Afraid That He Might End Up Killing Himself, a Gamer Sues World of Warcraft

After being banned from Resistance: Fall of Man by Sony for being a repeat offender found guilty of trolling, Erik Estavillo sued the company for its unjust action. When the courtroom dismissed the case, he moved on to Microsoft and Nintendo, accusing that a broken Xbox 360 caused him undue stress and that a Wii system update that blocked access to the Homebrew Channel third-party program interfered with his right to pursue happiness in "forever happy marshmallow land." Now, the gamer has decided it's time to move on to even bigger fish, and sues World of Warcraft. This "chip with a man on his shoulder," considering how grave his plaints were, filed a civil lawsuit in the Santa Clara County Superior Court of California against Blizzard Entrainment, and was of course sure to send copies of the lawsuit to the press.

The main charge brought to the company is that the publisher maintains a "harmful virtual environment" with "sneaky and deceitful practices." In the lawsuit, he mentions the game's monthly subscription fee of $14.99 is abused by the title that forces players to travel large distances on foot, at a slow-walking pace, with advanced travel feats available to those more advanced in level, and, as such, hinders character progression. Another game mechanic described by the plaintiff is the resurrection system, in which players have to walk back to the site of their death to continue the game. This too is accused of being an unnecessary part of the title, meant only to further take money from WoW subscribers.

Moving on from monetary discomforts caused by the title, the frustrated gamer mentions the suicide of an EverQuest player, caused by alienation and mental health problems, allegedly brought about by the MMORPG. Erik admits that he himself may be heading down the same path, as he's suffering from major depression, the obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, Crohn's disease and that, in his own words, he "doesn't want to end up like [the EverQuest player] did as he relies on video games heavily for the little ongoing happiness he can achieve in this life, via the gaming medium."

Through this lawsuit, he's subpoenaing Depeche Mode's Martin Lee Gore, "since he himself has been known to be sad, lonely, and alienated, as can be seen in the songs he writes." Another celebrity dragged to court by the gamer is Winona Ryder, claiming that the actress' understanding of Catcher in the Rye makes her a relevant witness as "to how alienation in the book can tie to alienation in real live [sic] / video games such as World of Warcraft." The player demands $1 million in punitive damages and that the court forces Activision Blizzard to mend the game's aspects presented in the lawsuit. Whether they are related to World of Warcraft or not, it is pretty clear that he indeed has some grave mental issues.