Filed under: The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Self-regulation and the video game industry

by Mathew McCurley Nov 19th 2010 at 5:00PM

The Lawbringer: Schwarzenegger v. EMA

by Mathew McCurley Nov 12th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Arguing about video games

by Mathew McCurley Nov 5th 2010 at 5:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

One day, massively multiplayers will be center stage at the Supreme Court of the United States of America. We aren't there yet, but one day. Hell, we just got video games as a genre of entertainment on the lips of the Supreme Court justices. I'll talk about the Supreme Court case Schwarzenegger v. EMA later on, once we've got more to go on than the opening arguments, etc., and give you a rundown in the simplest terms possible about what is being argued over. For now, I'd like to talk about the language of video games being used in the case and get a little ranty about who gets to argue about video games.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Consequences 2010

by Mathew McCurley Oct 29th 2010 at 5:00PM

2010 has been a good year for consequences. Comeuppance. Karma. Crime and punishment. These three stories from this year all have one thing in common -- World of Warcraft. Sometimes we forget that our actions inside our MMO of choice can have real-life consequences that don't go over too well with the local, state and federal authorities. This week on The Lawbringer, we go all Cops on you, talking about some 2010 WoW criminals.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Buying precedent

by Mathew McCurley Oct 24th 2010 at 6:00PM

You might have heard that Blizzard and its lawyers have recently started new litigation against three StarCraft 2 hackers in District Court. To a lot of people, this looks like another case of Blizzard going after more hackers for screwing with the online experience. To me, I see Blizzard's lawsuits as positive EULA-builders with huge benefit to the independent game market. It sounds crazy, but less so when you think about the concept of buying precedent.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Real money transactions and some eBay history

by Mathew McCurley Oct 15th 2010 at 9:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

eBay and massively multiplayer online role playing games have a deep, rich and occasionally sordid past. As social beings, we've been bartering, trading and selling our time and goods for the entirety of human history. The internet just made things even easier. Hell, buying some gold or an item off of eBay isn't the first time you've probably spent money for a work-around in a game. Ever heard of Game Genie? We paid money for that at one point in our lives.

This week, The Lawbringer delves into the past, remembering the good ol' days when the internet came in three varieties: 28.8k, 33.6k and 56k v.90. Also, 14.4k, but only losers had such weak baud. Please don't make me go back further in time. You're probably making modem sounds right now, pretending to go ksshhhh ksshhhh bee doo be dooo wha wha wha wha wha wha wha beeboobeeboobeebeeboobeep, so we should probably start this up.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Blizzard and machinima

by Mathew McCurley Oct 8th 2010 at 5:00PM

The relationship Blizzard has cultivated and presented to the machinima community is, in a word, rare. Not unexpected, but rare. Companies such as Blizzard that hold such a hot property like the Warcraft series usually are tight with licensing. Blizzard is also ridiculous-smart -- you don't get the amount of success it has without being something ridiculous. At an early stage, the company realized that giving a fair amount of leniency to machinima would reap some awesome benefits. That theory has paid off, not only for Blizzard but for the community as well, in spades.

This week, Lawbringer delves into the fairly broad Blizzard-machinima artist relationship. The seeds of this quick look at the rules of machinima came from Myndflame's own look at Blizzard's policies back in 2009. Like I said before, this relationship is unique in its openness. In fact, Blizzard openly courts machinima artists in sponsored contests as well as through its official policies on the art form.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: 5 ways trade chat can get you in trouble

by Mathew McCurley Oct 1st 2010 at 6:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

There's this place downtown that I know. You've probably been warned about it -- a seedy place of corruption, danger, intrigue, questionable math, and Tempest Keep runs where the Ashes of Al'ar are on reserve. You'll never be able to link Thunderfury last. This article is not for the faint of heart, so if you are easily offended, I would advise turning around 180 degrees and walking away. We're talking trade chat.

This week, we talk about five ways trade chat can get you into some trouble with Blizzard. From naming violations to impersonating and scamming players, you can strand yourself out on some pretty thin ice with the GMs at Blizzard by violating the Terms of Use. For the sake of everyone else in game, don't.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: WoW in China

by Mathew McCurley Sep 24th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: The trouble with fan fiction

by Mathew McCurley Sep 17th 2010 at 6:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

Finally, I return home after a bit of bliss. Fun is over -- it's time to get serious by talking about fan fiction. Sort of. You see, fan fiction is one of those areas that people love to hate, hate to love and everything in between. What is it about fan fiction that gets people so upset and so defensive? Is it the personal nature of the craft, the accusatory piggy-backing on other people's characters, or just that so much of it is mind-numbingly terrible? Who knows? Today, we're going to explore a few of the concepts of fan fiction in a very no-nonsense, barely legal way, to give you aspiring authors something to consider while writing your own fan fiction or even original content.

With my post-vacation bliss now completely out of my system, thanks to reading so much terrible fan fiction in preparation, I am happy to share with all of you a story that I've been writing for the last minute and a half. Don't be cruel, now. It's pretty much going to become the greatest story ever told. Enjoy.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Internet harassment and you

by Mathew McCurley Sep 10th 2010 at 1:00PM

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

The video game industry is affected by the legal world far more often and much more deeply than you can imagine. (Unless you are a lawyer, in which case you know the trials and tribulations of conforming to all sorts of regulations and laws around the world, just to release a video game.) Just look at how much Blizzard had to change Wrath of the Lich King for a Chinese release! The Lawbringer aims to give you a look into the pop topics that relate to the games we love and play every day, with some practical advice to help you avoid some of the more nefarious and potentially surprising issues that crop up alongside virtual worlds.

This week, The Lawbringer gives you some basic tips on dealing with internet harassment, in game and out. The sad fact is that there are people out there looking to ruin your day, and not just by corpse camping or spamming trade chat. Hopefully, with a little knowledge on your side collected from people who have already had to walk this rough path, you can successfully fight back.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: A rookie's guide to the TOU

by Amy Schley Sep 2nd 2010 at 5:00PM

Welcome to the Lawbringer, Wow.com's weekly guide to the intersection of law and the World of Warcraft. I'm Amy Schley, a new law school graduate and your tour guide through the rabbit hole of contracts, copyrights and other craziness.

Greetings again! We're on part three of an examination of the various legal documents to which we must consent in order to play our beloved World of Warcraft. Parts one and two examined the End User License Agreement; this segment will look at the Terms of Use ("TOU").

The first thing you'll notice as you examine the TOU is that it is quite similar to the EULA. This is by design -- while one of the EULA's provisions is to agree to the Terms of Use, the repetition increases the likelihood we'll actually read it. There are quite a few differences, including the code of conduct and the naming policy.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: This MMO is too addictive! I'm suing!

by Amy Schley Aug 27th 2010 at 6:00PM

Welcome to The Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly guide to the intersection between law and the World of Warcraft. I'm Amy Schley, newly graduated law student and your tour guide through the quirky world of copyrights, contracts and crazy lawsuits.

One of the many joys of going to law school is that you know every lawyer joke known to man, and your friends and family feel a need to inform you of the latest crazy lawsuit. While nothing will ever top Mayo v. Satan and His Staff for sheer silliness (by both plaintiff and judge), a new case making the rounds comes close. Someone is suing an MMORPG for being addictive.

That's right. A Mr. Craig Smallwood, former player of Lineage II, is suing NCsoft for negligently creating an addictive game, for failing to warn him that the game was addictive and for blocking him from the game, causing him to suffer severe withdrawal symptoms that prompted hospitalization and thrice-weekly counseling sessions. More facts and analysis after the break; all information comes from the judge's recent opinion.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Rookie's guide to the EULA, part 2

by Amy Schley Aug 17th 2010 at 6:00PM

Welcome to the Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly examination of the intersection between law and the World of Warcraft. Your tour guide is Amy Schley, recent law school grad.

Last week, we looked at the first half of the EULA -- the license limitations, the steps to terminate the agreement and a few other provisions. This week is the back half of the EULA -- the warranties, conflict resolution provisions and miscellaneous provisions.

Export controls

Section 8 prohibits the export and sale of the game to countries the United States has embargoed or persons that are on the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, essentially a list of terrorist organizations. Alas, this means that we won't be settling the War on Terror with world PvP death match.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: A rookie's guide to the EULA

by Amy Schley Aug 11th 2010 at 1:00PM

Welcome to the Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly exploration of the intersection of the World of Warcraft and the law. Acting as your tour guide is Amy Schley, just returned from ~~Hell~~ the bar exam.

Hello again! To kick off the return of the Lawbringer, we're going to move into rookie guide territory. Now, I know, I know -- your rogue "High Warlord Pwnyoo" is ready and willing to gank my mains, my alts and even my husband's toons for calling you a rookie. But by a show of hands, how many of you have actually read the EULA instead of just scrolling down to the bottom to click "Accept"?

Given the paucity of hands raised out there, I figure it's time for a rookie's guide to the End User License Agreement.

Filed under: The Lawbringer

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