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Second Life Recognizes IP Of User-Created Objects
Thanks to TerraNova for pointing to a Yahoo press release revealing that "online world" Second Life now recognizes the ownership of in-world content made by subscribers. According to the press release, "The revised TOS allows subscribers to retain full intellectual property protection for the digital content they create, including characters, clothing, scripts, textures, objects and designs." As well as this, "Second Life has committed to exploring technologies to make it easy for creators to license their content under Creative Commons licenses", but, while these CC licenses are still being discussed, questions about the just-implemented IP issues are addressed at an official FAQ page on the Second Life site.
That's like saying that when I create a document within the virtual world of MS Word, that I get to keep the copyright on the document...and then act surprised by it.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
I have never played Second Life... but what happesn if this sets a precedent for other online games. Can you sue someone for killing your character or stealing your stuff? If so, will the defense simply be "It wasn't me... my computer was being hacked."
These online games seemed doomed to recreate the complications that drive people to play games in the first place. I wonder if Second Life will now have a PTO in the game to register and regulate player-created IP. I wonder if the games will become so much like real-life that some people will craft a simplier MMORPG to play inside a more complex one ("Third Life" anyone???).
What is the world coming to when one must escape from even escapist entertainments?
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
At least this will take care of the "You can't sell that on ebay, we OWN it!" restriction that MMORPG companies seem to have.
"Nope, it's MY IP now!"
I remember the days when the only people who had to give a damn about copyright laws were those who held 'em and the big piracy rings who infringed upon them and sold the bootlegs in Times Square. The big arms race of the new millenium seems to be for everyone to horde everything they can under the umbrella of copyright/trademark/patent. I'm surprised you can masturbate any more without signing away the rights to your bodily fluids. It is sad that because of a world controlled by a handful of wealthy political interests, we have to sign/click a waiver/EULA for almost anything we do. I do not envy the world my children will inherit.
What a lot of "programers" don't realize is that there is a very rich and textured world of legality that exists in the corporate world. What is actually taking place is the legal precedent of rights. There is nothing like this in precedent, so there is an ongoing establishment of "rights" taking place. Its important in the legal/courts environment, but not necessarily in the court of public opinion. However, these issues need to be addressed to determine business practices.
I haven't read the article, and know zip about this particular game, so I can't speak to this implementation, but only the concept.
Perhaps you are looking at it too narrowly. I for one thought this to be quite a progressive step and one that is consistent and equitable with respect to honoring the rights of all to create and participate in the process, rather than just signing everything away to the corporate monolith as has traditionally been the norm.
As we conduct more and more of our activities in on-line worlds, and our creative works manifest more in the same, then is it not reasonable and natural that those manifestations to serve the same purposes as the goods and services we produce in the wetworld? Think about it: wouldn't it be cool for your "day job" to be blacksmith in an on-line RPG? For now, it may only produce on-line currency that subsidizes your game time, but in the not too distant future, you, and the other users, might become co-creators with the game publisher and actually make a living from it.
It just seems a natural progression of the economy to extend into virtual worlds this way. I'd much rather see this than a bunch of hamburger-flipping losers by day paying corporate giants to play their RPGs in the evening.
Perhaps not as eloquent as Gibson or Stephenson would express it, but do you get what I'm pushing out here?
Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
This game seems alot like There for grown ups.
Both Snow Crash (someone mentioned Hiro and the manipulation of objects in his environment) and Tad Williams' Otherworld feature this sort of behavior in their environment. Player-crafted and -owned objects are common, and in fact are really what bring a player prestige.
I like the idea of an online environment where one's creative abilities and hard work are appreciated and rewarded, because it encourages similar behavior in others. Instead of spending hours just clicking on ingredients to craft something, actual time and mental resources are spent. Feels good.
"By doing this they have also made it quite difficult or impossible for a vast amount of people to also create things."
I don't think so. There will still be a lot of copyright free stuff to be had. In fact I doubt most people will bother to enforce any sort of copyright on their creations.
This move was important for programs such as Second Life however because the creation exists entirely on the server. Without this change in the TOS the obvious interpretations would be that Linden Labs owns everything that is created in the Second Life environment. This makes it clear that content you create can, if you choose, remain under your control in the IP sense, even though not in your physical possesion.