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eBay Virtual World Delisting Skips Second Life

Posted by Zonk on from the selective-process dept.

As a follow-up to last week's eBay delisting story, CNET has the word that Second Life content is exempt from this decision. Mr. Durzy, speaking with CNET, specifically cited Second Life content as exempt because of the uncertain role of the virtual world. As the company (and the rest of us) are uncertain whether to label Second Life as a game in the first place, player-created content is still sellable via eBay auction. A perfectly fine explanation, but GigaGamez takes things a step further, pointing out that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar became a major investor in Linden Labs in 2004. It's uncertain if this constitutes a conflict of interest, because confusion about what exactly Second Life is persists pretty much everywhere. Just the same, it's interesting to note. Their article on the subject also has a few words of commentary from Edward Castronova, the well-known commentator on all things RMT.

13 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. It's not a game.... by Lordfly · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...it's a thingie.

    In all seriousness, I'm kinda glad they skipped SL. Yes, it's a program where many, many (many) people derive a ton of entertainment from, but it's also being used by an increasing amount of huge companies to do business and advertise their products. So it's not so much of a game as it's a platform, I guess.

    Kinda like how some people derive tons of pleasure from compiling C++ programs. Doesn't make it a game to be placed next to Doom and WoW...

    Disclaimer: I make a living designing spaces for those companies, so sure, I'm a smidge biased.

    --
    hookers and grits.
    1. Re:It's not a game.... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm reading Snow Crash for the first time, and I'm only through the first four chapters. Second Life sounds remarkably like the Street.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
    2. Re:It's not a game.... by brkello · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it is just a scam. All this thing does is generate press allowing a few people to make some money while taking advantage of suckers. I am really tired of all the articles about it (it seems there are at least 3 a week minimum...far more than any other game). I've had enough of Slashdot advertizing this boring, poorly written "thingie".

      Please, just make it stop.

      --
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    3. Re:It's not a game.... by Peganthyrus · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Snow Crash" is a bible around Linden Labs. They've explicitly said things like "we're trying to create the Metaverse" in the past.

      --
      egypt urnash minimal art.
  2. The Big Difference... by CerebusUS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    WoW and the other mmorpgs discourage (and even prohibit through EULAs) the resale of ingame assets.

    Second Life encourages the sale of ingame assets and the secondary market that has sprung up around it.

    If Blizzard said it was OK to sell the Sword of a Thousand Truths on ebay for real cash dollars, I'm sure Ebay would allow it to be sold.

    1. Re:The Big Difference... by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Another thing to note is that Linden Labs (Second Life producers) explicitly stated the users own copyright of their own in-game creations.

      As for a description of Second Life; I think it's more of an operating system then anything else. A very limited and specialized OS perhaps, but in essence it provides the same basic functions. Technically, Second Life is probably closer to a game engine than an actual game.

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    2. Re:The Big Difference... by brunascle · · Score: 2, Informative

      Another thing to note is that Linden Labs (Second Life producers) explicitly stated the users own copyright of their own in-game creations.
      bingo. IIRC, eBay justified the delisting by pointing to the already-existing section in their terms of use that said something to the effect of "If it's not clear you own the copyright of the item you're selling, you cant sell it."
    3. Re:The Big Difference... by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Funny

      OS/2 has been out for ages.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  3. Pretty Simple by Bieeanda · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unlike the average MMO, where all assets virtual and physical belong to the company and not the end user, stuff that players create within Second Life is their own intellectual property. It's not a matter of SL being a game or not at all, but rather a function of licence agreements and design philosophy.

  4. Why? Pierre, of course. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Second Life is created by Linden Labs.

    Linden Labs is funded by Pierre Omidyar.

    Many years ago, Pierre Omidyar founded Ebay.

  5. RMT?!?! by biovoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (UK)
    Radiomagnetotelluric (Method, Measurements)
    Random Matrix Theory
    Rasch Measurement Transaction (education)
    Rate My Teachers.com
    Raw Magnetic Tape
    Real Money Transfer (role playing games)
    Real-Money Trading
    Recognition Memory Test
    Records Management Taskforce (Australian Computer Society)
    Reed-Muller Transform
    Registered Massage Therapist
    Registered Music Therapist
    Registre Morphologique des Tumeurs au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
    Reiki Master Teacher (alternative health)
    Reliability, Maintainability, Testability
    Reliable Multicast Transport (IETF)
    Remedial Military Training
    Remote
    Remote Management Testing (Ciena)
    Required Monthly Test
    Resource Management Team
    Return Material Tag (authorization reference number used when returning goods to the manufacturer)
    Reverse Mold Technology (L.A. Spas)
    Rigid Muffin-Tin
    Ring Management (FDDI, IBM)
    Risk Management Team
    Risk Management Technologies
    Royal Milk Tea

    Ok, so after searching Google for acronyms matching RMT, I worked out that in this context it means "Real Money Transfer" or "Real Money Trading", but seriously... and I normally can't stand posts that bitch about the editors... but seriously... and I'm usually happy to look up any acronym that I SHOULD know about, unless it is really FUCKING obscure... but SERIOUSLY... WOULD IT FUCKING TAKE YOU SLASHDOT EDITORS TWO SECONDS TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE FUCK RMT MEANS?!?!?

    1. Re:RMT?!?! by rrhal · · Score: 2, Informative

      OK - you have a point that RMT is not in your current list of accronyms but if you read the article that this article is a follow up to you will see RMT defined for you in the first paragraph.

      They did link to an article that was posted 4 days ago here on slashdot that was all about RMT. Perhaps they gave us credit for being able to remember that far back.

      --
      All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain
  6. This is business by nooglide · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And while this is a conspiracy theory, Ebay is losing in the order of probably hundreds of thousands if not millions in commissions every year from these auctions. They're getting paid something for proactively removing the auctions.