Craig Smallwood of Hawaii has a lawsuit in the works against the creator of Lineage II, claiming that he became so addicted to the game he became “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.”
In a Wired piece on the suit, Smallwood, in his proceedings, claims to have spent 20,000 hours playing the game between 2004 and 2009. He claimed that developer NCsoft is negligent because it failed “to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game.”
The suit appears to be moving forward as the presiding judge refused to dismiss some of Smallwood’s claims earlier this month.
20,000 hours equals about 833 days. 833 days divided by six (representing the 2004-2009 period) comes out to about 139 days played per year, which means Smallwood claims to have spent around 38 percent of each year over that period playing Lineage II!
Comments
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
I had to do it:
------------------------------------------------------------ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Well I suppose we can hope that the judge is a smartarse and wants the case to go to trial specifically so the poor victim (of his own stupidity) will get an epic bitchslap and the case will set a much needed legal precedent for taking responsibility for your own fucking actions
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Apparently he got banned from the game (this copied from pages 4 & 5 of the "ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT":
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In September 2009, Plaintiff discovered that he had been “locked out of the game, i.e., that defendants had ‘banned’ him from further play of the game.” Id. 23. Plaintiff alleges he received no warning that he was in danger of being banned or had been banned and that he was banned from all accounts belonging to his internet protocol (“IP”) address. Id. 24-25. Plaintiff alleges that he made numerous attempts to contact Defendants to determine why he was banned, but that “there was a maze of purposeful obstruction to receive any information on why he was locked out.” Id. 28-30.
Plaintiff alleges that he pre-paid for access to his accounts and had approximately one-and-a-half months of access left at the time his accounts were banned. Id 31. Plaintiff alleges that “Defendants unlawfully retained plaintiff’s money on account [valued at $65], for playtime that was intentionally withheld and denied.” Id. 32-33. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants told him he was
banned from the game for engaging in an elaborate scheme to create real money transfers. Id. 34. Plaintiff alleges that NCSOFT sent him an email to that effect on October 5, 2009, which Plaintiff attaches to the Second Amended Complaint. Id. 35-36. Plaintiff denies ever being involved in any scheme to make real money transfers or making any real money transfers. Id. 37-40. Plaintiff also asserts that there are Game Masters in Lineage II who are supposed to ensure fairness, but that the game rules were not enforced fair and square. Id. 51-52. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant conducted “banning purges,” which were “defendants’ concealed methods to promote Aion and
increase their profits.” Id. 52.
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But I'm sure this has NOTHING to do with him launching his law suit. He goes on to say that to this day he craves to play, yadda yadda. What a crock.
Al
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Wait, so, he's suing them for not stopping him from playing.. then gets mad that they stopped him from playing?
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
maybe he got mad for them stopping him from playing and is sueing him for not stopping him from playing.
at 9 hours a day for 5 years straight (average), i'm more on NCSoft's side in that he was probably gold farming. there's only so much content in any game, but never enough to warrant 20k hours, imo.
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
I suspect that this guy probably buys gold and was attempting to sell surplus items for gold/cash. He's mad because he got caught. Is 20k hours too much? It really depends actually.
I am disabled and my disabilities make it difficult to go out into the "real world" and interact and make friends. Thus, I spend a majority of my time online, making my friends that way. When I play MMOs (currently, I am waiting for SWTOR), I play an average of about 6 hours per day. I have probably logged over 20k hours between the various MMOs I have played over the years (FFXI, EQ, EVE, WoW, LotRO).
My wife also plays, although much less than I do. My doctor is aware of the amount of time I spend gaming and is actually very supportive of it. In fact, when I brought up the topic recently, and discussed how my gaming affects me, I was told that in my situation my gaming was actually very therputic and actually a positive thing for me. I don't gold-farm and I have a wife and pets that I take care of.
So, each person is different. While I do agree, this guy is angry and is lashing out because he got caught - and yes, he needs to see a therapist - just because someone spends a lot of time gaming doesn't mean that it is automatically bad or that they are a gold farmer.
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Common sense is being systematically wiped out.
Put warning labels on everything, don't hold any one responsible for their own actions, don't require people to think for themselves.
This guy should either be heavily fined for intentional abuse of the legal system, or put in a mental hospital/nursing home for an obvious lack of ability to see to his own well-being.
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
sueing someone else for what he did? I hope he doesnt win this case
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Cry some more baby.
Get a timer or something that can beep adn remind you to take a break.
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Guild Wars has little notices that pop up in chat once every hour to let them know how many hours they've played. Once it's hit hour three, they add in "Please, take a break".
I dunno if they have anything like that in Lineage 2, even if it's also NCSoft, but still- you shouldn't NEED such notices to pull yourself away from a game.
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
Its this guys fault that he's hooked on the game not NCsoft.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
20,000 hours equals about 833 days. 833 days divided by six (representing the 2004-2009 period) comes out to about 139 days played per year
Or a little over 9 hours a day every day playing a game.
I am sorry, but the game maker is not at fault for your inability to manage your time/life.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
I used to spend more time than that watching TV.
Who can I sue?
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
With the right lawyer, everybody!
Re: Man With 20,000 Hours into Lineage II Sues NCsoft
ooooo can I sue grocery stores; I can't seem to stop eating and therefore it most be their fault .... I mean I must spend roughly 3 hours a day eating ... that adds up to a lot of time spent eating ...
can I also sue Dell? I mean as a programmer I spend days if not weeks on their damn boxes and its making me unable to function as a member of society ... ignore the fact that I willingly got a degree in CS and willingly took a job with a programming company that is just stupid common sense getting in the way.
Stupid Lawsuit.