greg-lastowka
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Academic talks MMO legalese and virtual property rights
Virtual item ownership has been a hot topic in MMO circles for a number of years now. Every so often, an academic will publish a paper regarding the legal and societal implications of trading real currency for fake goods, and the latest such academic is Rutgers University law professor Greg Lastowka. Lastowka examines a number of high-profile virtual goods disputes (including one that ended with the real-world stabbing death of a virtual thief who sold a rare sword after "borrowing" it from a friend). The piece also provides some interesting food for thought in the form of nightmare legal scenarios run amok (nerf patch lawsuits and legal action for server shutdowns are just two examples). You can read the full article text at Gamasutra.
The Daily Grind: Do you think of your avatar in the first person?
A recent post over at the Terra Nova blog is the inspiration for today's The Daily Grind. In that post, Rutgers Law Professor Greg Lastowka observes that some MMO players and virtual world residents refer to their avatar as "I", while others refer to it as a he, she, or even it. Many people form some degree of attachment to their digital personas. For some it's through customizing the look of a character, while for others it might be creating the perfect class build or acquiring pets. Given all the time you spend in MMOs and virtual worlds with your characters, is your avatar something you associate with yourself in some way, thus causing you to refer to it in the first person? Or do you view your avatar as something 'other' that you puppeteer... something separate from you, making the avatar a thing you refer to in the third person?
Lawsuit claims IGE dug too greedily and too deep
Out of sunny Florida comes a storm ready to rain on the parade of gold sellers everywhere. Gold seller IGE has found itself sinking deeper into a stack of complaints thanks to one concerned gamer. Antonio Hernandez is fed up with the spam, inflation, and annoyance that stems from gold selling and has decided to do something about it. He has filed for a class action lawsuit that claims inflation in the virtual economy, thanks to gold sellers, forces players to spend more time behind their keyboard in an attempt to makes virtual ends meet, thus costing them more money. "This loss of time, conservatively, amounts to hundreds of thousands of hours of subscriber time and causes the irreparable harm of driving subscribers away from World of Warcraft." Since the announcement was made, Antonio has already been flooded with letters of support from the WoW community. The reason for the support is not only because Antonio is trying to end gold selling, but because he is an active member of the virtual community he feels has been wronged. "The lawsuit," says case consultant and professor Greg Lastowka, "has more of a feel of a community trying to enforce its rules rather than a game company trying to enforce its power over the participants." The community is a strong one, and to add to the power players wield, the game companies are taking a stand with them. Blizzard has announced that they support the lawsuit and stated that gold selling is a very serious concern of theirs.The case dives headfirst into a world with no clearly defined boundaries. The Florida justice system, having issued a subpoena to IGE demanding their transaction details, accepts that the subject of virtual law is real enough for concern. This is a good sign for players since their rights are also what are at stake. As Hernandez's lawyer, C. Richard Newsome, asks, "what are the rights of the [virtual world] community members when they go online?" The community members supporting Antonio have made one thing crystal clear concerning that question. They desire a fair game and hope to collapse IGE's virtual gold mine right on top of IGE's head.
