New law in Illinois to make it easier to cancel MMO subscriptions

More game legislation today. GamePolitics reports that, due to one consumer’s difficulty in cancelling his MMO subscription, a new law has been passed in Illinois that essentially makes it illegal to have difficult unsubscription processes in MMORPGs. Find out what that spells for MMOs everywhere after the jump.

The power of the inconvenienced consumer is strange yet wonderful all the same. It seems that due to one consumer’s difficulty in canceling his MMO subscription, a new law has been passed in Illinois that essentially makes it illegal to have difficult unsubscription processes in MMORPGs.

As the story goes, Alex Edwards wanted to unsubscribe from Square Enix‘s Final Fantasy XI (PS2, PC, Xbox 360). The problem was that he couldn’t find a way to unsubscribe online, resulting in the Edwards family having to call up the game service provider and go on hold for an hour and 45 minutes just to cancel the game.

While your usual story of game cancellation would usually end there, this one takes a political turn. Alex Edwards’ father, Frank, just happens to be an Alderman in Springfield, Illinois who’s a good friend of the local State Rep., Raymond Poe.

Rep. Poe (R) introduced a bill, known as HB4178 (and is viewable through this external link), which passed both the Illinois House and Senate in May, and was signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on Tuesday.

Here’s the important text of the new law:

An Internet gaming service provider must give a consumer who is an Illinois resident the following: (1) a secure method at the Internet gaming service provider’s web site that the consumer may use to cancel the service, which method shall not require the consumer to make a telephone call or send U.S. Postal Service mail to effectuate the cancellation; and (2) instructions that the consumer may follow to cancel the service at the Internet gaming service provider’s web site.

While this blogger personally doesn’t approve of legislation being passed simply because one guy is displeased with a process, however bothersome that process is, the law is a nice one for trying to protect the interests of MMO players who want to stop playing a game.

The main problem will be seeing how this law gets implemented for certain MMOs, as we doubt this law can punish MMO companies operating outside the United States (or perhaps outside Illinois). Also, we’re wondering if console MMOs will be required by this law to have easily accessible cancellation options via the console’s onboard interface.

In any event, we’ll see if any updates are forthcoming regarding this new bit of legislation. Stay tuned.

• New York Governor David Paterson passes video game legislation
• U.S. Senator Roger Wicker introduces videogame rating legislation