Lawsuit Blames Oblivion For Pilot's Seizure

[Sixcess]

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.

How much did he charge you for that comment?

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

*reads up on grand mal seizure*

Yep, here it says that you're going to get it from low blood sugar or epilepsy.

Now, something strikes me as odd here. I thought you couldn't be a pilot and an epileptic, considering that you kinda don't want your pilot suffering a grand mal seizure on a plane?

Exactly. If anything, we should thank Oblivion for helping to discover this guy's dangerous disability. Better he seized while sitting in his home than while flying a plane full of screaming passengers.

 

[Fenderaxe]

Does this mean I get to sue bread makers because my wife is allergic to wheat? Sure it says on the label that bread contains wheat but who has time to read labels when you have a hankering for bread?

How bout this, if a doctor discovers I have some sort of medical problem that would prohibit me from doing my job, do I get to sue the doctor for finding it?

I don't really see much difference here. Obviously the guy is prone to seizures and the game just happens to be the thing that brought that issue to the surface. If anything he should be thankful he learned about it while playing a video game and not in the pilots chair.

 

[Bags159]

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.

Yeah, that's like saying speeding is okay because nobody really reads the laws of the road.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

i don't rememberer strobe lighting effects in oblivion.

U missed the goblin raves and the disco skeleton? :/ shame

 

[Azaraxzealot]

i don't rememberer strobe lighting effects in oblivion.

yeah, i don't remember Oblivion being a techno dance club either.

the only thing that hurt me physically there was the frustrating and unsatisfying combat that gave me headaches because of how slow and altogether clunky the combat was.

 

[Tsaba]

Snip

Former? Can we see what the military has to say on this matter and can we get documented proof that he was playing oblivion before this happened and the doctors degree on the cause and effects of seizures to without a doubt prove that it was video games behind this and not the fact that he could of been dehydrated and possibly on prescription medication or supplements.

 

[HentMas]

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.

Yeah but nobody wants to be like lucasarts



OT: it's a shame but do they really need to strip him of his flying credentials?

i don´t even know why i´m quoting you i just liked your comment.

i would think that they stripped him of his flying credentials because he has epilepsy, which can be brought forward by ANYTHING, including loud noises and video games.

i have to say thank god his condition came out when he was playing a video game and not when he was flying a plane, in this case i would think they ought to be praising video games for uncovering an underlying illness, not crucified for something watching a movie can manage the same effect.

you are born with epilepsy, you cant get epilepsy, and some people are more prone to be full blown epileptics than others, but as with autism there are a lot of levels of epilepsy, everyone everyone has some kind of it.

 

[CatinHat]

He broke a bone while playing this game? What he do jump out of a window?

 

[Lord Honk]

No. Simply no. If this guy gets reparations for metaphorically sticking a knife in a toaster I will sue tobacco companies because I'm illiterate and didn't know that it was bad for my health.

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.

Well, good thing the video game was there to take the blame before something serious happened =/ Dunno how to wager the lives of a full airplane against a possibly large issue in the gaming industry (imagine "This game may cause severe seizures. A message of the US Public Health Service." on the cover of every game).

 

[Worgen]

if it was a real fps game with assault rifles then I would be more inclined to think there might be something to it since the muzzle flashes in those tend to take up the whole screen but I cant really remember any big screen flashing effects in oblivion, let alone any that happened frequently so in short, eff the guy

 

[manythings]

OT: it's a shame but do they really need to strip him of his flying credentials?

I could be wrong but I think having one seizure greatly increases the chance for future seizures. Either it's just an endemic sign or it's just a case of turning on the tap.

 

[KiraTaureLor]

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.

 

[ryo02]

Can you say: Underlining condition?
This guy's accusations just don't fly with me.

why was a guy prone to seizures flying planes in the first place?

 

[TheEldestScroll]

This guy deserves to have had a seizure and his flying credentials revoked simply because he is making this lawsuit.

Of all the millions of people that have played Oblivion, this is the only guy that has made this kind of complaint. It just goes to show that there will always be one shithead that will shamelessly lay the blame on something even if its their fault, and have the world hear of it.

That my friends, is the epitome of what is wrong with people in this country, and one more reason that we should bring back the stocks.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Here's to hoping it gets thrown out of court, but on the other hand it also needs to come up in court. What if he'd bought a disc-only pre-owned copy and the game didn't have a warning at the start (PC games tend not to, I believe)? It's a case to watch at any rate.

If the game supplier didn't supply the relevant information that the publisher DID, he should be going after them.

However we all know that this is plain silly, seizure warnings have been on games forever and I hope the judge isn't swayed.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

its good that they found out his brain was defective before he destroyed millions dollars in taxpayer funded navy equipment

the navy should force all potential pilots to play "give you a seizure" games to weed out of the defects, I'm surprised they don't

 

[The Globalizer]

I'm a lawyer. Unless the warning was absolutely buried to the point of being unfindable, or long/convoluted to the point of effectively forcing people to bypass it, it's unlikely a judge would ignore the existence of a warning.

This ain't grandma at McDonald's.

 

[Wicky_42]

I've known that there's a seizure risk from games as far back as I've played them - you'd think someone smart enough to fly would know that too.

Honestly this just sounds like a cash-grab by a guy who's sour about life. Epic fail. Now, if there was a rash of similar complaints from a broad range of people then I might wonder if the game had been poorly designed and was causing unexpected seizures in people not normally susceptible, and that could well make the developer liable, but not one bloke. Fail.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Too bad for Sony he didn't play it on Xbox or PC. With all the nosy hate goings on nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if the judge ruled in his favor.