As we are about to begin our foray into Second Life, the concept of virtual property has been on my mind. Second Life attempts to make virtual property a reality both in terms of real estate locations on Second Life and in terms of the art, clothing, scripts, architecture, and furniture available in Second Life from other users. But this can raise the question of who really owns the materials created online or materials purchased online. This problem also occurs in Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games like World of Warcraft (WoW).
One example, http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/news/2006/05/70909, from Second Life concerns an individual that figured out a way to bid on auctions that were still hidden from the general public. After he had purchased a large quantity of virtual real estate and resold the real estate, Linden Labs (the owners of Second Life) attempted to free his accounts and cut-off his access.
In games like WoW, individual players build their characters over a very long time. Because of the time and effort required to obtain a high level character, many people are willing to pay for better characters. Items to make your character more powerful also cost in game gold, so it is possible to buy gold from outside businesses. However, the Terms of Service explicitly ban such practices. Attempting to sell anything in game for money in the real world can result in your account being suspended or frozen.
Currently, businesses have largely answered the question of "who owns online content?" by simply saying that they own everything. But, is this right? Should you be required to sign away virtual property rights to engage in online games like WoW? Or, should virtual property fall under rights to private property from the Constitution?
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