Lawful Neutral is a column focused on law and business in the online gaming world; it’s written by Andy McAdams. [Follow this column’s RSS feed]
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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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Lawful Neutral: The war over Star Citizen in Crytek v. Cloud Imperium Games
Hello citizens! Today, I'm going to talk about a little game that's been flying under the radar and I think deserves some air time:...
Lawful Neutral: Is it safe to play on City of Heroes’ inevitable rogue servers?
You CAN play on the City of Heroes rogue servers you're about to see springing up. But should you? Our law columnist looks into the legalities of the City of Heroes emulation situation.
Lawful Neutral: The future of MMO game design in a streaming gaming world
It’s been an interesting few weeks for gaming. We saw the announcement of Google’s game streaming service, Stadia, and then Apple’s subscribe-to-access game service,...
Lawful Neutral: Dancing around Fortnite’s copyright lawsuits
Welcome friends to the inaugural post of Lawful Neutral on Massively OP. I'm Andy, but you know me better as Serrenity, writer of comments...
