Parents to Sue Blizzard

[fitbabits]

Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net) has the details (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61751).

The parents of a 13 year-old boy who died falling from a building are suing World of Warcraft developer Blizzard, claiming that the massively-multiplayer online game is to blame for their son's death.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, the parents, who reside in the city of Tianjin, claim the boy jumped to his death whilst re-enacting a scene from the game. They are supported by Zhang Chunliang, a well-known activist whose campaign seeks to highlight the dangers of Internet addiction.
True story - my older brother once jumped out of our upstairs window with a sheet draped over his shouders thinking he was Superman. One trip to the ER and a broken nose later, he realized he's not. Is there still time for my mother to sue the estates of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel?

Staff Note - Thanks to LilEvilFish for a similar submission.

[MasterEvilAce]

Eurogamer link goes to eurogamer.com, where as the details (correct site) points to eurogamer.net

PS: Blizzard is evil.

[fitbabits]

Eurogamer link goes to eurogamer.com, where as the details (correct site) points to eurogamer.net

PS: Blizzard is evil.
Thanks - fixed it.

[LilEvilFish]

I just submitted this from gamesindustry.biz, do you sleep?

interesting tho, i don't think it would hold up in court somehow

[fitbabits]

I just submitted this from gamesindustry.biz, do you sleep?

I've been known to... :)

[Derella]

I wish my parents had been smart enough to find someone to sue everytime I did something stupid when I was a kid.

[swiftdraw]

interesting tho, i don't think it would hold up in court somehow

You'd be surprised with the cases some people win... Anyone want to put up some odds for these people successfully suing Blizzard?

[Savok]

Natural selection at work gentleman.

[Taco]

I'm going to sue Sony for my high school grades.

[KamaItachi]

I wouldn't be surprised if this won, the Chinese government has been notoriously anti-gaming for the past few years now. Outlawing pvp games (or trying to) funded centres to help people deal with MMORPG addiction. It wouldn't surprise me if aside from this lawyer fella some big name politicians got behind this suit to boost their image/show solidarity.

[51|RandoM]

You'd be surprised with the cases some people win... Anyone want to put up some odds for these people successfully suing Blizzard?

That is the sad part. People don't have to win in court. Court costs can get so crazy for a corporate defendant that they just settle out of court for some lesser amount of money.

At one point, NYC was automatically doing that for each and every sidewalk injury suit. There was a flat offer set and they were offering it to anybody who filed suit and had their documentation in order. I worked on a computer system to specifically address this problem situation.

Kind of sad to see idiots procreate and then blame the results on a videogame instead of their history in the shallow end of the gene pool.

[LilEvilFish]

You'd be surprised with the cases some people win... Anyone want to put up some odds for these people successfully suing Blizzard?
I think with the money blizzard have probably garnered from WoW, they'll just pay it off to silence the critics.

[divinechaos]

What about the little girl/boy that drowned tryin to find Spongbob? Did his/her parents sue Nickelodeon?

[NoName]

What about the little girl/boy that drowned tryin to find Spongbob? Did his/her parents sue Nickelodeon?
Just goes to show that any fantasy creations are harmful for the children. We should all just living in a colorless world and not be allowed to think creatively except in certain boundries. Then at a certain age we should be assigned the job we shall do for the rest of our lives.

Ahh, what a good book that was o.0.

[Atorak]

Natural selection at work gentleman.

The 5 best words I've read in a long time.

[fitbabits]

What about the little girl/boy that drowned tryin to find Spongbob? Did his/her parents sue Nickelodeon?
Damn, that breaks my heart... :(

[Roc Ingersol]

the boy jumped to his death whilst re-enacting a scene from the game
What scene was that? Seriously, I'm calling bullshit.
There are maybe two necessary jumps in the whole game.

And once we're just talking about something this particular game allows you to do... well we might as well sue every game with a jump button.

[MagicAlex]

Most likely he was commiting suicide. After all, one can only make so many corpse runs.

[Thenetcase]

Hmm... when my best friend burned down part of the woods behind her house, her folks could have retired rich if they had only KNOWN they could sue the match and gasoline companies. :( :sad:

Seriously though... this is stupid. In WOW, if you jump off a high point you die. I don't know what scene they are referring to though, so maybe I'm wrong.

-TNC-

[Thenetcase]

What about the little girl/boy that drowned tryin to find Spongbob? Did his/her parents sue Nickelodeon?

I wonder if this all boils down to bad parenting?
The question is: Does it ever occur to parents to tell their kids that there is a difference between what's real and what's not? Most kids would understand the explanation, and if your kid was too stupid to understand, then you shouldn't let them watch TV.

-TNC-

[Voodoo]

The 5 best words I've read in a long time.

Damn right.

[Citizen Philip]

*Overworked parents come home from work*
"Our boy is dead?! What happened!?"

...

"..."

"It must be the game he played all the time, instead of eatting his vegtables and doing homework!"

"YEAH!"

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

As for the "scene" all I can think of is jumping off the Mountains in Feralas... but I guess the n00b couldnt cast slowfall or use a potion or buy a parachute...

[Chimpbot]

As for the "scene" all I can think of is jumping off the Mountains in Feralas... but I guess the n00b couldnt cast slowfall or use a potion or buy a parachute...

There's also a quest in...Thousand Needles(maybe) that involves a leap of faith off of a high precipice. When you seemingly jump to your death, the quest-giver teleports you back to him. It's always funny when the quest bugs out and you don't get teleported in time. It happened to a friend I was running around with. I, however, successfully survived. Maybe his faith was lacking...

Regardless, the kid's actions are ultimatly a result of bad parenting, not World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, stupidity and ignorance knows now boundaries...and apparently the addiction to lawsuits also lacks the same boundaries.
I'd love to see a parent openly admit that the actions of their child, be it suicide or "video game-induced murder" was actually the result of bad parenting. For once, I wish there was one parent that had the balls to admit that it was their fault their kid fucked up.
Of course, there's a high chance that most people wouldn't believe the parents and sue somebody on their behalf. Or something as equally retarded.

[Savok]

There's also a quest in...Thousand Needles(maybe) that involves a leap of faith off of a high precipice. When you seemingly jump to your death, the quest-giver teleports you back to him. It's always funny when the quest bugs out and you don't get teleported in time. It happened to a friend I was running around with. I, however, successfully survived. Maybe his faith was lacking...
That's right, there is, Horde side I believe. I'm not sure where he found the horny female shaman to teleport him to the the top of the jump though.

[Opty]

I'd love to see a parent openly admit that the actions of their child, be it suicide or "video game-induced murder" was actually the result of bad parenting. For once, I wish there was one parent that had the balls to admit that it was their fault their kid fucked up.
Of course, there's a high chance that most people wouldn't believe the parents and sue somebody on their behalf. Or something as equally retarded.

Pfft. If a parent came out and said it was their fault for not being a good parent, people would just be like "Oh, that's the grief talking, it's really thr game's fault" or some stupid shit like that. And then if the parent continued pressing the issue that it wasn't the game's fault, it would be dropped from the media because a suicide/death caused by bad parenting makes parents sad, but a suicide/death caused by games makes people angry, which means better ratings.

[Captain Awesome]

Raise your own kids, idiots.

[endrom]

I wouldn't be surprised if this won, the Chinese government has been notoriously anti-gaming for the past few years now. Outlawing pvp games (or trying to) funded centres to help people deal with MMORPG addiction. It wouldn't surprise me if aside from this lawyer fella some big name politicians got behind this suit to boost their image/show solidarity.

They've been trying to get a hold on the rampant internet growth there, I was reading on it. The main reason the Chinese government is so worried about the use of these kinds of games is that its another tool used by protestors and anti government groups. Secondary reasons is that China reconizes the dangers of some games. I strongly feel its the parents responsibility, not anyone else.

[vornskr]

Raise your own kids, idiots.


Thank you!

Its not as easy as it seems~

FYI I agree with the early darwinian sentiment as well.

[Him_Again]

Ridiculous beyond belief and a fine example of Darwinism. It seems lawsuits are becoming the New World Lottery. Don't forget to buy your ticket. Er... I mean file your suit.