Usc Faculty Lecture 5

Faculty Seminar on Virtual Worlds Episode 5 - The Man - 3/25/08 cory ondrejka - [email protected]

where by “The Man” I mean

legal, regulatory, government, and security issues

which largely resolve around

these intersections

as an aside, this is a problem because there is no magic circle

remember the magic circle?

beating crap out of each other OK

beating crap out of each other frowned on

alas, no magic circle online

hard to keep what happens here

away from here

especially with user-created content

as nice as it would be

also, consider differences between

actions inside virtual worlds

and real world use of virtual worlds

for example

as opposed to

vs

major difference is user intent

(which may or may not matter when it comes down to regulation)

so, legal

first off, remember

IANAL

legal issues return again and again to two areas

contracts intellectual property

by contract, mean eula

End User Licensing Agreement

End User Licensing Agreement aka Terms of Service

big questions about what you can give away via a click

copyright?

copyright? patents?

copyright? patents? freedom of speech?

nobody really knows, but eulas have generally been upheld

game eulas usually restrictive

game eulas usually restrictive

Blizzard owns this conversation

among the many unanswered questions around eulas:

how do restrictions impact play? economics? communications? learning?

intellectual property

or, perhaps

copyright

funny thing about virtual worlds

everything comes under intellectual property

(usually copyright)

because everything is a creative act and fixed

this isn’t what we’re used to

consider

if this were the real world

copyright copyright

in a virtual world... copyright

copyright

copyright

copyright

copyright copyright

in fact copyright copyright

copyright

copyright copyright copyright

copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright copyright

it gets worse

the dance move

copyright

through the magic circle

content of all kinds

or brands

changing rules

remixes

real world media

cross world media

what about your likeness?

tons of complexity, not a lot of study

and remember, all in a zero marginal cost environment

so duplication is possible

and pirates will scare us

and someone will bring up the DMCA

especially as line between digital and real blurs

on to regulatory

(I think of regulatory as legal but driven by government)

privacy

what is privacy in virtual worlds?

especially if (when)

people roleplay

are activists

seek healing

speaking of healthcare

where you travel in virtual worlds looks a lot like browser histories

can your employer learn you were researching heart attacks

discrimination and harassment

real world tensions

or otherwise

with new affordances

governments also get tetchy where harms might exist

addiction?

violence?

adult content?

(plus separate regulations for children in many contexts)

of course, anything that involves money means

taxation

when and how to tax?

so far, the Joint Economic Committee has taken the “tax at conversion” strategy

virtual $

tax here

bank paypal credit card

real $

but that could change

banking

(to say nothing of stock markets)

(or combining vice and money)

gambling

with special concerns about how money moves

remember virtual $

real $

even if the bad guys make virtual money virtual $

real $

virtual $

they need to get it back to the real world

real $

virtual $

bank paypal credit card

real $

virtual $

bank paypal credit card

and banks et al are very tightly regulated real $

topics governments don’t know enough to even wonder about

self image and influence

and if that wasn’t complex enough

musician in Brazil

musician in Brazil

space simulated in US

musician in Brazil

listener in Germany listener in UK

listener in Sweden listener in Italy

listener in Japan space simulated in US

collaboration at a distance

our intuitions of place are wrong

this will require multilateral cooperation

maybe using virtual worlds

(which is happening)

but will take practice

because we still have much to learn about what together means in virtual worlds

nowhere will this be more important than public diplomacy and terrorism

given emotional places

where people are learning

inspired

connected

outspoken

cultural

how do we use them in an increasingly fragmented world?

how do we remember

how do we represent the future?

are virtual worlds recognized as threats or opportunities?

what affordances are critical to the discussion?

we need these discussions about many technologies, btw

a final question

(that I don’t know the answer to)

who controls speech in virtual worlds?

(too large a subject)

many competing forces

so, what’s next?

want to confirm dates since April is a weird, mutated month with 5 Tuesdays

I propose: april 8th education april 22nd future of virtual worlds (but I’m open to other topics)

stop talking now

[email protected] http://ondrejka.net