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U.S. judge blocks programs letting 'Grand Theft Auto' players 'cheat'
A federal judge on Thursday awarded Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, a preliminary injunction to stop a Georgia man from selling programs that it said helps players cheat at the best-selling video game.
Take-Two had accused David Zipperer of selling computer programs called Menyoo and Absolute that let users of the "Grand Theft Auto V" multiplayer feature Grand Theft Auto Online cheat by altering the game for their own benefit, or "griefing" other players by altering their game play without permission.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan said Take-Two was likely to show that Zipperer infringed its "Grand Theft Auto V" copyright, and that his programs would cause irreparable harm to its sales and reputation by discouraging users from buying its video games.
Stanton also said an injunction would serve the public interest by encouraging Take-Two to invest more in video games and was appropriate because of the "high risk" that Zipperer, who claimed to be unemployed, could not afford damages.
Also at Motherboard, Variety, Kotaku, and Comicbook.com.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday August 20 2018, @03:36PM (1 child)
...which ought to be the right of the person running the server. It's their server, why can't they run it how they wish? What right does Take-Two Interactive have to say what bits I can transmit over my own network connection? They can start doing that when they include that connection (and its costs) as part of their game and provide it themselves. Until then: my network, my software, my rules.
It also means you don't even require a clean install to "fix" the problem -- just go back to the lobby and join a new game. What's the problem? They don't want to be bothered to build a game that people actually want to play (ie, find a way to flag the cheaters so you can decide if you want to join, or just host the servers themselves) so they resort to legal action instead to mask the flaws in their product. Fucking typical....
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Tuesday August 21 2018, @01:00AM
I don't necessarily disagree with your view. In my opinion the company should be running the damn game servers if they care about keeping their game cheat-free. They're cheaping out by only providing the lobby (and locking you down to still needing to connect to their servers, unlike the olden days when you could host freely on your LAN).