Lawsuit, rmt, court, ige, virtual property, virtual worlds

Real Money Transaction Lawsuit Gets Interesting - Very Interesting

Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) is a virtual property company that's found itself in some hot water (or its founder has found himself in hot water, at least) - Debonneville v. Pierce was filed last summer in California alleging all sorts of shady business dealings on the part of the founder, Brock Pierce. This wouldn't be interesting if documents relating to the suit hadn't surfaced last week, which give an insider's look at the world of RMT companies (and a lot of drama to boot). There have been countersuits filed, and everything is scheduled to go to trial in May of this year. In the meantime, you can't make the contents of the original complaint up:

The Complaint (which is, remember, by its nature entirely one-sided) tells a dramatic and undoubtedly controversial story about virtual property company IGE. It starts at the beginning, when the founders allegedly met playing Everquest, and proceeds like a script for a straight-to-video movie.
It includes third-hand allegations of cash from an earlier venture being spent on illegal drugs, a claim that Pierce's dog was shot by the "Spanish FBI," and allegations of minors being transported across state lines for sex. The complaint even takes a swipe at former-child-actor Pierce's filmography (Pierce played a young Emilio Estevez in The Mighty Ducks and The Mighty Ducks 2, and the lead in First Kid). In short, this is not your average business spat.

PlayNoEvil has some insightful comments up regarding some general problems this case points to. In any case, rare is the court filing that is this entertaining.

Lawsuit Against IGE Founder Brock Pierce Alleges Underhanded Dealing at Virtual Property Company [Virtually Blind via PlayNoEvil]

12:30 PM on Sat Feb 2 2008
By Maggie Greene
5,094 views
34 comments

Comments

Morberis at 12:53 PM on 02/02/08
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*grabs some popcorn and sits down*
Buttah at 12:58 PM on 02/02/08
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Dog was shot by Spanish FBI?

@Morberis:
pass it please!
ChewyChew at 01:03 PM on 02/02/08
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Andale!
Ampillion = That Man. at 01:04 PM on 02/02/08
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Hilarity.

Then again, if it takes the Spanish FBI shooting some guy's dog to get rid of those damn "AGAEQLKZAOGW" bot names that spam crap constantly in Orgrimmar, then ole!
GigglesWithCrabs at 01:04 PM on 02/02/08
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Keep that popcorn coming!
Kyle at 01:05 PM on 02/02/08
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"Pierce played a young Emilio Estevez"
I can't imagine what went wrong there.
Darksider71 at 01:08 PM on 02/02/08
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Sounds like someone is in trouble....an possibly on crack!!
BlackDove at 01:16 PM on 02/02/08
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Oh the Mighty Ducks. How far have you fallen.

You see, this is the true product of Disney.
Tzero7 at 01:20 PM on 02/02/08
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Theres a spanish FBI?
JayP05 at 01:24 PM on 02/02/08
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This should be good!
@Morberis: Needs more butter.
JGab at 01:35 PM on 02/02/08
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@Morberis: Little bit of salt too.

Now, the question I have is if the minors were girls or boys. Are we talking R. Kelly or Michael Jackson here?
aaa at 01:40 PM on 02/02/08
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I'm going to wait for this to go to home video,
LordMaim at 01:45 PM on 02/02/08
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The funny thing is that the details of the court case would actually make for a better movie than "The Mighty Ducks"
Marios_shadow at 01:49 PM on 02/02/08
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@LordMaim: Beat me to it. XD
justhesh at 02:18 PM on 02/02/08
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"allegations of minors being transported across state lines for sex"

When will these sickos learn?!

If you're going to transport minors for sex, do it in your own back yard!
King Seafoam at 02:28 PM on 02/02/08
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and then i was like - EMILIOOOOOOO!!!
Ampillion = That Man. at 02:43 PM on 02/02/08
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@MajorWedgie: I just knew someone was gonna do that!
Jetter at 03:09 PM on 02/02/08
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*Starts off slow*

Quack...
Quack...
Quack...quack...quack...quackquackquackquackquack
Archangeldeath at 03:20 PM on 02/02/08
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@Tzero7: What? You never 2 press for Spanish when called the FBI.
Archangeldeath at 03:21 PM on 02/02/08
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* calling. Where that edit button?!
$Image of Evil Tortie\'s Mom$ Evil Tortie's Mom at 03:37 PM on 02/02/08
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The Spanish FBI shoots dogs.

Learn somethin' new every day.
Ra is on That 70s Show at 04:28 PM on 02/02/08
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Sinbad shouldnt of let that kid out of his sight...
Torusan at 04:45 PM on 02/02/08
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I hope IGE burns in hell.
SnakeCL at 05:18 PM on 02/02/08
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@Torusan:

Eh, gold sellers are only part of the problem. There's the gold buyers too. Its pretty much accepted business by most MMO's, and the only game I know that's actively banning Buyers is LotRO
Torusan at 05:45 PM on 02/02/08
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@SnakeCL: Oh, I agree.

FFXI, which I play, is supposedly banning buyers as well.

[www.playonline.com]
Zensation at 08:10 PM on 02/02/08
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@MajorWedgie: rofl awesome! watching that movie finally paid off. :)
Ajh at 08:15 PM on 02/02/08
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@SnakeCL: Guild Wars is pretty big on banning buyers..so much so that players have been suspended (I'm not sure what the ratio is for people who didn't get banned. I know a few who definitely said they didn't.) for trading large sums of money inside guilds for contests with each other.
Purple Dave at 09:12 PM on 02/02/08
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@Tzero7:
They used to be the Spanish Inquisition, but they figured a name change might improve their reputation. Of course, if they're going to be shooting up peoples' dogs, they might need to change names yet again...
UltimatePancakeSensation at 09:39 PM on 02/02/08
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Screams "Fake".
xeleion at 10:08 PM on 02/02/08
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Very interesting. This should be a movie, or at least a quickly put together Flash game with Phoenix Wright-based gameplay. Please keep us updated, Ms. Greene. Does anyone need more popcorn?
JohnGorenfeld at 11:30 PM on 02/02/08
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Hi, I'm the reporter who dug this complaint up. If you enjoyed this, you'll like our expose of IGE and its ties to the astonishingly sordid Digital Entertainment Network scandal at Radar Magazine.
Eltigro at 02:42 AM on 02/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 66

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Irenicus-the one and only at 04:37 AM on 02/03/08
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Connectedness Index: 195

@SnakeCL: WoW have banned thousands of people, I heard over 100k accounts. I believe EvE O also banned quite a few and many other MMO's.

I also got myself banned from SWG on one of my accounts for "trading" :P But an angry letter to SOE got the banned removed lol

Thats the only time I have ever got caught, in WoW I and others running a guild would sometimes buy big orders, when we just did not have enough time to farm gold for the raids, me personally I don't give a shit about gold buyers or sellers, I sold+bought and I don't see the problem with it at all. I usually tell people to mind their own business as I do, gold buyers/sellers have never affected my gaming playing legit. And when I had time I grinded 1k gold a day.
Slatz_Grobnik at 10:04 AM on 02/03/08
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In any case, rare is the court filing that is this entertaining.

Clearly, you don't read enough motions. They get pretty off the wall. Well, the good ones at any rate.

Seriously, if you don't get in at least one ad hominem, you might as well just be an accountant.