[MUD-Dev] BlackSnow sues Mythic for online property rights

[Sellers]

Raph posted:

> BLACKSNOW INTERACTIVE SUES MYTHIC (DAOC) IN FEDERAL COURT FOR 
> MMORPG PLAYER'S RIGHTS
 
> ... BSI's Director of Sales, Lee Caldwell, was quoted as saying,
> "What it comes down to is, does a MMORPG player have rights to his
> time, or does Mythic own that player's time?

Creative way to frame the issue.  I expect that Mythic's lawyers
might well come back with the strategy that this isn't about time,
it's about property: BSI is attempting to sell something (a DAoC
game asset) that was never theirs.

Or was it?  This is really pushing the question of who owns virtual
property.  The property --an instance of software and art-- is
created by Mythic and never leaves Mythic's servers.  OTOH, there is
a clear and consistent expectation that an item gained by a player
in the course of the game is *theirs*.  Is it theirs only within the
context of DAoC's game, or is it truly theirs?  I'm sure Mythic is
going to take the former view, while BSI believes the latter.

I expect Mythic will win this one, but I think it may also prove to
be a pyrrhic victory.  In terms of the larger currents of this
industry, I think this is about the tension of centralization
vs. decentralization, where gaming companies want to maintain
ownership and control of their games (remember Verant's "you're in
our world now" tagline), and players clearly want to feel ownership
of their characters, items, houses, towns, and their piece of the
virtual world.

At some point -- not necessarily soon -- the rights of MMP
publishers to retain control of all the items in the worlds they
create will be seen less as the appropriate ownership of unpublished
works, and more along the lines of the claims by ancient monarchs to
ownership of all the lands in their realm.  Virtual property, I
believe, will eventually come to be recognized as real property by
the populace and by the law.  Once this really begins to gel, those
companies that don't want to toe that line will be forced out of the
marketplace by those who do.

For better or worse, that time isn't here yet though.  BSI is facing
a futile court fight if they press this.

> Caldwell goes on to say, "Mythic's attempt to stifle competition
> in their own game makes it possible for only full-time gamers to
> succeed in the game and most MMORPG players can't compete on that
> level. The person that plays just a few hours a week, can't put in
> the time required to build their character or collect the items
> needed to join others in the online battles.

So beyond the possibility of future virtual property rights, what
BSI is *really* showing us is a market opportunity (for an MMP game
that can be played to satisfaction without having to devote your
life to it) that no developer or publisher has yet addressed.

Mike Sellers
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