Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

[Deechan]

Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Just wanted to share:
In the motion in this case, Riches claims that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft:
…caused Riches mind to live in a virtual universe, where Riches explored the landscape committing identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hacker gangs. Riches was addicted to video games and lost touch with reality because of defendants. This caused Riches to commit fraud to buy defendants video games. Riches chose World of Warcraft over working a legit job. Riches mind became a living video game.


http://virtuallyblind.com/2008/11/05/riches-warcraft-motion/

 

[WildBerry]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

That is pretty incredibly weak.

 

[whitey]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

bets on if he wins?

 

[CyberHawk]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

bets on if he wins?

If he did win so to say...It could open up for alot more cases.


Like 10-11 million...you know, just saying, throwing some numbers out there yo!

 

[AeroJonesy]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Lol, what a funny motion. I love handwritten motions from prison - they are usually very entertaining.

 

[Moosashi]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

He's obviously not going to win; it's going to get dismissed before Blizzard even responds to the allegations. But a lawyer whom Blizzard pays a lot of money is going to have to spend precious, expensive time drafting and filing the motion to dismiss, and those costs get passed on to you, the innocent consumer of Blizzard's wonderful games.

 

[Yaboosh]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

But a lawyer whom Blizzard pays a lot of money is going to have to spend precious, expensive time drafting and filing the motion to dismiss, and those costs get passed on to you, the innocent consumer of Blizzard's wonderful games.

What point are you trying to make?

 

[Syxx]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Hi,

Riches, a South Carolina inmate serving a sentence for wire fraud who has his own Wikipedia entry, apparently kills time while incarcerated by filing briefs like this. Earlier this year he sued Rockstar Games over similar claims involving Grand Theft Auto IV. Riches has, at various times, also sued George Bush, Michael Vick, National Public Radio, Barry Bonds, Plato, and the Eiffel Tower.

Hehe .... how does one sue a momument like the Eiffel Tower ? It not like inate objects have a bank account they pay out from it they lose the case ...

Judge : How does your client plead ?
Lawyer : <looks at Eiffel Tower> Uhmm, your honour, my client takes the 5th.

It sounds to me like Rickie should be in a mental institution rather than prison.

Regards
Syxx

 

[AeroJonesy]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

But a lawyer whom Blizzard pays a lot of money is going to have to spend precious, expensive time drafting and filing the motion to dismiss, and those costs get passed on to you, the innocent consumer of Blizzard's wonderful games.

The motion to dismiss is first year associate work, and it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Even at $200/hr, that's a whopping $100. Given that Blizz is selling millions of game units, I'm thinking you won't see a cent increase from this...

 

[Moosashi]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

The motion to dismiss is first year associate work, and it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Even at $200/hr, that's a whopping $100. Given that Blizz is selling millions of game units, I'm thinking you won't see a cent increase from this...

How many first-year associates does Blizzard employ in house? I'm gonna guess none, but I could be wrong. Also, we should count up the time spent by every element of the legal system that comes into contact with the case in order to count the true cost of this one, minor frivolity.

But more generally, you don't see a cent of increase from any other single task that Blizzard's employees perform. Yet they don't give the games away.

The point is the principle of the thing. It isn't the risk that Blizzard will lose the case that makes what this guy did wrong, but if that's the way it's construed, it looks like no harm no foul. Which, I think, is the wrong way to look at it.

 

[Yaboosh]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Your point was that he is an idiot that did something wrong? Playing it safe these days, aren't ya Moosashi, heh.

 

[Dondrei]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Are legal costs tax deductible?

Might take them 30 minutes but that's not what they'll bill for...

 

[AeroJonesy]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

How many first-year associates does Blizzard employ in house? I'm gonna guess none, but I could be wrong.

If they were in-house, they wouldn't be billing. In-house counsel gets paid a salary, outside counsel bills the company.

Actually, in reviewing the motion, it's nothing Blizz needs to defend in the first place. Those are all things the judge can rule on immediately.

Also, we should count up the time spent by every element of the legal system that comes into contact with the case in order to count the true cost of this one, minor frivolity.

Probably not much at all. It doesn't take long for the judge to bang his gavel. If there was a filing fee associated with this, my guess is the court made money on this one.

The point is the principle of the thing. It isn't the risk that Blizzard will lose the case that makes what this guy did wrong, but if that's the way it's construed, it looks like no harm no foul. Which, I think, is the wrong way to look at it.

People are allowed to file motions with the court. A day when people can't do that is a bad day indeed.

 

[Moosashi]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Your point was that he is an idiot that did something wrong? Playing it safe these days, aren't ya Moosashi, heh.

Yeah yeah yeah. You and Aero win.

 

[WildBerry]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

People are allowed to file motions with the court. A day when people can't do that is a bad day indeed.

I was wondering about that too. For all his defense of liberty, it would sound strange that he would like to try to cut down the frivolous suits, as I thought he deemed it important for all people to have a chance to drive their causes in courts.

 

[Moosashi]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

I was wondering about that too. For all his defense of liberty, it would sound strange that he would like to try to cut down the frivolous suits, as I thought he deemed it important for all people to have a chance to drive their causes in courts.

Um ... no. I don't believe I've ever advocated trying frivolous lawsuits in court on the grounds that it preserves liberty. Frivolous litigation is a threat to liberty and a drain on the economy. The courts have a number of mechanisms for preventing such cases from entering the really expensive stretches of the legal system and I've no doubt that those mechanisms will work just fine in this case. My point was that there is still a cost, and the sentiment that "it's okay because he won't win in trial" misplaces our ire, though I have conceded that I was making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[zodiac66]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

He should have waited until this last patch to sue. He may have had a chance.:nod:

 

[AeroJonesy]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Frivolous litigation is a threat to liberty and a drain on the economy. The courts have a number of mechanisms for preventing such cases from entering the really expensive stretches of the legal system and I've no doubt that those mechanisms will work just fine in this case.

Keep in mind that lawyers can face sanctions for pulling shenanigans like this. So this really bizarre activities are generally limited to the crazy pro se folks. And they are often amusing enough to make up for the minimal costs they place on the system.

 

[WildBerry]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

Um ... no. I don't believe I've ever advocated trying frivolous lawsuits in court on the grounds that it preserves liberty. Frivolous litigation is a threat to liberty and a drain on the economy. The courts have a number of mechanisms for preventing such cases from entering the really expensive stretches of the legal system and I've no doubt that those mechanisms will work just fine in this case. My point was that there is still a cost, and the sentiment that "it's okay because he won't win in trial" misplaces our ire, though I have conceded that I was making a mountain out of a molehill.

The problem with "frivolous" is it it's pretty much arbitrarily decided to be frivolous. Whether a suing is worthy should be decided in the court, even if it means a quick dismissal by the judge as "frivolous", for there indeed have been a lot of cases that were unexpected to be drawn into the court, and in which the claims were considered outrageous by what stood for common sense.

But since it's courts independent of Government that are arbitrarily banning you from a civic right, it isn't so bad, I guess.

 

[Yaboosh]

Re: Blizzard Sued By South Carolina Inmate

But since it's courts independent of Government that are arbitrarily banning you from a civic right, it isn't so bad, I guess.

Hehehe, independent of government. Rrrrrriiiiiiggggghhhhhttttttt.....