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Players' War Against Online Games They Use
The world of free online video games is a big business, including for some law firms. The Edelson firm in Chicago so far this year has sued the makers of the “massively multiplayer” Game of War: Fire Age and Castle Clash as well as the companies that run social casino games Big Fish Casino, Slotomania and Double Down Casino.
The games derive much of their revenue from a tiny sliver of users who pay real-world money for virtual currency to hasten their advancement or refill their pretend coffers. Plaintiffs in the string of suits claim that the games run afoul of various states' laws by running thinly veiled gambling enterprises.
A federal judge in Baltimore recently became the first jurist to weigh in on one of the suits by emphatically rejecting claims against Palo Alto, CA-based Machine Zone Inc., the maker of Game of War , over its operation of a virtual casino within the game. Among other shortcomings, U.S. District Judge James Bredar found that a player's losses in the virtual currency can't support legal claims under California's Unfair Competition Law and other statutes. Mason v. Machine Zone Inc., 15-1107 (D.Md. 2015). “Perceived unfairness in the operation and outcome of a game, where there are no real-world losses, harms, or injuries, does not and cannot give rise to the award of a private monetary remedy by a real-world court,” District Judge Bredar wrote.
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