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The concept of Virtual Property originated from virtual worlds. These virtual worlds are also referred to as game worlds, they are computer-simulated environments with people controlling the charcters which interact, play and socialize with one another. In computer games such as Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), game players are able to sell and buy virtual items such as clothes, weapons and houses with virtual currency. Unlike real world properties which can be touched used for practical purposes, these virtual goods are intangible and only exist in cyberspace, therefore they are regarded as virtual properties. There are two types of Virtual Property in the MMOGs as shown below: (Bartle 2004).
Objects: weapons, clothes, jewellery and foods
Characters: various types of characters depending on games
Currency: gold and platinum pieces
Real estate: Houses, cars, lands
Player account: user name
Others: maps, medicines
Virtual property can be described as both intangible and exclusionary. Firstly, intangibility differentiates virtual property from traditional property, traditional property being something that is tangible and protected by laws which prohibit stealing or vandalizing. Secondly, a virtual property's exclusiveness differentiates it from intellectual property. The intellectual properties are things such as music, art works and movies. Those properties are protected by copyright laws granted by government while the virtual property rights can be granted by private organizations (Nelmark 2004).
Bartle (2004) states that the virtual economy exists in virtual worlds where gamers deal with selling and buying virtual assets for real world money. The extensive trade shows that many players treat their virtual property as if it were their real private property. Also the trading of virtual property is constantly transforming and now involves astonishing amounts of money. For instance, it is estimated that the total real-world currency transactions outside of the game world, through eBay and other online auction sites, is around US $100 million to US $1 billion (Krotoski 2005). In addition, a company called Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) collects virtual goods for sale online by employing approximately 100 game players to play online game full time with low wages. By playing computer games almost 24 hours everyday, those players are more likely to gain rare virtual items which enable IGE to sell the items for high price (Bartle 2004).
Issues regarding ownership of virtual property in MMOG worlds, and how they can be dealt with have been raised. It is general perceived that the answer for these issues depends on various factors such as property law and the nature of the bsuiness world. Within business worlds, the ownership of virtual property is clearly allocated by End User License Agreement (EULA). It explicitly states that all rights belong to the game developers which allows the game players to gain a license to access the game, rather than having exclusive rights to the MMOG (Hunter and Lastowka 2003).
Urs Gasser: State of Play III: Pre-Conf Thoughts
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Bartle, R. A. 2004. Pitfalls of Virtual Property. http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:mWMII3VvjIcJ:www.themis-group.com/uploads/Pitfalls%2520of%2520Virtual%2520Property.pdf+virtual+property+definition&hl=en (accessed October 10, 2005).
Hunter, D. and F. G. Lastowka. 2003. Virtual Property. http://www.nyls.edu/pdfs/hunter_lastowka.pdf (accessed October 18, 2005)
Krotoski, A. 2005. Chinese gamer sentenced to life for stabbing a player who stole his virtual sword. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2005/06/09/chinese_gamer_sentenced_to_life_for_stabbing_a_player_who_stole_his_virtual_sword.html
(accessed October 18, 2005)
Nelmark, D. 2004. Virtual Property: The Challenges of Regulating Intangible, Exclusionary Property Interests such as Domain Names. http://www.law1.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v3/n1/1/ (accessed October 11, 2005).
The link to key entry:Computer Games - Ethics
--Chang I-Jung 17:52, 20 Oct 2005 (EST)