Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

I've spent over $3,300 USD on a game online. Recently I've expressed my frustration with them on a number of things: the lag, the cheaters, the hackers. People bot to get in game currency and are stealing from the game, while I have been paying for it for years to better my account. The lag issue on their end, they make all this money off us, and yet won't move their servers to the East costs, which makes no sense since the server I am playing is called "US East".. a bit misleading. They always say the lag is on our end, and ask us to clear our cache and cookies (it's a browser based game). Yet I can play games with much higher graphic quality, at 60-120 FPS with absolutely no lag. When I play this game, my FPS usually says 60-62, yet for some reason I am skipping across the screen. My computer is also very good and meant for gaming.

Furthermore, when I originally signed up for the game, there was something called a Jackpot Battle. I had invested about $1,500 USD into my account before they decided to nerf it in my state. The Jackpot Battle gives you the opportunity to win up to $10,000 USD. I wasn't away about the recent changes, until I actually tried to compete in it one day, and it said my state was exempt from it. The Jackpot Battle was the real reason I signed up for the game, over 5 years ago, as I thought I had a shot in winning it, since I consider myself a good competitive gamer/PvPer. I continued spending money anyways because I figured this was my investment now, might as well.

Overtime I grew tired of the cheaters, hackers, the horrible customer support, the lag. What really put me over the top was an incident where they banned my account, and didn't answer my emails for 2 days. There were actually 2 incidents, but 1 I understood it being a misunderstanding. This was where a mod banned me because he thought my in-game name was a violation of the terms, but it wasn't. In return, the admin in the support email game me some crummy in game rewards, which didn't really make up for the in-game ban. The big ban was when I said something in chat, that was dubbed as racist, and was banned because the comment was misconstrued. The mod who banned me was probably somebody who played the server, and I am assuming somebody I killed on the game, who doesn't like me. The moderator in support kept me hanging for 2 days, not replying to my email, and when he finally did, it was to apologize for the misunderstanding. The chat mod who banned me in game never apologized to me. The worst part was that I lost good friends that I made on the game, and had become friends with over the years. I was being called a racist by them, and behind my back. I was being slandered, and it made me wanna not play. I should also note, that they made some fraudulent charges on my account, that my bank reimbursed me for.

My question is, can I take this company to small claims court to get my money back? I tried talking to them, I even had the BBB mediate us, but to no avail, they won't budge. I contacted ic3.gov and have gotten no reply. I have the documents for any proof if needed. Also can I sue for defamation of character and/or slander, for the racism issue that occurred?

It would cost over $300.00 USD which I am assuming is not refundable if you lose, to take them to small claims for the amount of $3000-$5000 USD, so I wanna be certain I could win my case. I've told this company I will take them to court, and they refer me to their legal site, which is some German info. Although the game was made in Germany, they still have US servers, as well as an office in California. I have done my homework on small claims suit, and know to put down the registered owner of the business in California as they would be the defendant, should I take them to court.

Please any legal advice you have would be great. I am sure their are internet laws in the US that would protect me. I really regret dealing with this company, I've lost a lot of money.

Thank you in advance for any replies, or information you may have.


Asked on 8/29/15, 5:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Petrochko KMP Law, PLLC

It doesn't sound like you have a strong case. I am sure that in order to play the game you agreed to their rules which likely allowed them to ban you without reimbursement for certain activities. Further, It appears that you are currently able to play the game and were even awarded some gift for your troubles.

As for the libel, you would not only have to prove that it was false and made to harm you, but also that the game representative were the individuals who called you a racist. Additionally, the use of their software likely came with a choice of law provision which is likely not in your area. The other concern is that if you lose, which you probably will, you may be liable for their attorneys fees, which will be substantial.

All that said, the best thing you can do is to call an attorney and schedule a free consultation. There may be claims and remedies available that you didn't think of.

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Answered on 8/31/15, 1:47 pm


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