[MUD-Dev] Declaration of the Rights of Avatars

[Raph Koster]

This is in the nature of a thought experiment. I've had it around for a
while. It is based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and on the Bill
of Rights. It is intentionally controversial. Please argue. :) If you think
it's ridiculous, please give arguments why this is so. If you like, start
separate threads for each article.

A Declaration of the Rights of Avatars
When a time comes that new modes and venues exist for communities, and said
modes are different enough from the existing ones that question arises as to
the applicability of past custom and law; and when said venues have become a
forum for interaction and society for the general public regardless of the
intent of the creators of said venue; and at a time when said communities
and spaces are rising in popularity and are now widely exploited for
commercial gain; it behooves those involved in said communities and venues
to affirm and declare the inalienable rights of the members of said
communities. Therefore herein have been set forth those rights which are
inalienable rights of the inhabitants of virtual spaces of all sorts, in
their form henceforth referred to as avatars, in order that this declaration
may continually remind those who hold power over virtual spaces and the
avatars contained therein of their duties and responsibilities; in order
that the forms of administration of a virtual space may be at any time
compared to that of other virtual spaces; and in order that the grievances
of players may hereafter be judged against the explicit rights set forth, to
better govern the virtual space and improve the general welfare and
happiness of all.

Therefore this document holds the following truths to be self-evident: That
avatars are the manifestation of actual people in an online medium, and that
their utterances, actions, thoughts, and emotions should be considered to be
as valid as the utterances, actions, thoughts, and emotions of people in any
other forum, venue, location, or space. That the well-established rights of
man approved by the National Assembly of France on August 26th of 1789 do
therefore apply to avatars in full measure saving only the aspects of said
rights that do not pertain in a virtual space or which must be abrogated in
order to ensure the continued existence of the space in question. That by
the act of affirming membership in the community within the virtual space,
the avatars form a social contract with the community, forming a populace
which may and must self-affirm and self-impose rights and concomitant
restrictions upon their behavior. That the nature of virtual spaces is such
that there must, by physical law, always be a higher power or administrator
who maintains the space and has complete power over all participants, but
who is undeniably part of the community formed within the space and who must
therefore take action in accord with that which benefits the space as well
as the participants, and who therefore also has the rights of avatars and
may have other rights as well. That the ease of moving between virtual
spaces and the potential transience of the community do not limit or reduce
the level of emotional and social involvement that avatars may have with the
community, and that therefore the ease of moving between virtual spaces and
the potential transience of the community do not in any way limit, curtail,
or remove these rights from avatars on the alleged grounds that avatars can
always simply leave.

Articles:

	1.	Avatars are created free and equal in rights. Special powers or
privileges shall be founded solely on the common good, and not based on
whim, favoritism, nepotism, or the caprice of those who hold power. Those
who act as ordinary avatars within the space shall all have only the rights
of normal avatars.

	2.	The aim of virtual communities is the common good of its citizenry, from
which arise the rights of avatars. Foremost among these rights is the right
to be treated as people and not as disembodied, meaningless, soulless
puppets. Inherent in this right are therefore the natural and inalienable
rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance
to oppression.

	3.	The principle of all sovereignty in a virtual space resides in the
inalterable fact that somewhere there resides an individual who controls the
hardware on which the virtual space is running, and the software with which
it is created, and the database which makes up its existence. However, the
body populace has the right to know and demand the enforcement of the
standards by which this individual uses this power over the community, as
authority must proceed from the community; a community that does not know
the standards by which the administrators use their power is a community
which permits its administrators to have no standards, and is therefore a
community abetting in tyranny.

	4.	Liberty consists of the freedom to do anything which injures no one else
including the weal of the community as a whole and as an entity instantiated
on hardware and by software; the exercise of the natural rights of avatars
are therefore limited solely by the rights of other avatars sharing the same
space and participating in the same community. These limits can only be
determined by a clear code of conduct.

	5.	The code of conduct can only prohibit those actions and utterances that
are hurtful to society, inclusive of the harm that may be done to the fabric
of the virtual space via hurt done to the hardware, software, or data; and
likewise inclusive of the harm that may be done to the individual who
maintains said hardware, software, or data, in that harm done to this
individual may result in direct harm done to the community.

	6.	The code of conduct is the expression of the general will of the
community and the will of the individual who maintains the hardware and
software that makes up the virtual space. Every member of the community has
the right to contribute either directly or via representatives in the
shaping of the code of conduct as the culture of the virtual space evolves,
particularly as it evolves in directions that the administrator did not
predict; the ultimate right of the administrator to shape and define the
code of conduct shall not be abrogated, but it is clear that the
administrator therefore has the duty and responsibility to work with the
community to arrive at a code of conduct that is shaped by the input of the
community. As a member of the community himself, the administrator would be
damaging the community itself if he failed in this responsibility, for
abrogation of this right of avatars could result in the loss of population
and therefore damage to the common weal.

	7.	No avatar shall be accused, muzzled, toaded, jailed, banned, or
otherwise punished except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed
by the code of conduct. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or
causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished, even if said
individual is one who has been granted special powers or privileges within
the virtual space. But any avatar summoned or arrested in virtue of the code
of conduct shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

	8.	The code of conduct shall provide for such punishments only as are
strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except
it be legally inflicted according to the provisions of a code of conduct
promulgated before the commission of the offense; save in the case where the
offense endangered the continued existence of the virtual space by attacking
the hardware or software that provide the physical existence of the space.

	9.	As all avatars are held innocent until they shall have been declared
guilty, if detainment, temporary banning, jailing, gluing, freezing, or
toading shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the
securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by the code of
conduct.

	10.	No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, provided their
manifestation does not disturb the public order established by the code of
conduct.

	11.	The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most
precious of the rights of man. Every avatar may, accordingly, speak, write,
chat, post, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses
of this freedom as shall be defined by the code of conduct, most
particularly the abuse of affecting the performance of the space or the
performance of a given avatar's representation of the space.

	12.	The security of the rights of avatars requires the existence of avatars
with special powers and privileges, who are empowered to enforce the
provisions of the code of conduct. These powers and privileges are therefore
granted for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to
whom they shall be entrusted. These powers and privileges are also therefore
not an entitlement, and can and should be removed in any instance where they
are no longer used for the good of all, even if the offense is merely
inactivity.

	13.	A common contribution may, at the discretion of the individual who
maintains the hardware, the software, and the data that make up the virtual
space, be required in order to maintain the existence of avatars who enforce
the code of conduct and to maintain the hardware and the software and the
continued existence of the virtual space. Avatars have the right to know the
nature and amount of the contribution in advance, and said required
contribution should be equitably distributed among all the citizens without
regard to their social position; special rights and privileges shall never
pertain to the avatar who contributes more except insofar as the special
powers and privileges require greater resources from the hardware, software,
data store, or administrator manpower, and would not be possible save for
the resources obtainable with the contribution; and as long as any and all
avatars are able to make this contribution and therefore gain the powers and
privileges if they so choose; nor shall any articles of this declaration be
contingent upon a contribution being made.

	14.	The community has the right to require of every administrator or
individual with special powers and privileges granted for the purpose of
administration, an account of his administration.

	15.	A virtual community in which the observance of the code of conduct is
not assured and universal, nor the separation of powers defined, has no
constitution at all.

	16.	Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, and the virtual
equivalent is integrity and persistence of data, no one shall be deprived
thereof except where public necessity, legally determined per the code of
conduct, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the avatar
shall have been previously and equitably indemnified, saving only cases
wherein the continued existence of the space is jeopardized by the existence
or integrity of said data.

	17.	The administrators of the virtual space shall not abridge the freedom
of assembly, save to preserve the performance and continued viability of the
virtual space.

	18.	Avatars have the right to be secure in their persons, communications,
designated private spaces, and effects, against unreasonable snooping,
eavesdropping, searching and seizures, no activity pertaining thereto shall
be undertaken by administrators save with probable cause supported by
affirmation, particularly describing the goal of said investigations.

	19.	The enumeration in this document of rights shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by avatars.

	- January 26th, 2000











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