Evony trying to clean up it’s image … via lawsuits
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
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Welcome to Armchair Diplomat!
Ey Matt, got inspired from your “Defame now, my Lord!” so i made a parody photo. You can check my article about this lawsuit at http://www.mmogrindhouse.com/game-news/bizarre/evony-com-threatens-bloggers-dont-criticise-our-game-or-well-sue-you/
*Warning: OMG a serious post follows, apologies in advance for bringing down the tone of the site*
Yeah… see, the thing about defamation law is that you’re guilty until proven innocent. NOT the other way around.
And while Bruce seems to have the evidence to back his spam claims up, the burden of proof for the other stuff (like accusing the developers of stealing code from other games) is going to be difficult if not impossible to meet.
Bringing the lawsuit in Australia isn’t that out of the ordinary either, BTW. If someone defames you in a national newspaper or on a national television program in Australia, it’s normal for you to pick the state whose laws give you the best chance of winning (usually the ACT) to bring the suit. Jurisdiction over internet articles was something of a grey area last I checked (a few years back, to be fair) but if they think they’ve got cause to bring the suit in New South Wales then that’s pretty standard.
Long story short, if I were Bruce I’d be taking this very seriously.
*Quasi-legal disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and none of this is advice. I did a couple of classes on defamation during a magazine editing course though, which totally makes me an expert. Obv.*