[MUD-Dev] Reality check ...(long) [was Re: Black Snow Revisited]

[David Yazel]

I am wondering if we can change the direction of this discussion a
bit.  We seem to be concentrating on "what are the rights of the
players" regarding the characters they play.  Notice I did not say
"their characters" so as to avoid the possessive implication of
ownership.

What I would like to get some opinions on is what we (online game
builders) can do to protect ourselves against possible future
liabilities.

As a game builder I know how I would like the world to work:

  1. Game builder owns the client and server programs

  2. Game builder has trademarks on all relevent "recognized product
  names" originating from their game.  No one is allowed to create
  other "spin-off" or derived works without consent from game
  builder.

  3. Game builder can define how the game is supposed to be played,
  and ban any customer that does not follow the rules.

  4. The universe of rules which can be imposed by the game builder
  can include, but not be limited to, controlling the relationship
  of customer to character.  This includes rules which dissallow
  characters to be transferred between customers.

  5. The game builder should be able to somehow be the only entity
  which can gain financially from the service they provide.  It
  should be illegal for anyone else to make money directly or
  indirectly using the game without permission from the game
  builder.

So to sum it up: If I build a game and people pay to play it then I
want to make sure no one else can leech of the success of the game
by doing things which are not in the spirit of the game (like
ebaying items and characters).  I really don't want anyone to make
any money off the game at all except us.  I also don't want to argue
with people about who owns their characters, their items, etc.  Even
though there seems to be some contradictions and confusion in the
law, we all know that game makers rightly feel a sense of ownership
for everything that has to do with the game.  All this talk about
liability seems to be directly related to the extent to which we
give rights to the players.  If players don't own their characters,
if they can't make money using the game, if they can be banned for
whatever reason the game maker wants and if they pay only for the
service... then all these nasty liability problems go away.  The
game maker would not have to worry about being sued by someone who
is losing money because of a decision they made, because no one
would be allowed to make money using the service except the game
maker.

The funny thing is most customers would gladly sign a document which
agreed to all these things... and they often do in the form of a
EULA.  Most customers don't want to set up an ebay business selling
in-game items.  Most customers don't want to claim some ownership
over their character beyond its in-game scope.  Most customers don't
want to legally own the fake "in-game assets" they create.

So what can we do, as game maker, to limit our liability?  Is there
no "contract" we can make players sign that would put all the
ownership, power and money in the hands of the game makers and
completely remove all the percieved rights from the customer?

We have spent a lot of time talking about the rights of the
players... lets spend a little time talking about the commercial
necessity of protecting the rights of the game builder.


David Yazel
http://www.magicosm.net/


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