Ahahaha "Lets try and bully the largest platform for PC games in the world. This is definitely going work in our favour!"
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Jim Sterling is being sued by Digital Homicide
- Thread starter H1PSTER
- Start date
Ahahaha "Lets try and bully the largest platform for PC games in the world. This is definitely going work in our favour!"
I hope Valve shut this down and kicks then out of Steam because of this.
People already are
They set up a GoFundMe after people chargeback'd 0.01 paypal donations. It's not doing well.
Triggerhappytel
Member
It's two guys. They agreed together that the best way stop people saying their shitty games are shitty is to sue fucking everyone. They both agreed that learning enough legal parlance and procedure to self-represent is a better use of their time than developing better games. They believed they'd have the crowdfunding support to fund their case, suing consumers is the best way to progress this case and that roping Valve into this is the best way to salvage their reputation. These guys are clearing fucking delusional, and I agree that there very well could be some mental health issues involved.
Well done. Today, the internet shall be yours.
Yeah. It'd be interesting to see how Valve reacts to this. I'd like to see them blocked from being able to publish on Steam too since they're threatening their customers.
Bumbletron
Member
The old Yoshimitsu sudoku strat.
I'm now picturing Yoshimitsu sitting there with a sudoku puzzle book...
I wonder :3
Jacksinthe
Banned
You guys are mean!
How else are you supposed to fund the next 49.8 asset fli... games you plan on making over the next few weeks without suing everything that moves?
How else are you supposed to fund the next 49.8 asset fli... games you plan on making over the next few weeks without suing everything that moves?
Ooh, well done.
Akhe
Member
DustyVonEric
Member
MilHombreLobo
Member
You win street creed.
Rygar 8 Bit
Jaguar 64-bit
Nah, a true Samurai tries to solve one of these and (understandably) dies trying.seppuku
sudoku
R_thanatos
Member
I'm legit impressed at the situation here.
They want personal information on some steam users ? for what purpose ?
This is stupid on so many levels ... what's the point ?
You claim you want to be left alone to "devellop" games and make a living but every step you make is total nonsense and against that
They want personal information on some steam users ? for what purpose ?
This is stupid on so many levels ... what's the point ?
You claim you want to be left alone to "devellop" games and make a living but every step you make is total nonsense and against that
mysteriousmage09
Member
OmegaSmash
Member
seppuku
sudoku
D
Deleted member 325805
Unconfirmed Member
The guy must be pretty stupid to take on not only Jim but fucking Valve as well.
seppuku
sudoku
No way dude, you showed him
They want their personal info so they can sue them for... Slander? Saying naught words?
It's great PR you know, until someone counter sue you for, eh, harassing them by pointing them out in some grand conspiracy?
I don't even know how these people function every single day.
Also I heard 4chan talked bad about them, and Reddit. Oh and GAF too. So many lawsuits incoming. Hold on to your keyboards everyone! Winters coming!
ricardo_sousa11
Member
This is...
DIGITAL SUICIDE!
AWWWW YISSSSSSSSS
DIGITAL SUICIDE!
AWWWW YISSSSSSSSS
There is the door. Please get out....
Orniletter
Banned
They want to sue innocent people for literally millions of $. They are trying to squeeze people dry for calling their games what they are.
They don't even deserve a tiny bit of sympathy when they inevitable get to pay all legal fees.
Chie Satonaka
Member
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation
DH wants Valve to give them the names/addresses of Steam users who gave their shit games some bad user reviews, that way DH can waste their time walking over to the courthouse to file lawsuits against random Steam users (rather than... I dunno... learning how to make videogames), and those random gamers will then need to lawyer up and defend themselves from frivolous lawsuits or risk losing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even millions) due to some random legal quirk. And since the average gamer doesn't want to get fucking sued for leaving a user review, DH is hoping that making an example out of a few easy targets will scare people away from saying mean things about them.
I hope Valve defends against this with an expensive legal team, and Valve wins while DH is forced to pay Valve's legal costs. And then DH goes bankrupt and is driven out of the videogame industry.
Shai-Tan
Banned
I think this can happen when someone works in isolation and puts too much of their identity in something that hasn't gotten feedback, One of my jobs is looking at business plans in the software industry and I see this even from people who are MIT educated to act very defensive and make it difficult to let go despite it being obvious from the outside that there are glaring flaws; part of the reason is they spent several years coming up with what they imagined was a great idea that needed to be kept secret (and yet I see similar ideas every week).
It also isn't only about the idea or the sunken costs from the years of work it's maintenance of outward identity to other people in their life which they can't bear to see altered. That doesn't excuse subsequent behavior but I see this externalizing all the time in lawsuits in startups, very often from people who only have their incompetence to blame for why they failed and their company is failing. I imagine it's similar in making games to put significant effort into something that you fall in love with as an idea and put yourself into it which makes criticism about the product almost like criticism of the person in their mind.
Jarth Mader
Member
That's why I said currently 3 times, the moment the case is closed you can bet your ass we'll be in for a glorius Jimquisition on the matter.
irrotational
Member
An excellent post - thankyou!
I imagine they are trying to follow on the footsteps of copyright trolls. This is what copyright trolls do:
1. Use the court system to find the details on hundreds (or more).
2. Have no actual intention of taking ANY of these users to trial.
3. Send letters threatening the now unearthed users threatening then with the maximum penalty actionable for the type of lawsuit they are preparing. They want to scare users into compliance more than anything else
4. Instead, in their letters, propose a settlement for $1,000 - $3,000 individually.
5. A few of the people will fall for it and settle with them.
6. They pocket that money and then drop the lawsuits.
That's the copyright troll playbook. Let's see if that is what this is.
Courts have been wising up to this and have started to deny requests, also
RealityCheque
Banned
I remember looking at their gofundme total about 3 or 4 months ago and it stood at $425.
Today it stands at...............$425.
All going well then.
Today it stands at...............$425.
All going well then.
Of course, you're right there too.
seppuku
sudoku
Thatsthejoke.png
But they have the usernames... they're suing for the real names and, presumably, addresses.Digital Homicide: "Gabe, we're suing you for usernames"
Gabe:
What a poorly constructed complaint. The causes of action are just inexplicable. I realize he's a pro se litigant, but, damn. He really shouldn't have even bothered.
Count I - Conspiracy to Commit Violation of Civil Rights -- Nope.
Count II - Disorderly Conduct -- What the fuck? Nope.
Counts III - Stalking -- Sues under a criminal statute. I can find no civil cause of action in Arizona for "stalking."
Count IV - Harassment -- Sues under a criminal statute. I can find no civil cause of action in Arizona for "harassment".
Count V - Criminal Impersonation -- Sues under a criminal statute. I can find no civil cause of action in Arizona for "criminal impersonation," though identity theft and/or, possibly, invasion of privacy are potential analogues for the facts he's alleging.
Count VI - Tortious Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations with Valve -- Finally, an actual, potentially appropriate, cause of action. However, Arizona requires a plaintiff to allege that they "suffered damages due to the breach or termination of the contractual relationship," and Romine fails to allege that Digital Homicides' contract with Valve was breached or terminated in any way. So...
Count VII - Tortious Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations with Digital Homicide Studios LLC -- What the fuck?
Count VIII - Libel Per Se - I think Romine misunderstands the type of statements which constitute libel per se versus libel per quod. There may be a cognizable claim here for libel per quod, but not per se.
Count IX - Unjust Enrichment - What the fuck? He doesn't make a claim for unjust enrichment, and asks for damages equal to anything the purported defendants have ever made or ever will make from anything video game related, from creating games, to streaming/publishing videos on Twitch and YouTube. Just, wow.
Count X - Restitution -- Again, what the fuck? There is no cause of action for restitution.
Count XI - Negligence -- Other than the fact that Romine has alleged nothing but intentional acts, there's nothing wrong with this claim. He uses the language "reckless disregard" with indicates to me that maybe he meant to file a claim for wantonness? Who knows.
Other than the issues above, the biggest thing that sticks out to me, is that Romine doesn't even seem to have standing to assert these claims. All of these claims, to the extent that they exist, would seem to belong to Digital Homicide Studios LLC. Hell, Romine even realizes this with respect to his Criminal Impersonation claim, where he writes:
143. This cause of action may not be representable by The Plaintiff except by The Plaintiff's ownership of 35% of Digital Homicide Studios LLC. This representation is left up to the The Court. Cause of action dropped if The Court decides against.
I'm not sure why he thought there might be an issue with respect to this claim, but not to the others.
Of course, we know why he filed suit as an individual and not as Digital Homicide Studios LLC: corporations are not allowed to represent themselves pro se in federal court. They must be represented by an attorney. Even if Digital Homicide could find an attorney willing to take the case, I doubt they'd find one willing to do this on contingency. "Sure, let's sue 100 random Steam users. I'm sure our potential $18m judgement will absolutely be collectable." Nope.
A huge SLAPP in the face, is what they need.
Starwolf_UK
Member
I was expecting this new case to be an asset flip. Instead it shows they learned nothing from the first ongoing attempt.
But in Ace Attorney there is always a Homicide...oh, wait.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
What?
R_thanatos
Member
😱Oh shit
Dedicated thread: Digital Homicide plunges further into insanity - Sues Steam users