Digital Property Law [was RE: [MUD-Dev] Selling training]

[the_logos at www.achaea.com]

On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, John Buehler wrote:

> The idea that we will take our real world justice system and apply
> it to the machinations of virtual characters is, to me, ludicrous.
> We're going *way* overboard and we're taking our games far too
> seriously.  Let's remember that these things are an entertainment
> service, and that's how society must perceive them.

My lord, I actually agree with you! This list does take MUDs way too
seriously sometimes. I remember someone opining that they would change
the nature of commerce itself. Clearly that's a little
overboard. Movies are way bigger than games (including merchandising
here) for instance, and movies are a financially nearly insignificant
industry.

However, while they are an entertainment service, they are also
definitely real. And the idea of paying $300 for a virtual sword (such
as you might do for a really nice sword in Achaea) definitely does
bring up issues of what right you have to continue to use that sword.

Further, regardless of how we look at things, we're just game
designers. Game designers seem pretty darn unlikely to have any
serious influence on politics anytime soon. We're a small industry
that isn't taken seriously as an economic or political force (no one
gives a damn if the computer games lobby (if there even is one)
objects to a proposed bill) and thus we're sort of at the mercy of
judges and juries who most likely are not interested in understanding
what we do well enough to see clearly.

--matt 

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