NCsoft suffered a rather crushing defeat in court to Richard "Lord British" Garriot for over $88 million, but legal troubles for the South Korean developer doesn't stop there as they have recently been targeted by another lawsuit. The plaintiff in the case, Craig Smallwood, alleges that the developer's game Lineage II was made too addictive and that NCsoft the addictive nature of the game has caused him "unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends."

Smallwood is suing for $3 million, alleging that NCsoft acted negligently by failing to warn the plaintiff and other players of the game's "dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game." (Really?) Smallwood claims had he known that the game would be so addicting, he would never have touched it.

U.S. District Judge Alan Kay gave out a ruling earlier this month that would allow the case to continue finding that the plaintiff had stated a claim for both negligence and gross negligence. However, Kay did toss out some other aspects of the complaint.

Massively makes another interesting point as they point out that Smallwood's Lineage II accounts were banned for allegedly engaging in grey market RMT activity. What impact this sort of case could have on developers remains to be seen, but do we really need an addiction warning label on video games? Have we as a people become so inept that we can't manage ourselves and need a direct warning placed on everything? Tell us your thoughts on our forums.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lineage II Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Stacy "Martuk" Jones was a long-time news editor and community manager for many of our previous game sites, such as Age of Conan. Stacy has since moved on to become a masked super hero, battling demons in another dimension.

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