Things We Dont Read: EULAs

                Jack M. Balkin writes the article in the, Virginia Law Review, called, “Virtual Liberty: Freedom to design and Freedom to Play in Virtual Worlds.” One of his main points he tries to get across to his readers is the fact that legal regulation of virtual worlds is inevitable. The reason behind his point is the fact that virtual worlds have items and that are bought and sold at real world value. Quoting Balkin he writes, “The single most important development that will lead to legal regulation of virtual spaces is the accelerating real-world commodification of virtual worlds” (pg. 2046)

                The Second-Life end user license agreement (EULA) is the biggest out of the three virtual world’s user license agreements that our class had to read. In Second-Life it is widely known that property is bought and sold in real life situations. This is one game that backs the reasons why Balkin believes that legal regulation is going to enter virtual worlds. It is interesting though in Second-Life’s EULA it says that Linden dollars cannot be sold or bought outside of the game. This is interesting because you can sell property but not money.

                Eve Online has a EULA that also specifies about its regulations on selling items and objects. The game does not permit the buying, selling, or auctioning on online websites outside of the Eve server. The law stopping the selling of items outside of the game on Eve contradicts Balkin’s opinion but, it is only because there is no known selling of items outside of the game. During the presentation of Eve’s EULA it was noted that there could be a black market outside of the game unknown to the average gamer that buys and sells items.

                Lastly, is Minecraft’s EULA which was the shortest EULA out of the three online games. Minecraft’s EULA seemingly only mentions in one sentence about the buying and selling of items in the real world by stating, “Remember not to distribute the changes.” With this short EULA and basically no regulations in the game there is undoubtedly the selling or buying of items or property outside of Minecraft.

              

Muddy Waters

                Greg Lastowka wrote,“The jurisdictional problems posed by cyberspace were recognized early in the history of Internet law. One radical question posed was this: if the Internet creates jurisdictional problems, why not use the Internet to solve these problems? The Internet could be its own jurisdiction, with its own laws, created by its own “consent of the governed” (pg. 80). The problem of jurisdiction on the internet is that no one has total control of what can and can’t be done on the internet. Since that is the case then how would a person be punished if caught doing something illegal on the web. The point of the internet is to be independent and have the ability to do whatever a person wants to.

                An article by Georg Krog, gives an example of two conflicts of internet jurisdiction. The first case was Bennett versus Hosting.com for improper venue. The case got dismissed by the U.S district court of northern California because, “…despite Bennett’s contention that it was unenforceable for unconscionability and inapplicable to her tort claims.” The second case was between Kruska versus Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc. (and other defendants) for filed defamation, cyberstalking, and other claims. The claims made by Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc, which they put on there website were that Mrs. Kruska was a child molester and pedophile. A U.S. District Court in Arizona dismissed the complaint against Perverted Justice Foundation based on a lack of personal jurisdiction.

Georg Krog's article

                Georg Krog’s article parallels well with the expanding uncertainty of the internets jurisdiction and how it should be dealt with. One of Greg Lastowka’s points he is trying to make in his book is that internet jurisdiction is still rough around the edges. In the second case featuring Kruska vs. Perverted Justice Foundation, how would you punish the website when it is spreading its information throughout the world? There is no territorial law that can be used because it is spreading its knowledge to millions of people everywhere who visit the site. Greg Lastowka makes the argument that the internet should have its own rules so that in the cases brought up by Krog do not happen because there is a clear distinction of law. In my opinion, with internet jurisdiction becoming more relevant something is going to have to happen. Right now, in today’s society internet is like muddy water, unclear and inconsistent. Greg Lastowka’s idea about the internet having its own laws makes the most sense because then they are set in stone and when problems arise we can handle them with the cyberspace rules instead of using the legal system that we have now.  

Teamwork Wins Championships

                When thinking about MMORPG’s the typical person would probably describe a video gamer as someone who has no life and socially cannot hold a conversation in public. This is where the general public is wrong. One of T.L. Taylor’s main arguments in his reading is the fact that these MMO’s such as Everquest actually do promote team work and social skills. T.L. Taylor is wrote, “One of the biggest thing about games like EQ is that they are deeply social. While much of what we hear about gaming in popular press evokes images of alienation and isolation, it is a misunderstanding of the nature of these games. The sociality of the space is not simply a matter of players talking to each other but a web of networks and relationships-sometimes weaving between on and offline life, in-game and out-game-developing, and disintegrating over time.”  Videogame’s are not people who just play on there computer in the complete dark only coming out when they have to go to the bathroom. Gamers develop relationships which may last a life time or just for that raid which proves that they are just as capable to do anything a non gamer can do out in the real world.

                In my experience on LOTRO I have gotten help multiple times with other players. A perfect example of this is when I could not pass a quest given to me by a NPC and I needed help. So I called up my partner and asked him for some help. He came into the game we strategized about how to attack these bears which I had to kill. Then went into battle and came out victorious. The team work that each of us showed was something that can be used out in the real world.

                This experience that I had within LOTRO is exactly what T.L. Taylor is trying to argue to the non gamer. Video gamers have team work skills that some people do not have and this should be considered when applying for jobs out in the real world. You can have one applicant who went through college just studying by themselves and getting excellent grades but really has no social or leadership qualities.  Or on the other hand you have a person who might not have as good of grades but plays these MMORPG’s and has learned about being a leader and how to successfully lead a team to the finish. I’m sure 90% of people will want the gamer who has leadership skills and can socially talk to another person in there business.

The next chapter called: LOTRO

For the Lord of the Rings, MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game), my first character I am going to have to choose my bread and butter, sneak class.  I will be choosing a Hobbit as my race and burglar as my class.

The main reason I choose the hobbit as burglar class is because of the sneak-like traits hobbits have. I googled. “How to create a character on LOTRO,” and eventually ended up on, create a character LOTRO website.  Hobbits receive the following benefits: Improved fear resistance, improved vitality, improved morale regeneration outside of combat, and improved shadow mitigation. The last improvement called, Improved Shadow Mitigation is the biggie for why I choose a hobbit as a race. The shadow mitigation improves the resistance to shadow damage. The shadows is where I am mainly going to be running around so having a resistance to shadow damage will play an integral role in how I use my character. The only downside to having a hobbit as a race is its weakness: reduced might. The reduced might weakens my hobbits ability to block incoming attacks and also the ability to cause greater amount of damage with my weapons. I feel this won’t be too big of a problem because having a stealthy character I will be able to get the first attack off all the time.

Creating a character on LOTRO

      Richard A. Bartle wrote an article called, “HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS,” where he describes the different characters that often show up in MUDs. He puts each player into four different groups, achievers, killers, explorers, and socializers. Looking at my character and what I want to do with him I would definitely put my hobbit into the achiever category. Reading Bartle’s description of achievers is what I thought best fit my attitude towards videogames, “The point of playing is to master the game, and make it do what you want it to do; there's nothing intrinsically worthwhile in rooting out irrelevant details that will never be of use, or in idling away your life with gossip.” This quote epitomizes what I want to do when I play videogames. I want to master the game and make it do what I want to do. To me socializing is boring and is a waste of my time. Killing on the other hand is fun but if I’m not getting anywhere in the game then why am I doing it. Lastly, being an explorer just comes with doing the quests. I do not need to know extra places on the map; all I need is a marker that shows me the points on the map to level up.

I have played one other RPG in my life and it was a game called, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. In Oblivion I had a character named, Shakur who was sneaky and had the ability to steal about anything. I just feel right at home when I can cruise around a map without having to fight anything so I can get the missions done. An additional reason why I always choose stealth classes is because of the ability it seems to be faster at not only dealing blows but running across a map. With an increased speed trait I can get to points on the maps faster which allow me to level up faster as well.  I feel my characters that I make on RPG always seem to emulate a little bit of who I am. I always wanted to be that secret agent who athletically could do anything in terms of combat. These traits show in my characters because most of them are fast and stealt