Blizzard Sued for Server Recommendations

I received my monthly E-Trade newsletter this morning, and as I was skimming through the pages looking for something interesting to read, the words "Blizzard" and "lawsuit" caught my eye. Turns out, the big boys over at Bliz are getting their arses sued for something I have totally joked about in the past: the recommendation system.

Vivendi Universal Faces Class Action Dispute

A lawsuit naming Blizzard Entertainment, premiere publisher of video game software and division of Vivendi Universal ('V'), was filed late Thursday evening in California's Orange County district Superior Court. [...] District Attorney Harold Wells accuses the company of false advertising and malicious business practices involving its popular online video game World of Warcraft. [...] Wells and the 227 subscribers he represents allege that Blizzard Entertainment knowingly profits through deception, recommending servers that do not provide the gaming experience the company advertises, then charging a fee when players choose to transfer elsewhere. [...] Neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Viviendi Universal representatives could be reached for comment. Vivendi Universal stock rose 1.64 points after close on Thursday.

So if I got this right, a bunch of players have filed a class action lawsuit against Blizzard for recommending them to a server, and then charging them money when they felt that server didn't hold true to the claims Bliz advertised about the quality of the WoW experience. As outrages as it sounds, these guys might actually be on to something. I mean, there are no guarantees Bliz makes about the gaming experience or anything, sure. But if the plaintiffs can prove that the recommendation system is flawed in an obvious way that even Bliz can't deny, and that Bliz recommends specific servers (low population, etc) knowing that a good number of players will likely and eventually want to transfer from them via a paid transfer, then ya, that's pretty underhanded. Oh, and by the way, I'm totally burning time atm, and none of this is true whatsoever. Tricked ya, yeah? The whole thing almost seems that it could really happen, especially when thinking about Alexstrasza and all of the "man this server sucks" threads on the realm's forums. Hmm, maybe someone should kick Bliz's ass on the matter, eh? Lord knows they deserve it.

/gavelftw

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