Everquest Case Essay

1034 Words5 Pages
Shawn Wooley was a user of the game, “EverQuest”, an online multiplayer RPG (role playing game) created by Sony, that quickly gained hype and is described as highly addicting. Shawn accepted the user agreement that stated, among other things, that Sony could not be held responsible for any consequential damages, when installing the game to his home computer. Two days before Thanksgiving, in 2001, Shawn was found dead in his computer chair with a .22 caliber rifle that he had committed suicide with while still logged into the game, EverQuest. Liz Wooley, Shawn’s mother, publicly held Sonys’ highly addictive game, EverQuest, responsible for the death of her son. Sony assumed no responsibility, stating, “there’s a duty to the consumer to use it responsibly”. The stakeholders of this case include; Sony, the stockholders and anyone invested in Sony, Sony’s competitors (other producers of games), gamers (the loss freedom to play what they want and when they want), the community that surrounds Sony (for example; its’ employees whose jobs are at stake if Sony is brought to court or the government regulates gaming activity), distributors of games and gaming equipment (increase of prices due to court rulings, loss of sales due to regulations followed by government rulings, etc.), the community that is affected by the addiction of gaming (such as spouses, friends, family). Critical issues that are presented in the case include; players realistically not reading user agreements before beginning a game, which could potentially lead to Sony being held responsible for the suicide of Shawn Wooley due to putting out a game that took over the life of its’ users, potentially followed by the prospective declining economic state of Sony due to the loss of profits from bad press, possible lawsuits, governmental regulations, and a community that is frightful for the consequences and
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