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A Maryland woman has filed a class action lawsuit against app maker Machine Zone, Inc., alleging that its Game of War app is a de facto game-of-chance, or casino, which is illegal.
Plaintiff Mia Mason claims that she purchased Game of War in early 2014 onto her smartphone. By January 2015, she had already “lost more than $100” playing the game.
Game of War is free on Android and Apple iOS devices. Players “create virtual towns and armies, and battle other Game of War players” to play.
When players first download the game, it comes with complimentary chips. When these chips run out, players must purchase virtual gold beginning at $4.99 for 1,200 gold pieces.
“While players can use Gold to improve their virtual towns and hasten their advancement in the game, these benign uses of Gold merely obfuscate the unlawful game of chance Machine Zone operates within Game of War,” the Game of War class action lawsuit states.
“In this game of chance — appropriately named the ‘Casino’ — players routinely wager hundreds of dollars for the chance of winning valuable prizes,” it explains.
“Players that win the most valuable prizes can then ‘cash out’ by listing their Game of War accounts on the secondary market, with the cash value of accounts rising commensurate with the value of awarded prizes. Game of War accounts listed at online auction sites regularly sell for hundreds of dollars,” it adds.
According to the class action lawsuit, Machine Zone has made more than $600 million since early 2014 by selling gold and chips within the game.
“Once consumers purchase Gold, they are able to buy ‘Chips’ at the game’s ‘Casino,'” Mason explains. “Defendant’s aptly named Casino, though, is nothing more than an illegal game of chance camouflaged as a benign videogame.”
And she alleges that it functions no differently than a slot machine in a traditional casino.
“Similar to traditional spinning wheels found in casinos, consumers do not have any ability to control what prizes Defendant awards upon a spin,” the Game of War class action lawsuit claims.
“After pressing the button to spin the wheel, Defendant does not accept any input or action until it awards the prize — no skill on the part of the consumer affects the outcome of a spin,” the class action states.
“The outcome of a spin depends entirely on the rules Defendant has programmed into the Game of War Casino,” it adds.
Mason explains in the class action lawsuit that there has been a “proliferation of internet-connected mobile devices as led to the growth of so-called ‘free-to-play’ videogames.
However, these free-to-play games come with a catch, as many developers encourage consumers to download and play games for free while selling many low-cost items within the game itself.”
Such free-to-play games earned developers $1.6 billion in 2012.
“With free-to-play games of chance, developers have begun exploiting the same psychological triggers as casino operators,” the Game of War class action lawsuit says.
“Just as with casino operators, free-to-play developers rely on a small portion of their players to provide the majority of their profits. These ‘whales,’ as they’re known in casino parlance, account for just ‘0.15 percent of players’ but provide ‘over 50 percent of mobile game revenue,'” Mason explains.
“Unfortunately, such games have eluded regulation in the United States.”
Mason is looking to represent a Maryland class and a nationwide class of individuals “who purchased chips from defendant and lost the chips by wagering at defendant’s Game of War Casino.”
The Game of War class action lawsuit alleges violations of California law regarding slot machines, of California’s unfair competition law, unjust enrichment, and the Maryland Loss Recovery Statute.
She is asking for damages, in the amount that any customers have paid playing Game of War and injunctive relief.
The plaintiff is represented by Maria C. Simon of The Geller Law Group and by Rafey S. Balabanian, Benjamin H. Richman and Amir C. Missaghi of Edelson PC.
The Game of War Illegal Gambling Class Action Lawsuit is Mia Mason v. Machine Zone, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
UPDATE: The Game of War Illegal Gambling Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed by the court on October 21, 2015. The plaintiff then appealed the dismissal. The appeals court affirmed the original ruling on April 10, 2017.
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92 thoughts onClass Action: Game of War is an Unlawful Casino Game
You must be completely bonkers. Firstly the casino feature is a sub-feature, and the idea that it is the primary part of the game is absolutely ludicrous. Secondly, you aren’t actually allowed to sell accounts, so there isn’t any *cashing out* as you called it. Finally, you don’t deserve to be reimbursed for the money you spent on the game, that was your independent choice and it is by no means mandatory to do so. Why can’t people take a little responsibility for their own actions these days, you’re not children anymore! Oh, and no, I do not work for MZ, I have played the game and managed to enjoy it by spending very little.
The game used to bombard us with Ads which are misleading..
Yes. Those ads didnt even portray the actual in-game experience. I suspect a cease-and-desist was sent, as they seem to have scaled the ads back somewhat… (although I would assert they still arent even really close to what you actually do in the game)
You people are ridiculous! It is a video game, a hobby, if you choose to spend money on it, its on you. Stop playing the game, and start collecting baseball cards, or coins, and let me know how far you get in that hobby without spending any money. The money that you spend, which is completely optional, is the price that you pay for entertainment. You cant go to a football game for free, or go to a concert, or a movie for free. You can however, play a video game for free, unless you choose to spend the money on yourself.
I’m with bob here. Grow up. A lawsuit….why? Because you spent the money and then realized you weren’t interested in the game? Because really if you enjoy the game, and you enjoy spending your hard earned money on it like I do then there shouldn’t be a problem. And it’s completely wrong about the packs. They are huge now. 20 mill gold per pack. 80k speeds, 500 bill in rss. This makes me sick. I’m over 150 bill in power and have invested for over a year, but I enjoy it. Maybe next
Time you will think about where you invest your money. Or if you don’t have the money to spend then don’t! Come on now! This is the worst lawsuit they could possibly have, I’m sure there are more ligitmit lawsuits. Pathetic.
I’m a totally free player. Yes you can play for free and have fun but it took me 8 months to get my account to a level where I can play the mine with it. This game is designed so as to make you an addict and I am. In the kingdom where I am, I have not met any other player of my size (50 million) who hasn’t spent at least $5. The thing is people can’t spend their all day playing so they spend money so that their account becomes more powerful and once you’ve started spending it is very hard stopping. I would advice people not starting playing this game because it is too addictive and you’ll probably end up spending at least 500 USD so as to get the T4. 500 USD for an addictive game on your mobile phone. I personally find it stupid to waste money like that which is why I never have bought what they call a pack.
I spent nothing and got to T4 in about 8 months time too.
its impossible to do that it costs over a million in gold to get academy to lvl21 and the speeds alone you would need would cost you 20m in gold so quit lying
You can play for free and still get the casino chips for free. You do the free quests and get alliance points to use in alliance store where you can buy casino chips for again free. So if you chose to spend money on the game it’s your own fault. To get speed ups trade resources to another alliance member that has money to throw away on the game so you can grow if you do events that give back gold and speed ups.
Yeah right lol do you work for MZ? Ha getting stuff for free. What a joke. Sure they give you stuff but it’s not even to do anything with. It’s like saying here’s a penny go buy a house. By the way if you don’t make up the difference you get to sleep in a sewer. And yes yes it is a choice to spend or not to spend but if you don’t spend good luck doing anything on this game. It’s psychologically designed to make you spend large amounts of money.
I agree with this. I have spent nearly 10k in this app. Not only have they changed the events mid stream which makes you lose money, they have server issues as well. Customer service is ineffective as well. I believe a class action lawsuit against this developer/game is warranted and would like to be a part of it.
how do you get on this lawsuit?
This game sells you a dream. They will tell you to get the newest gear like the fire age and you will literally have to spend $10,0000 to get the materials like blue flames. Im on the borderline of being homeless trying to get my hero right just so I can be zeroed in 3 minutes by some billionaire named StayAlive77. I skip two meals a day now it’s only dinner for me because I got to finish research and March tree took $8,000 to finish next research tree I’ll title loan my car and start going to work on bicycle because GOW ruins lives!
If this post is true, you need to get some professional help… Its a game.
Whoa dude, with all that money spent you should be well enough off that you can put 30 day sheilds on and only get on to replace your sheild, easy way to make sure you do is to set an alarm on the device you use for the game. Use the sheilded time to your advantage and get your life straight, do not play the game for any other reason then to re-sheild! You need to get your life back on tract, this game is an addiction, I know, I’ve already spent thousands on it and I’m hating myself for it. It’s bad and has led to my divorce, but I’m working on leaving it alone, you should do the same.
I gave my account away in October or November. Think I spent close to $10,000 myself. Unless you want to wait over 2000 days for a research to finish you end up buying pack after pack after pack. If you participate in a lawsuit against Machine Zone they will ban you. I REFUSED to be forced to accept their new tos to access my game so I gave it away. Wish they’d give me my money back. Hell, even half!! It constantly froze, wouldn’t connect to servers, glitches out on gold monsters, glitches out on battles so you got zeroed yet it’s OUR fault? Flip no! They don’t give a damn as long as the money is rolling in. I’d love to be in this law suit.
Same here id like to get atleast half my 4k back
Totally agree with you!! They say unlock your March tree or get amazing fire age gear with this pack then you can’t actually do much at all with a single pack they lead you to believe!! If a restaurant said pay this for an awesome sandwich, then only gave you bread you’d go mad and get your money back. EAb
No she isn’t off her tree. I’ve spent over $10k and the text is correct. This game is nothing more than an online casino. Although the actual casino in the game is the very smallest portion of the rip off. They advertise the gold packages such as \get your presets now assuming you are able to obtain the presets by buying that gold pack. Which isn’t true. You actually need to spend upwards of $500 to get the presets and that’s just the first levels. Furthermore the materials needed to get gear is also a chance or luck in the gold packages. Which they also make it seem as though purchasing the gold pack will allow you to get the gear which it does not unless you spend absurd amounts of money which I have. This game is extremely addicting and has all the same properties of a casino environment visually and psychologically.
Totally agree with you!! They say unlike your March tree or get amazing fire age gear with this pack then you can’t actually do much at all with a single pack they lead to believe!! If a restaurant said pay this for an awesome sandwich, then only gave you bread you’d go mad and get your money back. EAb
I’ve easily spent over $1,000 on this game. Yes it is very addicting. However, the casino now no longer exists. Now it is a dungeon that you buy energy for. You can spend your gold on energy or buy packs that energy. Then once you’ve spent a ton of energy you get a treasure chest or you pick chests until a bomb appears. Depending on what level you have unlocked via buying packs. While I understand it’s the players choice to buy packs, over the past year they have made it so you need the packs to grow. TOS has changed so that if you attempt to sell your account you get banned, if you try to buy packs anywhere other than GOW you get banned. If their servers crash and your kingdom is “zeroed” they are not responsible. Customer service sucks and the game lags. They don’t care. At one time there was a boycott and if you got caught participating you were subject to being banned.
Seriously..there are many f2p games that have packages and events that pertain to gambling.It depends whether that person is willing and stupid enough to pay for it.You can also get chips from alliance store and you still win not lose when you play the chips..due to resources you need in building.If the game is giving you a gambling addiction simply don’t play it and go to rehab.Every f2p game would be out of business if everyone bought a suit against them and you can make gold without spending a cent on the game packages.
You’re an idiot. You sit there and think “I wasn’t stupid enough to do it, why weren’t they?” These big game companies have big thinkers who dwell on ideas of how to exploit people. Using your logic cocaine should be legal. I can snort here and there, but screw the guys who do it too much.