Index Page 9 of 10 This debate may appear rather abstract right now. But, sooner or later, one of these game companies will start losing money and decide it can t afford to keep its virtual world. ( Many observers expect at least one major world to go bankrupt this year. ) If a game shut down, it would instantly destroy hundreds of thousands-perhaps even millions-of dollars. The homeless woman with the virtual mansion, fo instance, could probably sell her goods for several hundred dollars; she would lose her single most valuable possession For now, there is no clear precedent on how to deal with virtual property Owning a virtual castle is not like owning other virtual things, such as stock in a company, because the value is not in an external tangible object such as a corporation, but in the work and money invested in acquiring it With stakes like that, said Jack Balkin, a Yale law professor and a host of the legal conference, player will probably fight back with lawsuits, or by going right to politicians, demanding legislation to prevent worlds from closing down. Julian Dibbell, a journalist who began trading virtual goods himself last summer-he aims to report"revenue from the sale of virtual goods"as the single biggest line-item on is 2004 tax return- later suggested an even stranger scenario. He said that players could well band together and try to buy back the world at the company's bankruptcy hearing -and then run it themselves as a breakaway republic. "Some renegade players have done things like that before, actually, he noted. " They've gotten access to the code of the game and then illicitly created their own duplicate world In a few years, these questions will creep into the mainstream, because online environments such as Ever Quest are likely to become a significant way that people interact with the Internet. Only a small chunk of the population will ever go into a brooding medieval-fantasy such as EverQuest, but virtual worlds have emerged that are much friendlier, and do not use dungeons-and-dragons themes at all Indeed, they re not even games: they have no goals, no"levels"to achieve, no points to score There. com, for example, is a 3-D world devoted to nothing but chatting and socializing, using avatars so much prettier in There. As in the real world, one of the main activities in There is shopping. The s just that look like seductive, attractive models. You'd probably prefer it to real life, because everything is company created a currency, Therebucks, and tied it directly to the value of the american dollar to prevent inflation. Players spend a lot of time customizing their appearance(often for the purposes of flirting), so Nike and Levis have virtual clothes that they sell solely inside the game. Individual players too, have become designers, creating outfits they sell to other There citizens. "One of the leading clothes designers is making $3,000 to $4,000 a month, which is a full-time job, "says There's founder, will Harvey a place like There is not so much a game as a platform for life. a large chunk of our everyday experiences-meetings, conversation, music, shopping- could port nicely to a 3-D space. There Inc is already talking to companies about licensing"land"inside the game, so far-flung employees can conduct meetings there instead of on the old-fashioned Internet. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. The The army is currently using the virtual Baghdad in There as a training space for American solder it U.S. military has already licensed a private chunk of There and created a simulation of the planet The prospect of life moving into an area such as There both amazes and terrifies Balkin. "So, what happens when people start doing therapy inside a virtual world? he asked. Or teaching? It's a convenient place to meet, but literally everything can be recorded. So what do you do when doctors are meeting to talk with patients in a virtual world? Castronova sighs. Though he has made his career out of studying these economies, he is dismayed by http://www.walrusmagazine.com/printpl?sid=04/05/06/1929205This debate may appear rather abstract right now. But, sooner or later, one of these game companies will start losing money and decide it can't afford to keep its virtual world. (Many observers expect at least one major world to go bankrupt this year.) If a game shut down, it would instantly destroy hundreds of thousands — perhaps even millions — of dollars. The homeless woman with the virtual mansion, for instance, could probably sell her goods for several hundred dollars; she would lose her single most valuable possession. For now, there is no clear precedent on how to deal with virtual property. Owning a virtual castle is not like owning other virtual things, such as stock in a company, because the value is not in an external, tangible object such as a corporation, but in the work and money invested in acquiring it. With stakes like that, said Jack Balkin, a Yale law professor and a host of the legal conference, players will probably fight back with lawsuits, or by going right to politicians, demanding legislation to prevent worlds from closing down. Julian Dibbell, a journalist who began trading virtual goods himself last summer — he aims to report "revenue from the sale of virtual goods" as the single biggest line-item on his 2004 tax return — later suggested an even stranger scenario. He said that players could well band together and try to buy back the world at the company's bankruptcy hearing — and then run it themselves as a breakaway republic. "Some renegade players have done things like that before, actually," he noted. "They've gotten access to the code of the game and then illicitly created their own duplicate world." In a few years, these questions will creep into the mainstream, because online environments such as EverQuest are likely to become a significant way that people interact with the Internet. Only a small chunk of the population will ever go into a brooding medieval-fantasy such as EverQuest, but virtual worlds have emerged that are much friendlier, and do not use dungeons-and-dragons themes at all. Indeed, they're not even games: they have no goals, no "levels" to achieve, no points to score. There.com, for example, is a 3-D world devoted to nothing but chatting and socializing, using avatars that look like seductive, attractive models. You'd probably prefer it to real life, because everything is just so much prettier in There. As in the real world, one of the main activities in There is shopping. The company created a currency, Therebucks, and tied it directly to the value of the American dollar to prevent inflation. Players spend a lot of time customizing their appearance (often for the purposes of flirting), so Nike and Levis have virtual clothes that they sell solely inside the game. Individual players, too, have become designers, creating outfits they sell to other There citizens. "One of the leading clothes designers is making $3,000 to $4,000 a month, which is a full-time job," says There's founder, Will Harvey. A place like There is not so much a game as a platform for life. A large chunk of our everyday experiences — meetings, conversation, music, shopping — could port nicely to a 3-D space. There Inc. is already talking to companies about licensing "land" inside the game, so far-flung employees can conduct meetings there instead of on the old-fashioned Internet. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. The U.S. military has already licensed a private chunk of There and created a simulation of the planet on it. The army is currently using the virtual Baghdad in There as a training space for American soldiers. The prospect of life moving into an area such as There both amazes and terrifies Balkin. "So, what happens when people start doing therapy inside a virtual world?" he asked. "Or teaching? It's a convenient place to meet, but literally everything can be recorded. So what do you do when doctors are meeting to talk with patients in a virtual world?" Castronova sighs. Though he has made his career out of studying these economies, he is dismayed by Index Page 9 of 10 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/print.pl?sid=04/05/06/1929205 10/28/2004