Evony trying to clean up it's image … via lawsuits
Written August 26, 2009
Defame now, my Lord!
Well known for their spamtastic advertising campaigns, questionable online multiplayer game Evony has resorted to some even more questionable tactics to silence their biggest critics. Bruce Everiss, who runs the gaming blog Bruce On Games, is being sued in our lovely little mother country of Australia for apparent “publication of defamatory material“.
Now setting aside the obvious dick move on UMGE’s part by suing a UK blogger in Australia for a game owned by a Chinese company who’s servers are in America, doesn’t something have to be proved to be incorrect to technically be defamatory? I’m sure we’re all happily waiting to see the evidence refuting Bruce’s claims (it means our spam filters could sleep easier at night).
The company has obviously also lodged a complaint with The Guardian over their article on Evony, which now sports a nifty little “This article is the subject of a legal complaint from Evony LLC” header. No indications yet on how wide-spread the legal canvassing will be, but given that there are hundreds of sites critical of Evony, including ours, you’d better hope they consider the environment and use recycled paper for all the legal notices.
In the mean time, all their legal posturing only seems to be stirring up further publicity for the game’s shadier side, which kind of defeats the purpose of attempting to silence their critics in the first place.
Check out Bruce’s post, as he’s happily posted the entire legal notice, including the apology Evony wants him to publish, on his site. He also encourages any and all re-posting of his previous Evony related critical posts.
On an amusing side note, apparently Evony will pay you in-game currency to publish a review of the game. Sounds like a sensible way to gain multiple, totally unbiased reviews if you ask me! /sarcasm