Taming the Wild West: solving virtual world disputes using non-virtual law.

• Author: Tricker, Brandy

INTRODUCTION

Just like in the days of the Wild West, the law has been slow to make its way into the realm of virtual worlds. While virtual worlds are different from the days of the gun-slinging Wyatt Earp, the lack of law in this new terrain and the real-life losses people can suffer have become the virtual embodiment of the Wild West. The wildness of virtual law depends on which virtual world you "reside" in, and on your country of citizenship. While China (1) and Germany (2) have created strict Internet laws, and have actively prosecuted criminal acts committed in virtual worlds, American courts and legislatures have been slow to regulate online virtual worlds. (3) With a few exceptions, such as the regulation of online gambling, (4) and the investigation of recent investments into virtual worlds, (5) U.S. legislatures and courts have managed to hold virtual worlds at an arms distance. (6) Unfortunately, with the growing popularity of, and large investments being poured into online virtual worlds, (7) American courts will not be able to sustain their distance from the legal issues bubbling out of virtual worlds any longer.

This note will discuss the reasons online gamers have turned to the physical world's legal system, how this approach will impact online game providers (platform owners) and players, how virtual worlds fit into our current legal system, and possible solutions that will prevent the seemingly unavoidable influx of lawsuits from online virtual communities.

1. VIRTUAL WORLDS

   Neal Stephenson first imagined a completely virtual world in his 1992 novel, Snow Crash, calling it a Metaverse. (8) Stephenson's Metaverse was "a three-dimensional simulation of reality in cyberspace--where people lived, worked, and socialized." (9) Ever since, programmers have been creating their own versions of the Metaverse, using "increasingly sophisticated graphical interfaces." (10) Initially, these worlds were used solely for playing games, but now they have evolved into resources for research, education, politics, and work. (11) It is believed that in the future, navigating the Internet will look more like playing a video game than reading a book. (12) Therefore, in order to understand the future of the Internet, it is necessary to understand virtual worlds. (13)

   A virtual world is a computer-simulated environment created for users to interact with one another and "inhabit." (14) The world is typically "represented in the form of two or three-dimensional" (15) computer-generated environment controlled and modified by its users. (16) Imagine a computer game where, in addition to controlling the actions of the characters, you can change the rules and the look of the game, including the buildings and businesses that exist within it, and the backdrop you are roaming through. One week you could have a shootout in the Wild West, and the following week you could be lounging on the beach or pounding the city streets.

   Virtual worlds are constantly evolving as technology provides creators and users of these environments with greater capabilities. The predecessors of today's graphical worlds were predominantly text-based environments called Multi-user domains (MUDs) and MUD Object Oriented (MOOs). (17) Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) and Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE) are virtual environments where multiple users can interact with one another, (18) Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) create a sense of presence within the game. (19) These types of environments require special equipment, such as a head mounted display or a room that displays graphics on the surrounding walls. (20) IVEs work by tracking "a user's head and body position, facial expressions and gestures, and other information, thereby providing ... information about where ... the user is focusing his or her attention." (21) Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), such as World of Warcraft, Ultima Online, and Everquest II, are often based on fantasy themes. (22)

   While modern virtual worlds can differ incredibly from one another, depending on their purpose, most virtual worlds possess similar characteristics. (23) Generally, most are run using shared platforms, which allow multiple users to access the same game, and same space, at any given time. (24) In contrast to the text based environments of earlier virtual worlds, graphical interfaces allow easier navigation. (25) Some of the most popular online virtual worlds are "persistent"; continuing to exist and change whether the user is present or not, (26) and almost all allow users to interact and communicate with each other. (27)

   Virtual world users interact with one another through online personas called avatars. (28) Avatars can be text based, or graphical two- or three-dimensional computer generated representations of users in the virtual world. (29) A virtual avatar, typically created by a user using the tools of the virtual world, can take virtually any form, including a realistic representation of the user, "a living or deceased actor or historic figure, an animal, or a mythical creature." (30) The most sophisticated avatars become a type of "visual and cognitive prosthesis, representing an extension of self in the virtual world, or what the virtual environment visitor would like to be, or appear to be, in the virtual world." (31)

   This embodiment, allowing users to project themselves as a richer, graphical avatar that can grow and change, is a major draw to virtual worlds. (32) It allows users to anchor their identity in a stronger way than is possible anywhere else on the Internet. Some game providers allow players to create and submit their own software code not only to create, but also to control the physical actions of their avatar. (33)

   1. Second Life

   If virtual worlds were the Wild West, then Second Life, one of the most popular online virtual worlds, with millions of users, (34) would be the equivalent of the O.K. Corral. (35) Second Life, a three dimensional Internet-based virtual world launched in 2003 and developed by Linden Lab, (36) "may be one of the most widely publicized, vigorously debated, and misunderstood technologies to emerge.... (37) Second Life is an MMORPG that offers its players the chance for a "second life" to supplement their real one, where players are supposed to bring to life whatever they dream of being in their real life. (38) Games like Second Life, a persistent world that takes place in real time, can have from hundreds to thousands of players participating at any given time. (39) MMORPG servers acquire and store information about each user throughout their progress in the game. (40) "Residents," as Linden Labs refers to its users, maneuver through Second Life using avatars that "can walk, chat, fly, have sex and buy and sell virtual stuff for real money." (41)

   Second Life did not begin as a complex, graphically filled virtual world. Instead, its residents created the content with a set of building tools that they can use to create virtual objects and structures. (42) The scripting language provided allows residents to animate objects and avatars. (43) According to Linden Labs, its residents created everything that exists in Second Life. (44) By January 2006, players had made over one hundred million objects, and thirty million script codes. (45) Second Life has developed into a sophisticated economy, both virtually and in the real world, as items in Second Life have begun to have a real-world marketplace. (46)

   In November 2003, Linden Labs made an unprecedented policy change in the realm of online games: residents would be granted the right to retain full ownership and rights to all of their virtual creations. (47) Second Life's policy of allowing users to retain all of their intellectual property rights has provided an incentive for its residents to create, as they have produced most of the content of the virtual world. (48) Unlike other virtual worlds, which require players to use components found within the world, "Second Life provides its residents with the equivalent of atoms--small elements of virtual matter called 'primitives'--so that they can build things from scratch." (49) Second Life Residents spend cumulatively nearly "23,000 hours a day creating [and contributing] things that become a part of [Second Life, and] available to everyone else." (50)

   Second Life allows any Resident who creates an object to choose to mark that object as "no copy," which means others may not copy the object; "no modification," which means other Residents may not modify the object's characteristics; and "no transfer," which means the current owner may not transfer the object to another. (51) While Second Life's intellectual property rights policy has made it one of the most popular and potentially profitable virtual worlds on the Internet, (52) these rights have spawned chaos in the determination of who owns any virtual property acquired in the game, and in the ownership of software, that is typically created, bought and sold throughout the game in order to change the characteristics and abilities of the individual avatars. (53)

   The goods created in Second Life are intangible, but the currency used in Second Life (Linden Dollars) is not. "Second Life users [can] exchange real money for virtual items and services that exist only 'in-world.'" (54) On average, Linden Dollars have a conversion rate of approximately 250 Linden Dollars to every 1 U.S. Dollar. (55) With the ability to convert Linden Dollars to real dollars, and with Second Life's emphasis on intellectual property rights, Second Life has created a new platform for business opportunities, spawning the creation of virtual business moguls, (56) and a means by which Residents can both supplant and derive their main income. (57) The economics of Second Life is so closely linked to its real world exchange that Second Life banks began to go bankrupt just as real world banks were...