ArwingFan Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Apparently reviewing games is a crime now. Here's an article about it: http://www.examiner.com/article/indie-developer-digital-homicide-sues-gaming-critic-jim-sterling Here's what the article says: Notorious indie developer, Digital Homicide, has announced a lawsuit against gaming critic Jim Sterling. Sterling and Digital Homicide's feud began in 2014, when he covered one of their games, The Slaughtering Grounds, in a first impressions video that was very critical of the game. Sterling's critiques included stolen artwork, ill-fitting asset models, an inconsistent art direction, incompetent programming, and an inconsistent frame-rate. The description of the video described the game as "another absolute failure." In retaliation, Digital Homicide released a video mocking Sterling's playing abilities and repeatedly used the phrase "I'm Jim F--king Sterling, Son." The situation escalated with a series of YouTube videos from both parties mocking the other, which eventually culminated into a DMCA take-down Strike against Sterling's first impressions video. Digital Homicide justified the take-down stating,“The DMCA filed is not to censor review’s [sic]” and “There are countless negative review videos posted (including multiple sterling videos) and only one in particular with a DMCA filed on it. The reason is we have a legitimate claim, we can prove a violation of our copyright (fair use is not blanket immunity) and damages.” Despite this, Sterling was able to bring the video back online. The two parties eventually agreed to a Skype conversation where Digital Homicide could confront Sterling with their reservations. In the exchange, Digital Homicide developer Robert Romine warned Sterling that “One day, you’re gonna have enough subscribers, you’re gonna make enough money on your Patreon thing and somebody’s gonna get tired of your sh-t and they’re gonna sue you. I’m not saying we are, I’m saying somebody’s gonna have the money to do it and they’re gonna win.” According to Sterling, shortly after the Skype conversation, Romine later called him to "come to an understanding." In the phone call, Romine expressed his intentions in suing Sterling if he continued to cover their games. Romine cited an article in which Sterling called one of their artworks stolen, when it had actually been bought from Shutterstock. Despite the fact that Sterling had corrected the article, Romine claimed that in Arizona, even a corrected article is grounds for defamation. Sterling then claims that when he told Romine that he would need to consult his legal counsel, Romine responded that he would see Sterling in court. Digital Homicide will be representing themselves in the suit. They don't have an attorney, but they had attempted to crowdfund the suit. Digital Homicide then took down its crowdfunding request “due to harassers donating amounts specifically to cause charges rather than donations and charge backs to cause financial fees...[W]e will be seeking another avenue for donations.” Sterling has been mostly mum on the suit. He claims to be in high spirits and is "fully confident" in dealing with the lawsuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoo Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Sounds interesting, but I can't see anything past the uncloseable advertisement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArwingFan Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 18 minutes ago, Hoobanana said: Sounds interesting, but I can't see anything past the uncloseable advertisement. Fixed that for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navis Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 better love story than the coleco chameleon. (but really that's stupid) they should stop and give the money to African kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Orange Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 >Developter suing over critic "This is going to be of the funny." >For $10 million Oh wait. They're out for Blood. Someone is going to be coming out of this dead and sprawled. I need popcorn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Ain't Falco Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Like DH would have made 10 mil, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xidphel Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZComposer Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 What a terrible article. It doesn't even mention the claimed damages. He sued Jim in Federal Court, and here is the filing: https://www.docdroid.net/k5yw9tP/1-main.pdf.html He also filed, "pro se" which means he's representing himself, which is never a good idea. It's obvious, too, because no attorney would ever file this mess. Here's a gem: Quote [in response to Jim's claim he had taken artwork from 'elsewhere'] A link is provided to deviant art. The initial Slaughtering Grounds art was not taken from this site. It was a free upload to a wallpaper site and was a derivative work, which when it was discovered that the artist did not have full rights to put it up for free, it was immediately removed. [Jim's] article falsely states that The Plaintiff used an image that the Plaintiff did not have rights to. Most of the claims are against Jim's statement of opinion. Opinions are not libel as they are not asserting any facts about anyone. My prediction: If the case isn't dismissed outright over jurisdiction, it would be quickly dismissed by the judge and Jim would be awarded attorney's fees because I'm pretty sure Jim isn't dumb enough to go to court without a lawyer, unlike this clown. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Ain't Falco Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Somewhere, some judge is gonna have a good laugh. It should also be noted that DigiHom has claimed to have a lawyer "tugging at the bit" to sue Jim, so it's a bit of a shady detail that they won't be represented by this miracle suing machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommanderRed Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pgpaw3 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 This is a great story. I did the maths on their claims awhile ago, and unless I am missing or misunderstanding something they can't seem to do basic maths. Direct Product Damage: 2,261,000 Emotional, reputational and finacial distress: $4,300,000 Punitive damage request: $5,000,000 Total: $10,761,000 Now, accoring to my maths, all of that actually adds up to $11,561,000, not $10,761,000. Just a casual $800,000 discrepancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vy'drach Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Wat? I mean, just... wat? My favorite part was that they tried to crowdfund it and the resulting action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZComposer Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 I like how he filed the lawsuit first, and then tried to crowdfund for a lawyer. On the other hand, Jim could probably put up a call to help him pay legal bills and enough people would donate that he could hire one of the top law firms in the country. That would be fucking hilarious to watch. I would love to be in the gallery in that courtroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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