[MUD-Dev] Declaration of the Rights of Avatars

[Geoffrey A. MacDougall]

Jon Lambert wrote:

> Geoffrey wrote:
>>This is destined for failure - because rl governments do not have the
>>power to control physical reality, metaphysics, and spiritulity in the
>>stroke of a button.  So the administration of a vw is never going to
be
>>comparable to that of the rw - and any conclusions based upon this
>>assumption are going to be inherently invalid.
>>

>Not really.   If a theory cannot explain both, it is simply a flawed
>theory.
>I'd suggest that a theory of rights that states that "rights are
endowed
>by 
>a Creator(s)" is consistent across both the real world and virtual
>worlds, 
>and is therefore a better theory.  ;-)

I'm assuming the ;-), and the (intentional?) use of the capital 'C'
represents the fact that you realize and expect the response I'm about
to give.  *g*

There is a distinct difference between natural/civil rights - as Raph
wrote about - and divine rights, to which I think you're referring.

According to Matt's school of thought on the matter - you're correct in
your statement that rights in the vw are granted by the Creator.
However, I would argue that in the rw, there is no Creator, only
creators.  (Let's not carry on with this debate here, however. :) ) In
the rw, the power to preserve rights lies with government (either
through political force, or, once again in accordance with Matt,
physical force), which derives its power from the body politic, via the
social contract.  Rights in the vw have to be granted by the Creator, as
the Creator controls the reality of the virtual context, and can change
things on whim - as can the Christian (and other) god(s).  So - the
respective theory of rights for the vw and the rw have to be different,
as their power stems from different sources.

If we buy the argument that rights in the vw can never be more than
favours granted the players by the Creator, then you raise an
interesting point.  Would it not be a more successful exercise to use
the theory of divine (as opposed to natural) rights when trying to
formulate a Declaration of the Rights of Avatars?

Some thoughts,

G.



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