Lawsuit Blames Oblivion For Pilot's Seizure

[Rednog]

If this case goes south, expect every time you start a game to see a giant black screen warning you about the potential for seizures.

 

[GonzoGamer]

They should be thanking the developer for this. Games don't cause conditions, they trigger them. How he got past flight screening without his condition being known, I'll never know, but he certainly shouldn't have been flying.

That's what I was thinking. What kind of airplanes was he flying that don't have flashing lights? The 1903 Kitty Hawk model?

That said, I'm not looking forward to yet Another annoying splash screen before I start a Bethesda game but I suppose if that's the Most annoying thing about the next Bethesda game, we're lucky.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

We all know what really happened... he stayed up grinding Restoration for 24 hours straight then had to work the next day.

 

[Bek359]

i don't rememberer strobe lighting effects in oblivion.

Never downloaded the nightclub mod then?

If it's a mod, then it's your own damn fault, not Bethesda's.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

Stupid greedy idiot broke a bone and now tries to sue everyone and anything to make money out of it. The american dream par excellance.

it's entirely possible that the court would rule in his favor simply by virtue of the fact that no one actually reads those warnings

If thats the case your legal system is way more fucked up then i thought.
First step was that every obvious "danger" of every product ever has to be printed on in easy to read letters (caution coffee is hot *rolleyes*) and now they support the dumb idiots still because they just dont read those omnipresent signs? Then why printing them anyway? "I was too fast? sorry i didnt read the sign, not my fault loL" "Killing is illegal? Sorry i didnt read the law durrhurr"

 

[Grey_Focks]

Am I the only one who misinterpreted the article's title, and thought that it was the Oblivion dimension itself that game him a seizure? I personally think that would've made for a more interesting story, but hey, this isn't too shabby either.

But yea, should be thrown out right away, and were there even any flashing lights or strobe effects in Oblivion? Nothing is coming to mind, unless he just stared at his torch for too long.

 

[gigastrike]

"No one reads those" has never been an excuse for laws. Why should it be an excuse for anythnig else?

 

[Norris IV]

Can understand why hes doing it tbh, he has just lost his job and without any other way to get money this is his only option, but he should have asked for compensation not going straight to sueing them

 

[josemlopes]

Yeah, in modern games, the warning is on page 1 of the manual.

I remember that Lucasarts (I think) had the warnings come up on the screen before the game, and you couldn't skip it.

Still, if you know that you are a person that has a such problems you should go look at the manual before starting the game. This is more concerning with movies since I dont think that they have such warnings. But gaming comes from hell and everything about it is bad so...

 

[McMullen]

Game packaging has specifically warned consumers about the danger of seizures as far back as I can remember, and while you'd think that would sink McLaughlin's case by itself, it's entirely possible that the court would rule in his favor simply by virtue of the fact that no one actually reads those warnings.

That is exactly why this case should be dismissed immediately. "Nobody reads those warnings" is not an excuse. The warnings are there (many times being put on your TV screen before you start playing), and it's your own damn fault if you don't read them.

If this case is anything but thrown out ASAP, I am going to have no faith left in the court system.

You mean you currently have some? How did that happen?

OT: I didn't know it was possible to play games since 1989 without becoming aware of the danger of seizures. Considering that pretty much any game can have this potential no matter how carefully designed, and how ubiquitous the warnings are, I think it's simply a "play at your own risk" matter. Sucks that his life has been changed because of it, but to be blunt, his mom and dad are more at fault than LucasArts.

 

[draythefingerless]

They should be thanking the developer for this. Games don't cause conditions, they trigger them. How he got past flight screening without his condition being known, I'll never know, but he certainly shouldn't have been flying.

EXACTLY. if you are prone to this condition, this game just SAVED someone probably.

 

[Tsuki Akechi]

Short answer from my brother: "It's your own damn fault for not reading the manual now get out your case is B.S. and you know it."

He's a lawyer.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, I will say that I'd need to see all the details of the case before I could make a desician on how reasonable this is or not.

There is a common belief that a EULA, TOS agreement, or warning label absolves the maker of a product from all liability in regards to whatever is mentioned. A lot of things factor into it, ranging from whether a warning was visible when money changed hands, to the nature of the warning and the danger being mentioned.

A good example of this would be how when you buy a video game, some of them include pamphlets with a warning saying you should rest 30 minutes for every hour played or
something similar, this being there so if challenged a game company can claim "well your responsible for your own problem due to having ignored the warnings". Contract law is a touchy thing, and the feasibility of such demands, as well as their accessibility, and even how they are written can play into whether such a thing can actually be considered legally binding.

One old joke about video games is that if one was to take some of the more insane usage requirements and warnings seriously, these products would never have been approved for the marketplace. An entertainment product that requires 30 minutes rest for every hour played or something like that would probably be considered dangerous enough if the goverment ever felt that was accurate to require a user liscence, if it wouldn't just flat out be declared a controlled substance. Especially if you start getting into the addiction factor of video games which has been documented for many years now... and I'm sure anyone on this site has sat down to game and lost track of time. Heck, game reviewes present this kind of thing in a positive light when pimping games.

The point being that such arguements could be turned around on the person making them by a lawyer who was attacking from the right direction by asking if they ever made such a danger from usage they were apparently aware of to the goverment before putting this on the market, and things of a similar vein... but that's neither here nor there.

When it comes to Epilepsy, certain levels of light and so on are FAR more likely to cause it than others. As I understand the arguement, the light being put out here probably exceeds what a general "blanket" warning is going to cover. Sort of like how a blanket warning didn't exactly prevent a certain infamous episode of Pokemon being pulled, as it's simply unsafe to put out there even under a warning.

Really, a lot of this comes down to whether that version of Oblivion REALLY puts out that kind of effect. I sure as heck don't remember anything close to what hes saying.

I'll also say that despite many products including blanket warnings on the packaging, I checked both the STEAM store page, and the box of my physical copy of Oblivion (an old Collector's edition) and honestly I see absolutly nothing in the way of an epilepsy warning, although I haven't seen PS-3 packaging. Honestly if there is such a risk, I don't think it's going to take a biased judge to nail Bethesda here because I don't think there was any such warning that was clearly visible before money changed hands for the game.

... but then again, having played the game, I think the guy is full of it, because I honestly don't believe this game could have done that to begin with. I suspect he's groping for a law suit. If there was a problem with this game having a chance to bring on seizures like he's talking about, we probably would have heard about it before now. Things that are serious seizure risks typically wind up leaving behind a reasonably large trail of "carnage". I'm thinking of things like the infamous "killer Pokemon episode" here.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

Game packaging has specifically warned consumers about the danger of seizures as far back as I can remember, and while you'd think that would sink McLaughlin's case by itself, it's entirely possible that the court would rule in his favor simply by virtue of the fact that no one actually reads those warnings.

"Ignorance of the law excuses no man: Not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him."

I know this isn't a law, but it still holds true. The warnings are there, more than once on most occasions. If you choose not to read them, or to read them and disregard them, then it's your own damn fault. Like many people have already stated, if Oblivion of all games triggered a seizure, then he'd go into fits turning on a light in his home.

Also, I'm not very well-versed on medical conditions, but wouldn't the seizure trigger while he was playing the game, not after?

 

[icame]

Game packaging has specifically warned consumers about the danger of seizures as far back as I can remember, and while you'd think that would sink McLaughlin's case by itself, it's entirely possible that the court would rule in his favor simply by virtue of the fact that no one actually reads those warnings.

Since when has ignorance ever been an ecuse for a crime. Wait, what? This is a case against video games? Oh yeah, the navy guy will get his money.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Well maybe he shouldnt have been playing the game in the first place. I'm not going to go out and smoke crack and sue the guy that gave it to me. All because I refused to listen to the dangers of crack.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

We all know what really happened... he stayed up grinding Restoration for 24 hours straight then had to work the next day.

I'd buy that. Why does Restoration level so slowly....
OP: "Didn't read" is NOT an excuse.

 

[Merkavar]

if he gets a seizure from a game i wouldnt want him flying and he should be thanking oblivion for letting him find out he has a problem before he was 10000 feet in the air and possibly saving his life and anyone else that was in his plane.