A string of six videogame addiction lawsuits have recently been filed against Microsoft,
Activision Blizzard, Roblox, Epic Games, Rockstar, and other major game developers and publishers. The complaints, which were all submitted to courts within the past 12 months, claim that game developers are intentionally making players addicted to their games.
As part of a motion filed this month to dismiss one of the complaints, that of an Arkansas woman and her son, the targeted game developers called it "an attack on the First Amendment rights of videogame creators."
The Arkansas lawsuit alleges that Roblox, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Minecraft, and other popular games used "addictive psychological features" to hook the son starting when he was 12 years old. Now 21, he currently spends $350 a month on games, dropped out of school, has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and "anxiety," and has experienced "withdrawal symptoms such as rage, anger, and physical outbursts," according to the suit. It also alleges that the mother could not regulate her son's gaming because she "feared" him as a result of his outbursts.
The complaint says that the game developers are liable for defective and negligent designs that "take advantage of the chemical reward system of a user's brain (especially a minor) to create addictive engagement, compulsive use, and additional mental and physical harm," as well as failure to warn users of the risk of addiction.
In their motion to dismiss, the developers' lawyers argue that games are an expressive medium, as established in a
2011 Supreme Court decision, and that finding their expression "too entertaining" is not a valid reason to limit constitutionally protected speech. They also say that the plaintiffs fail to clearly establish what features of each game specifically caused harm and how.
The complaint dedicates a number of pages to describing generally the alleged addictive properties of each game. Some commonly criticized aspects of modern games come up, such as "predatory monetization" and deceptive UI tricks called "
dark patterns," but many of the complaints relate to aspects of games we'd consider normal or positive.
Call of Duty, for instance, is criticized for rewarding players with gun and attachment unlocks, which the suit calls "a form of operant conditioning," as well as for featuring "fast-paced play, satisfying graphics, sounds, and other dopamine lifts." Minecraft's multiplayer features are said to "addict players to connecting with others in the Minecraft world" and the suit warns that players with ADHD "can become easily hyper focused and addicted to building worlds." Grand Theft Auto 5, the suit says, "includes endless arrays of activities and challenges to continually engage users and ensure they are never bored."
The game developers say that the complaint uses "ominous" terms like "feedback loop" and "monetization scheme" to justify attacking regular, creative features that make their games more attractive and challenging.
"That Plaintiffs find the expression in games 'too persuasive' and 'catchy'—ie, too entertaining—'does not permit [them] to quiet the speech or to burden its messengers,'" the developers said.
