Yesterday afternoon in an unprecedented court hearing, a young boy of fifteen successfully won his lawsuit against Jagex, who run an online RPG game. The teenager claimed the game had effectively wasted two years of his life and rendered him unintelligent and unable to communicate with the outside world.
The boy's lawyer yesterday claimed "The game has an unexplainable attraction that convinces the player they are having fun, despite the fact that all they are doing is performing repetitive tasks to increase their statistics." He continued, "The game is actually a graphical nightmare and its gameplay is simple at best. Yet something, perhaps by subliminal means, forces the player - against his will - to play the game, and to believe that they are having fun."
The jury voted unanimously in the teenager's favour, who will receive five thousand pounds in compensation.
Jagex spokesman, Mr. P Hartnell, said "These claims are both ridiculous and embarassing. Clearly the kid needs to get out more - our games maybe fun but we do not force players to take part." When questioned about the alleged subliminal tactics, Hartnell refused to comment.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, explained why the game had such a devastating effect on life: "You kind of get into a daily routine. You get up, you load up runescape, and you play it. You can't go and do anything else because you want to get your stats up higher than anyone else." He elaborated further: "You end up repetitively increasing your stats every day. You want more, and more. You don't even talk to players on the game you're so involved. You end up entirely withdrawn from the world."
His lawyer told us more about how his life had been devasted by the game. "He never went out from his house except on special occasions, for 3 whole years. He didn't even go to school." When asked how his intelligence had been affected, he replied: "What intelligence?"
The future for Jagex Ltd looks bleak, as many more teenagers are already filing lawsuits against the company.
This is old news and I just thought I would post about it.
