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Twitter’s New Blue-Tick Verification Policy

By charis liu on November 16, 2022

Earlier this month, Elon Musk implemented a blue paid subscription service on Twitter called Twitter Blue. This service allows for anyone to get the blue-tick verification on their account, simply by paying a small fee of $8 a month. Many people were interested in this service, but as you can imagine, some issues quickly arose.

A wave of imposter accounts began impersonating high-profile accounts and brands and posting misleading tweets. An account using the name and logo of one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, Eli Lilly and Co., posted a tweet: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.”

Yup, this tweet was fake. Eli Lilly and Co.’s stock plummeted soon after this tweet was published. According to one article, Google analytics shows that “after that initial tweet and subsequent copycat accounts, the pharma company’s stock sank from $368 a share to $346 a share”. The next morning, the company stopped all Twitter ad campaigns. Amy O’Connor, a former senior communications official at Eli Lilly, said “what’s the benefit to a company … of staying on Twitter?” This new service threatens the reputation of companies. It also poses a threat to the health and wellbeing of consumers because companies like Eli Lilly often tweet about things such as side effects and long-term care. Other major advertisers, such as Omnicom Media Group (which represents companies like Apple), have recommended clients pause all Twitter activity.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter has now removed the paid checkmarks and reinstated the ‘official’ badges on some Twitter accounts. Elon’s strategy in creating this service was likely to boost profits, given the loss in advertising revenue that his company has been facing. But it seems like things aren’t going his way – more brands have been pulling back from the platform since the the paid blue-check service was implemented. For only $8, the company is potentially losing out on millions in ad revenue.

Elon announced that the verification service will be returning on November 29th, once the service is “rock solid”. I am curious to see what sorts of updates he will be making to help make a distinction between fake and real accounts. Where does he draw the line between ensuring the site is safe for advertisers and public figures, and monetizing the blue checkmark? Elon has tweeted that Twitter plans to add a ‘parody’ tag to fake blue-check accounts. I guess we will see what happens in the next few weeks.

Sources:

https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-elon-musk-wants-you-to-pay-for-verification-111547920.html

https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/eli-lilly-pulls-twitter-ads-after-blue-check-fallout-report

https://gizmodo.com/twitter-eli-lilly-elon-musk-insulin-1849779323

https://gizmodo.com/twitter-elon-musk-verified-impersonators-checkmark-1849768462

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/14/twitter-fake-eli-lilly/

Class 8 – “Is A.I. A Game We Can Win?″ + “Mens Rea of A.I.”

By Jon Festinger on November 15, 2022

Slides & video below…

Jon

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Group Presentation Outline – Come for Donuts!

By brian palaschuk on November 13, 2022

Hey everyone! For our presentation this week, we will be having a comparative discussion on aspects of video game law across the UK, the US, and Canada.

We don’t have any pre-reading for you all, but our presentation is quite interactive so we’re hoping to get as many people to class as we can. If you needed a little extra motivation, we will have some donuts for everyone in the morning!

See you all on Wednesday.

-Brian, Katie, Jack, and Rareș

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Pokemon dethroned?

By NY Bae on November 12, 2022

Japan’s game industry has seen some change over the past months — while the Pokemon games have been been the best-selling games since the 90’s, Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) has displaced their long reign and has become the most sold game according to Nintendo’s latest financial report.

The success of ACNH can be heavily attributable to the pandemic, during which people were in lockdowns and found solace in a relaxing, perhaps even mind-numbingly boring (in a good way), game. But even still, what about the game makes it so attractive to displace a long-standing champion game like Pokemon?

Interestingly, the article by GameRant speculates ACNH will not be displaced from its throne any time soon. As an avid ACNH player, this is interesting as Nintendo has officially announced there will be no more free, major updates to ACNH. There are rumours about whether this means there will still be “paid” major updates, or perhaps free “minor” updates, but if ACNH is now a done deal for Nintendo, wouldn’t Pokemon (or some other game) be able to attempt at the throne in the near future?

Original article: https://gamerant.com/best-selling-video-games-japan-pokemon-animal-crossing/?fbclid=IwAR3E0W__xpy4g7qy4K06sHbE–Qiuml_fixTNkkv7A3QyyT0nuOma0C52T4

Video Game Law Presentation – Lovneet Aujla

By Lovneet Aujla on November 12, 2022

Hello class! Please find attached the link to my presentation. I chose to discuss my research topic, corporate social responsibility in the video game context. https://youtu.be/2jp6CKsIcRA

Also find attached my Presentation Outline

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“Contract Jail” in Esports

By rares minecan on November 11, 2022

After the League of Legends World Championship concluded, many of the pro esports teams have begun to restructure their rosters for the next season. Restructuring in this sense refers to adding players that have performed well and dropping/benching players that have not performed well. A recent topic of conversation has been the way that one particular European Esports franchise, G2, treats their players. Players Rekkles and Jankos most recently, but others such as Perkz, Wunder, and Mikyx, have gone on social media and revealed the difficulties the organization has caused them through their contract practices, namely placing inflated buyouts (such that it makes it extremely hard for other teams to purchase these players) and clauses that severely decrease the pay of a player if they are benched (in the case of Rekkles, leading to only 6% of the yearly pay). This situation leads to what is referred to as “Contract Jail”, in which players are stuck on a team making little pay while also not being able to be purchased by other teams.

What could the possible solution to this be? Of course, these players need to have capable legal advice when entering into these contracts. But even more than this, perhaps there needs to be a strong player union which somewhat standardizes some contract practices and could eliminate this “Contract Jail” situation from arising. Maybe there could also be other creative ways to move difficult contracts. In the NBA, difficult contracts are often moved by packaging them with future draft picks or accepting other difficult contracts in return. Perhaps some future incentives can be provided between the Esports organizations during trade negotiations so that contracts can be more easily moved around.

Sources:
https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends/news/they-fed-me-over-rekkles-says-he-would-have-been-paid-6-percent-of-his-salary-if-he-stayed-with-g2
https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends/news/g2-posts-questionable-meme-on-social-media-amid-contract-negotiations-with-jankos

Call of Duty Moderators Can Permanently Mute Toxic Players

By Corrigan Goodwin on November 10, 2022

More on Call of Duty, and in follow up to the previous post about Call of Duty’s Code of Conduct, I found it interesting to see recent articles about Activision adding a system where moderators can permanently mute toxic players with its new “overhauled” reporting system. Players being muted on text and chat functions is a potential punishment for second offenses according to Activision’s Call of Duty Security and Enforcement Policy.

In the new system players will still need to complete reports for the Moderators to be able to use the new muting tool, however it still offers more options than previously available for dealing with an issue that has plague COD for a long time.

Is this a beneficial way to combat derogatory speech in games? Will it serve as a useful tool alongside the Code of Conduct and reporting system? Will it be embraced by players who have long lamented how toxic text and chat functions in games like COD have become? Or will there be player communities that fight back against the increased censorship?

It is also interesting to consider what impact this will have on other games looking to deal with in-game communication and the potential legal ramifications of toxic gaming communities.

(Image from: https://www.callofduty.com/blog/2022/11/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-II-anti-toxicity-in-game-reporting-system)

Sources:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/activision-can-mute-toxic-call-of-duty-mw2-players-new-player-reporting-tools-also-unveiled/1100-6508972/

https://www.callofduty.com/blog/2022/11/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-II-anti-toxicity-in-game-reporting-system

https://support.activision.com/articles/call-of-duty-security-and-enforcement-policy

https://www.svg.com/1094059/call-of-duty-makes-game-changing-move-against-toxic-players/

https://www.gamingbible.co.uk/news/modern-warfare-2-mutes-toxic-players-voice-chat-20221108

Call of Duty removing maps due to their similarity with real life places?

By Lovneet Aujla on November 9, 2022

Modern Warfare 2 (2022) just released a few weeks ago. Many players are upset that a map (and supposedly another is about to be removed for similar reasons) in the multiplayer was removed due to legal issues. For reference, a map is the virtual battleground that multiplayer matches are played on, typically the game has a dozen or more of them. GameRant reports that the map may have been removed due to its “similarity to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles” and that the developers did not have permission to use its likeness (see: https://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-valderas-museum-return-demand/). GameRant also notes that this is not the first time the developer has gotten slack for using “real life” environments (see: https://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-valderas-museum-return-demand/).

(image sourced from: https://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-valderas-museum-return-demand/)

This is clearly an intellectual property issue and goes right back to our earlier discussions of meta-verses recreating life. Do you think the Getty Museum has a strong claim? The developers undoubtedly spent hours designing the map, should they have any recourse? As discussed, there are rumours that another map is going to be removed, likely for similar issues. This is quite upsetting as the game did not release with many maps and we will not have a content update for another few weeks.

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Founder of Oculus Creates Murderous VR Headset

By cailean paskall on November 9, 2022

luckey

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/11/08/oculus-founder-makes-vr-headset-that-will-actually-kill-you-if-you-die-in-a-game/?sh=1e3d07c75a16

Founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey, announced that he has created a custom VR headset that will kill the user if they were to die in a game they are playing. The headset has charges that will explode upon death of the player which will result in the “destroying the brain of the user”.

I don’t have much to say on this other than ‘why?’. This just feels so dystopian, and unnecessary. Yes, it is interesting and mimics what we see in entertainment like Black Mirror. However, I am not sure what the real point of this invention is. The use that comes to mind is some dystopian e-Sports fight club that allows the ultra-rich to bet on users, similarly as you see in dystopian fight club movies and TV shows. So really no use at all.

I don’t really have much else to say about it, just thought I would share it with the class because it was so bizarre.

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The Chronicles of Elyria Lawsuit and its Virtual Real Estate Controversy

By brian palaschuk on November 9, 2022

On October 3, 2022 the United States District Court, Western District of Washington dismissed a class action complaint made by lead plaintiff James Falls against Soulbound Studios LLC, the developer of a would-be MMO Chronicles of Elyria.

Falls spent over $20,000 on in-game content in support of the development of the game, which was cancelled in early 2020. The Plaintiffs raised issues about pre-release “game footage” that was actually cinematics, and claimed breach of contract with respect to refunds as well as violation of consumer protection legislation.

Ultimately, the Court dismissed the breach of contract claim on the basis that the refund policy offered by a third party vendor was not incorporated into Soulbound’s Terms of Use. They also dismissed the consumer protection claim, finding that the misleading announcement did not “have the capacity to deceive a substantial portion of the public.” They made this determination based on disclaimers in the Terms of Use, including ones expressing that the services provided may differ from those shown at the time funds were deposited.

I found this case interesting for two reasons:

Firstly, it seems unfair to me that users can purchase digital content in support of a game and have no recourse when the game is never finished. While the Terms of Use contained disclaimers and this was treated as a contractual issue, the website is very misleading. I think there is room stronger consumer protection in a situation like this.

Secondly, a component of the in-game item sales was in-game lands. The developers sold virtual real-estate for $65-$3500, that will likely never exist. I wonder as we move into the digital world in more meaningful ways, whether digital land should be treated differently than other types of in-game items.

What do you think?

The full complaint and decision as well as some website content can be found below:

https://www.classaction.org/media/falls-v-soulbound-studios-llc-et-al.pdf

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/633d0afaad47477d7e1aa5d7#

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/game

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/34438/Welcome-to-the-Settlers-of-Elyria-Event

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soulboundstudios/chronicles-of-elyria-epic-story-mmorpg-with-aging

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