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

[Crosbie Fitch]

From: Michael Chui

> I feel I'm a little slow in following this (having only a
> sub-rudimentary understanding of law will do that), but I get the
> very distinct feeling that you're saying this:

> In order to resolve the issue, we need to first define virtual
> worlds, avatars, and just about everything else in the rapidly
> growing MUD vocabulary with American law.

Well, no, I'm trying to say that unless we establish the
relationship of the virtual world to the real one we will remain
confused concerning issues of ownership, etc.

  1) If the virtual is part of the real: it is more natural to
  conclude that the virtual is similarly accessible to the law, that
  virtual items can be recognised by the law as property
  (intellectual perhaps).

  2) If the virtual is not part of the real: all that's happening as
  far as the law's concerned is a number of people enjoying an
  interactive movie and communicating with each other, i.e. there
  are no virtual constructs, only illusions of such. Players may
  still make deals in the real world in exchange for collaborating
  in their interactions, but it all remains a nebulous fiction of
  imagination facilitated by visual prompts.
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