Index Page 8 of 10 top-selling computer hit. In the game, players assume control of tiny suburbanites, build houses, and work at jobs to earn"Simoleans, " the in-game currency. The Sim Mafia was founded by Jeremy Chase, a twenty-SiX-year-old in Sacramento. Players who want to destroy another characters reputation turn to the mob. The game has a system of black marks for punishing bad behaviour. If Chase is paid to"tag omeone, he gets his crime family-a loose collection of a hundred players-to place dozens and dozens of red tags on the victim. When they're done, other players will assume the character must have done something awful, and refuse to speak or trade with him Peter Ludlow, a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, became fascinated by The Sims Online last year and founded a blog -"The Alphaville Herald"-that reports on interesting social ituations inside the world Last November, he discovered something truly strange The game had chain of cyber-brothels, run by a family of avatars, all played by a character named"Evangeline Evangeline had organized a handful of Sim women to perform hot-sex chat inside the game for customers, who paid in Simoleans. "Girls set their own prices, she told Ludlow. "B]' s"were 20,000 underage girls in real life, and that Evangeline herself was a seventeen-year-old boy living in Florid a go Simoleans, the equivalent of roughly $4.50(U.S): Evangeline reserved the richest customers for herself. making up to $40 or $50(U.S )a trick. Ludlow later discovered that some of Evangeline's"girls"we When he blogged about his findings, reporters nationwide snapped to attention, and soon The Sims Online was on the front page of The New York Times Maxis-the company that runs the game -struck back. They cancelled Ludlows account, claiming he had broken the game's rules by advertising his blog inside the world. (Maxis prohibits anyone from advertising real-world services or goods inside the game Ludlow insists he never made a dime off" The Alphaville Herald, "and that he was booted out solely because his research had embarrassed the company. Either way, Ludlow lost most of his goods. When game owners cancel your account, it's like having your house instantly destroyed in a fire: your property winks out of existence. Ludlow figures he had about two hundred dollars' worth of virtual goods deleted, including a pet cheetah(which is like a fifteen-dollar animal" )that he'd bought from a vendor on-line. Yet Maxis could not entirely delete his virtual wealth. A week before his account was deleted, Ludlow had deposited eight hundred thousand Simoleans into an account at the gaming Open Market. And Maxis has no power over the Market; it cannot forcibly demand that Hale, the owner of the exchange, delete that money. In effect, Ludlow had parked his money in the virtual-world equivalent of an overseas bank, where no game government could Ludlows case points to the ultimate question, with enormous legal implications for the real world What, precisely, is the legal status of virtual property? Does tually "o Last November, I accompanied Castronova to a legal conference in New york devoted to this subject There game-company executives argued that when a player joins a world such as Ultima Online, he or she agrees to a user licence that explicitly says the game company owns everything that happens on the servers. "It's a game, and what we re doing is inviting you in to play with the toys. But you don't own the toys. We do, "said Richard Bartle, who pioneered the first virtual world back in the 1980: The problem is that people who play the games act as if their virtual castles were their own private property. And, when it comes to property issues, courts in the U.S., at least, have traditionally tended to take the view that if it quacks like a duck, it is a duck. If enough people treat their robe of Primordial Waters as though it's genuine personal property, the law might respect that-no matter what the game companies say http://www.walrusmagazine.com/printpl?sid=04/05/06/1929205top-selling computer hit. In the game, players assume control of tiny suburbanites, build houses, and work at jobs to earn "Simoleans," the in-game currency. The Sim Mafia was founded by Jeremy Chase, a twenty-six-year-old in Sacramento. Players who want to destroy another character's reputation turn to the mob. The game has a system of black marks for punishing bad behaviour. If Chase is paid to "tag" someone, he gets his crime family — a loose collection of a hundred players — to place dozens and dozens of red tags on the victim. When they're done, other players will assume the character must have done something awful, and refuse to speak or trade with him. Peter Ludlow, a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, became fascinated by The Sims Online last year and founded a blog — "The Alphaville Herald" — that reports on interesting social situations inside the world. Last November, he discovered something truly strange: The game had a chain of cyber-brothels, run by a family of avatars, all played by a character named "Evangeline." Evangeline had organized a handful of Sim women to perform hot-sex chat inside the game for customers, who paid in Simoleans. "Girls set their own prices," she told Ludlow. "Bj's" were 20,000 Simoleans, the equivalent of roughly $4.50 (U.S.); Evangeline reserved the richest customers for herself, making up to $40 or $50 (U.S.) a trick. Ludlow later discovered that some of Evangeline's "girls" were underage girls in real life, and that Evangeline herself was a seventeen-year-old boy living in Florida. When he blogged about his findings, reporters nationwide snapped to attention, and soon The Sims Online was on the front page of The New York Times. Maxis — the company that runs the game — struck back. They cancelled Ludlow's account, claiming he had broken the game's rules by advertising his blog inside the world. (Maxis prohibits anyone from advertising real-world services or goods inside the game.) Ludlow insists he never made a dime off "The Alphaville Herald," and that he was booted out solely because his research had embarrassed the game company. Either way, Ludlow lost most of his goods. When game owners cancel your account, it's like having your house instantly destroyed in a fire: your property winks out of existence. Ludlow figures he had about two hundred dollars' worth of virtual goods deleted, including a pet cheetah ("which is like a fifteen-dollar animal") that he'd bought from a vendor on-line. Yet Maxis could not entirely delete his virtual wealth. A week before his account was deleted, Ludlow had deposited eight hundred thousand Simoleans into an account at the Gaming Open Market. And Maxis has no power over the Market; it cannot forcibly demand that Hale, the owner of the exchange, delete that money. In effect, Ludlow had parked his money in the virtual-world equivalent of an overseas bank, where no game government could touch it. Ludlow's case points to the ultimate question, with enormous legal implications for the real world: What, precisely, is the legal status of virtual property? Does anyone actually "own" it? Last November, I accompanied Castronova to a legal conference in New York devoted to this subject. There game-company executives argued that when a player joins a world such as Ultima Online, he or she agrees to a user licence that explicitly says the game company owns everything that happens on the servers. "It's a game, and what we're doing is inviting you in to play with the toys. But you don't own the toys. We do," said Richard Bartle, who pioneered the first virtual world back in the 1980s. The problem is that people who play the games act as if their virtual castles were their own private property. And, when it comes to property issues, courts in the U.S., at least, have traditionally tended to take the view that if it quacks like a duck, it is a duck. If enough people treat their Robe of Primordial Waters as though it's genuine personal property, the law might respect that — no matter what the game companies say. Index Page 8 of 10 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/print.pl?sid=04/05/06/1929205 10/28/2004