Blizzard VS Peons4Hire

In gaming terms, Blizzard just pwned Peons4Hire. The creators of the popular MMO World of Warcraft just won its lawsuit against In Game Dollar AKA Peons4Hire, effectively banning the power-leveling group from doing business in-game.

While the court documents fail to reveal any monetary damages awarded to Blizzard, the injunction prevents In Game Dollar from conducting any business in World of Warcraft for the life of the game.

Blizzard’s original complaint against the firm stems from In Game Dollar’s recent continually spamming of players in-game with offers of virtual item sales and powerleveling. In total Blizzard’s suit contained six causes of action including the obvious EULA violation and a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

This is a key victory for Blizzard because it has the potential to become a precedent upon which future lawsuits can be based on. World of Warcraft is a popular target for power-leveling and real-money trading groups that offer their services for a fee. Although it’s an easy way out for players looking to create shortcuts in the game, it also causes a lot of imbalance in the economy. The recent ruling will give Blizzard leverage to fight that problem and hopefully restore order in WoW’s in-game markets.

Source: Game|Life

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