LEGAL BRIEF: Gamer Sues Sony Over PSN Banning
- Scribbled on July 21st, 2009 by Jordan Lund
- Filed in Legal Brief, PlayStation Network, Sony PlayStation 3
We aren’t sure what he said, but it couldn’t have been good.
What is clear is that Erik Estavillo behaved in a trollish manner common to the Internet and as a result Sony bounced him out of the Playstation Network, out of his favored game “Resistance: Fall of Man” and off their message boards. Estavillo’s reaction? File a lawsuit for $55,000 complaining of pain and suffering.
Based on the lawsuit the sequence of events are as follows:
- Estavillo was playing Resistance: Fall of Man in a manner unbecoming a game player and as a result he was bounced out of the game by the moderators.
- He then went to the online forums and posted messages that not only got him banned from playing the game, but banned from the PlayStation Network as a whole.
- Prior to being banned Estavillo had purchased PlayStation Network redeem cards in order to purchase items online without a credit card. These funds are currently unavailable to him as they are tied to the account which is now locked out.
The pain and suffering bit comes from Estavillo’s apparent mental health issues which are eased via the social interaction through the PlayStation Network. Now that he is cut off, he no longer has a social outlet.
Here’s the problem for Mr. Estavillo. Resistance: Fall of Man has a user agreement and by playing the game online he agreed to be bound by it (you can read it here.) The important bits are sections 5, 7 and 11 where it basically says “if you act like a jerk you will get booted” (section 5 and 7) and that the law specifically applies to the state of California (section 11).
In addition to the game EULA, the Playstation message boards have their rules of conduct which can be read here. The sections to pay attention to here are 4, 5, 7 and 8. Boiled down it states, oddly enough, “if you act like a jerk (section 4 and 5) you will get booted (section 7 and 8).” Estavillo argues in his lawsuit that the game EULA can’t be binding as it also states you have to be 18 to play the game online, and it’s violated on a daily basis by folks who are under age.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t banned as a result of game play, he was banned as a result of message board postings and the code of conduct there says nothing about an age restriction. I’m sure Sony keeps logs of this stuff for just such occasions and it will be simplicity itself for them to show cause why his account was locked out. The very best that Estavillo could hope for would be a refund of the PSN points that he purchased and cannot now access.
(Thanks, GamePolitics via Escapist Magazine.)
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