Refusal to Hire MMO Players–Employment Discrimination? Not So Much.

Posted by Liz Surette on December 18, 2008

A recent posting on GamePolitics regarding the anecdote in which a (supposed) recruiter was told not to hire WoW players has been stirring up a lively discussion and maybe even a little aggro. So everyone please come read this before you do anymore ridiculous flaming.

Assuming it’s true that such…err…”instances” of refusal to hire applicants on account of their WoW accounts are true, is there any recourse for the chagrined applicant? Short answer: no. Long answer: no employment law exists that makes persons who choose certain hobbies a protected class. Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 only limits employment discrimination based on certain protected classes. “It shall be an unlawful employment action for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual…because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin…” Since then, other federal laws have prohibited employment discrimination based on pregnancy, age, disability and military status. States have created other protected classes, but none of them even come close to protecting MMO players. 

If, for argument’s sake, video game addiction is declared a diagnosable mental disorder, a prospective employee might file a claim under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Ironically, if that were the case, then in order to be protected under the ADA you’d have to actually have the addiction, rather than just a penchant for playing on your off-days. So unfortunately, the casual player who practices moderation would fall through the cracks of the ADA’s protection, making the pursuit of legal protection for MMO players as a class a wasted effort.

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