legal
2017 Call of Duty swatting murder prompts swatting target registration program
The aftermath of a "swatting" incident that saw 28-year-old Andrew Finch of Wichita, Kansas, fatally shot by police has resulted in a new program...
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...
Former Elder Scrolls and Guild Wars franchise composer is accused of sexual assault
The gaming industry is in the midst of its own #MeToo moment, and one of the industry vets who stands accused is popular composer...
Riot settles class action discrimination lawsuit as victims claim victory
Last year, Kotaku published a brutal exposé of Riot Games’ culture, replete with sexual harassment and sexual discrimination problems. In response, Riot promised a...
The Daily Grind: Do you vote in MMO player elections?
This week I spent a bit of time perusing the Star Wars Galaxies Legends Discord, where candidates for the player Senate are making stump...
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...
Recapping the whole 38 Studios mess as Curt Schilling contemplates run for Congress
You folks remember 38 Studios, right? The studio at the heart of one of the most scandalous fiascos in the whole MMO genre? It's...
The 2015 ArcheAge lawsuit finally nears a conclusion in the form of a settlement agreement
Lawsuits can be pretty long, but this one was a doozy. Let's review: In 2015, several ArcheAge players filed a class action lawsuit over...
Fortnite hit with data breach lawsuit, Fortnite champ is swatted live on stream
Epic Games and Fortnite are not having the best week. First, according to Polygon, the company's been hit with a class-action lawsuit in North...
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...
The ESA’s 2019 E3 journalist database breach wasn’t at all a one-time thing
Last weekend, we learned that the Electronic Software Association, the US's biggest video game lobby backed by some of the biggest companies in the...
US Federal Trade Commission outlines the agenda for a lootbox-related workshop on August 7
Conversations, studies, and outright rancor over video game lockbox practices have caught the notice of several world governments as readers of MOP already know,...
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...
A lawsuit against Jagex for muting a player is thrown out in five days
Let's tell a story about one Amro Elansari, a player of RuneScape who was muted for undisclosed reasons (so almost certainly involving his being...
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,...
