Gamer Sues NCsoft for His Addiction.

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Sexy Beast

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A federal judge is allowing a negligence lawsuit to proceed against the publisher of the online virtual-world game Lineage II, amid allegations that a Hawaii man became so addicted he is ?unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.?

Craig Smallwood, the plaintiff, claims NCsoft of South Korea should pay unspecified monetary damages because of the addictive nature of the game. Smallwood claims to have played Lineage II for 20,000 hours between 2004 and 2009. Among other things, he alleges he would not have begun playing if he was aware ?that he would become addicted to the game.?

Smallwood, who did not immediately respond for comment, alleged that the company ?acted negligently in failing to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game.?

Released in 2003 as a sequel to the original Lineage game, which was a national phenomenon in South Korea, Lineage II is an immersion 3-D MMORPG that gained a reported 600,000 users within a few years, and is still being regularly expanded and updated six years later ? all the better to turn more vulnerable Americans into bleary-eyed shut-ins.

U.S. District Judge Alan Kay refused to dismiss parts of Smallwood?s complaint this month, possibly clearing the way for a trial. ?In light of plaintiff?s allegations, the court finds that plaintiff has stated a claim for both negligence and gross negligence,? Kay ruled.

An attorney for the company was not immediately prepared to comment on Kay?s August 4 decision. But in a Tuesday court filing, NCsoft again urged the judge to dismiss the case.
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Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/20...+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))
 
This is not a new occurrence. Look up Everquest lawsuits, and see how many families have sued Sony Online Entertainment for negligence due to their relatives becoming addicted to that game, and in extreme cases, committing suicide because they made themselves unable to cope in reality. I remember one case a 30 or something man created a female character and fooled his guild mates in Everquest for almost a year, impersonating as a teenaged girl. He abruptly committed suicide, for reasons that I do not recall.

Most of these cases are thrown out, in some cases due to the medical field claiming that playing games frequently cannot form an addiction. With that, the reason for the suit becomes flawed and unverifiable because the medical field refuses to investigate the possibility of video game addiction (at that time, it has since changed)
 
Snipeye said:
This is not a new occurrence. Look up Everquest lawsuits, and see how many families have sued Sony Online Entertainment for negligence due to their relatives becoming addicted to that game, and in extreme cases, committing suicide because they made themselves unable to cope in reality. I remember one case a 30 or something man created a female character and fooled his guild mates in Everquest for almost a year, impersonating as a teenaged girl. He abruptly committed suicide, for reasons that I do not recall.

Most of these cases are thrown out, in some cases due to the medical field claiming that playing games frequently cannot form an addiction. With that, the reason for the suit becomes flawed and unverifiable because the medical field refuses to investigate the possibility of video game addiction (at that time, it has since changed)
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Yeah, almost all of them get throw out of court...except for this one. The judged refused to dismiss the charges. This sucker is actually going to trial.
 
So many of these cases. They'll all get thrown out. I think there should be a law against being this stupid. His case will fail because the medical professionals will shoot him down.
 
“unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.”

Well to dress all you need to do is drag and drop your clothes from your inventory to your Armor slot, as for family and friends, you need a microphone... Just saying
 
See this is what is wrong with the world. No common sense. Its not the game developers fault HE played it TOO much. Games have warnings suggesting you not to play games for too long.
 
No but seriously. this is so pathetic to me that it's just disgusting. To become the way you are by YOUR CHOICE and then blame the game manufacturer because all the sudden you wake up in the morning and realize your never going to get laid?

This guy, along with every other person that sued a game manufacturer for similar reasons are disgusting. It almost makes me think that some of them plan this crap out, rather then coming to the realization that I stated above and suing.
 
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_Me_ said:
im sorry if i offend people with this but it has to be said.

only in america can stuff like this happen. its kinda sad
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Any post starting with "I'm sorry if I offend people" is automatically offensive
And actually, I am offended by that post.
Why did it have "have to be said"? It has nothing to do with the post .
Also, I'd suggest you look up lawsuits like this in South Korea, China, and Japan.

But, yea I have heard many times in the past where the lawsuits get thrown out. However, I have never seen one actually make it through before. Maybe this can be the one that gets through. However, NCSoft will obviously win because of the fact that many many medical professionals have constantly denied the fact that video games cause addiction themselves, they say that the user has perfect control over how often he plays the video game.
 
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Solution! Don't sell video games to those who walk in the store and ask you for the game lacking the mental capacity to sit up, sit down, walk, or speak for themselves .....oh wait.
 
I want to know if he's going to win this, why? Because he's going to be the reason for the warning labels on video games. I'm also interested in this case because he's from Hawaii. :p
 
frap said:
Any post starting with "I'm sorry if I offend people" is automatically offensive
And actually, I am offended by that post.
Why did it have "have to be said"? It has nothing to do with the post .
Also, I'd suggest you look up lawsuits like this in South Korea, China, and Japan.

But, yea I have heard many times in the past where the lawsuits get thrown out. However, I have never seen one actually make it through before. Maybe this can be the one that gets through. However, NCSoft will obviously win because of the fact that many many medical professionals have constantly denied the fact that video games cause addiction themselves, they say that the user has perfect control over how often he plays the video game.
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A drug user has perfect control of whether or not to try the drug.
 
_Me_ said:
im sorry if i offend people with this but it has to be said.

only in america can stuff like this happen. its kinda sad
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All though I am American, I am not offended by such a ridiculous statement. Rather, I just think your not a unintelligent person, nor could you ever claim differently by saying stupid crap like that.

As stated by another user, look it up. Lawsuits such as this do occur is places other than the united states. your comment is purely an excuse to try and piss off people, and you know that.
 
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