Do massively multiplayer publishers own everything but the fun?

Gaming is an escape. We all willingly abandon ourselves at the controller, suspend disbelief, and go to town on bad guys who, in real life, would make most of us tinkle our underoos. But what if it was company policy to remind you that the experience doesn't belong to you? Would that rain on your parade?

That's the world of massively multiplayer games. The game, every part of it, belongs to the company. The handle you choose, the avatar you build, the skills you gain and the gold you accrue – it ain't yours. The only thing you own, as far as the publishers are concerned, is the joy, or the fun, or whatever you want to call it. You can keep that. But when you exit it, it's over, man.

Is that fair? More importantly, is that legal?

Sometimes it takes a simple article that deals with the basics of an issue, to remind you of the bottom line. The piece on Games Domain, titled "Selling Your Loot: When Virtual Worlds Meet Real Cash"
doesn't cover any new ground, but it covers the basics well. A lot of people make real money by selling their in-game accomplishments. And the publishers are taking extreme measures to stop it. To them, they own everything but the fun.

Even those of us who have never enjoyed the MMG genre have to wonder how much control a company can claim over elements of a game; especially when those elements are unique due to the player?s contribution.
Isn?t the player?s ?labor? what created the item? If the player is done with the game, why can?t he sell it like he would sell a DVD or a CD?

Then again, the player?s labor didn?t yield something out of thin air. The fruits of the labor were actually created by artists, designers, and programmers. It was their labor, paid for by the company, which made the gamer?s ?work? pay off. If it?s a simple matter of which came first, the chicken or the egg, then the company is on solid ground. Their chickens made the nest, and don?t you forget it.

A best guess would have to conclude that the companies will win the day,
once the courts get a good look at cases in front of them. Both sides make sense on some level. But, eventually, our legal system will claim only one is right.

Enjoy your game! Even though it?s not really yours to enjoy?