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A partial sample of Evony's ad campaign
Evony Online may be the most visible online game in history, but its lewd and ever-present advertising are causing quite a stir among industry watchers and even traditional print media. Many blogs and traditional newspaper outlets have been critical of the campaign as a whole and the evolution (perhaps devolution?) of the ad content. As a result, Evony has filed libel lawsuits against those individuals and even the Guardian newspaper in the UK.
Bruce Everiss, a game industry veteran, published a series of blog entries starting in July, critical of Evony's tactics and reported a variety of issues he experienced trying to prevent the company's ads from appearing on his blog. He also linked to other articles that discussed or pointed out what they thought were plagiarized elements (a good example is here) and comment spamming.
Also in July, the Guardian newspaper published an article entitled "Has Evony Become the Most Despised Game on the Web?". The article went on to analyze the the advertising for Evony and concluded that if the game was not the most despised it was a close second.
A little digging into Evony Online reveals a couple of oddities. The terms of use for the game discuss the relationship between players and Regan Mercantile US, LLC, not Evony, LLC. It proved a bit difficult to actually find the state of incorporation for Regan Mercantile US, LLC and get more information about the corporation. Some research points to Regan Mercantile being related to a Hong Kong company and more than one site claims that Eric Lam, who is a well-known individual (perhaps infamous is more appropriate) in MMORPG circles, is the CEO of the company. Also related to Evony and Regan Mercantile US is Universal Multiplayer Game Entertainment (UMGE - the site was unavailable when I tried to access it). The exact relationship between the entities is somewhat difficult to untangle at present. And in somewhat related news, Microsoft has sued UMGE for "click fraud" around adSense spikes.
The most interesting element is that Evony, LLC (a Delaware corporation) has chosen to defend itself against what it sees as libel not in a US court or even in courts in the countries where the libel is occurring (for Bruce and the Guardian it's England), but rather in New South Wales, Australia. This is being termed "libel tourism" and is apparently becoming more and more prevalent. Due to the global nature of the web it can be argued that anyone in the country with the most permissive libel laws could have seen the content. Bruce's belief about why Australia was chosen is that it has "a very old fashioned libel law where the person who thinks they are libeled doesn’t have to prove anything". That it would cost a great deal for Bruce to actually appear in Australia to defend himself against the libel charges makes it difficult to predict how the case will proceed. The Guardian newspaper certainly can afford to have representation present at trial, so it will be interesting to see how their case proceeds as well.
The question moving forward is whether Evony will continue to issue demands for remuneration and retractions or whether they will proceed only with the currently-filed suits to see how those resolve before deciding on their next moves. More information on this developing story is sure to come to light in the coming weeks.
Comments
What ever became of the follow up. Evony, aka Regan Merc, is now suspending paying player accounts without notice or specifying reasons other than a blanket violation of TOS agreement.
SirPatrick13, like other MMOs, Evony had it's fair share of botters, and many of them have been banned for botting which is against the ToS. Many were sent email notification of this action as well, but part of the problem is Evony never required email verification upon creation of an account so many of the botters who were banned never received the email because the email they used as a login to the game never existed in the first place. For months they'd been warning the players that there would be consequences for getting caught breaking the rules, and for months the botters ignored them. Beyond that, the ToS state that Evony doesn't need to provide a reason for the bans even though they have.
They seem to have taken the same stance Blizzard takes against botters: zero tolerance.
Suspending people accounts with NO REASON .... is that legal business practice to take monies for a game and then tell people if you suspend them it can be for no reason other than that you felt like it - did not even have to be a violation.
Another point to ponder - no resolution can be done with a problem with evony as all I get in return to my mails is * automated response saying within 5 days* Amost a month still no response and Daexion my email is the same one I signed up on. I do not use an automated program and am quite happy to pass on my handwritten lists I use for hitting npc's every day.
But as of yet cannot resolve it as no one has replied to my mails.
Would be excellent if I received a response using this format!! Sad that is has to come to this point to try and get a response from your customer services/ecalation/administrators/legal department whom each have received mails from me.
I think it's one of the dangers that online gaming poses, both for companies and consumers. Daexion might be correct that some people who have been banned were for violations of the TOS, but some of the Terms that exist today are so biased toward the company and generally vague, they can pretty much do anything with or without cause. Provided that they don't *continue* to take money from a suspended account, the actions are generally permissible/legal.
To Rocha's point, lack of support is also becoming more common (unfortunately). Some companies (e.g., Blizzard, Sony Online, etc) are doing a pretty good job of replying because they have a good paid staff managing it. I don't get that feeling from Evony. It seems like contracted development and support feels ad hoc at best (and non-existent at worst). Small companies seem to "get it" where support's concerned - but it's usually developer doing the support. The off-shore nature of Evony makes that more difficult. Best of luck!
This game has cause a marriage of 13 years to break up. My soon to be exhusband decided to keep giving out his phone number to women on there and meeting them in their home state. My ex is a truck driver so it is very easy for him to do this. He would come in on Friday night and stay on the game until Sunday night when it was time for him to leave out again. He would only get about 6 hrs sleep a weekend. It cause a big fight with us about that game.
This game has caused many peoples marriages. It is designed to make you addicted to it because you can never *pause* the game without paying for that pause. Many people cant pay for the stuff but then don't want to lose their hard work which forces them to sit in front of the game or risk losing sometimes years of hard work. I personally now have anxiety attacks when it comes to the stress from this game, for several reasons. I can't recall the last time i slept thru the night as i wake up constantly wondering if i'm under attack and if i'm going to lose my hero. I have tried to walk away and cant. Its worse than alcohol or drugs.~Cari
if you ever do get a lawsuit going. Im in evony used my pay pal witthout permission. and when I tryed yo fight them the suspended my account. They dont return calls. I feel like they are some crooks.
Reeljob2001@yahoo.com
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