Mom Defends Her Fortnite Cheating Offspring in Court

DooKey

DooKey

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Epic Games isn't messing around these days when it comes to cheaters in their F2P game Fortnite. A 14 year old cheater was banned multiple times for cheating and then Epic decided enough was enough and took him to court. They claim the cheating is costing them money and they want some of it back from the cheaters. However, the cheaters mom says he didn't have permission to play so he shouldn't be sued. Anyway, I hope Epic continues to go after cheaters and the websites that sell the cheats. Thanks again, cageymaru!

The boy is accused of using cheat software that injects unauthorized code into the active memory of the game as it runs, not just codes. While he didn’t write the cheat himself, through his YouTube channel he showed others where to download it and asked for donations.
 
While I think this lawsuit is dumb, some of the things in it... wow. They couldn't just ban the kid and be done with it?

The EULA states that minors require permission from a parent or legal guardian, which is not the case here.

“Please note parental consent was not issued to [my son] to play this free game produced by Epic Games, INC,” the mother writes in her letter.
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Now if it's a minor in the US they can't agree to a contract, so a EULA is worthless in that sense which is why it states that they require permission. An "Epic" response would be to argue the act of the mom giving unrestricted access to her child to download and play the game was in fact giving permission for her child to play the game including all licensing of such.

But yeah suing over cheaters in a game is silly, throw down the ban hammer, be done with it.
 
katanaD said:
so he was trying to make money off cheating? ok, sue him/mom
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Don't think so, he was simply cheating, and he had a youtube video (probably really annoying with a whiny voice) of him showing how he did it. Should have DMCA'd his youtube channel
 
THUMPer said:
Pics of mom?
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I would post a tubgirl link here, but I don't want to be banned. :)

If you want to see what you're missing, google it, lol.



This kid gets legally fried, I hope, along with his parent(s).

There are people in prison for violating EULA's right now, this is no different just because it's a game.

I'd drop the case against the kid, sue the mom, and apologize to the Judge for believing his lies and thinking the Kid was legal to play their game.
Don't you have to be 18 to run a youtube channel? Probably yet another EULA lied to to get around... :facepalm:

If you're a parent, saying "He didn't have permission" will not work for most crimes; arson, murder come to mind. Why should it here?
 
sfsuphysics said:
While I think this lawsuit is dumb, some of the things in it... wow. They couldn't just ban the kid and be done with it?


Now if it's a minor in the US they can't agree to a contract, so a EULA is worthless in that sense which is why it states that they require permission. An "Epic" response would be to argue the act of the mom giving unrestricted access to her child to download and play the game was in fact giving permission for her child to play the game including all licensing of such.

But yeah suing over cheaters in a game is silly, throw down the ban hammer, be done with it.
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Try and atleast read the fucking main post lol, right from the top of the page montu wrote
"Epic Games isn't messing around these days when it comes to cheaters in their F2P game Fortnite. A 14 year old cheater was banned multiple times for cheating and then Epic decided enough was enough and took him to court. They claim the cheating is costing them money and they want some of it back from the cheaters. However, the cheaters mom says he didn't have permission to play so he shouldn't be sued. Anyway, I hope Epic continues to go after cheaters and the websites that sell the cheats. Thanks again, cageymaru!

The boy is accused of using cheat software that injects unauthorized code into the active memory of the game as it runs, not just codes. While he didn’t write the cheat himself, through his YouTube channel he showed others where to download it and asked for donations."


And then right in the article

"One of the accused is a young man, who was banned at least 14 times since he started playing. Every time Epic took action, he simply created new accounts under false names and continued to play and cheat at Fortnite."
 
Honestly I have about as much sympathy for this kid and his mother as a person who continuously talks on their cell phone loudly during a movie in a packed theater.

The mentality of "I paid my share, I can do whatever I want" is just an excuse used to justify their own personal greed among other things. Now him being 14, being banned multiple times, and "not having parental approval" is well one of the hard parts of being a parent, especially if the kid's mother isn't tech savvy enough to lock down the computer(s) to prevent the child from being on too much, installing applications, and etc.
 
Sounds like the kid needs more discipline, and the mother needs to take her responsibility seriously.
 
Amusingly they are taking a few others to court too, but using a different tact.
From the complaint filed against Vraspir.

In doing so it says, "Defendant is creating unauthorized derivative works of Fortnite by modifying the game code and, thus, materially altering the game that the code creates and the experience of those who play it." This, Epic argues, is in violation of Fortnite's End User License Agreement and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
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Source

auntjemima said:
Why wouldn't they just IP ban him and save themselves the headache.
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In the world of VPN it's harder and harder to make that a perma fix.
 
Account ban
IP ban
CC ban

Would take a few mins would probaly have soled it. Suing is like... wait what ? why even..? huge waste of legal system ressources , tons of bad pr, and a way slower resolution
 
SvenBent said:
Account ban
IP ban
CC ban

Would take a few mins would probaly have soled it. Suing is like... wait what ? why even..? huge waste of legal system ressources , tons of bad pr, and a way slower resolution
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I think suing cheaters is positive PR for the company.

In fact, I don't really see how it is bad PR, because it improves customer confidence in the company.
 
WTF is wrong with this woman? Instead of addressing her son's cheating she's gonna defend it and pretend its unpossible?
 
can they somehow get their local ISP to refuse internet access at their home or something? that'd be funny...
 
DrBorg said:
I would post a tubgirl link here, but I don't want to be banned. :)

If you want to see what you're missing, google it, lol.



This kid gets legally fried, I hope, along with his parent(s).

There are people in prison for violating EULA's right now, this is no different just because it's a game.

I'd drop the case against the kid, sue the mom, and apologize to the Judge for believing his lies and thinking the Kid was legal to play their game.
Don't you have to be 18 to run a youtube channel? Probably yet another EULA lied to to get around... :facepalm:

If you're a parent, saying "He didn't have permission" will not work for most crimes; arson, murder come to mind. Why should it here?
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You mother****er, that is nasty lmao.
 
MrDeaf said:
I think suing cheaters is positive PR for the company.

In fact, I don't really see how it is bad PR, because it improves customer confidence in the company.
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I played a few rounds of Fortnite with my buddies and was impressed with the game. Then we got into back to back games where one person killed everyone on the map and we uninstalled it. If they actually sue the cheaters in court it then our bunch of friends would love to play the game again. I'm not going to spend a dime on a game where some 14 year old literally murders the entire map in 3 minutes.

So yes, EPIC is right to sue them. Sue the pants off their parents. The parents should take ownership of what their children do. When I was in school if I intentionally broke the glass out of a door my parents had to pay for it to be replaced. Let these parents pay for their children ruining the experience of others and causing them to abandon the game.
 
It's not bad PR for EPIC to continue this lawsuit.
It's good PR that EPIC is willing to do what they need to stop cheaters.
Hell, I would believe that more strong-arming blatant cheaters, such as this kid, is needed. Age be damned.

Just because you're 14 doesn't mean you're invincible.

Keep in mind this kid was banned 14 times, creating more than 14 accounts to keep playing... So he would've had to agreed to the EULA 14 times? And to have agreed to the conditions and terms that many times.


One question though: How far should a game developer take to ensure their underage players get parental consent?
 
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The lawsuit is silly and should be tossed and laughed out of court. If Epic wants to protect their f2p game then have hardware id bans in place to deter kids like him. I doubt he’d be clever enough to spoof his way out of the ban as he’s just a kid that bought someone else’s code and that’s what 99% of cheaters do.
 
SvenBent said:
Account ban
IP ban
CC ban
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The Battle Royale mode in Fortnite is actually free-to-play while the other mode (co-op sandbox something or other) costs money. Cheating like this is always going to be a concern when a game is free because the barrier to entry is so low that cheaters simply make a new account when they get banned (which is what this kid did).

Rattle said:
Fortnite is horrible and cheating in a horrible game is even more horrible.
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I've been playing the Battle Royale mode for a week or two now and it's been hilarious fun. The wacky cartoonish style appeals to me in a TF2 kind of way and I've had a lot of fun both playing solo and with friends in the duo/squad modes. Most fun I've had in a game in years.
 
5150Joker said:
The lawsuit is silly and should be tossed and laughed out of court. If Epic wants to protect their f2p game then have hardware id bans in place to deter kids like him. I doubt he’d be clever enough to spoof his way out of the ban as he’s just a kid that bought someone else’s code and that’s what 99% of cheaters do.
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I think the amount of times he avoided his bans, has a YouTube channel and live streams - I don't think ID banning would work. Kids are clever and they have a lot of free time on their hands.
 
5150Joker said:
The lawsuit is silly and should be tossed and laughed out of court. If Epic wants to protect their f2p game then have hardware id bans in place to deter kids like him. I doubt he’d be clever enough to spoof his way out of the ban as he’s just a kid that bought someone else’s code and that’s what 99% of cheaters do.
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You sound like his mom? It's unpossible right? What's hilarious though really is how much cheating this kid must have done, how many times he got around the usual ip bans and what not to get on the radar of the developer. Seriously lol, how much of a douche must this kid have been!
 
Aix. said:
The Battle Royale mode in Fortnite is actually free-to-play while the other mode (co-op sandbox something or other) costs money. Cheating like this is always going to be a concern when a game is free because the barrier to entry is so low that cheaters simply make a new account when they get banned (which is what this kid did).



I've been playing the Battle Royale mode for a week or two now and it's been hilarious fun. The wacky cartoonish style appeals to me in a TF2 kind of way and I've had a lot of fun both playing solo and with friends in the duo/squad modes. Most fun I've had in a game in years.
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Never liked TF2 either...
 
Ragenrok said:
Try and atleast read the fucking main post lol,
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Damn can't win here... you read just the main post, people scream at you to RTFA when you ask/say something that's in TFA. You skim through TFA, lot more words, sorry I don't have time to digest everything. But yeah ok they banned him multiple times.... which is kind of funny in a way, if he was using VPN or some other service to change his IP how did they know it was him they were banning? TFA says :p that he simply created new accounts, could have just banned the local domain, or fuck if I know anything else, gotta agree with mom that the company is ineffective at dealing with cheaters.

YouTube channel he showed others where to download it and asked for donations."
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Whoopity do, everyone and their grandmother asks for donations these days, setting up Patreon accounts or something else. It's the digital version of street performers or in some case bums. I don't think I'd classify that as him making money off cheating though. I mean he may even have Youtube giving him money for views, but that's a pretty far stretch to say he's paid for doing this.
 
sfsuphysics said:
While I think this lawsuit is dumb, some of the things in it... wow. They couldn't just ban the kid and be done with it?


Now if it's a minor in the US they can't agree to a contract, so a EULA is worthless in that sense which is why it states that they require permission. An "Epic" response would be to argue the act of the mom giving unrestricted access to her child to download and play the game was in fact giving permission for her child to play the game including all licensing of such.

But yeah suing over cheaters in a game is silly, throw down the ban hammer, be done with it.
Click to expand...

The EULA is not worthless as it does not only define responsibilities of users, it also reserves the rights of the developer, hence, they can ban him, etc.

Mom can't just play ignorant and not be held responsible for her son's actions, it doesn't work that way. Mom is responsible for junior even if mom, specially if mom doesn't know what junior is up to.

Junior didn't click the button saying he was over 18? Either during the game install, while logging in, or when he downloaded from Steam?
 
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