Class-action lawsuit filed against IGE
by Elizabeth Harper 
May 31st 2007 at 6:16PM
Speaking of lawsuits, Terra Nova is reporting that there's been class-action lawsuit filed in Florida against IGE for... well, I'll let you read for yourself:The case involves IGE's calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft.
The lawsuit seeks both monetary damages and a stop IGE's gold farming activities. (If you just can't get enough legalspeak, you can take a look at the entire text of the lawsuit here, via Terra Nova.) Now, I have to admit that I am not a lawyer and cannot tell you whether this lawsuit has any substance to it. However, I can assure you that over here at WoW Insider we'll be looking for any updates on this -- so we can pass them right on to you.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mats May 31st 2007 6:29PM
I hope they hire some good lawyers, even if this thing is unlawful, I want it to work.
Venkman90 May 31st 2007 6:29PM
Wait, who's sueing them? Blizzard?
Elizabeth Harper May 31st 2007 6:37PM
Blizzard isn't involved in this at all -- it's a class action lawsuit, which means it was filed by individuals. Multiple individuals. I know that's a contradiction, but IANAL and I can't think of a better way to phrase it.
Anyway... it's Warcraft players versus IGE.
Corrodias May 31st 2007 6:44PM
It's a lawsuit under US law filed by a single person on behalf of a larger group of people. In this case, it's on behald of all WoW players who haven't participated in the buying or selling of gold. I am not sure how this goes, but as i recall, if the suit is successful, that is, if the Plaintiff wins the case and money is awarded to the Class, we will be contacted via mail with instructions on how to
1) claim our damages and be ineligible to sue them for the same thing separately
2) opt out and keep our right to sue them separately
3) ignore it, get nothing, and be ineligible to sue them separately.
I've only seen it happen once before, in a case in which Microsoft was forced to pay customers of MS products in the state of wisconsin. I got a nice little packet in the mail about it.
Dracula Jones May 31st 2007 6:48PM
I can't wait for my 1/1000th of a penny!
Anon May 31st 2007 6:58PM
So is IGE like the #1 gold seller or something? Would it really make a dent to take them down?
gruberson May 31st 2007 7:15PM
man that's dumb, leave em be. the world (of warcraft) needs reputable gold vendors because, let's be honest here, some of us can't be bothered to farm gold for hours. the hell with farming, it sucks. i farm 8 hours a day for actual currency. at the office. where i WORK.
wtb 1000g pst
Pingmeister May 31st 2007 7:15PM
If the Gold company loses the lawsuit I hope you don't lose your advertisers here! *
* This is a joke. I know you guys don't pick the advertisers, the network does.
Thallid May 31st 2007 7:22PM
@8.
Buying gold from vendors like IGE defeat the purpose of playing the game. Part of that game is knowing how to manage your money.
If you can't handle farming for money, then find some other way in the game to make money that'll suit your playing style. Perhaps sell enchants or run people through instances. But don't expect that gold to pop out of nowhere. You have to find a way to make it.
aggregate May 31st 2007 7:29PM
I've bought gold, I've farmed gold, and can see it both ways. I don't think this lawsuit will go anywhere either.
Guy May 31st 2007 7:38PM
WoW Insider would be interested in this.
It means a competitor to their sponsors has been shut down.
More money for WoW Insider.
Pingmeister May 31st 2007 7:38PM
I work too hard at my real-world job to hand over my hard-earned cash for Gold in a game.
I'm not sure what is so pressing that someone can't just earn it in-game...
gruberson May 31st 2007 7:54PM
@9
i'm done with playing into the timesink aspects of the mmo genre. it's part of their business plan, and in that respect, i am defeating the purpose of the game.
that's how you "beat" warcraft. you spend your time having fun instead of doing crap that you don't enjoy so you can buy new spells or some pants. whatever. play it how you like. you know?
i don't have to find a way to earn gold. a chinaman already earned it for me. he has that gold, i have dollars. we exchange. bam. what takes WEEKS in-game is done in mere MINUTES sir! i defy you to find fault in such a transaction.
honestly, it's a virtual game world. it's not serious. it's a neon purple and pink playground. who cares about the ethics of gold buying? those who do really takes this technicolor dreamland tooooo seriously.
wtb 2000g pst
Bland May 31st 2007 7:58PM
I've thought about buying gold, but never have. To me it seems I could work for a few hours in RL to make enough money to buy gold in WoW that would have taken me days or weeks to farm.
Baluki May 31st 2007 8:18PM
There's absolutely NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, in this game that requires lots of gold. There are some neat things that cost a lot of gold, like epic flying mounts, but you don't NEED an epic flying mount. A regular flying mount is perfectly adequate, and anyone who's even half competent will have enough money for their flying mount either before or soon after hitting 70.
People who buy gold have a lot of excuses to justify their behavior, but really it just comes down to the fact that they're selfish pricks who don't care that they're wrecking certain aspects of the game for everyone else. How? By driving up auction house prices. It's a simple fact of economics: supply dictates worth. Diamonds are expensive because there's so few of them (well, there are other reasons, but that's beyond the scope of this example). Grass is worthless because there's so much of it.
Let's say you see a l33t sword on the AH. It costs 500g, which you don't have. You buy gold and buy the sword. Now, the swordseller thinks that he can always sell swords for that much, so he does again. And other swordsellers see what he's charging and figure they can sell swords for close to the same amount. And the swordseller takes the gold you spent on his sword and buys himself an even better sword, which he otherwise would've had to wait a while to buy, so effectively demand is going up, and when demand goes up, so do prices.
Meanwhile, the goldfarmers (who work in sweatshops, which is another reason why you shouldn't buy gold, or Nike) are constantly farming more and more gold and pumping it all into the online economy as quickly as they can, and prices just keep going up and up.
To keep up, non-goldbuyers have to work harder and harder to earn the gold they need to buy the overpriced stuff they need from the AH, while you asshole goldbuyers sit there on your fucking epic flying mounts and shrug your shoulders, because who cares? It's only a game. Feh. You don't have the time to waste, so it's ok if you cause everyone else to waste theirs.
I hear Checkers is a game that doesn't require a lot of farming. Maybe you should give that a try instead.
Tom Jun 2nd 2007 10:11PM
Blizzard are just wasting there time here i reckon.
How much are they paying in legal fees too.
What would be much easier for them, and drive IGE out of business. Is if blizzard competed with them. I.E. You can buy gold direct from blizzard.
If people could buy gold at a fair price from Blizzard them selves, without risking being banned or so forth... then the incentive to buy from these gold farming companies is near gone.
Blizzard gets more money... players get the gold they want. IGE goes out of business..... Blizzard? are you reading this?
gruberson May 31st 2007 8:37PM
@BALUKI
lol dude ... so ... wait. let me get this straight -
"There's absolutely NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, in this game that requires lots of gold. There are some neat things that cost a lot of gold, like epic flying mounts, but you don't NEED an epic flying mount."
okay, let's see - nothing requires lots of gold, except the things that DO, but people don't NEED them, so those items are unneccesary. got it. but wait! later that post -
"To keep up, non-goldbuyers have to work harder and harder to earn the gold they need to buy the overpriced stuff they need from the AH."
WAITAMINUTE! no one NEEDS expensive items ... but there are expensive items on the AH that players NEED? dude you wasted your whole argument with the first paragraph.
you can't come up with a legit reason against it can you? just call people assholes! vent your anger! maybe you should yell at your mom instead? she didn't bring you those hot pockets? hahaha GG QQ BBQ ROFLS
wtb 500g + sword pst
Recordx May 31st 2007 8:58PM
World of Warcraft is a sweet game; some parts sweeter than others. The cool aspects and the not so cool aspects can be easily distinguished. Battlegrounds and instances/raids tend to lean to the fun side of the game (although some people take them too seriously) and farming rep/gold is more boring (although some of us do get a kick from blasting some music while mindlessly face-melting some doods for scryers signets and what not.) If we (the working class) only have a small amount of time, we might aswell enjoy the fun parts of the game. To do so, in game gold is required, and some of us just dont have enough time to farm it, so I conclude from a non-legal standpoint its ok. Professional gold farmers do screw up the economy though.
Whatever floats you’re boat
Sindral May 31st 2007 8:57PM
@ gruberson
This game is not for you (you are not prepared!). I'm not saying that you can't play it, you can do whatever the hell you want, but I am saying that you will probably find more enjoyment playing something else that isn't "forcing" you to spend your real-life "gold" that you had to farm because you can't be "bothered" to waste your time playing this game.
Seriously, if you feel that you "have" to buy gold, you should be playing something else. I'm tired of people using the excuse that they "just want to have fun, so it's ok". You obviously don't get this RPG thing. If you want instant wealth, fame, and power play something else. You'll save money that you spent on gold, and most likely the money you (or someone you know) is paying for the subscription. I'm getting sick of people telling me that I'm wasting my time grinding levels and professions to make money, I actually enjoy those things. Am I just QQing? Maybe a little, but it's better than trying to justify shelling out my hard-earned cash on something that doesn't even exist. Virtual gold = virtual wealth. Virtual entertainment = real-life entertainment. Boogey boogey, I WIN. You might argue: "Well my dear Sindral, virtual wealth = virtual entertainment, so meh!". Yeah ok, maybe, but there are tons of other games where you can get that virtual wealth for less real-life wealth. Just my simple opinion.
Oh and Tom, I don't see Blizzard benefiting from selling gold: A. they would have to sell it for less than the farmers, who I'm willing to bet would just drive the price down ever farther. and B. Players having money = less time spent playing the game, which = less money from subscriptions. WoW is a time sink. You know it, I know it, Blizzard knows it, and I'm sure that's how it's going to stay.
Jojo May 31st 2007 8:57PM
Wow, I'm just surprised that these gold buying supporters have the balls to post here.
After all the economic problems you're causing the honest players, no matter what you say, these people are going to hate your guts.
You shouldn't even try to make sense of such a selfish act, it's impossible.