[MUD-Dev] Re: Black Snow Revisited

[Dr. Cat]

There's one big problem with the argument advanced by the people
claiming "You are effectively just leasing your character from
Mythic, they can set any conditions they want on what you can and
can't do with it, including selling it".  Not necessarily a legal
problem, but a practical problem.

Even if this theory is legally correct...  From a practical
standpoint, to get people to swallow it, buy into it, believe in it,
and embrace it as sensible and fair, the "easy" way would be to say
"You can't give other people stuff, everything you ever get stays
with you forever".  People would understand this to be the nature of
the universe, and would play or not play the game as they chose.

After all, you never see anybody on Ebay trying to sell "5000
experience points" or "5 of my 57 levels off my 57th level mage" or
"12 skill points in carpentry".  The games don't provide a way to
transfer those things, short of transferring the whole character.
They do provide ways of transferring coins between characters, and
items, and in most games of giving someone else your whole character
or account.

If you say "You can't give this away OR sell it", you won't see the
whole underground economy on Ebay and wacky lawsuits.  The problem
with this is that it makes a far less interesting game, probably one
that less people will want to play.  If you say "You can give this
away or sell it", again there's no big arguments between the game
company and the player likely to spring up.  It's when you try to
say "You can give this away for free (or trade it for other in-game
goods) all you want, knock yourself out - oh, but don't ever sell it
for as much as one real-world penny!"  That's when you're going to
have a really hard time getting players to accept it.  Any argument
of the form "You're just leasing that from me so I restrict your
ability to sell it to Joe since 'It's not really yours'" will run
right up against a stone wall of player disbelief fueld by "If it's
not really MY Magic Axe of Graulbalnifor and not really MY 38th
level druid-plumber-receptionist character, howcome I can give it to
Joe any time I want to?  It musta been mine and then been his and
become his because it was my thingie and I decided to give it to him
when I damn well felt like it 'cause as an owner of stuff that's my
decision to make so what are you nutcases talking about telling me I
don't own that Magic Axe?  Are you guys crazy?"

Legally speaking, I think you have the right to tell someone "You
can give this to someone for free but you can't sell it for money".
Much shareware comes with those exact terms.  But even they have
problems sometimes with somebody out to make a buck throwing it on
some collection of "500 best shareware games" without permission.
And they're dealing with someone who is at least pretending to try
to be a businessman, wherease the online game companies are dealing
with regular ordinary individual consumers.  Do you really expect
them to buy into "You can give this away but you can't sell it"?  I
don't think they will.


Side note - I wonder how many times someone has given somebody else
game money, items or characters because of a real world favor,
rather than cash?  What would Mythic or any of the other companies
do if circumstances arose that rubbed this in their noses and forces
them to respond in some way?  I wonder how often such transfers have
been made specifically in exchange for sexual favors?  I bet that's
something that all the companies would rather just sweep under the
carpet and keep the press and the courts away from...  Surely it's
happening out there, though.

I am reminded of the old quote "The tao is not far from man.  If
what you believe to be the tao is far from man, it is not the true
tao."

Game companies can seek solutions that stick in the craw of a
significant percentage of their users - and those solutions won't
tend to work too well, even if the courts support them in the end in
cramming those things down the throats of their customers.  Or...
They can carefully study the various contradictory and complementary
desires players have in that big, complex web of desires, and
carefully craft game mechanics, business models, and customer
service policies that are in harmony with those desires more often,
and in conflict with those desires less often.  That's where I feel
the pot of gold lies.

I still remember the old "Wow houses and castles in Ultima Online
are selling on Ebay for loads o' cash" stories popping up.  If you
think that's an undesirable end result?  Don't fight the players -
increase the supply of "virtual real estate" tenfold or a
hundredfold.

Why is it nobody thinks of these obvious solutions?  :X)

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   Dr. Cat / Dragon's Eye Productions       ||       Free download!
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  Supporting user-created graphical worlds. ||  Let your imagination soar!
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