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

[Crosbie Fitch]

From: Jeff Cole

> It's that "lease/privilege" to "exclusively operat[e]" an avatar
> that gives rise to the property right--regardless of whether or
> not the company could just shutdown the servers.  The law already
> plenty of property rights that are not absolute, that are
> conditional, or that can be revoked (like the server getting
> shutdown).

The high likelihood that the law will attempt the ludicrous creation
of 'real world' property rights that extend into virtual worlds just
adds another reason why MMOG infrastructure should be publicly
owned.

Here's an analogy. In a conversation, I tell my lawyer a material
fact. At a later date it's likely that if that lawyer forgets that
fact I can sue them for negligence. But, it's just information. If I
wanted it protected I should have written it down or something. Now,
alternatively, I could have revealed that fact on IRC. Now at a
later date, if I go on IRC and discover to my horror that no-one
recalls that fact, who am I to sue? Or it could have been a Usenet
post - do I sue Google for failing to archive it? I have a hunch
that it is only possible to sue those who set themselves up to be
responsible.

The thing is, if you're selling control, you're liable for people's
ability to transfer that control. The control is equivalent to
ownership, and hence property.

Perhaps what should be sold instead is 'influence'. Players get to
influence avatars as opposed to control them. Now, the influence may
be pretty strong, just short of total dominance, but perhaps
legally, influence confers no rights?  Hmmn. If there's one thing
the law hates, it's probably sophistry.  I doubt there's any
solution except to abdicate the infrastructure.

I wonder if those play-by-numbers adventure books would be subject
to the same laws? If by following the various numbers I get to
control the actions of a character in the book, do I then own that
character? I could tell my friend "Hey, Barney, I've got Fafhrd half
way up the wall of the Emir's palace. If you give me $5 I'll let you
take over." What happen's if page 291 is missing and Barney loses
control of Fafhrd? Can he sue the publisher for more than the price
of the book ($2.95)?

We're really getting into the realms of thought crime. Let's imagine
a storyteller who allows some kids in the audience to tell him what
some of the fictional characters he describes should do at any
particular juncture.  The kids believe they have control over those
characters (even though they exist in a universe inaccessible from
our own - the author's mind). It is untenable to believe that the
kids own those characters as property and that the law can prosecute
the storyteller in the event he does not honour and protect that
property. I can just imagine the disclaimers "None of the characters
in the story I am about to relate respond to any influence or
suggestions from the audience. Any behaviour or actions that may
appear to indicate otherwise are purely coincidental and in no way
establish any control or ownership relationship with the audience".

But, hey. The brain is a database. It can be damaged. It doesn't
guarantee recall or the integrity of the information it stores.

Maybe, if we demonstrated the equivalence of the brain and an MMOG,
or perhaps suggested that the simulation quality of the brain was
vastly superior in terms of rich and varied environments, with
millions of available missions, quests, monsters, dungeons,
treasures, etc. then we employ a person specifically to host
characters that need to be relocated from the MMOG. We can tell the
player that "Yes, your super-champion and all the magic items,
etc. have been relocated to Mr George Piper the chief imagineer of
MMOG corp. If at any time you wish to continue your quests, these
will be done in text mode via e-mail to gpiper at mmog.com.

If it's possible for the law to start acribing property in imaginary
worlds, then it's possible for us to create imaginary solutions.
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