Kotaku: virtual property

The Business of 'Avatar Rights'

Maggie Greene — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:30:00 MDT

The rights of 'avatars' — more to the point, the people who control them and their virtual assets — is an interesting and murky part of legal issues, EULAs, and player-company relations. Court cases have been tried over 'illegal' seizing of assets, and with the amount of time (and money) that people pour into their online characters and assets, we can expect to see more and more real-world legal problems related to virtual issues. But are companies on the ball?:

The essential issue recognized by the "Avatar Rights" movement is that players ascribe substantial value to their game characters and virtual assets. The willful denial of this fact, in some sense, has helped enable the growth of gold farming and criminals who target online games.

Because developers don't consider the value that players put in their virtual "stuff", customer service is often not responsive to player complaints about lost items. Also, the game systems are not built to easily log, track, remove, and restore these items in case of loss or theft.

In some sense this is ironic, the same game companies that argue vigorously that the virtual items have no value, at the same time are extraordinarily reluctant to restore players characters or virtual items after alleged theft. The argument is typically made that the players are abusing the system by allowing their items to be stolen (or, actually, selling them) and then making a complaint to the game operator.

If the items have no value, then restore them.

Short, but interesting, musing — with references — on the 'avatar problem.'

The Quixotic Quest for Avatar Rights [PlayNoEvil]

Virtual Property Disputes Landing in Real Courts

Maggie Greene — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:30:00 MDT

Ok, so virtual property disputes aren't exactly new, but there's a little wrap up on some of the current issues over at a Canadian website. Most of the issues discussed revolve around Second Life, but the questions of virtual property and other virtual issues are getting increasing attention:

[Entertainment lawyer Susan] Abramovitch said the virtual economy has opened the door to new legal issues that are only starting to be addressed around the world.

"The original question is, do we actually need to specifically regulate the virtual economy?" Abramovitch said. "Is it different enough to create challenges or do the regulations that exist in our physical world apply?"
The answer, she said, is gaining importance because private companies currently dictate the "rules" of the virtual world through their end user licence agreements.

Concerns regarding EULAs have gotten a fair bit of (academic) attention in the past couple of months, but the fact that these "virtual" cases are getting real world settlements raises a lot of interesting questions.

Virtual world disputes landing in real-world courts [Canada.com]

Real Money Transaction Lawsuit Gets Interesting - Very Interesting

Maggie Greene — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:30:27 MST

Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) is a virtual property company that's found itself in some hot water (or its founder has found himself in hot water, at least) - Debonneville v. Pierce was filed last summer in California alleging all sorts of shady business dealings on the part of the founder, Brock Pierce. This wouldn't be interesting if documents relating to the suit hadn't surfaced last week, which give an insider's look at the world of RMT companies (and a lot of drama to boot). There have been countersuits filed, and everything is scheduled to go to trial in May of this year. In the meantime, you can't make the contents of the original complaint up:

The Complaint (which is, remember, by its nature entirely one-sided) tells a dramatic and undoubtedly controversial story about virtual property company IGE. It starts at the beginning, when the founders allegedly met playing Everquest, and proceeds like a script for a straight-to-video movie.
It includes third-hand allegations of cash from an earlier venture being spent on illegal drugs, a claim that Pierce's dog was shot by the "Spanish FBI," and allegations of minors being transported across state lines for sex. The complaint even takes a swipe at former-child-actor Pierce's filmography (Pierce played a young Emilio Estevez in The Mighty Ducks and The Mighty Ducks 2, and the lead in First Kid). In short, this is not your average business spat.

PlayNoEvil has some insightful comments up regarding some general problems this case points to. In any case, rare is the court filing that is this entertaining.

Lawsuit Against IGE Founder Brock Pierce Alleges Underhanded Dealing at Virtual Property Company [Virtually Blind via PlayNoEvil]