(Photo courtesy of FoxSpain; Flickr CC attribution license)

Starcraft II will be a worldwide phenomenon.  The RealID requirement, since retracted, is causing some ripples across US gaming blogs, and some other places.  I’m going to explain why the U.S. is, perhaps, not as important as we like to think…. right after the jump….

Let me give some background.  It’s gathered from a couple of very good, well-researched articles by people who are much, much more tuned into the worldwide gaming scene than myself. (Announcement of Starcraft II at an Olympic Stadium in Seoul.) (From MyMim an estimate of first-day sales of 1 million in U.S…. huge… and 3-4 million in Korea.. astounding.)  The long story short is that Starcraft II is going to have much more of an impact in Korea and other parts of Southeast Asia than in the U.S.  That’s the pure numbers speaking, not my own insignificant opinion. 

And if you’re talking “worst-case scenario”, remember, if gamers in the U.S. don’t like the way a game’s forums work, they can refuse to purchase a game.  If a government such as China, or some other government with that power, wishes to strictly regulate or prohibit a game, they can (and will).  Just look at China and the difficulties of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft in keeping servers open and available there.  (See my related post).

Nicholas DeLeon on Crunchgear talks about Blizzard and hypocrisy.  (It details the move as more of a “trial balloon”, like a politician would use to gauge public-opinion impact of a policy move. 

One last link, from an English-language Korean site, that explains the anti-anonymity movement in Korea.

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[Note: This inspiration brought on from Entertainment on Saturday's post about point of view.]  Second, largely ignored issue about RealID and bloggers.  You cannot, as a public blogger, make a realistic argument that total privacy is your utmost goal.  You’ve already made yourself known, publicized, and you have no synchronicity of thought with the TRUE anonymous individual.  The individual that shuns RealID, doesn’t link their Google page to their Youtube, doesn’t automate their comment-posting ID, and is otherwise paranoid to have any trace of their actual identity linked to their UserID.  In this regard a blogger, though myself and others may “argue” a viewpoint about anonymity, do not share a common ground.  We are speculating about reasons, as myself (and other attorneys and/or gamers who blog) have decided that being heard is more important than keeping a total anonymous persona.  Of course many great gaming bloggers use personas, but as an attorney-blogger (who also collaterally solicits business in the areas of my expertise) we must fully disclose all email and point-of-contact information if requested by any potential client or contact.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

From Pixels and Policy, a great article about the attractiveness of avatars, and how it influences your popularity in virtual worlds.

From a site focusing on gender, gender equality, and other issues, a great article entitled “Real World Beauty Pressures in Second Life.”

A great article on body-concept in Second Life, with a long string of comments.

And another worry (or perhaps laugh?), Virtual Worlds Forum reports that gender swaps are common for online gaming. A tongue-in-cheek article in the Guardian claims to have a reasoning as to why men play as a female avatar in online games. As a related worrying development, it is rumored some games may have gender self-identification systems in the game, article at Destructoid; warning, probably NSFW.

Now I will probably cover these topics a little more as cases are filed, but for now it is probably someone will at some point declare that this would be none of the game publisher’s business, or some player might declare that this is “shocking, just shocking.”

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

World of Warcraft is shut down in China once again by government authority. Here’s the full story at gamasutra. The most telling information is that even in a government as centralized as China there is sometimes a lack of communication. The size of WOW in China is stunning, fueled by lower subscription costs; according to Gamasutra almost half of WOW 11.5 million subscribers are in China. You can read my previous stories on the travails of running WOW in China here and here.

The PS3 Owner (Estavillo) is appealing the court decision against him. Sony’s Playstation Home won in the lower court, but the story of his appeal is here. My earlier post on the subject talks about the issues of Estavillo v Sony. It’s a good read, especially demonstrating how sympathetic facts can propel a case, even when the existing law does not seem to show a precedent.

Remember the sentimental stories you’ve read about games closing, and classy ways (I’m looking at you, Matrix online) to do that, and not-so-classy ways to close a world? Well here’s a story about a disgruntled customer who isn’t happy with coupons.

And the fourth and final update, a pulse check on Second Life. Yep, it’s ALIVE! (Insert creepy Dr. Frankenstein laugh). Everything in RL(real life) is static, yet Second Life continues to grow.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

The9 lost that right earlier this year. As reported fully on Bloomberg News in April of this year, “The9 Ltd., a Chinese online-game provider, fell the most since November 2007 in New York trading on speculation the company failed to renew its license to operate the “World of Warcraft” game. ” That same article noted that “NetEase, China’s second-biggest online games provider, rose 2 percent to $29.79, a record high.” Those rumors were substantiated as NetEase is now the provider for WOW in China.

For more specifics on the class-action lawsuit, you can part of the law firm’s press release at Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP , and also reference the complaint itself at their their home page.

There is also a very concise summation of the case on JLM Pacific Epoch which distill the scenario in a couple of paragraphs. One notable quote, “Shares in The9 dropped 18% to $8.35 on July 15, after The9 reported a $36.9 million or 72% reduction in 2008 net income due to the loss of its operating license for World of Warcraft.”

If you’re desiring a little more background information on China and gaming, you can read:

Gamedaily: China to See Nearly 65 Million Online Gamers This Year

Gameindustry.biz interview with Blizzard(WOW publisher) about the size and scope of the manpower and computer resources used to run the online world across the globe

Gamasutra article from September 21 that World Of Warcraft Restarts Commercial Operation In China. The most notable quote: “Close to half of World of Warcraft’s 11.5 million users are Chinese — but analysts such as Lazard’s Colin Sebastian have estimated that, due to the Chinese business model and licensing structure, the region accounts for just 6 percent of WoW revenues”.

And an article from 2005, but still extraordinary in its relevancy, by “Gaming Steve”. It details his reading of the public disclosure required, and some financial truths, and then further some estimates, that can be gleaned from that public information.

I will be following this case as it unfolds, and hopefully we will all learn what level of transparency is required by a gaming company, publisher, or distributor in its public statements. As the money made from virtual worlds and games increases exponentially, we will most likely look forward to an increase in similar types of lawsuits.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

Earlier this year World of Warcraft was suspended in China. The Chinese government administration did not license the continuation of a server for WOW.
This online game has about five million active users in China, accounting for about 30% of its total users worldwide. In April 2009, Blizzard Entertainment terminated its operating contract with the game’s former Chinese operator, The9, and selected Chinese portal and online game provider NetEase.com as its new operator in China. Since the operator replacement, the operation of the game in China has been suspended and users of the game have consistently complained to get the game restarted.

World of Warcraft in China has seen some six weeks of downtime as government regulators process their approval of the transition to operator NetEase…According to the MMOSite report, the lack of specific age ratings for games in China make issues like showing bones or the undead a gray area. You should read this story to see the difficulties of running a worldwide game across multiple government environments.(legal and cultural)

Here are other links pointing to this monumental story in the MMO world.

The Escapist Magazine

Softpedia talks about the small section of China to the entire WOW market

MMORPQ discusses WOW online again

Gamasutra discusses WOW reopens

Article for background about WOW opening in China, 2005
Another excellent article by same author; great discussion about difference in subscription plans China to US

For the full scope of the story to the World of Warcraft community, read a couple of the stories linked in this article;
WoW shutting down one server in China (GREAT LINKS)

And just these last two; to show the extent of World of Warcraft’s growth.

Blizzard reveals WOW operations

WOW Audience Grows (Gamasutra)

Technically, I know this is a Chinese government administrative decision, and not a legal decision. But it shows the tremendous worldwide reach of these games, and the jurisdictional nightmares if a user wants to file suit against an entity spanning dozens of countries, and thus dozens of different legal environments. It’s also important to have this background when reviewing individual lawsuits against multinational games. Hopefully you’ll read these and have a little empathy for those writing End User License Agreements(EULA) to span five continents’ scrutiny, or a little sympathy for the players or even the lawyers trying to make sense of them.

Jay Moffitt is a TN attorney. The words do not constitute legal advice, and do not create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in the subject matter by the Tennessee Bar, and the Tennessee bar does not have a certification in this specialty. Copyright October 2, 2009.