Online video games, particularly those with subscription models, create social spaces for players to interact, engage and play with each other online. The communities and interactions that spawn from these spaces often contain and mimic many of the types of interactions present in traditional forms of social media. With more explicit examples like miiverse, to simple online interactions like voice and text communications in-game, it is our position that these spaces constitute social media, and that many of the legal concerns present in these spaces are relevant and applicable to the law of social media as a whole.
One such area, which has seen recent legal developments and still has a lot of potential to grow, is with respect to cheating and modding. Social media platforms and subscription services, like online video games, have economic value to the owners of the platform. When users modify the platform outside the intended or anticipated bounds contemplated by the platform owners, this can either add or detract from the economic value of the platform. In the case of cheating, this can greatly harm the experience of the player base. To protect and control their platform, developers invest substantial resources into surveillance software, or anti-cheat. On the other hand, some modifications enhance player engagement and the social aspects of a platform, and produce positive economic benefit to platform holders.
In addition to investing resources into platform moderation tools, video game developers have looked to the law as a recourse against cheaters. Particularly, developers have used copyright law in interesting ways as a sword against both developers and users of software cheats, or “hacks”. Among the large range of copyright-related claims attempted, the following have been the most successful:
1. Primary and Secondary Copyright Infringement
2. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (technological circumvention)
3. Tortious Interference / Breach of Contract
This Friday, we will present on these issues and discuss the recent cases, possible future legal developments, and the public policy and legal differences between cheating and modding.
In advance, this precedent setting case can give some context to our discussion:
https://casetext.com/case/mdy-indus-llc-v-blizzard-entmt-inc
Excited to discuss this topic on Friday!
Brandon, Josh, Joe, Rareş, Siân
Sounds really interesting!