Resistance player sues Sony after getting the banhammer

What do you do when you get banned from Resistance: Fall of Man and, subsequently, the PlayStation Network? Sue Sony, of course! That’s the course of action Erik Estavillo of San Jose is pursuing after he was banned from playing R:FoM and other PSN-enabled games while “exercising his First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech in the game’s public forum.”

What do you do when you get banned from Resistance: Fall of Man and, subsequently, the PlayStation Network? Sue Sony, of course!

That’s the course of action Erik Estavillo of San Jose is pursuing after he was banned from playing R:FoM and other PSN-enabled games while “exercising his First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech in the game’s public forum.”

Estavillo’s lawsuit doesn’t mention the specific reason why he was banned in the first place, but it does detail the problems he’s had since the ban was enforced:

The pain and suffering was caused by the defendant, Sony, banning the plaintiff’s account on the PlayStation 3 Network, in which the plaintiff relies on to socialize with other people, since it’s the only way the plaintiff can truly socialize since he also suffers from Agoraphobia…

Aside from the pain and suffering, Estavillo also alleges that Sony’s ban is effectively theft of the pre-paid points he already loaded onto his PSN wallet:

The plaintiff…cannot access [his] money when a moderator from Resistance and Sony gives a player a arbitrary wide-range ban… which in essence, is stealing money from the player…

Estavillo is now asking the court of law to keep Sony from banning players. He’s also asking for US$ 55,000 in punitive damages. GamePolitics also notes that Estavillo appears to be unrepresented.

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Via GamePolitics