[MUD-Dev] Picketing in Sims Online

[Derek Licciardi]

From: Koster, Raph

> Thought this was amusing.

> http://www.shift.com/content/web/425/1.html

> start quote--->
> BIG MAC ATTACKED

> When EA incorporated McDonald's kiosks in The Sims Online, they
> opened the doors to a massively-multiplayer adbusting campaign. Tony
> Walsh WANTS YOU to join the fight.

[snip]

>   - Picket the nearest McDonald's kiosk. Stand in front of the
>   kiosk and tell visitors why you think McDonald's sucks. Be
>   careful not to use foul language or hinder the movement of your
>   fellow Simians. Polite protest can't result in your account
>   getting suspended... can it?

>   - Actually order and consume virtual McD's food, then use The
>   Sims Online's "expressive gestures" in creative ways. Lie down
>   and play dead.  Emote the vomiting, sickness, or fatigue that
>   might overcome you after eating a real life McNugget.

>   - Open your own McDonald's kiosk. Verbally abuse all customers
>   in the name of McDonald's. Loudly proclaim how terrible your
>   food is and how it's made from substandard ingredients (or
>   whatever you think will turn people off). Make sure you preface
>   each such statement with "In my opinion," to avoid libel
>   charges. - Open an independent restaurant. Gain the confidence
>   of your clientele, and then let them know your business is being
>   hurt by ubiquitous McDonald's kiosks. Ask them to put pressure
>   on other Simians to support small business people instead of
>   cogs in a gigantic franchise-machine.  History has shown gamers
>   that online protest can result in positive change, as
>   exemplified in Ultima Online's 1997 naked riot demanding bug
>   fixes and server upgrades. Not only were some of the rioters'
>   issues addressed by the game publisher following the incident,
>   but the event was widely reported, and gamers worldwide have
>   been inspired to acts of virtual civil disobedience ever
>   since. Remember that your worst enemy, aside from integrated
>   branding, is inaction. Electronic Arts clearly wants players of
>   The Sims Online to be wildly imaginative, and has
>   already recognized that the online world is unpredictable.

[snip]

> <---end quote

The liability of this is interesting.  Could it exist?  I don't
think the law addresses it but since I am not a lawyer...  Could
this be yet another case where the law wants to hold the hosting
provider responsible for what happens on its network?  The whole
idea of picketing sounds like yet another messy situation where the
government laws do not understand how to cope with it.  What about
international laws?  Possibly, there's a liability case here one
would think.  Possibly this could derail advertising in-game for
another couple years.  Why would a future company want to advertise
in your game when all that is going to happen is that their logo is
associated with comments from "anti-whatever" players.  Is the
picket line and the comments that go with it, what McDonalds was
thinking about when it signed up for this advertising deal?  I doubt
it.

Its going to be interesting to watch and learn from because like
many people, I thought advertising would become more integrated with
virtual worlds as an effort to keep the pricing plans competitive in
an ever increasing competitive landscape.  Looks like we could have
on our hands, yet another reason why advertising doesn't work well
in an interactive medium.  I'll be watching this to see how it
progresses and applaud EA for at least being willing to try it.

Derek


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