Gamers Rights Law » World of Warcraft

How to make a “forum” policy (Developers Corner)

jaymoffitt — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:25:22 +0000

There are four essential parts to a fourm policy: 1. Instruction 2. Limitation 3.Legal protection 4.Input/Discourse Of course, there’s more to it than this: full discussion after the jump…

The first part is instruction. Even though a game maker has seen dozens of forums, for many users they have no idea what is OK or not OK to talk about. The instructions should be fairly clear about the general range of topics allowable in the forums, or if the forums are categorized, the instructions should direct the user towards what category where a certain post should be posted.

The second part is limitation. Most common limitations include language, racism, religious discussions, personal attacks, and other common-sense limitations on touchy subjects. Also often excepted is discussion of the developer’s choice’s in the game making, known bugs and cheats, and unsolicited suggestions as to how to improve game-play. This part depends upon the developer’s concept of what a forum is for. Other limitations include commercial posts, spam, linking-out to other games/sites, or any subject that doesn’t help the game-player.

Legal protection: This in some way reiterates the topics in the second section. Limits on personal attacks on other forum users, racism, religious rants, off-color language, and off-topic posts are prohibited. This gives a legally defensible position if there is litigation related to some one feeling they were libeled or illegally attacked on a forum topic. For the legal protection to have the best effect, the developers’-publishers’ have to have a person(s) moderating the forums for these unacceptable posts. If the legal protection language is done properly, then the administrators have the right to warn, and then eventually ban the person from the forum, and even from the game/MMO itself.

Input/Discourse: This is why most people come to a forum to participate. If the first three elements are taken care of efficiently and seamlessly, the valued customer can discuss, suggest, and gently vent to their hearts content. A little teasing, good-natured ribbing, or even over-familiarity are allowable if the administrators can guide the discussions in a firm yet direct way. And the meaning of community is most at evidence here if you can use that forum to worry about building inertia and good-will for the game rather than constantly fighting the legal aspects, which can be invisible yet well-done if you use some foresight, planning, and a good lawyer (with the common sense of a gamer). Most gaming lawyers will have a solid template that you can customize for your independent or small gaming site.

Finally, here are some links (for example’s sake only) given without commentary.

World of Warcraft Forum Rules http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/forum-coc.html?sid=1

Eve Online Forum rules http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/W/index.php

Second Life Forum rules https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2009/02/25/second-life-discussion-guidelines

Activision Forum Rules http://forums.activision.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=517

EA Forum Rules http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/335106.page

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.

Crossing the Line

jaymoffitt — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:26:57 +0000

Tracking your virtual character to track YOU!

Pixels and Policy has a great article about using a guy’s WOW profile to arrest him in real life. Extraordinary piece of reporting about interaction between police and WOW support system.

This is a link to a somewhat related story where Blizzard (WOW-maker) was sued for the way the program worked with personal information.

Some other interesting ideas that use the Metaverse to reveal something about the person behind the character.
There’s an article on Hypergrid Business about “Virtual Drag a Thorny Issue for Employers”.
I especially liked the quote, “A company can require that employees present themselves in a consistent and professional manner while at work and make clear who they are, she said, but can also decide to be flexible on this issue.”

Here’s a link to an earlier story at Poe News that describes an earlier arrest using simpler technology.

There is an interesting story in Networking World magazine describing how DNS tools helped track down the “Craiglist killer”.

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As always, the authoritative peer-reviewed type of article here below the fold.

Levin, Avner and Sánchez Abril, Patricia, Two Notions of Privacy Online (2009). Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, Vol. 11, pp. 1001-1051, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1428422
My favorite quote: “According to network privacy, information is considered by online socializers to be private as long as it is not disclosed outside of the network to which they initially disclosed it”.

EULApalooza

jaymoffitt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:51:07 +0000

That’s right, I said it.

Mysteriously, most of the sites that list EULAs that I use as reference have dropped away over the past year or so.

All of these EULAs that I am sending your way are off the publisher’s front page, no deep-linking, and no commentary at all. Enjoy and use this as a resource for your gaming decisions.

1st Part:

http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php Second Life Terms of Service

http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/218-eula (Lord of the Rings Online)

http://www.ea.com/1/product-eulas (All major EA games)

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/eula.html (World of Warcraft)

http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=12248 (Everquest)

http://www.eveonline.com/pnp/eula.asp (Eve Online)

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/legal/user-agreements/aion-user-agreement.html (Aion)

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/legal/user-agreements/city-of-heroes-user-agreement.html (City of Heroes)

http://us.ncsoft.com/en/legal/user-agreements/lineage-2-user-agreement.html (Lineage 2)

http://www.habbo.com/papers/termsAndConditions (Habbo Hotel)

2nd Part: Choice of law and choice of forum (as of late 2007) (stolen with impunity from Benjamin Duranske’s excellent blog Virtually Blind- I did write the article that he excellently edited)

Online World Choice of Law Choice of Forum

IMVU State of California San Francisco County

Second Life State of California San Francisco County for all matters over $10k. Binding Non-Appearance Arbitration (Phone, Teleconference, Avatar) for Matters Under $10k.

There.com State of California California

The Sims Online England (for EU residents), State of California (for everyone else). England (for European Union residents), Northern California (for everyone else).

Active Worlds State of Massachusetts Arbitration required – either “on-line before the Active Worlds Tribunal” or before a panel of the American Arbitration Association Boston, Massachusetts.

Entropia Universe Sweden Sweden

World of Warcraft State of Delaware Arbitration required except for IP cases, computer crime, and claims for injunctive relieve. Arbitration to be initiated in Los Angeles, California (for international players), or at “any location convenient to you” (for U.S. players). All non-arbitration claims to be filed in Los Angeles, California.

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I’d request that my readers send in the Terms of Service links for any major games or virtual worlds that I have left out. Help me please keep this post strictly informational and not editorialize, I plan to write a short piece about EULAs in the near future where I will invite your excellent opinions…

Updates, important Updates

jaymoffitt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Here are some important legal updates on stories I’ve talked about the last 90 days.

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.

Developers Corner (Game audio and Voice-Actors)

jaymoffitt — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:11:07 +0000

As the graphics of games become more and more detailed, it is essential that the audio and even the voice actors live up to that high standard.

This is an article that gives a great insight into the audio portion of the video game process. Every developer should read this to determine if and when a lawyer should be involved in the negotiations. My favorite point is “Often, it’s not what’s in the contract that hurts you down the line. It’s what is unspoken or assumed. Informality of this sort almost always favors the party with more power and resources.”

Very functional general paper about the Function of Sound in Games by a “couple of chaps who run a sound company” (their description, not mine). Covering all the bases, it talks about music both from an entertainment persepective in the game as well as to progress the game forward. My favorite statement is “with advances in technology and greater emphasis being placed on sound effects and their importance, Sound Design has evolved into a wholly separate discipline (much like it is in film).”

Very good article on Gamestudies.org that discusses audio’s importance in World of Warcraft. An insightful point is that “The primary argument is that game audio is tightly integrated with gameplay in this game setting, not only as an information system and a support for gameplay, but also by providing an understanding for how the game should be played, and how to behave in a specific in-game context.”

Voice Actors Discuss Challenges in the Video Game Industry. Something pointed out I hadn’t considered before was, “Another actor talked about a typical day in the industry, saying that they get the “basic gist” of the story, but they’re mostly concentrating on “short snippets of dialogue”.

These hardworking professionals are starting to get more rights. Actors Union votes for Videogame Contract. It was reported by Gamesindustry.biz that “Hollywood union AFTRA (The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) has voted in favour of an extension of its videogame contract, which has now been forwarded to members to be ratified.” Terms were “a 2.5 per cent pay rise and a 0.2 per cent rise in pension and health contributions. A new performance category will also be created, entitled “atmospheric performer”. ”

Older article, but well thought-out about the overall process of audio in games. Laboring to Compete by Jesse Harlin gives a great broad-spectrum look at planning and executing the audio in next-gen games. My favorite quote is ” the arrival of live recording to game music introduced a question that film composers have been wrestling with for years: is it a union-date or not? The answer has almost exclusively been “non-union” due to budgetary restraints and a union interactive media contract that doesn’t keep pace with the evolving technology of our industry.” If you’re a developer (or just curious as to the audio parts of video-games) you should visit the blog and read his other articles as well.

On Gamezone there is an indepth interview about audio direction for the game Everquest II. One staggering statement was “so far we have already recorded over 200 actors. We have been recording non-stop for the last 3 months and have accumulated hundreds of hours of voice recording.”

Of course, I can’t finish without a theoretical paper to ponder. Reference as Sounds and Sources in Sacred Kristine JørgensenPh.D. student Division of Film & Media Studies Copenhagen University kristinej@hum.ku.dk.

Here are several helpful starting points for clearing audio and music for your video games.

A pianist named Steven Cravis has a very helpful site.

The Harry Fox Agency is a great Website for your research of what you need to clear your songs.

At the site Video Game voice talent they have a wonderful Guide “How to Hire Voicetalent“. I don’t know anything about the organization, but it looks well-run.

3 For the B.

#1. If you’re planning a game, put the audio portion in the budget, and do it realistically.

#2. Clear your music and your voice-talent early. They are called “talent” for a reason (don’t talk directly to the talent, I’m the agent, etc.). You know that putting together a “team” for a project always involves many disparate time-sinks, don’t let this be one.

#3. Remember the user, your customer, will remember the audio as long as he/she remembers the graphics. Be giving in as much “ambience” and “textual-clues” from the game sounds as you can.

Death of an Avatar

jaymoffitt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:17:53 +0000

What happens to your online world when your real-life world ends? When you give it up by choice, or through circumstances such as disability, or even worse, death?

This is not a long, dry exposition on the intricacies of estate law. Heck, there’s not enough case law out there to do a seminar or a paper about this subject. Here’s just a couple of talking points to get your mind thinking about your own personal online experience and how you want to protect your interests, pass on your interests, or wind up your online life in case of the worst.

A good article at Massively about the possibility of an MMO Will and Testament.

CNN has a very good thought piece about the different options available to protect your online legacy. My favorite quote, “Assuming the site is handled with respect, virtual memorials respond to a basic human need to remember our deceased family, friends and colleagues,” said Robert M. Fells, general counsel for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association.”Based on our members’ feedback, I’d have to say that virtual memorial sites are gaining popularity with the public as a very practical alternative to being present at the grave site,” he added. “There’s nothing ‘weird’ about them as far as we have seen.”

World of Warcraft had a very interesting discussion in one of the forums about accounts after the death of the account-holder.

Digital Immortality and Death 2.0; Article on PSFK. Amazing quote, “To further complicate matters, while the space continues to evolve at an accelerated rate, the legal system struggles to keep pace, leading to a current situation where notions of who exactly owns these digital assets – individuals or sites – remains unclear. Though you may have spent the last 20 years building your character’s dominance in the dungeons and on the battlefields of World of Warcraft, if you never pass along your login information to anyone who can carry on your legacy, what then?”

An amazing article about the symmetries between a life in Second Life and the real-life story of a player. Like all good writing, the article makes you feel like a voyeur for reading, but somehow freed up with the insight of the article. A haunting quote is “Not only were people commodifying themselves, but their commodification had a long tail. Their inner personal lives would remain product for the platform owners long after they had passed on.” You can read the Second Life Terms of Support here discussing serious issues.

Other games are taking it a step farther. Mindark is working on virtual wills for its game Entropia.

Here are a last couple of links about Virtual legacy, one is a project to preserve the legacy, and another finally a Goodbye to this article.

WOW provider sued over stock plunge

jaymoffitt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:38:13 +0000

According to multiple sources, this article by Pr-inside reports that a US shareholder sues China’s the9 and executives. Here is the full original story on Reuters that they refer to. The main focus is that “A U.S. shareholder sued Chinese online role-playing game developer The9 (NCTY.O) and its top executives on Wednesday, claiming they made incomplete or false reports that caused shareholders to buy stock at artificially inflated prices.” The article explains “part of the lawsuit centers on a The9 affiliate’s agreement with Vivendi Universal Games to license World of Warcraft (WoW) in China from mid-June 2005.” The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of NY earlier this week.

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.

Banning in Games

jaymoffitt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:30:22 +0000

What rights does a player have not to be banned; and what responsibility does a developer, and further an administrator, of a game have to ban cheating, harassing, or obnoxious players?
First I’ll talk about banning a player for in-game conduct, either through speech that’s found problemsome; or either through conduct in playing the game, spamming players about selling gold, or using bots or game-leveling devices to improve your game-play against the game’s terms of service. To finish, I’ll talk about some actions taken by developers and administrators to combat these issues, and what more might be done.

There are few reported court decisions of a player appealing an in-game ban. One of those rare cases was mentioned on Techdirt, when a Federal Judge upheld a gamer ban(Case variously cited as C-09-03007 RMW; SD Cal Estavillo v. Sony Computer Entm’t Am. Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86821). The player’s complaint protested against his ban from a Sony site. An intelligent and thorough discussion of the case may be found at this site, and another more approving tone from this site, which approves the idea of increased responsibility for a company as a “virtual company town”. I rather side more with the latter point of view, as the resources of a multinational corporation running a multimillion-dollar business rather make them more of a landlord than as a poor helpless forum-owner.

A very well-informed viewpoint is espoused at “Law of the Level“. It’s pointed out that an in-game monitoring system could make the publisher/administrator liable, by giving them certain “red-flag” knowledge. I’d advise a close reading of the well-written article, especially if you’re building or supervising a chat room associated with a game.

The second common reason to get banned in-game is conduct; usually for using bots or scripts to improve your online performance, or for “spamming” fellow players with offers to sell gold or places where they can buy gold. The current most discussed game is Aion, which is having spam troubles even before being totally out of beta stage. Basically the game is being beseiged to such an extent by “gold spammers” that it is hurting the initial launch of the game, at least in the public perception.

The important lesson to be gotten from these public conflicts is what can be done to eliminate them at an early point. Blizzard (Now Activision/Blizzard) has taken an aggressive stand against any users they feel in violation of their Terms of Service, which has led to some hard feelings. Another company to “celebrate” their hardline stance is Silk Road Online.

Here is a short collection of links as to other articles concerning gold spam and “illegal bots”
Epic Toon Blog
Massively article on how spam “drains” MMOs
Twinking(sending gold to another character whom you own) is another form of cheating
A good first place to look for MMO banning concerns

So, what to do? Throw up our hands? There’s a couple of good common-sense ideas being tossed around; first for the developers/publishers. Stroppsworld talks about three simple ways to fight gold spam. These are (1) Reduce the need for gold (2) Remove mechanisms that facilitate the gold trade (3) Provide players with moderation tools. Another novel way is discussed by Sony Creative Director Laralynn Williams at the GDC conference in Austin. The banning issue is mentioned two-thirds into the discussion under “Solutions Lead to New Problems”. To the question “How do you deal with hackers when everyone can create a free account? Player char dressed as referee. All our C/S agents wear this outfit when are in game – only our GMs can wear these”

Finally, for the gamer, remember who the gold farmers are, and whether it’s worth all the risks. After all, an MMO downloads a client on your computer, a bot to bypass that client does so as well, we’re reminded by a blog named playbbg. That script downloads directly into your operating system and the blog points out those hidden dangers. And also, the common-sense realization should be that in participating in gold-purchasing that is clearly outside the game’s terms of service, that you have no one to complain to or get enforcement from if the offer terms out to be fraudulent or not executed properly.

Jay Moffitt is a TN attorney. The statements here are not legal advice, and no attorney/client relationship is created. Jay Moffitt claims no certification in this specialty, and TN does not offer a certification in this area of law. Copyright, Jay Moffitt, 2009. Comments are welcomed and will be answered promptly and courteously.

Developer’s Corner, more than just a game

jaymoffitt — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:18:52 +0000

Today’s post is: we’ll get a lawyer when we have a dispute… why bother beforehand!

Back in the Game, Great article about when your hobby becomes your Job

Working out the legal issues is important because virtual worlds are becoming more mainstream. Sony Online Entertainment said that its Free Realms virtual world drew more than a million users in its first 17 days. World of Warcraft has 12 million users. Linden Lab’s Second Life had 732,526 unique users in the first quarter, up 25 percent from a year ago. Nexon’s MapleStory has 92 million members worldwide, including 6 million members in North America. Virtual worlds raised $594 million in venture money in 2008, and there are more than 200 virtual worlds for kids in the works.

Forbes has a recent authoritative ariticle on the worth of virtual worlds, saying ” the worldwide virtual “goods” economy, which some are calling Virtual Street, is estimated at about $5 billion right now”.

A Screen Digest article touches on the longterm growth of virtual worlds. The most provocative quote is “overall, the outlook for subscription-based MMOGs remains positive over the next five years. By 2013, we expect the subscription market to top $2bn in consumer spending and for it to maintain its role as a key business model for monetisation alongside micro-transactions.”

Virtual Worlds News predicts 400 million to be spent on virtual goods. A highlight of the article is “(Viximo founder) Balfour values the global market for virtual goods in 2009 at $5.5 billion”.

Clickz has some updated Virtual Worlds figures, saying “by 2010, the online game market is expected to reach $4.4 billion, up from $1.1 billion in revenues last year. That figure is based on interviews and estimates of different segments of the game industry including publishers, distribution services, casual Web-based services, and also derivative revenue like in-game advertising and commodity exchange.”

I want to conclude by pointing out some disparities in these figures, and to define some terms. These raw figures incorporate different types of income, and thus must be further broken down. A value in “virtual goods” is from those services and products sold in-game to enhance the game experience. A virtual good can be bought in a free-to-play game or a subscription-based game. We’ll look at “game models” in a different post, where we talk about the different risks in either subscription-based or free-to-play.

World Of Warcraft China Server Now Reinstated

jaymoffitt — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:58:14 +0000

The World of Warcraft MMO, an Activision/Blizzard product, is now back online in China with NetEase as the administrator.

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.