Betrayed, ‘murdered’ & racially abused, Chennai gamer gets Rs 55,000 from Sony PlayStation
From being an active online gamer who used to spend about eight hours a day playing games, the 25-year-old was shut out from his PlayStation Plus membership for 60 days.
CHENNAI: After being backstabbed, ‘murdered’ online, racially abused, and then locked out from the account for 60 days, an avid gamer from Chennai who went through a horrid time finally won a minor victory after a consumer forum in Chennai directed Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe Ltd, the maker of PlayStation, to pay a sum of Rs 50,000 towards compensation for unfair trade practice, deficiency in service, monetary loss, mental agony, pain and suffering.
For the complainant, Chidambaram M from Perambur, the whole ordeal started with backstabbing. In 2022, he was hooked on to Rainbow Six Siege, a popular tactical shooter game that has counterterrorism operation as the background story. As with all such games, he and others in the team are supposed to work together and achieve the goal.
Other than Chidambaram and a friend, there were two other players in the team. As the game proceeded, one of the teammates carrying the name Xanyy VDC shot Chidambaram’s character. Following this, Chidambaram was eliminated from the game.
Furious over this, Chidambaram created a group within PlayStation, added Xanyy VDC and questioned why he shot him despite being on the same team. Instead of expressing regret, Xanyy told Chidambaram “ur black” (sic). Taken aback by this, Chidambaram asked "really so what". The player then told him, “cannot see you at night, India is a ghost town at night.”
Angry over the racist comments, Chidambaram reported Xanyy to Sony. However, more shock was in store as Sony suspended Chidambaram's PlayStation account for 60 days instead of taking action against Xanyy VDC for his comments.
From being an active online gamer who used to spend about eight hours a day playing games, the 25-year-old was shut out from his PlayStation Plus membership for 60 days.
Chidambaram immediately contacted Sony's customer care and sent an email stating that he lost access to his PlayStation online games for no fault of his. However, he received a mail in reply alleging that he had violated community standards.
Not willing to let things be, Chidambaram filed a case with the Chennai North Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. He told the panel that he owned a Play Station with a Plus subscription to play games with other players online. Chidambaram said has been a subscriber since 2014, and has made frequent purchases through PlayStation for several lakh rupees since then.
Citing these, he demanded a sum of nearly Rs 25 lakh for the mental agony he had to go through, deficiency of service, litigation costs, and other expenses.
After hearing the case, the commission headed by president D Gopinath, and members V Ramamurthy and Kavitha Kannan, charged Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe with unfair trade practice and poor service.
The commission directed the company to pay a sum of Rs 50,000 towards compensation for unfair trade practice, deficiency in service, monetary loss, and mental agony suffered by the complainant. Additionally, it also slapped a sum of Rs 5,000 towards litigation cost.
