law
Lawful Neutral: Examining the infamous MMO lockbox, 2020 edition
I have a soft spot for paranormal horror. I love movies about demons, ghosts, hauntings, possessions. There's one particular movie from the early aughts...
Lawful Neutral: Examining DDoS attacks and their impact on MMOs
When I was younger, used to play with LEGOs with my cousins all the time. We'd spend time creating huge houses and vehicles that...
MMO Business Roundup: Tencent, Ubisoft, Rockstar, energy, Creativerse, and Cold Iron Studios
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO (and MMO-adjacent) industry news!
Tencent: Just before Funcom and Tencent announced the Chinese gaming giant was angling to...
Lawful Neutral: Examining the ArcheAge class action lawsuit – and what it means for gamers
Gamers threaten lawsuits a lot. Most of the time they threaten lawsuits over things that aren't really something they can sue over, usually due...
Lawful Neutral: A look back at the MMO industry’s law dramas of 2019
It's hard to believe that 2019 is almost over. Not necessarily unwelcome, but hard to believe. 2019 has been a year in more ways...
Lawful Neutral: When Marvel sued NCsoft over City of Heroes
One of the biggest MMORPG genre stories over the last year has been the ongoing saga/drama around the bizarre but very much welcomed rebirth...
China is really adding that youth gaming curfew and block on sex and gore in games
Sometimes it's easy to forget that gamers over in China have it very different than we do in the west. If you need a...
Lawful Neutral: What’s China really worth to the Western gaming industry?
You know what we never talk about these days? China and video games! We should do that more. For example, did you know that...
Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet chased the 2016 Gaile Gray account hacker all the way to Germany – and lost
Back in 2016, MassivelyOP covered an odd story about the Guild Wars franchise and a hack that seemingly involved the account of then-ArenaNet employee...
Lawful Neutral: Endorsements, disclosures, and the games industry
Infomercials are the worst. There's nothing quite as infuriating as turning on the TV only to find a 30-minute commercial about how people can't...
Australian police are investigating crimes linked to an Overwatch esports team
The obvious old joke to be made was that if esports were real sports, they'd be linked to organized crime. Alas, the joke no longer...
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...
