[MUD-Dev] BIZ: Who owns my sword?

[Matt Mihaly]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003, Crosbie Fitch wrote:
> From: Matt Mihaly

>> Let's say they have to charge more. A LOT more, to cover the
>> risk. I feel pretty safe in saying that what they'd have to
>> charge to make the risk worthwhile (since every additional
>> customer now represents a vastly increased lawsuit possibility)
>> is more than most people are willing to pay.

> Why not abdicate responsibility for the game infrastructure
> (saying goodbye to the bad risk and responsibility, though also
> goodbye to subscription revenue)?

> Sell the content alone.

> Just like selling software to run on GNU/Linux. You don't own the
> hardware or the OS and aren't responsible for anything else the
> user does, you just sell 'fun' that they can run on it.

I don't see that that eliminates the risk. If players own a virtual
sword then virtually every game design decision invites lawsuits
from players claiming that you've damaged the value of their
property. Changed the power of the sword? You screwed me! Changed
how hard monsters generally are? You screwed me! (Cause my sword now
has less effect on said monsters.) Etc.

--matt
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