Scamville: class-action lawsuit brought against bogus offers in online games

Already sounded the alarm in: Scamville: the social gaming ecosystem from hell must not go unchecked. - but alas, too late. Game-playing social media folk have already called their lawyers; Lawsuit says ads in social games are scamming players

A class-action lawsuit last month highlights what thousands of consumers say are bogus offers tied to social games available on Facebook and other social networks. The 16-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in nearby Sacramento, details how Rebecca Swift, a 41-year-old self-employed resident of Santa Cruz, Calif., was lured into accepting two "special offers" from advertisers to gain extra game credits for YoVille, a popular virtual-world game developed by Zynga.

How will these game-apps survive when they continue to allow such ads, which have the side-effect of scaring away legitimate advertisers who don't want to be associated with "how high is your IQ" stupidity. If only legit advertisers had considered advertising in games in the first place, as the game-creators needed the cash.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus: "We did everything possible to get revenue" via techcrunch.

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