World of Warcraft is one of the biggest MMORPGs in the world today. Created by Blizzard Entertainment, the same people who brought us Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft, World of Warcraft or WOW as it is called has created an online world for people to live out their fantasies as orcs, undead and female elves while battling baddies drawn from mankind's collective lore. The need to collect new and better items in order to dress up their characters and show off to other players has prompted player groups otherwise known as guilds to adopt real world special tactics training in order to clear dungeons faster, kill the enemy boss characters and grab the loot. Along with specialized training came the idea to communicate with one another thru voice instead of text.
One of the most popular programs among WOW users for team based voice communication due to its low bandwidth requirements is Ventrilo. Ventrilo or Vent as it is called is a proprietary Voice over IP program with clients for Microsoft and Mac OS X. Most users of the program use a headset or microphone to talk freely to each other, similar to a telephone conference call. The use of voice to communicate with one another is a big advantage as the hands are freed from the burden of typing text messages and can be devoted solely to command and control functions.
However, malicious individuals have discovered how to hack Ventrilo and have proceeded to harass their fellow players by repeatedly playing pre-recorded audio lines that drive the victims out of their minds due to the sheer repetition. An example of Duke Nukem style Ventrilo harassment can be found in the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE3KdcTgrno&feature=related
In theory, the perpetrators of this online harassment can be found more easily than other hackers as only members of the Ventrilo server who are logged in can transmit audio data. The penalty for such behavior is usually a ban on the account of the perpetrator. However, such may be insufficient as the victim of Ventrilo harassment may suffer a nervous breakdown as well as anxiety and sleepless nights due to the online abuse.
Can an action for damages be enforced against abusive account holders if they reside in a foreign country. Probably not, as the expenses that may be entailed in enforcing the judgment overseas would exceed the amount awarded. But to my mind the following solution is possible; instead of just banning abusive online players, it may be possible to set up a Cyber Court composed of player arbitrators that have authority based on the end user license agreement to render a judgment and charge the perpetrators' credit card or Paypal account a certain fixed amount that is stipulated in the end user license agreement as penalty for abusive behavior. The amount will be credited to the victim's account. The basis of the judgment will be contact law and the end user license agreement can specify the forum wherein appeals from judgments of the Cyber Court may be had.
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