In one of this year's loonier lawsuits, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore has been subpoenaed by an American videogamer and asked to testify on the subject of "alienation". Erik Estavillo is suing the makers of World of Warcraft, alleging that the game has alienated him from the real, orc-less world.
According to the San Jose, California resident, World of Warcraft is a "harmful virtual environment" and its developers follow "sneaky and deceitful practices". Despite this, Estavillo admits he "relies on videogames heavily for the little ongoing happiness he can achieve in this life". He just wants World of Warcraft to cost less money. And to stop making him so sad.
Which brings us to Depeche Mode, those purveyors of angst and sorrow. Estavillo's court filings put forward multi-instrumentalist songwriter Martin Gore as an expert witness on melancholy. Gore should be called to Santa Clara county superior court, Estavillio suggests, "since he himself has been known to be sad, lonely, and alienated, as can be seen in the songs he writes".
Should Gore want to car-pool to the courthouse, he can tag along with Winona Ryder. Estavillo has subpoenaed her as well, proposing that the actress's love of JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye will have taught her "how alienation in the book can tie to alienation in real live [sic] / videogames such as World of Warcraft."
If Erik Estavillo sounds like he might be an over-litigious, er, nut – well, we're just going to stay mum. The gamer's past grievances, all unsuccessful, include a suit against Microsoft, claiming a broken Xbox 360 caused him undue stress; a claim against Sony, alleging they violated his First Amendment rights by banning him from their network; and a claim against Nintendo, arguing that by blocking certain Wii software they interfered with his inalienable right to seek happiness.
Estavillo's suit was filed in California on Tuesday, GameSpot reports. He seeks $1m (£600,000) in damages and, presumably, a private New Wave serenade.