Welcome to the 2021 Cohort of Video Game Law @ Allard

If you are a gamer, this past year could definitely feel like a dystopian video-game. In fact for those who remember the “Corrupted blood incident” (AKA World of Warcraft pandemic) of 2005, it might seem that life has imitated art. That pandemic in WoW quickly killed lower-level characters and significantly altered traditional gameplay, as players did whatever they could to not be infected. In spite of programmer-imposed quarantines, players abandoning  densely populated cities, and even players  flat-out quitting the game, the WoW pandemic simply went on until various  patches and resets of that virtual world finally controlled the spread. Fortunately there was no arguments over mask wearing – but otherwise it all seems a bit eerie from today’s vantage point.

But it did end. And as we know the world that is WoW continued. We may not know yet exactly how our real-world battle will end, but we know that we will evolve from these trials. That videogames and the real-world can sometimes seem so interchangeable may seem scary. I would suggest it’s a parlour trick of definition. It’s all the real world. The game is real. All games are. One simple proof of that are the real world legal consequences we will be learning about together.

Stay safe and let the next chapter begin…

Jon