Gamers claiming that Origin and Electronic Arts shipped Ultima Online with substantial defects were defeated in their attempts to be recognized as a class. That decision was rendered yesterday, Wednesday. And while the gamers' attorney George Schultz vowed to press on, he may never get the chance.

　　Tomorrow, the judge who denied Schultz' request to have his group of clients considered a class will decide on an Electronic Arts request to have Schultz disqualified as the attorney representing those gamers.

　　The "motion to disqualify counsel" alleges that attorney George Schultz is guilty of numerous "lapses" in protocol that make him unfit to continue his legal duties in this case.

　　That motion, filed last month by attorneys representing EA and Origin Systems, accuses Schultz of a "reckless attitude toward the oath to tell the truth and reflect a willingness to sign legal documents without regard to their truth." EA attorneys argue that not all of the six named plaintiffs (gamers) fully knew the contents of their depositions - yet they signed those depositions at the encouragement of Schultz.

　　The motion continues: "iven Mr. Schultz's preparation of the false declarations in support of the certification motion, his preparations of, and instructions to sign, the unsupported verifications, his strong, almost fanatical, bias against defendants demonstrated by the false and scandalous public postings ," he has committed "ethical violations" of a magnitude where the court should disqualify him from acting as plaintiff's counsel.

　　In related UO news, Electronic Arts issued a statement on Wednesday addressing the court's decision to deny class certification. In part it reads:

　　"We are very pleased with the Court's decision and proud of Ultima Online, which is a ground-breaking and innovative game. The determination today reaffirms what we have said from the beginning, namely that Internet gaming is a unique phenomenon."

　　"For a persistent world internet game with thousands of players, each player's experience is different and the quality of game play depends not only on the quality of the software and the service, but also on each player's subjective expectations, conduct of other players, social issues raised by developing online communities, and the complexities of the Internet itself. These issues and how they affect a massively multiplayer game are simply not suited to 'class action' treatment. A different decision by the Court could have had a chilling effect indeed on creativity and multiplayer game playing on the Internet."

　　Origin's vice president and general manager, Neil Young, added the following to the statement: "We are relieved with the Court's decision today. We are gratified by the thousands of messages of support we have received from Ultima Online players, as well as other game developers. We believe that the Court's decision is a validation that creative risks are worth taking and are, in fact, the lifeblood of our industry."

　　In fact, there are still a few options Schultz has at his disposal. One would be to seek permission from the court to amend his original complaint and appeal Judge McConnell's decision. A second option would be to pursue litigation against EA and Origin representing only specific individuals and seeking only damages payable to those gamers.

　　Before that can happen, though, Schultz will have to see what the judge decides tomorrow.