Slashdot Mirror
Can Avatars Make Contracts?
edadams sends in a story about the legal questions that are starting to crop up over property disputes in virtual worlds. A lawsuit in March 2008 that stopped one Second Life user from selling a virtual product created by another user marked the beginning of a significant amount of casework for several law firms, in large part due to the way Second Life's currency interacts closely with real money. (And yes, apparently the product in that particular case was for cybersex — did you have to ask?) "As transactions grow in volume, it's inevitable that disagreements will crop up. Linden says that although it will enforce its terms of service, including its ban on violating other users' intellectual property, it can't settle most disputes for users." A lawyer for one intellectual property firm handled a case in which the co-ownership of virtual real estate had to be determined, ending with a financial settlement given to two users who helped a virtual land developer run a group of Second Life islands. As virtual worlds get more popular and their business models more directly affect real-life finances, we can expect these legal issues to become more common as well.
Wow! They've productized cybersex? I thought it was a service! Is it over-the-counter yet? Does it come in a gel or powder that I apply to my genitals? I have so many questions on how it works. Can I get it delivered to my house discretely? Brilliant move but the physics are still a little confusing to me.
My work here is dung.
If you signed your name on an actual contract, you're liable for the contract. If, on the other hand, you're an idiot and sign it with your Second Life avatar (or Slashdot ID for that matter), I would imagine the contract is at least called into heavy question.
I did contract work in SL for 3 years. I always signed my name on real, mailed-over contracts. I had to do work with other contractors, though, who in a fit of privacy histrionics, refused to divulge any part of their private life to these real-world companies they were working for, and thus "signed" a "contract" inside the virtual world.
Not surprisingly, they either didn't last long doing contract work or got so heavily ostracized for their insanity they never got another call again.
In short, don't be a moron. Get a real contract, in real paper, and sign it with your real name (and make sure they do too!)
Anything else is just roleplay.
hookers and grits.
Trying to get the long arm of the law around cybersex cases could be a really sticky situation.
You've got to hand it to them though.
I'm not the biggest geek in the world but I consider myself to still be very geeky and I find this to be the most pointless waste of time and effort I've heard about since Twitter. Virtual lawsuits? Only if I can DM the lawyers.
I don't think us geeks are going to be complaining about the music kids listen to these days or getting off the lawn, we'll just bitch about how the impractical and useless the latest techno-geek fad is. "Twitter? What, blogs with RSS updates aren't good enough for you, son? Back in my day--"
"Back in your day your CPU only had one core and you liked it, right? Your polygons didn't even have textures, you had to customize your config.sys and autoexec.bat just to play--"
"Aw, shut up. And get off my lawn."
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
IAAL and the last thing--the very last thing--that I want to do in a computer game is form legally binding relationships. Today it's contracts and cybersex. Tomorrow its libel and "You wrongfully damaged the value of my avatar!"
If I get in a contract dispute in a computer game, I don't want to end up in court--I want a virtual duel with swords or pistols! I want to be able to cheat somebody in a (virtual) contract and laugh at them down the barrel of a plasma blaster when they complain.
Some MMOGs want to create a game environment that can get people sued in real life--all the while disclaiming ANY liability on their part for the social cost of such wasteful, stupid lawsuits. I'll run, screaming, away from such utter lunacy.
But, hey, its good business for lawyers . . . what the hell!
Ultimately for a contract to be valid, both sides have to agree to it.
Exactly. Plus, the Statute of Frauds requires certain transactions to be documented in a signed "writing." But what is a "writing" under the law? Does this mean hard copy? Will the courts really enforce the Statute of Frauds strictly enough to avoid liability under electronic contracts as the Internet proliferates? Now that handwriting software and peripherals are an alternative to keyboard input, the signature requirement of the Statute of Frauds may no longer be an issue.
And what about the three-day right of rescission afforded consumers in certain transactions in California? For example, home solicitation contracts may be rescinded within three days of formation of the contract. These agreements are the result of solicitations by vendors at the consumer's home. The consumer must be provided with a hard-copy form that simply requires his or her signature and mailing within the three day period to void the contract. This "change of mind" provision may or may not apply to solicitations on the Internet if received on a PC at home. But perhaps they should. Likewise, seminar sales solicitations also allow a three-day right of rescission under different provisions of the California Civil Code.
And what about the Mailbox Rule? If contracts are accepted upon dispatch, does the sending of email cut off the right of an offeror to withdraw his or her offer notwithstanding the fact that the emailed acceptance has not yet been received? And what if the offeror sends his or her withdrawal of the offer before the acceptance is emailed, but the withdrawal is not received until after dispatch of the acceptance? Issues such as these must be addressed within the context of a technology that causes email delivery to be unpredictable and delivery records to be easily manipulated. The solution to these issues may be dealt with on a case-by-case basis as the specific fact patterns surface in the courts. However, a more efficient approach would be legislative committee research and formulation of a set of commercial statutes that will accommodate virtual contracts before litigation proliferates. Legislatures need not be visionaries to anticipate and resolve the inadequacy of present-day commercial law. The "Internet Commercial Code" would facilitate the free flow of commerce in the new medium and avoid the unnecessary burden of what is now foreseeable litigation. Indeed, an organization called the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws is already working on a revised Uniform Commercial Code that will accommodate the new legal issues created by virtual contracts.
=Smidge=
Is it just my observation, or is eldavojohn an idiot?
This is such a dumb question and here is the scenario: say I play a businesswoman online. Now say my little brother gets ahold of my account while I'm in the bathroom and decides that I'm going to prostitute myself and gets into a binding contract. Did my avatar make the contract or my little brother THROUGH the avatar? When I get back to the keyboard is my avatar to be punished because they were 'possessed' by the spirit of my little brother?
Impossible to enforce. If there were an in game judicial system, it would be treated as temporary insanity. To which you would also NEED a judicial system for arbitration. This introduces lawyers. And now the game becomes a PVP free for all.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
But as I see it, there should be no problem signing contracts as $AVATAR - for strictly SL (or other virtual world) activity. As soon as RL enters the picture (including RL money), I agree, use your real identity.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
"product in that particular case was for cybersex"
I thought the same thing at first...but the case was in regards to a product used for cybersex.
Pretty soon the English language will consist only of the letters l,o, R, U, s, t, and f.
-b
I can solves puzzle?
Selling's legal.
Fucking's legal.
Why isn't selling fucking legal?
Thank you internets, for bringing this time old question back in yet a new way.
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
I cannot believe that people are interested in playing a GAME where you have to hire land developers and sort out legal contracts. What's next, Virtual Tax Filing and Online Toilet Sanitation?
>Wow! They've productized cybersex?
It was a product line with a variety of custom made animations, each of which represents dozens or hundreds of hours of work, and is by all means a tangible medium of expression and as such is subject to copyright law.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Can I get it delivered to my house discretely?
What, as in one at a time?
I'll get my coat...
How dare you be so modest!! You conceited bastard!!
Second Life, the online environment that asks the age-old question, "Do androids dream of cybersex with electric sheep?"
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
it's a game ... it's barely a game.
usually I let people continue to misunderstand.
Second Life, poorly worded product as it is, is more akin to a web hosting service with a built in 3D interface.
Some people make/play games, some socialize, and some conduct real business (just like they do via webpages, email, skype, webex...).