Video games can really immerse players so deeply, that at times gamers themselves will find it hard to separate fiction and reality. But clearly, this specific Destiny 2 player took it too far.
Destiny and former Halo developer Bungie has taken a certain Destiny 2 player, one called Luca Leone, to court for allegedly harassing devs in real life. According to a report by Eurogamer, Leone was sending threatening messages to members of the game's development team via his Twitter account, with one of his most prominent threats saying he wants to burn down bungie's offices.
There were even instances that Leone threatened Bungie employees, saying they were "not safe." This came with the apparent desire to move to the same neighborhood as Bungie's offices, and one particular employee that was on the receiving end of the threats was community manager Dylan Gafner. Leone even reportedly went as far as tweeting an image of Gafner's employee badge, while also indicating that he plans to move to a place half an hour away from the latter's residence.
Bungie filed the lawsuit against the Destiny 2 player at the Western district of Washington, but the threats were far from the only offenses they're accusing Leone of.
The aforementioned player was also quite notorious for playing the game with cheats on his YouTube channel, because of course he is. He also regularly streams Destiny 2 gameplay with cheats, while also boasting about how he manages to evade bans by creating multiple accounts, reports GamesRadar.
As a result, among the charges levied against Leone in court include breach of contract (for constantly violating Destiny 2's LSLA), fraud, DMCA anti-circumvention, and violation of the state of Washington's Consumer Protection Act. Bungie is reportedly seeking $150,000 in damages according to Engadget, alongside a rule preventing the offender from harassing, stalking, or engaging in unwanted contact with company employees and other Destiny 2 players.
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Ever The Problem
Due to his alleged rampant cheating on Destiny 2, Leone has been banned by Bungie from the game multiple times. But he keeps on evading these bans by creating a total of 13 accounts. With each new account, Leone breaches the game's LSLA (Limited Software License Agreement). He breached the agreement a total of 13 times, prompting Bungie to classify it as "serial fraud."
Aside from using cheats (which he is said to do even live on stream), Leone is also accused of being involved in selling Destiny 2 Emblems, which Kotaku reports could include ones from stolen accounts. For the unaware, Emblems are defined as personalization items. These can be found in the game by accomplishing triumphs or completing specific activities, but there's an apparent black market for them for those who aren't too interested in working to get them.
All in all, Bungie has revealed that Luca Leone's actions have actually affected the well-being of developers working on the game. Gafner, the community manager that Leone threatened, posted this on Twitter:
Cases of harassment against our developers have actively made it harder for us to communicate with the broader community. It has impacted more studios than just ours.
I hope that more folks can stand against this behavior in any community, whether it be gaming related or other.— dmg04 (@A_dmg04) July 17, 2022
Sometimes, people can really take it way too far over something as trivial as a video game.
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This article is posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce
