LOVE SC and Diablo....fething hate Blizzard....

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**IG_urban**

Like they need any more money...

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/blizzard-wins-88-million-suit-against-world-of-warcraft-private-server-owner/

Blizzard Entertainment, responsible for the hugely popular World of Warcraft MMORPG, has won a default judgment against the operator of a private server used to run World of Warcraft.

Alyson Reeves, operator of Scapegaming, has been ordered to pay $88 million to Blizzard Entertainment, who accused Reeves of copyright infringement, unfair competition and circumvention of copyright protection systems as well as other allegations. Blizzard filed the suit last October, citing that Reeves was “well aware” that the actions that Scapegaming performed were unauthorized.

Blizzard was able to satisfactorily provide evidence that showed Scapegaming hosted 32,000 users on a given day in June 2008. That same month, there were over 427,000 members of the Scapegaming community. Blizzard was even able to find Reeves’ own statements saying that 40,000 people play on Scapegaming’s servers every day.

A total of $3,052,339 in gross revenues was also uncovered by Blizzard, who “submitted satisfactory evidence from the third-party PayPal Inc.,” stated the judge’s order.

Scapegaming, operated by Reeves, allowed users to access World of Warcraft without using official Blizzard servers, thereby circumventing subscription fees. The total award took into account the number of active users within the Scapegaming community. A U.S. District court judge took the size of the community, 427,000 users, and multiplied that figure by $200 “per act of circumvention.” The award totaled over $3 million in disgorged profits, $85.4 million in statutory damages and $64,000 in attorney fees.

Reeves did not respond to the suit, resulting in a default judgment for Blizzard.

I agree she was acting unlawfully....AND she did not respond...but 88MIL?!

also....I think WoW should be destroyed.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
now that I think about it...possibly this should have been in the Vidjya Games forum...

I am ashamed...

-_____-

**reds8n**

shazam

..88 million ! Ouch.

**Cheese Elemental**

I agree. 88mil is simply ridiculous, and there's no way she can pay that off.

This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.

**IG_urban**

thanks, red.

Cheese Elemental wrote:I agree. 88mil is simply ridiculous, and there's no way she can pay that off.

This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.

exactly.

**Mr Mystery**

And yet she remains a rip off artist, no doubt making money out of their hard work.

I don't have a lot sympathy for her like. $88,000,000 is a lot of dough though.

Anyone know what happens when you can't pay such a levy? Pris? Bankruptcy?

**SagesStone**

Isn't the usual case all your possessions are liquidated and you're imprisoned?

**Cheese Elemental**

Mr Mystery wrote:And yet she remains a rip off artist, no doubt making money out of their hard work.

I don't have a lot sympathy for her like. $88,000,000 is a lot of dough though.

Anyone know what happens when you can't pay such a levy? Pris? Bankruptcy?

Oh, of course she deserved to be punished for breaking the law, but 88mil is obscene.

**RustyKnight**

Eighty-eight million is a bit high, but it may not be that far from the actual losses that Blizzard could have sustained due to Scapegaming's antics.

Cheese wrote:This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.

No, this is what happens when you violate copyright law and fail to attend the court hearings. Why are you demonizing the victim?

IG Urban wrote:I think WoW should be destroyed.

Why? What is WoW doing that is different from any other video/computer game? Hell, what is it doing that is truly different from what GW does?

**Sanctjud**

WoW has dancing Night Elves...that's why it should be destroyed. That dance is only reserved for Alizee!!
__________________

Wow,, 88 mil...I agree with Reds8n, SHAZAM!

**Cheese Elemental**

RustyKnight wrote:

Cheese wrote:This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.
No, this is what happens when you violate copyright law and fail to attend the court hearings. Why are you demonizing the victim?

Sorry if I came across that way. I just feel it's somewhat unfair on her. Piracy is a major problem with gaming and needs to be stopped, but this could ruin her entire life.

**Ifalna**

She should have taken it a tad more seriously then.

Perhaps had she turned up for her hearings, it would have been a lesser fee :S

No point pitying people who bring their woes on themselves, and that seems to be exactly what happened here.

The first bad idea was making 3 mill (?) profit in microtransactions off something she new was illegal, but that was thrown out the window by the sheer stupidity of ignoring court summons involving a monster like Activision-Blizzard.

**SilverMK2**

To be fair though, she has probably already gone to live on a tropical island somewhere

**Spyder68**

The person got what they deserved.

1: Running an illegal server stealing from a company.

2: Made over 3 mil doing it

3: Ignored Blizzard and the lawsuit.

Im sure they could have worked something out for a smaller amount.. say the profit they made and the server shut down..

But of course.. was this persons choice to ignore it.

**KingCracker**

Mr Mystery wrote:And yet she remains a rip off artist, no doubt making money out of their hard work.

I don't have a lot sympathy for her like. $88,000,000 is a lot of dough though.

Anyone know what happens when you can't pay such a levy? Pris? Bankruptcy?

Wow, for once I completely agree with what you just said. I feel no sympathy for her, or anyone else like her either. People want to ALWAYS make the big corporation the bad guy in these, but lets be realistic for a change, SHE BROKE THE LAW! Not only that, but willingly did it, knowing it was illegal. I agree, the $88 million is some serious math mess up, but she gets what she deserved. And I agree though, I bet she didnt show up for court, because she skipped town with all the money she made

**ShivanAngel**

She broke the law, stole someones ideas and attempted to profit off of them...

She got what she deserved.

88 million is harsh, blizzard probably doesnt need the money, but she needed to be punished. Tired of the lax legal system letting people get off with just a slap on the wrist.

**ShumaGorath**

88 mil is a lot, they should try to appeal it down, however it's what they deserve by the letter of the law. It doesn't make blizzard greedy or evil for enforcing it's rights under copyright laws on such a serious offender. This isn't one shell server with 20 people, this had tens of thousands and was making a profit.

**BrookM**

This is all about setting an example and issuing a warning. Okay, 88 million is a bit over the top, but at least it grabs the attention of the people.

**Arctik_Firangi**

I don't see how the service she provided to people who didn't want to pay Blizzard money can directly translate to an equivalent loss for the company.
They can't possibly have proven that any or all of these people would have paid for a normal subscription if the service had not been available.

**ShivanAngel**

Arctik_Firangi wrote:I don't see how the service she provided to people who didn't want to pay Blizzard money can directly translate to an equivalent loss for the company.
They can't possibly have proven that any or all of these people would have paid for a normal subscription if the service had not been available.

It doesnt matter.

They charge 14.99 a month for a subscription.

She was potentially taking (s)14.99 a month from them. Whether or not the actually subscribed is irrelevant.

She broke copyright law, and got punished. Good for Blizzard.

**Ruckdog**

Scapegaming, operated by Reeves, allowed users to access World of Warcraft without using official Blizzard servers, thereby circumventing subscription fees. The total award took into account the number of active users within the Scapegaming community. A U.S. District court judge took the size of the community, 427,000 users, and multiplied that figure by $200 “per act of circumvention.” The award totaled over $3 million in disgorged profits, $85.4 million in statutory damages and $64,000 in attorney fees.

Reeves did not respond to the suit, resulting in a default judgment for Blizzard.

If I read that right, Blizzard had nothing to do with the size of the judgement. That was entirely decided by the judge in the case (if I'm wrong, please correct me). Hence, I don't think people should be blaming Blizzard for the 88 million figure; if you are angry at that, blame the judicial system. I also can't blame them for bringing the suit in the first place; if they don't defend against this sort of thing, it would undermine their buisness model.

**Platuan4th**

Ruckdog wrote:
Scapegaming, operated by Reeves, allowed users to access World of Warcraft without using official Blizzard servers, thereby circumventing subscription fees. The total award took into account the number of active users within the Scapegaming community. A U.S. District court judge took the size of the community, 427,000 users, and multiplied that figure by $200 “per act of circumvention.” The award totaled over $3 million in disgorged profits, $85.4 million in statutory damages and $64,000 in attorney fees.

Reeves did not respond to the suit, resulting in a default judgment for Blizzard.

If I read that right, Blizzard had nothing to do with the size of the judgement. That was entirely decided by the judge in the case (if I'm wrong, please correct me). Hence, I don't think people should be blaming Blizzard for the 88 million figure; if you are angry at that, blame the judicial system. I also can't blame them for bringing the suit in the first place; if they don't defend against this sort of thing, it would undermine their buisness model.

This.

I wouldn't be surprised if the judge also awarded that much partially as punishment for not showing up. You do NOT want to piss off the judge in your case, ever.

**Cane**

Sorry going to have to side with the blood sucking lawyers on this one as opposed to the black market video game gak. It seems likely that Blizzard probably asked them to stop way before taking this to court so thats even less sympathy for the perpetrators. I don't see why you'd want to plunge into a losing legal battle with one of the biggest video game companies - seems like a LEEEEROOOY JEEENNKIINNS kind of move.

**Infreak**

Arctik_Firangi wrote:I don't see how the service she provided to people who didn't want to pay Blizzard money can directly translate to an equivalent loss for the company.
They can't possibly have proven that any or all of these people would have paid for a normal subscription if the service had not been available.

The fact that they are playing this game means that they want play WoW. That in turn translates into a real figure when it comes to lost revenue. Its not a matter of would or could they pay Blizzard to play, but did they pay Blizzard as they should be doing. I don't see anything wrong with Blizzard protecting their intellectual property as well as their profit.

I do agree that 88 million is a pretty big price tag.

**LunaHound**

Cheese Elemental wrote:
RustyKnight wrote:

Cheese wrote:This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.
No, this is what happens when you violate copyright law and fail to attend the court hearings. Why are you demonizing the victim?

Sorry if I came across that way. I just feel it's somewhat unfair on her. Piracy is a major problem with gaming and needs to be stopped, but this could ruin her entire life.

ahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Then people should have given it a tiiiiiiiiiny bit more thought and consideration before breaking the law right?

**Cane**

I wonder if the judge plays a Paladin in WoW - those guys love to pass judgments

**Ifalna**

Cane wrote:I wonder if the judge plays a Paladin in WoW - those guys love to pass judgments

Badum dum tish!

**ShivanAngel**

LunaHound wrote:
Cheese Elemental wrote:
RustyKnight wrote:

Cheese wrote:This is what happens when game devs become about profit, not fun. Greedy bastards.
No, this is what happens when you violate copyright law and fail to attend the court hearings. Why are you demonizing the victim?

Sorry if I came across that way. I just feel it's somewhat unfair on her. Piracy is a major problem with gaming and needs to be stopped, but this could ruin her entire life.

ahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Then people should have given it a tiiiiiiiiiny bit more thought and consideration before breaking the law right?

Exactly she broke the law. She deserves to be punished, if it ruins her life tough, she knew there would be consequences if she got caught.

**BrookM**

I recall reading somewhere else that microtransactions were also involved.

Ah, from the Escapist:

Don't mess with Blizzard, ever. Don't even entertain the idea. If you do, you could end up like private server company Scapegaming, which was running at least one private World of Warcraft server and has ended up being charged $88 million for it.

Private servers are unofficial portals through which to play MMOGs. Sometimes they're free, sometimes they're not, but they're just about always illegal when running a retail product. Scapegaming's World of Warcraft private server was reportedly using a microtransaction model that would allow players to purchase items.

Blizzard didn't like this very much, so it sued Scapegaming, aka Alyson Reeves. A judge laid down final judgment in the lawsuit last week, awarding Blizzard $88,594,539. Wow is right.

**IG_urban**

I trust that the people "siding" with the courts and Blizzard have NEVER. EVER. Downloaded a single song, movie, game, or file, without paying for it, right?

**LunaHound**

IG_urban wrote:I trust that the people "siding" with the courts and Blizzard have NEVER. EVER. Downloaded a single song, movie, game, or file, without paying for it, right?

Its not about siding , i can care less about Blizzard , nor do i know the accused.
And if for every wrong we have ever done = we cant judge others , than justice will be none existing.