When it comes to video game titles, there are certainly some politics that come into play from time-to-time. For instance, it wasn’t very long ago that we had various issues pop up in regards to loot boxes. Now a new lawsuit has ended that is sparking quite a bit of attention online. One particular gamer decided to take a development studio to court in what he believed was a case that violated his civil rights.
Amro Elansari is a streamer that plays Runescape and with reportedly over 2,000 hours clocked in, the video game is a massive part of his life. So when he got into a problem with the development studio Jagex, Amro was soon muted online without the ability to talk with other players. The streamer didn’t take this action lightly as he filed a lawsuit against the development studio with the claims that being muted violated his rights to free speech while also claiming that he was being discriminated against.
While initially the lawsuit was tossed out of court, Amro Elansari made an appeal where the lawsuit reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Unfortunately for the streamer, the court also ruled that being muted in a video game was not a violation of his civil rights.
As video games become such a mainstream medium for entertainment, we imagine that more rules and regulations may be placed. For instance, in Japan, there is a new law being considered in how long children are legally allowed to play video games both during the week and weekends. So with all that said, do you feel that developers have the right to take away the ability to communicate with other players in-game? Likewise, how do you feel about governments restricting how many hours are allowed for children to play video games or should the legal guardians be responsible for regulating that aspect of their child’s life?
