Epic suing 14 year old Fortnite cheater

[Deleted]

Kotaku reports:

Last month, Epic took the unusual step of not just banning two Fortnite players from the game for cheating, but taking them to court. It’s since been revealed that one of the accused is only 14 years old, and his mother is not happy.

The cases began last month, when Epic began taking action against individual users who had used (and were allegedly associates of) the site Addicted Cheats to obtain “aimbots” that would give them a competitive edge in the game.

Those cheat services aren’t free, with players paying between $5-$15 a month for them.

Epic has decided to take the users to court, rather than just ban them, after deciding that the modification of the game’s code is against Fortnite’s End User License Agreement and the Copyright Act. It’s not listed in the case specifically which cheat program the 14-year-old had been using in his videos, though his YouTube channel does mention the service unknowncheats

“This particular lawsuit arose as a result of the defendant filing a DMCA counterclaim to a takedown notice on a YouTube video that exposed and promoted Fortnite Battle Royale cheats and exploits”, Epic says in a statement given to Kotaku. “Under these circumstances, the law requires that we file suit or drop the claim.

“Epic is not okay with ongoing cheating or copyright infringement from anyone at any age. As stated previously, we take cheating seriously, and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players.”


The Mother states the following:

She says that Fortnite’s terms require parental consent for minors, and that she never gave this consent.

She says the case is based on a loss of profits, but argues that it’s a free-to-play video game, and that in order to prove a loss Epic would need to provide a statement certifying that Rogers’ cheating directly caused a “mass profit loss”.

She claims that by going after individual players, rather than the websites selling/providing the software necessary to cheat in an online game, Epic is “using a 14 year-old child as a scapegoat”.

She claims that her son did not, as Epic allege, help create the cheat software, but simply downloaded it as a user, and that Epic “has no capability of proving any form of modification”.

Finally, the mother says that by releasing her son’s name publicly in conjunction with the move that Epic has violated Delaware laws related to the release of information on minors.

There’s also the matter, as TorrentFreak point out, that you can’t actually sue a minor directly, raising the possibility that Epic didn’t know the full identity of the accused before going ahead with the case.

Surely it's going to far to sue a 14 year old?

Source can be found here: https://kotaku.com/14-year-old-video...him-1820752579

[Sorshen]

And I thought playerunknown battleground s devs are retarded... this takes the crown.

[Jellospally]

This is extremely old news. This happened almost 6 months ago(the post was in Nov and the original they took it from was in Oct).

Random post is random.

This was back when the game was extremely new and they completely cracked down on it. Even less than 3 months into its launch cheaters were literally counted on your hands to the 10+mil that were already playing. Now you see literally nothing because they care about keeping the game without cheaters.

Don't pay for cheats esp in a game like that. Keep it to single player games.

Edit: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...t#post48198570

Posted 5 months ago on this forum... lol.

[Serenity91]

That retarded kid forced their hands, not sure why you're tying to blame epic for that lol.

[Slant]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

[Deleted]

Then don't cheat?

Not entirely sure what the age has to do with anything, seeing as how Fortnite has an ESRB rating of Teen, which as a 14 year old, he is.

And like another post above has already said, this is incredibly old news that came out around the time that Fortnite was just released.

Personally, props to the devs for having the balls to legally crack down on this instead of allowing there game to become the cesspool of aimbotting and wallhacking cheaters that most competitive FPS end up becoming.

[Arainie]

I don't feel a single thing for someone who makes youtube videos about cheating in any game. Whatever he got (whether it was just bad publicity or some financial liability in the end) he probably had it coming, it's just a shame that his parents are the ones ultimately responsible.

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

It's a bit unfair to compare games now and then. Back then (I assume you're referring to the 90's aka early PC gaming area, before online gaming became a big thing) the vast majority of all games were singleplayer only and had built in cheat codes, god modes and exploits that were never patched due to the games being entirely offline. The only one you ever punished by cheating was yourself :P

[Deleted]

It's not like they were randomly suing for aimbotting in the game, he was posting videos on youtube about the hacks, EPIC hit him with a DMCA, and then he was retarded enough to hit them with a counterclaim.

Like I said the last time this came up, brat deserves everything he's gonna get.

[Kalerender]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

Difference between cheating on a single player game, and cheating on a multiplayer game where the objective is to vs other human players.

I'm super casual about my single player stuff.. easy mode, turn on god mode, skip farming stuff and just create the object; because I just want to have a bit of fun. When I play an online vs game though, I play legit. I suck, but I won't ever cheat.

[Deleted]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

We still do that. For single player modes.
Exactly like we did "back in the day".

[Ryme]

Sure sucks to be a bragging cheater.

[Deleted]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

Back in the day those games were made to cheat, konami even went so far as to get "cheats" if you combined two certain games with each other. Cheat codes where not things that you'd create your self but rather something that the programmers put in there. This can be fun in a single player game, but not so much in an online game. When you have to battle other players the playing field needs to be equal. Give one person god mode and the game sucks instantly.

[Eleccybubb]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

Major difference between a code intentionally put in by the devs and someone paying to be able to aimbot/cheat in a multiplayer game.

The weapons cheat in GTA for example was put in intentionally for the single player modes.

Using an aimbot/hack in a MMO or competitive multiplayer game that the devs never programmed in however is not intentional.

[valky94]

one day we'll have laws governing this issue and you will go to fuck you in the ass prison for cheating online

i think in south korea there is alrdy a simmilar law

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Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

the difference between cheating in single player and multi player is huge

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As much as I dislike cheating in competetive online gaming, I feel like things like this don't belong into the realm of what courts should be dealing with. Cheating isn't illegal, and is only ever subject to "house rules".

kinda depends on what kind of cheat/hack we are talking about, if its a cheat/hack that edits gamefiles and is against the EULA they could take you to court over it as it is a breach against a "contrat" you made when you press OK after (not)reading the EULA disclamer after instaling the game/software

[Lynarii]

As Epic stated, their hand was forced.

They issued a DMCA takedown because he was publicizing the cheats.

He issued a counterclaim.

The DMCA laws explicitly state that in that scenario, they either /have/ to go for legal action or drop the claim entirely. He was betting on the idea that his age would protect him from any repercussions. He bet wrong. That's totally on his head, he brought it upon himself.

[Slant]

Difference between cheating on a single player game, and cheating on a multiplayer game where the objective is to vs other human players.

I'm super casual about my single player stuff.. easy mode, turn on god mode, skip farming stuff and just create the object; because I just want to have a bit of fun. When I play an online vs game though, I play legit. I suck, but I won't ever cheat.

To be fair, we've always cheated the hell out of each other when we played two player games. Sure we got upset about it, too. But that's half the best memories I have from those times. God I hated that dude that threw charges at my face and exploded them mid air. That strategy is still used today. But I still consider it cheating. You don't survive a C4 charge exploding 5m from you, even if you threw it yourself! :P

[Serpha]

Hmm, back in the day magazines had entire sections to cheats and cheat codes. It was a sport to find bugs to exploit. Gaming was so much more fun back then. :P

Only for single player games.

[Lynarii]

Does the DMCA actually cover publicizing cheats?

Not explicitly, but it does cover the part of the Fortnite gameplay and the like on screen as he played with the cheats. It's more that once you bring the DMCA in, there are rules for how it's supposed to be handled.

[Eleccybubb]

To be fair, we've always cheated the hell out of each other when we played two player games. Sure we got upset about it, too. But that's half the best memories I have from those times. God I hated that dude that threw charges at my face and exploded them mid air. That strategy is still used today. But I still consider it cheating. You don't survive a C4 charge exploding 5m from you, even if you threw it yourself! :P

Again different.

Most of those "two player" games weren't online and was usually friends messing about. And online gaming didn't really take off until the ps3/360 era for consoles. As for PC there were custom servers for a lot of games that used wacky rulesets but Valve Anti Cheat was most certainly a thing and bans did happen.

People say that bans weren't a thing back then but they most certainly were in large scale online multiplayer environments.

[Slant]

Silly comparison, cheating in COMPETITIVE games is a problem.

Yeah, I am not sorry for Fortnite.. it's not a competetive game. People need to stop trying to turn every little shit game into an esport. So people cheat, ban their accounts and be done with it. But dragging them in front of a court? Puhlease... don't make me laugh. :P

Code your shit better so it can't be cheated in. They should counter sue Epic for releasing shitty software.