law
Steam users in France should be allowed to resell their games according to French court ruling
The Union fédérale des consommateurs (Federal Union of Consumers or UFC Que Choisir), a French consumer group, has been pursuing litigation against Valve over...
Gamer involved in swatting murder gets 15 months in prison and a two-year gaming ban
This past August, we followed up on efforts in Wichita, Kansas, to stop swatting after one such Call of Duty-related "prank" saw 28-year-old Andrew...
Lawful Neutral: Examining Ashes of Creation’s controversial referral program
I have a really hard time taking anything seriously that refers to money as "bucks." You'll recall that I opened the Lawful Neutral column...
Blizzard’s lawyers are busy again, this time suing yet another overseas company for ripping off WoW
Another day, another Blizzard lawsuit - this one lodged against the Chinese purveyor of Glorious Saga, a mobile/browser title from Joyfun/Sina Games that pretty...
Lawful Neutral: The long fall of Project Copernicus’ 38 Studios
There are some MMO stories that are just unbelievable. They are so warped convoluted and confusing that we think there's no possible way it...
Lawful Neutral: Money laundering and micro-laundering in the MMO industry
Previously on Lawful Neutral, we talked about currency and how video game companies try very hard to not be classified as a currency because...
MMO Business Roundup: Video game gambling, toxicity, post-lawsuit reconciliation, and successful UX design
Welcome back to another mish-mash roundup of MMO-business-related happenings that just don't fit in anywhere else. To wit:
On game gambling: Remember the bizarrely bad...
Lawful Neutral: Mr. Krabs’ Wacky Bucks and currency in online games
I used to watch Spongebob religiously. I loved the days when I could put on Nickelodeon and have Spongebob on for hours. One of...
UK’s Gambling Commission considers prosecuting video game companies that facilitate gambling
It sounds as if the UK is preparing for a bit of a crackdown on video game gambling of the third-party kind. According to...
Lawful Neutral: Dance studios, canvas bags, and ‘false advertising’ in the MMO industry
As I was writing our Lawful Neutral expose of Nerd Kingdom a few weeks ago, I was pretty bothered by the conduct of the...
Jordan bans PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, plans to ban Fortnite and others
The Jordanian government has announced that the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) has officially banned PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. According to a report from Jordanian news...
Another DDOS e-thug has landed jail time – this one owes Daybreak $95K
We get so many tips about MMOs being DDOSed that we often don't even cover them unless they stretch on for days or there's...
Newly proposed Chinese gaming regulations target romantic plotlines and sexual content
Love conquers all -- except for Chinese gaming regulations, if the recently proposed rules for game content regulation come to pass. The People's Daily,...
South Korea’s anti-boosting law has gone into effect
Let's say your friend Trab is a terrible player, but you want him to be playing in a slightly higher bracket in Overwatch, so...
Lawful Neutral: TUG’s Nerd Kingdom is the Real Slim Shady
I hate being disappointed. I doubt I'm alone. In general, I try to temper my expectations and accept negative outcomes just as much as...
The ArcheAge consumer lawsuit against Trion Worlds is still inching onward
It seems weird to be writing about Trion Worlds again, but here we are. MMO players will recall that back in 2015, three gamers...
Lawful Neutral: Why Josh Hawley’s lockbox regulation Senate bill is dead-on-arrival
There's a special place in my heart for lootboxes and exploitative monetization, and that place is somewhere below the revulsion I feel for Martin...
Flemish Games Association speaks out against Belgium’s loot box ban
You may recall that last year, the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) released a report in which it concluded that "the purchase of loot boxes...
Anti-lootbox Senator claims gaming lobbyists are getting worried; Nintendo pulls mobile titles from Belgium over lootboxes
It's a day that ends in "y" and so that means some fresh lootbox-related news to share with you fine folks!
First up is an...
Lawful Neutral: What DMCA exemption victories really mean for MMO preservation
You might remember back in October, we covered how the US Library of Congress granted expanded DMCA exceptions for preserving online games. The Library...
