MMORPG’s and property rights
When should virtual property be treated like physical property?
excerpt:
Massive multiplayer games have exploded in popularity, with games that range far beyond the quests and giant rat killings of a traditional title such as “Everquest II.” Some skip Dungeons & Dragon-style role-playing altogether in favor of a free-form world not unlike a virtual “Burning Man.” … What happens in Norrath doesn’t always stay in Norrath, however. Virtual goods now appear for sale in the real world, on eBay. Exchange rates for game currency and U.S. dollars are posted on sites like IGE. An island in one virtual world recently sold for $30,000! That kind of money attracts attention. Digital sweatshops, businesses where Third World laborers play online games 24/7 in order to create virtual goods that can be sold for cash, are also on the rise… “Now that there’s commerce, trading and the exchange of virtual goods in virtual worlds, the law is going to come in,” [says Beth Simone Noveck, an associate professor of law at the New York Law School]
It’s a very interesting article worth checking out.
UPDATE: Man killed for selling a virtual sword that apparently belonged to someone else.