Quote of the Day – Hard Earned Station Cash

Lawyers to get $2.75M for SOE/PSN/Qriocity Class Action Suit for 2011 Security Breach — We’ll Get 450SC

Feldon, Headline over at EQ2 Wire

Set the Wayback Machine for May 2011, back when EverQuest still needed its own subscription, I was still active on the Fippy Darkpaw time locked progression server, the instance group was flailing about in New Halas, free to play in Norrath was the exclusive domain of something called EverQuest II Extended, triple Station Cash sales were all the rage, and we had just killed Osama Bin Laden while dodging the rapture yet again.

It was also the time of the great Sony hack… erm… the FIRST great Sony hacking when the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment were brought down.

It was a time of confusion, inconvenience, and unironic usage of the word “soon” by Sony employees.  I had just purchased a PlayStation 3 and I had just invested my game focus in EverQuest and EverQuest II, so it was kind of a disruption to have SOE go down for nearly two weeks… and through two full weekends.

But Sony tried to make it up to us.  On the PlayStation side of things there were free games handed out, while SOE had a whole Make Good Plan that included a 30 day free extension of all subscriptions, that triple Station Cash sale linked above, special goodies and events in individual games, and an extra 500 Station Cash for Station Access subscribers.  And Sony offered everybody a free subscription to a service to protect people from identity theft.

They tried to mollify us, but it was apparently not enough!

Lawyers were called in… by somebody… they seem to file class action lawsuits first, then go looking for a class to represent second… and a suit was filed.

And now, nearly four years later, I might end up with as much as 450 additional Station Cash.  It could be less if too many people sign up for the settlement… and you have to sign up… because there is a cap on Station Cash payments of four million dollars, which works out to 400 million in Station Cash.  So, by my calculation, if more than 888,889 people sign up, I could be out some Station Cash.

I wonder how many people had active SOE accounts back in that time frame in 2011?

You can also file for up to $2,500 in compensation for costs incurred by any identity theft that was a result of the hacking, with a cap of one million dollars on total payouts.

Finally, there is an interesting proviso that allows for a cash out of your Station Cash if, due to the “Intrusions” you did not sign in afterwards and created no additional accounts.

When you submit a claim for this benefit, your existing SOE accounts will be locked so that any wallet balances can be calculated. If your claim is approved, your wallet balance will be extinguished and your existing accounts will be closed.

If you are never coming back, I suppose that is an option.

And the lawyers in all of this are asking for $2.75 million for their trouble.

If you want your 450 Station Cash, you can find the details over at EQ2 Wire or in the email that will eventually find its way to you from Sony.

Note to Bhagpuss: Americans only. No Station Cash for you!  Says so in the official Commonly Asked Questions page for the suit.