[MUD-Dev] Teaching ethics in MUDs (was Re: "An essay on d00dism and the MMORPG")

[J C Lawrence]

On Thu, 22 Feb 2001 07:25:05 -0800 
Adam Casbarian <adamcas at concentric.net> wrote:

> Let me pose this question:

>   If a girl gives her real life address to some guy she fell in
>   love with, they meet and she gets raped, is the mud liable to
>   some degree?  Could that mud be sued?

The legal system and the courts system in particular are not among
the most predictable things in life, especially when you start
encluding various countries different systems and patterns into thge
equation.  Further, in cases like this the details are likely all
important, far beyond the base structure you state.

Extend the example a bit:

  Bubba has demonstrated pedophiliac acticities/tendencies in your
  game world, and has intersected with the game administration
  several times on this score.  As a result of these intersections
  the game/world admins have reasonable cause to suspect that
  Bubbahas if not a criminal history in this area, at least has had
  brushes with the law.

  Mary is 13.  The admins know this, due to their registration
  procedure and possibly due to personal interactions with Mary.

  Bubba proceds to pursue Mary, obtains her address, etc.

Are the admins culpable?  Given the legal system in your country of
residence __OR__ the legal system where ever Mary might be resident,
could a lawyer successfully argue that you, as the administration,
had sufficient prior knowledge of Bubba to be concerned and to
rationally justify more active monitoring of Bubba, and that as a
vendor to shildren you implicitly have a greater responsibility to
ward over and protect the younger members of your community?

  What if Bubba had stated that he was going after Mary in one of
  the game's internal boards, one frequented by the administration?

  What if Bubba had written an RP-styled rape fantasy on that same
  board, and the rape victim in that had strongly resembled Mary?

The exact terms and justifications for this sort of prosecution
vary.  Certainly Mary's parents may be to be leading the charge
against you as having facilitated Mary's abuse through criminal
negligence.  Hindsight is wonderfully 20/20.  "I should have known"
is not always a plausible excuse given horrible hindsight.

Is the charge fair?  That is probably not relevant.  What is far
more interesting is whether the charge can be made to SEEM fair and
reasonable even if not given a highly emotionally charged and
arguably predjudicial surrounding factors for the case.  Per the
last discussion I had with legal counsel on s silightly similar area
(now more than a decade ago), demonstrated good will, observably
earnest action, and visible attempts to ensure and assist in public
safety are about the best you can do, and will, in themselves, tend
to be the best protection you can have.

--
J C Lawrence                                       claw at kanga.nu
---------(*)                          http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--
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