The serious side of running a world: copyrights, the ugly issue of virtual ownership, intellectual property rights, derivertive work - both yours and that of your playerbase, and your legal rights in content monitoring. Everything you need, to run yoiur world, and keep out of jail.
Sections
When a player in your world does something idiotic, and damaging, who is responsible? It sounds silly, but, the fact is that, unless you're careful, you could find yourself liable for the acts of your players.
The legalities of Snooping
This short article covers a sensible use of the snoop tool, to allow for virtual immunity to legal action taken as a result of player-content.
Online Games & The Law, Part Four: Community Rules
Creating a community is more dangerous legally than many people realise. This article looks into the issues raised by the american COPPA laws, the lisencing of content created by your community's members, and why Terms of Service documents are crucial.
This tome lays out how the dystopian internet of the near future will look if trends continue as they are, and shows how the internet of the past would have looked had individuals not acted to stop other similar attempts.
Is it time to defend our rights?
A soundly reasoned piece by BBC journalist Bill Thompson on how copyright restrictions on the net may finally have gone too far, and are in danger of damaging both the net and augmented lives.
Legal Issues for Rookie Development Studios Part II
A thick, wordy, and extremely detailed look at the various ways to slap "Intellectual Property" on your work, digging through various means of copyrighting, their advantages, their limitations, the lot. A very thorough read, if a little headachey.
Back To Top
When your team creates content for the players, everything is fine. You know exactly where you are, and what you cvan do. But what happens when the players start creating content? Do their creations belong to the world, to the team, or to the player? What happens if a player decides that the work is theirs, and they're going to copyright it? You could find yourself in legal difficulty without warning. The resources held here, are here to help you make an informed decision on how to handle this problem when it crops up.
An Avatar's Bill of Rights
Law.com has issued a suggested 'bill of rights' to be adhered to by any social virtual virtual environment terms of service, in order to give users the same rights they might expect from a more traditional government.
Another Reality Check
This short article takes a realistic look at how the people who sell user-created content within a virtual world may not be the doom-bringers of online world development if they are allowed by lay to continue such distribution, and how they may well be the harbringers of increased enjoyment and profitability. Read it.
Do in WoW as You would in RL
A couple of days ago, Blizzard, the parent company to World of Warcraft, stunned many people with a privacy-related announcement. They were making changes to the forums, and from an unspecified date in the near future, they will require all forum posters to have their real first and last names, together with all character names, on display on every post they make.
Fortune Telling
In the wake of Sony's decision to open a virtual goods marketplace, this article looks at what is in store for the industry, and virtual nations in general.
I 0Wn Y0o, d00d
Taking a look at ownership issues with MMOs. Specifically those companies that sell content created within them, and the issues which have arisen round them.
I 0Wn Y0u, d0Od! Part Deux
A detailed, in-depth look at why selling content from within MMOs, to others can damage the business on the company in question, by looking at the effect it has on the costs of the MMO.
Mugging ? on a Massive Virtual Scale
News from the 18th of August 2005, the first recorded case of a man arrested for mugging a great many people in a virtual world - and then taking their virtual goods, and selling them wholesale on an auction website. Industrial grade mugging - in a virtual world.
Online Games & The Law, Part Five: Property Rights
An interesting article, concerning the "right of publicity" laws in the USA, where you're not allowed to use someone's name or likeness to sell your product. This is a problem if you use a celebrity - even dead, in-world.
The article also looks at and explores the developing issue of Virtual Property Rights, and your legal standpoint as a developer.
Player wins court battle to restore property
This article made the news in December 2003, when a long time player of a certain virtual world, successfully sued for financial compensation when his items were deleted by the server. It set a worrying precident for many.
Render Unto Caesar
Virtual worlds have shown themselves to have very real, and fairly powerful market forces when it comes to items from within them being traded openly on the internet. Time to stop arguing about the value of virtual, and start worrying about the reality of the virtual?
Should real profits in virtual worlds be taxed?
In social VR and VR gameworlds, a large amount of people are making a lot of money ? some 200 million to 800 million US dollars worth per year and growing ? that is tax free. The American government is understandably annoyed by this.
Sony opens Virtual Goods Marketplace
 Industry news, originally posted 22-04-2005. Massively Multiplayer Online world operator Sony Entertainment appears to have reversed its position regarding the buying and selling of virtual items.
The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 1: Trademarks
Linux Insider has run a three part series on the legal issues of content creation within virtual worlds, in response to the boom in user created worlds. This first segment looks at the possibility of trademarking your goods, even if they only exist virtually.
The Rocky Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Part 2: Patents
Part two of Linux Insider's guide to legally protecting your virtual assets looks at patents, and patent law. Considering the pros and cons of patenting your discoveries, and the enforceable and unenforceable patents of the past, that sought to do similar, within a virtual environment.
User-created content ownership
This short article covers a sensible use of the snoop tool, to allow for virtual immunity to legal action taken as a result of player-content.
Virtual Property Theft ? Physical Murder
Industry news, from 01-04-2005. Hands up who saw this one coming? That?s right, you can all put your hands down now. Virtual property, existing only in a database server, has long been a hot topic in virtual reality, as to who actually owns it. Now, this case has reached a new level, with the murder of a man accused of stealing a virtual sword.
Virtual Worlds Collide With Real Laws
Legal experts and game players closely eyed a lawsuit against Second Life, which asked courts to clarify the legal status of virtual property in 2006.
What rights should we have to our virtual goods?
An intreguing article written from a MMO player's perspective, taking a balanced approach and arguing as to what rights players and participants should have to the virtual goods created within and dependent upon a specific platform.
Back To Top
In this jumble of legal wrangling, profiteering, and patent-slapping, who owns what parts of the technology to bring us into the virtual?
Sony patents theoretical brain-interface
Industry news, originally posted 10-04-2005. A patent granted to Sony Entertainment for a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain, may sound exciting, but will likely lead to stifled growth for neuroprosthetics.
Back To Top
Games without frontiers?
A BBC column by Bill Thompson on how companies, far more than governments, are attempting to wall off the internet by physical location, and the methods being employed to fight back.
In a world governed by speed, the Internet plays a growing role in many of today's innovations, and the resolution of disputes using electronic means of communication may soon be part of everyday legal practice.
The Fragility of Internet-Enabled Communication
In the wake of the recent London riots in the UK, uncomfortable truths have come to light regarding the security and privacy of messages spoken or otherwise transmitted over technological networks. Specifically that communicating via technology is never going to be as potentially private as a whispered conversation in a secluded locale.
|
