Virtual Worlds: Blog Four-EULAs

            In his article, Virtual Liberty: Freedom to Design and Freedom to Play in Virtual Worlds, Jack Balkin claims that, “virtual worlds are fast becoming important parts of people’s lives”, but  “because they are likely to be used for more and more purposes in the future, legal regulation of virtual worlds is inevitable.” So as we become more dependent on the Internet and virtual worlds, our perception of reality and virtual worlds becomes blurred. Often times in our new virtual worlds, “things that happen to people in the game space can have real-world effects both on them and on other people who are not in the game space.” Things like trading (for example) gold for real world currency or using your real world currency to buy things (like power ups or equipment) in world. Because of the blurring of real vs. virtual world lines laws will be put in place in order to make sure players do not mess with the system in place (or cheat the system). Therefore many games create EULAs that a player must agree to in order to actually play the game.

During this week of class we looked closely at EULAs. We discussed the reason why they exist, their use and why they are the way we are. Then we were split into three groups, each with a different MMO EULA to research and present to the class. The three MMOs to choose from included EVE Online, Second Life and Minecraft.

I was paired with Gabe and Erik. Together we researched the Second Life EULA. Now this EULA was probably affected the most by the blurring of virtual and real world. Many real world businesses have used Second Life for multiple purposes. Whether it be holding meetings or trying our products, the line of reality is blurred. You also can make real world profit off of Second Life by exchanging your Linden dollars into real world currency. This is part of the reason why the Second Life EULA is so much longer than the other EULAs because when real world money is involved, the law needs to be more involved.

Next comes EVE Online. It is another MMO that is based in space. Players use ships and attack each other. Unlike most MMOs, EVE has only one server. For a EULA, EVE Onlines EULA is pretty standard. As far as gaining real world money, you cannot freely convert the in game currency to physical money. But you can spend real world money to buy in game items that may be available.

And finally, the last MMO Minecraft. Now this was the shortest of the EULAs that we looked at in class. It was short for a good reason. There was not much to the EULA because Minecraft is more of a player creation based game (aka a sandbox creation game). So there is not actually much stuff to buy that has real world worth. Actually there is hardly anything that has real world value in Minecraft. Unlike Second Life, you can create mods and use them but not sell them for real profit. So compared to the other two EULAs, Minecraft has the least to do with Balkin’s claim about real-world commodification. Because you cannot actually gain real world money from Minecraft it does not need rules to restrict players from selling things for profit online. Really the only thing you purchase with real world money is just purchasing the game.

Virtual Worlds: Blog Three-Internet Laws

            During class this week our main topic of discussion was the laws and jurisdiction of the Internet and how it is difficult to actually govern and have set laws. One reading in particular stuck out more to me. Written by David Johnson and David Post, Laws and Borders: the Rise of Law in Cyberspace touched on many subjects that are quite relevant to today. They mainly touch on subject of the “new rules [that] will emerge, in a variety of online spaces, to govern a wide range of new phenomena that have no clear parallel in the nonvirtual world.” Basically, cyberspace is an entirely new place that cannot abide by all of the rules of every country or nation that uses the Internet. Post and Johnson claim that, “These new rules will play the role of law by defining legal personhood and property, resolving disputes, and crystallizing a collective conversation about core values.” They claim that cyberspace should be considered to be a place and therefore should have it’s own rules.

            I cannot really think of many things that I have run into in LOTRO while playing that is relevant to our readings. I have not run into people breaking rules or doing cheats or even trolls while playing the game. But an issue that is relevant to current events would be that of SOPA and PIPA. They were put in place to “eliminate” copyright infringement on the Internet. In short, SOPA aka Stop Online Piracy Act allows companies to remove websites if they contain something that is copyrighted or a hyperlink to copyrighted material. On the other hand, PIPA aka Protect Intellectual Property Act is very similar to SOPA, but it deals with foreign websites and attempts to stop them from hosting things like TV shows that are considered to be copyrighted material. If these were to become laws many websites would be shut down and lots of companies would be destroyed.

            I think that congress honestly has no business dealing in laws and matters that deal with the Internet. I believe this because of multiple reasons including that congress should not be involved with law making of the Internet but also the fact that they are not experts on the ways the Internet works. Both Johnson and Post would probably agree with me on this topic. So many things would go wrong when government tries to interfere with the Internet.  A “blackout” was held last Wednesday (January 18^th) to protest SOPA and PIPA. Sites such as Reddit and Wikipedia (along with multiple other websites) went dark for 24 hours. Many things would go wrong if SOPA and PIPA became real laws. This is why congress needs to read up and learn more about the Internet and how cyberspace should be considered a new place and the laws should be treated as such.

Virtual Worlds: Blog Two-Socialization

            During this weeks reading we read part of T. L. Taylor’s book, Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Part of the book stresses the importance of socialization in virtual worlds. They use EverQuest as an example of how players can interact and how the socializing makes the game as great as it is. “Players are socialized into the space and over time learn what it means to become a good EQ player”. This quote can be used to describe the importance of socialization in other virtual worlds as well like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and many other games. If you are a generous when you meet other characters in the game, which can get you a good reputation. Those players who have a bad reputation often “play the game with no real regard for others” and often times they will be weeded out from guilds. Often, the further you get in these games the more help you need from other gamers. For example if you need to beat a big boss, you may need help to take it down. So you would call on your friends or guild to help you out.

            This week in class, all of us got out 60-day gamer card for LOTRO. This allows us to actually see and interact with other players that are online. We can friend people and even create a “Kinship” (which basically is the LOTRO equivalent of a guild). During out Thursday lab, we all posted our character names, race and class into our wiki page. Next we friended each other so that we could all create a “kinship” for our class to join. The thing that I thought was the coolest was that while I was playing the game I actually ran into another player from our class. I never actually thought I would run into someone I knew, but it made the experience a lot of fun. As I played more I saw more and more people who were playing in the same place that I was. I had a guy even help me take down some wolves and Blackwood spies. So far I have not run into anyone who is a griefer or a troll (I have my fingers crossed that I may never run into them on LOTRO).

            As I play further into the game I think that the whole socialization portion virtual worlds will come into effect like Taylor mentioned in their book. Like when an experienced player in LOTRO gave our teacher some gold in LOTRO when she needed help, the players can make a difference in the game. It can create a community, which many people gravitate to and that is why these games are so popular. If there wasn’t the community portion of virtual worlds, I highly doubt they would be as popular as they are today.

Virtual Worlds: First Blog

The first project assigned to our class this term was to create a “toon” on Lord of the Rings Online. Now Lord of the Rings Online is the first virtual world that we will be studying this term and learning how they work is learned best through actually playing the game. But before you begin you must create a toon or avatar for you to play as. You can create them to look a variety of different ways. And in LOTRO depending what you choose for your character will determine their strengths, weaknesses and job in the virtual world.

The most important decisions you can make while creating your LOTRO avatar is made when choosing their race, class and skills. I personally decided to play as a character from the man race. I liked the other races (and I knew I did not want to be a dwarf for sure) but I also knew that elves would probably be pretty popular. At first I wanted to make my character be a Lore Master. A Lore Master is a class you can choose that has your character using magic to fight instead of weapons or other objects, "The Lore-master uses his knowledge of ancient wisdom to attack his foes or to ease the suffering of his companions. He can even communicate with animals and request their aid, and also use his knowledge to daze, harm, and hinder his enemies." I knew it would be harder to do that a hunter (which was my other option) but I thought it would be fun. Only elves and man can be a Lore Master, which is also why I ended up choosing to play as a man. I also changed my characters physical appearance do my liking, which was quite fun (due to the many options I had to choose from). This is what she first looked like.

 Yet what I first started playing, I realized that it was quite hard to play as a Lore Master. Lore Master's are under the "advanced" character. So I decided to create a second character (who looks the same) and choose a "basic" level. After I figure out to play the game a little better then I would go back and play as my Lore Master character. This time I chose to play as a Guardian. A Guardian is described as, "The Guardian is the class of choice for players who enjoy hard- fought battles and heavy hand-to-hand combat. The Guardian is one of the few classes willing and able to draw blows onto himself, and can retaliate with devastating response. A Guardian uses taxing attacks and irksome taunts to draw and hold opponents’ attention, relying on his shield and weapon to turn aside incoming attacks with blocks and parries." I started playing, and so far I am on level 7, so it is going well.

Now, according to Richard Bartel, there are four types of players in virtual worlds. Hearts (socialisers), spades (explorers), clubs (killers) and diamonds (achievers). I personally think that I will mostly be in the diamond and spades group because I like doing small tasks to level up my character and exploring the lands. Hopefully playing in the world of LOTRO will be a ton of fun. I am looking forward to learning more about the game as I keep playing it.