A Pa. attorney’s suit over a virtual land deal that cost him real...
A Pa. attorney’s suit over a virtual land deal that cost him real money could be a beacon in cases to come involving online games, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) attorney Jason Schultz told us. The case, playing out in…
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a W. Chester, Pa. small claims court (WID May 9 p3), involves Second Life, a 3-dimensional Web world created by San Francisco-based Linden Lab. The suit seeks $8,000 in damages, in part for breaching a virtual land auction contract and for violating the Pa. Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Second Life players can gamble with U.S. currency, have sex and buy and sell real estate, plaintiff Marc Bragg said. The case is simply a contractual dispute, Schultz said: “The question is what does Second Life really offer you for signing up for this service and how enforceable is that contract?” he said: “The real deal is a question of whether consumer protection laws will trump agreements that you click on when you log on to these services.” As people “try to push the boundaries of these sites” and gaming firms respond by locking out players, many more cases of this nature will crop up, Schultz said: “It’s a question of did you get your money’s worth or did they somehow renege on a promise they made to you?”