Class action versus IGE
Benjamin Duranske at Virtually Blind kicks off coverage of another virtual worlds lawsuit. In this case, it's a third-party beneficiary contract class action claim (Whew. Try saying that three times fast) against IGE and their alleged actions in World of Warcraft.
The plaintiffs allege, basically, that IGE is gold-farming, spawn-camping, devaluing gold, spamming chat, and generally screwing up the experience for everyone else.
Blizzard might well agree with them, having little truck with this sort of thing. IGE of course, becomes subject to the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, and EULA as soon as they create a character for any purpose.
The plaintiffs claim damage as a class as third-party-beneficiaries on the understanding that the WoW ToU and EULA are supposed to protect players as a whole (and Blizzard) against just this sort of thing.
While third-party beneficiary contract claims are generally pretty hard to argue, Blizzard supports the class-action, and that could make all the difference if they are willing to come to the party.
* Disclosure - IGE is one of our sponsored links.
Correction: Okay, complete screw-up. No, IGE isn't a sponsor - Weblogs, Inc. and Massively has no connection to IGE at all. None whatsoever. This is the hazard of doing too many things at once. I got confused, and made a mistake. You may now throw fruit and vegetables at me. Hopefully that's my one embarassing screw-up for the week.
