Blizzard Sues Private Server Company, Awarded $88M

[Cy-Kill]

Taken from Slashdot:

A private server company, Scapegaming (aka Alyson Reeves), was ordered to pay Blizzard Entertainment over $88 million in damages after losing a lawsuit that was concluded last week. Scapegaming was operating unauthorized World of Warcraft servers and using a micropayment system to collect money from the servers' user base, which according to the lawsuit amounted to just over $3 million. $85 million of that settlement was for statutory damages, and surprisingly only $63,000 in attorney's fees.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...ny-Awarded-88M

Here's a link to the summary of the lawsuit:

http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?ID=51340

[SeeMeTrollin]

Dumbass shoulda closed the pserver while he still had the chance.

[SnOwBunZz]

He probably would've walked away with a severe warning if he didn't have a cash shop.

[Thas]

Dumbass shoulda closed the pserver while he still had the chance.

Indeed. Kinda idiotic to go against a company like Blizzard in the court ;o

[hobolord]

Holy crap...that server o.o.

[gloomba38]

using a micropayment system to collect money from the servers' user base,

Bad Scapegaming, bad!

I wonder if I ever played on that server...

[SnOwBunZz]

wonder if I ever played on that server...

I know I did...

only to ragequit 10mins later due to terrible latency.

[thesimp]

1 thing
2 say

that guy got ****ed

and he should suicide

[Avarance]

[gloomba38]

I know I did...

only to ragequit 10mins later due to terrible latency.

So the same as every single other private server then?

Actually there used to be a 24/7 Alterac Valley PVP server, all you did was PvP and get rewards from kills that bought your EQ. I had more fun on that than I've had on legit WoW servers, my boomkin rocked face.

[Cy-Kill]

Why post that, look at the date, it was almost a year ago.

[IronyTaken]

Sucks for them.

But I know they will never be able to pay for that.
This was just a way to scare other private servers from doing the same.

[Bryan]

88 million dollars... mmph, I feel sick.

[ControlKill]

Why were they sued for 88 million? theres no way in hell they would be able to pay that.

[Avarance]

Why post that, look at the date, it was almost a year ago.

Ignore the title, the video is pretty appropriate

[sinnful]

Why were they sued for 88 million? theres no way in hell they would be able to pay that.

Because they can? This is pure win/win for Blizzard. They make a profit with the 88million (even if only a little part is paid) and they shut down an idiot running a private server. Oh and to clarify the idiot part, I hate private servers. In the long run they hurt any game because they suck off players that otherwise would maybe play on the legit server or you have idiots coming off a private server onto the legit server that think they know how to play.

Private servers can burn in the darkest place of hell, even for grindy games like Aion and Lineage 2.

[Alivada]

Real WoW is best WoW anyway.

Private servers are just erggggghhhh.

[Holypancake]

but doesnt every private server have a donation system or something like that?

[SnOwBunZz]

but doesnt every private server have a donation system or something like that?

Most only have a donation system, not a whole shop selling gear, reputation and whatnot.

[matey]

Well,this started a year ago,she was raking in a lot of money

[Orpheus]

I would rather not play a game than try a pserver, those things are pig disgusting, not because they are illegal/immoral but because the people behind them just plain suck.

[IronyTaken]

Because they can? This is pure win/win for Blizzard. They make a profit with the 88million (even if only a little part is paid) and they shut down an idiot running a private server. Oh and to clarify the idiot part, I hate private servers. In the long run they hurt any game because they suck off players that otherwise would maybe play on the legit server or you have idiots coming off a private server onto the legit server that think they know how to play.

Private servers can burn in the darkest place of hell, even for grindy games like Aion and Lineage 2.

This is like arguing piracy, oh and you are wrong.

[matey]

Private servers suck but some are usually made to get away from something,such as the P2P games or the grind of the F2P ones

[sinnful]

This is like arguing piracy, oh and you are wrong.

No I am not wrong, private servers are pathetically stupid. But then again this will turn into some ******ed philosophical debate like everything does on this forum.

[IronyTaken]

No I am not wrong, private servers are pathetically stupid. But then again this will turn into some ******ed philosophical debate like everything does on this forum so piss off.

No it is like the lame argument on piracy because it does not affect sales or subbing to any of the large extent that people proclaim.

People who play the free private servers would most likely not touch the legit servers even if there was no private server.

Same with people who pirate a game would most likely not buy it even if there was no way to pirate it.

Private game servers may not have been around since the 1980s like piracy but it has been around for quite some time and it doesn't seem to affect the mmo companies anyway.

Most of those lame companies try to count those piracies or private servers as loss of profit which is idiotic.