“`html
CNBC AI News, July 26th – Tencent is facing a lawsuit in what’s being dubbed China’s first algorithm-related gaming legal battle. A seasoned player of Tencent’s wildly popular mobile game, “Honor of Kings” (王者荣耀), with seven to eight years of experience, has filed a lawsuit against Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd. and Tencent Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. The case, initiated by a lawyer from Qingdao, Shandong province, is scheduled to be heard in the Nanshan District People’s Court of Shenzhen on August 12th.
The lawsuit stems from the plaintiff’s observations during ranked matches. After a series of victories, she allegedly experienced a pattern of being matched with less skilled teammates and formidable opponents, resulting in alternating wins and losses that seemingly pushed her win rate towards 50%.
While acknowledging she is not an elite-level player, she maintains that she can achieve the “King” rank in the season. However, the opaque nature of the matching algorithm has led her to believe that she is being manipulated by the system, sparking significant concerns.
The lawyer initially filed the case on June 18th of last year, but only received notification of its formal acceptance after 8 months and 246 days, in February of this year.
The lawsuit is based on Article 8 of China’s Consumer Rights Protection Law, which stipulates consumers’ right to be informed about the true nature of goods or services.
As an “Honor of Kings” player, she argues she has the right to understand how the game matches teammates and opponents, but was unable to find such information on the official website or elsewhere. To safeguard her right to know, she filed the lawsuit.
She is seeking a court order compelling the two defendants to disclose the “Honor of Kings” player matching mechanism, including the specific factors influencing matches and their respective proportions and weights in different game modes such as ranked matches and peak matches.
Reports indicate that the “Honor of Kings” team traveled to Qingdao to communicate with the lawyer and address many of her questions, but maintained that the game’s matching mechanism is a trade secret and cannot be publicly disclosed.
The lawyer stated that there is no precedent for similar cases in China. While hopeful for a favorable outcome, she expressed that her primary goal is to raise awareness among lawmakers and industry professionals about algorithmic fairness in the gaming industry, given its immense size and the profound impact algorithms have on countless players.
“`
Original article, Author: Tobias. If you wish to reprint this article, please indicate the source:https://aicnbc.com/5693.html
