Blizzard Squeezes $88 Million From Private Server Owner

[Tom Goldman]

Blizzard Squeezes $88 Million From Private Server Owner

Private World of Warcraft server owners may want to stop their illegal operations. Yesterday.

Don't mess with Blizzard, ever. Don't even entertain the idea. If you do, you could end up like private server company Scapegaming, which was running at least one private World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B000H96C9M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1281909616&sr=8-2] server and has ended up being charged $88 million for it.

Private servers are unofficial portals through which to play MMOGs. Sometimes they're free, sometimes they're not, but they're just about always illegal when running a retail product. Scapegaming's World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B002I0HKIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1281909616&sr=8-1] private server was reportedly using a microtransaction model that would allow players to purchase items.

Blizzard didn't like this very much, so it sued Scapegaming, aka Alyson Reeves. A judge laid down final judgment in the lawsuit [http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?ID=51340] last week, awarding Blizzard $88,594,539. Wow is right.

That's $3,052,339 in "disgorged profits", $85,478,600 in statutory damages, and a mere $63,600 in attorney's fees. The attorney's fees seem paltry next to the $85 million in statutory damages, anyway. To make matters worse, she also has to pay interest "at the rate provided by law until paid in full." Reeves may appeal the amount, but she's not going to get off easy no matter what she does.

It's hard enough to pay off a $10,000 car loan, so I can't imagine what it'd be like to have an $88 million dollar debt on your head. If Blizzard wanted to make an example out of Reeves for other private server owners, it's done that quite well. When it comes to copyright infringement and Blizzard, you don't want to be on the giant's radar. It will shut you down, crush your soul, crush your soul shards, and then sprinkle them on Bobby Kotick's ice cream cone.

Source: Wow.com [http://www.wow.com/2010/08/14/private-server-company-forced-to-pay-blizzard-88-million/]

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[SomeBritishDude]

Well holy shit. Now that is harsh.

 

[samsonguy920]

Wow, indeed. This person, knowing quite well running a private server was a no-no to begin with, also piles on the burden with microtransactions? She is lucky Blizzard didn't press criminal charges for fraud and extortion.
Oh she will appeal, but if successful it will only trim down the penalty a little bit. Face it lady, you are stuck with debt for life.

 

[Darktau]

Slightly very harsh >.<. Very good example. Feel sorry for her though, that is one large debt.

 

[UnravThreads]

Whilst that's an incredibly harsh verdict, and perhaps a bit extreme in terms of the award, I have to agree with what Blizzard have done. At the end of the day, they have every right to protect their product, especially whilst it's still running.

 

[gmacarthur81]

Her best bet would be to not appeal and file Bankruptcy. Let the Bankruptcy Court fight it out with Blizzard.

 

[Agayek]

This whole lawsuit seems aggressively unnecessary. One would think they could just issue a C&D and call it a day, instead of ruining someone's entire financial future over a, to be frank, irrelevant issue.

 

[Erick.S]

Looks like someone's going to be spending many hours raiding for gold now

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Couldn't they at least have sent her a cease and desist letter? Well, maybe they did, but still- WoW!

 

[SnipErlite]

0__O Holy balls. As though they needed the money...why did they have to be dicks? What happened to "stop doing that right now or we'll take all your money. And then some"

No word of warning?

 

[Kialee]

This whole lawsuit seems aggressively unnecessary. One would think they could just issue a C&D and call it a day, instead of ruining someone's entire financial future over a, to be frank, irrelevant issue.

Actually, if I remember correctly, they DID issue a cease and desist to at least one private server that was very well-known, as well as several others. Unless I'm in the wrong (which I may be) Scapegaming was issued one of these orders.
No matter what happened, though, it was going to happen eventually. The profits he took in from Blizzard's property is just insane.

I don't even really LIKE World of Warcraft, and Blizzard did the right thing, but eighty eight million dollars? I'd like to see what happy fantasy land they live in where they were actually deprived of that much money due to one server/set of servers. The three million in "disgorged profits" seems much more reasonable.

 

[Blue Musician]

Now this is harsh. Sure, private servers are illegal, but taking in consideration that WoW has 11.5 million people playing it on the official servers, I wonder why they are starting to attack private servers.

 

[technoted]

That'll teach her for hosting a server with a crappy economy, I can't stand private servers.

 

[mad825]

ouch, do I now have the right to play this:
in Blizzard's presents?

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

they already have enough money to buy saturn and all of its moons why did they do it

 

[MaVeN1337]

As if they didn't have enough fucking money already.
Corporate greed makes me want to punch someone in the face.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

I don't really think it's that unfair. It's like how they used to cut off your hand for robbery. It's not about proportionate punishment, it's stopping anyone else from even thinking about committing the crime.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

Do you know how long was she running this, how many players and how much money she made?

Depending on the amounts, this could be either be justified or overkill.

 

[Kurokami]

0__O Holy balls. As though they needed the money...why did they have to be dicks? What happened to "stop doing that right now or we'll take all your money. And then some"

No word of warning?

Like others have said, they're sending a message. Personally I'd rather end up in jail for three years instead of having that debt but they did have the right to do that.

I hope she made some money off the players on her server.