Talk: The Sex, the Violence and the Dirty Money: The Truth about Social Virtual Worlds

by on 29 July, 2008 - 16:18

by: Gary Hayes

The slides below are from a presentation I did last week at the Monash Law Chambers as part of a four speaker mix on Law and Regulation of Virtual Worlds. The embed below has just been elevated as a slideshare featured presentation - so goes to show what a catchy title will do. I co-presented with Dan Hunter, New York Law School, Melbourne University Law, Melissa deZwart, Senior Lecturer, Monash Law and David Lindsay, Senior Lecturer, Monash Law.

A great crowd attended and my talk hopefully raised a few issues as I scattered various cans of worms for fellow speakers to pick-up on. It was all very civilised until we got to a panel session when a diverse range of views on copyright law (or none) sprung up - “huh, you wanna fight” video below.

| Viewhttp://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.39/theme/silver/palette.gif); background-color: transparent; visibility: visible; width: 14px; height: 12px; background-position: -1128px 0pt; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; display: inline;" src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.39/t.gif" /> | Upload your ownhttp://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.39/theme/silver/palette.gif); background-color: transparent; visibility: visible; width: 14px; height: 12px; background-position: -1128px 0pt; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; display: inline;" src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.39/t.gif" />

The main thrust of my talk began midway and I decided to be devil’s advocate in mapping 18 ‘joke’ commandments onto a range of worlds (Second Life, Habbo, WoW, there.com, Ultima etc:) based on some recent and on-going cases. Also many of these were also meant to be a response to the anti-world hype generated by traditional journalism and other heritage media.

1. Thou shalt not steal virtual furniture…or skin
2. Thou shalt not trade, against the terms of the EULA
3. Thou shalt not spy or record players activities!
4. Thou shalt not fornicate with avatars or publish porn
5. Thou shalt not cheat game worlds (by using bots)
6. Thou must not deliberately use misleading identity
7. Thou shalt not counterfeit virtual goods
8. Do not gather in groups to represent legal entities
9. Thou shalt not engage in Child (or Age) Play
10. Thou shalt not film others IP for commercial gain
11. Thou shalt not model real world cultural icons
12. Thou will not sell virtual goods in the real world
13. Thou shalt be controlled by un-policed mafia
14. Thou must not make false financial promises for gain
15. Thou shalt not, not use DMCA
16. Thou will not cause ‘grief to’ or deface work of others
17. Thou shalt not play copyright media in your world
18. Thou shalt not copy then sell goods as your own IP

Finally for those who are having problems dealing with what’s real and what isn’t another classic from the quirky APEC Education Foundation Series

Original Post: http://www.personalizemedia.com/talk-the-sex-the-violence-and-the-dirty-money-the-truth-about-social-virtual-worlds/