Moliyo, the people behind China’s popular MMORPG “Cabal,” banned 120,000 players who attempted to hack the game.
Then it told the banned players that they could get back into the game if they donated blood at a public blood drive (there is a donor shortage in China due to fear of AIDS).
Details at Online game cheats [...]
TerraNova, Coldwell Banker selling homes in Second Life:
I’ve got to wonder what exactly Coldwell Banker is doing here and what kind of deal it has with Linden Labs (presumably there is some contractual arrangement here). Second Life advertises on its splash page “Own Virtual Land.” But if you buy virtual “land,” do you “own” it [...]
In a decision issued yesterday, Thyroff v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., — N.E.2d —-, 2007 WL 844860 (N.Y.), 2007 N.Y. Slip Op. 02442, the NY Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, responded to a question certified by the Second Circuit: “whether the common-law cause of action of conversion applies to certain electronic computer records [...]
Dave Birch over at the Digital Identity Forum has a modest proposal.
Let’s be clear: there is something interesting happening around virtual worlds. I’m not entirely sure what it is, and nor is anyone else, but the primal soup of computer-mediated communications, social networking and immersive 3D graphics is brewing and something [...]
Leandra Lederman (Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington), ‘Stranger than Fiction’: Taxing Virtual Worlds. Draft at SSRN.
Abstract:
Virtual worlds, including massive multi-player on-line role-playing games (game worlds), such as City of Heroes, Everquest, and World of Warcraft, have become popular sources of entertainment. Game worlds provide scripted contexts for events such as quests. Other virtual worlds, [...]
From Raph Koster: Suits pitch derivative ideas for a new massively multiplayer game designed to milk maximum bucks from players. See the parody video.
The Chinese government has decided to restrict the convertability of virtual currencies into Yuan because it is worried that virtual currencies from online games could undermine the country’s financial system.
Finally, I can order a pizza from Domino’s in Second Life and eat it in my first. I don’t really understand the point of this but it sure has provided Domino’s with free publicity.
Henry Jenkins, How Second Life Impacts Our First Life…
