existance of American McGee proves you're right.

[The Yosemite Bear]

If we follow this "logic", he'd have to eventually sue god for desinging the human brain so poorly that it requires the addiction mechanic to function.

but I want my dopamine and caffine fix, mmm sweet, bitter choclate....

[Nathaniel]

This guy probably is mentally ill, but this case does bring up an interesting moral issue with very addictive games. What if a games company was actively encouraging gamers to become addicted by using game mechanics or advertising? If a game were to use advertising that mocked the players who had stopped playing or to create mechanics that meant it would be damaging to not play for more than a few hours, then the company would seem to be partly at fault for the damage done to the player's life. This would seem to be particularly true if the developers had altered the game to be more addictive after the player had started plaing.

The incentive would certainly be there. Gamers who are deeply addicted to a game are much more likely to have multiple accounts and are obviously much less likely to quit. I'm not saying that it has happened that a game has been engineered to cause addiction but it doesn't seem inconcievable that it could happen. And if it were to happen, WoW does seem a likely candidate.

[Ghost Rider]

Game companies wouldn't want a player on for long periods of time if they are making money the MMO way. They want you to come in, enjoy, and leave to come back for more. To actually have a person on for hours upon hours doing everything the game offers is a waste given that you don't get a different amount of cash if based on any subscription plan. In the subscription plan one could have another person who can't do that in a short period...but does it in a span of months. In fact the real money is on the constant return of people and why even WoW has altered itself to being more friendly for the the first timer and people who play for short spans over their years. MMOs would prefer a thousand customers who never beat anything in the span of years versus 100 obsessed yaboos who do it in two months given the current mold of monthly subscriptions.

If they go the downloadable content pattern? They don't care if you spend an hour or ten, because they want the people to just buy and buy for the single player.

[Oskuro]

What if a games company was actively encouraging gamers to become addicted by using game mechanics or advertising? If a game were to use advertising that mocked the players who had stopped playing or to create mechanics that meant it would be damaging to not play for more than a few hours, then the company would seem to be partly at fault for the damage done to the player's life. This would seem to be particularly true if the developers had altered the game to be more addictive after the player had started plaing.

This is not dissimilar to the issue with Tobacco. To be fair, WoW has a few messages asking the player to take breaks, and even to go out with his friends, wich, even when minimal, is a good thing to have.

There's also the asiatic solution of having the game grant no rewards to players who have been logged on for more than a certain number of hours. Seeing how this would end up in players taking longer to get through the game, thus reducing their need for new content, I don't get why don't they re-use it.

[Stark]

As GR says, the only way it'd be like smoking is if you paid per small time unit and not monthly. Since you pay for 'access' and not 'login time', there's not reason they want you on 24/7 (and several reasons they kinda don't).

The changes I've heard about to lower the bar to entry are a really good move from a revenue perspective.