Galaxies Players Headed Towards Dark Side With Lawsuit

[vansau]

Galaxies Players Headed Towards Dark Side With Lawsuit

A bunch of Star Wars: Galaxies players want to sue Sony Online for planning to shut the game down. Honestly, who didn't see this coming?

The news that Sony Online is planning to shut down Star Wars: Galaxies wasn't exactly surprising, but it hasn't gone over well with the game's community, either. In fact, some players are so upset that there's apparently going to be a class-action lawsuit filed by at least fifty players against the game's publisher.

VentureBeat has revealed that a number of players have contacted the site and stated that they plan to file a class-action lawsuit against the company for shutting the game down. The lawsuit alleges that SOE has been locking forum petitions again'st the game shutdown and banning players for trying to spread the petitions. This is because:

The company has said that promoting an online petition "causes disruption within the community" and does not provide gameplay-related feedback that its development team can use. One player said that SOE pegged him as a "ring leader" in the protests and threatened to permanently ban him from its games and file criminal charges against him for trying to cause "unlawful harm to the company." That last charge is a pretty bold one by anyone's standards.

As VentureBeat has explained, SOE is completely within its rights to a) shut down the game, b) lock down any forum thread and c) ban any player it damn well feels like when they've violated any term of its end-user license agreement.

Source: VentureBeat via <a href=http://www.gamepolitics.com/2011/06/29/report-star-wars-galaxies-players-plan-class-action-lawsuit>GamePolitics

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[Ralphfromdk]

Not really anything to do about, except go play another game... How about the new StarWars MMO?

Also, I'll bet that somewhere in that mile long Terms of agreement thing, there's a part that says "we can shut down the servers any time we want when we ain't making more money of it"

Captcha: Was Rollyin

 

[intheweeds]

So essentially they are using litigation as extortion? That's pretty low in my opinion and makes a mockery of the legal system. I hope they lose and there that there are some kind of consequences.

 

[tehroc]

It all comes down to the licensing of the Star Wars IP. SOE contract with Lucasarts expires this year. If Lucasarts decides they want all their eggs in one basket (soon-to-be SWTOR), then that is just the way it is and there is nothing any petition can do about it.

 

[shadowmagus]

Nothing is going to happen. As the article says, SOE is well within it's rights to do pretty much anything they want to their game on their forums. I'm not condoning it, but since they are shutting it down and pissing everyone off anyway, I doubt they really care about customer service anymore.

 

[rsvp42]

Now it's getting sad. It had eight whole years guys, just let it go quietly into the night...

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Now, as much as I think this lawsuit is complete BS-

Sony's video game departments seem to manage to get themselves sued an awful lot. Not even Activision, the posterchild for having a bad relationship with gamers, gets sued by gamers like this.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Wow, two threads

Well, I'll say here what I said before


I bet you anything that in the ToU or EULA there is something that says "We can shut down the game for any reason whatsoever, and you agree to this". They disclaim everything in those. I doubt they would have left such a gaping hole

This will go nowhere. Sorry, but please, let this game die in peace. I know you are upset, but there is nothing you can do.

Plus, it's their forums. Free speach on the internet means you can say/do whatever you please on your OWN website.

In short: Get over yourselves.

 

[CJ1145]

I'm a little surprised everyone's on Sony's side here. Granted I don't know if the lawsuit is the right way to go, but banning people just for making petitions asking to keep the game running makes it sound like Sony's being a grade-A dick to paying customers, and some form of compensation should be made.

At the very least allow an officially sanctioned emulator.

 

[Keith K]

Sue Sony? How original.

 

[cerebus23]

Plus i doubt a class action lawsuit of 50 people will impress any judge or jury much, nm that is is a video game not the cure for cancer.

And what else can they claim anyway if sony is not making money off it they are not making money, add to the fact that a new star wars mmo is due out soon, did swg even have a chance to keep going?

Sony could toss people a bone tho, like release the games source code and etc so people could run their own servers if they wanted, few belly up mmos have done this to appease fans, and sony could use some decent pr about now not just more bad.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Boy, people do have a hard time letting go of bad games do they?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

We've analyzed their attack, sir, and there is a danger. Should I have your ship standing by?
Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

How about the new StarWars MMO?

Yeah, how about one that is ballenced, and FUN.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Sony could toss people a bone tho, like release the games source code and etc so people could run their own servers if they wanted, few belly up mmos have done this to appease fans, and sony could use some decent pr about now not just more bad.

I don't think that legaly, they CAN do that. If I'm not mistaken, the liscense is ending, so there's really nothing that they can do.

Boy, people do have a hard time letting go of bad games do they?

I think it is because that after the game ends, they have to think about all that time and effort they put into it. And for what? Nothing, really. That's a hard thing for most people to deal with.

 

[evilneko]

^^^^ You forgot to trill the r's.

 

[sunburst]

They have no right to sue SOE over this. But SOE are being huge dicks and the proper response is to never play any of their games ever again.

 

[Jonny49]

I thought Star Wars Galaxies died years ago because it was a piece of shit.

Apparently I was misinformed...about it being dead that is.

 

[RedLister]

Isn't it in the EULA or on back of game boxes saying that companies can dismiss online services at any time they feel like it? Or is it diffirent for an MMO?

Although banning people for sharing there thoughts about the game being shut down is quite a slap in the face, especially considering these players have been paying a monthly fee.