The State of Play : : Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds / / ed. by Beth Simone Noveck, Jack M. Balkin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Balkin, Jack M.,; Bartle, Richard A.,; Benkler, Yochai,; Bradley, Caroline,; Castronova, Edward,; Crawford, Susan P.,; Dibbell, Julian,; Froomkin, A. Michael,; Grimmelmann, James,; Hunter, Dan,; Johnson, David R.,; Koster, Raph,; Lastowka, F. Gregory,; Noveck, Beth Simone,; Ondrejka, Cory,; Spaight, Tracy,; Zarsky, Tal,
• HerausgeberIn: Balkin, Jack M.,; Noveck, Beth Simone,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2006]; ©2006
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Language: English
• Series: Ex Machina: Law, Technology, and Society ; 2
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

The State of Play presents an essential first step in understanding how new digital worlds will change the future of our universe. Millions of people around the world inhabit virtual words: multiplayer online games where characters live, love, buy, trade, cheat, steal, and have every possible kind of adventure. Far more complicated and sophisticated than early video games, people now spend countless hours in virtual universes like Second Life and Star Wars Galaxies not to shoot space invaders but to create new identities, fall in love, build cities, make rules, and break them.As digital worlds become increasingly powerful and lifelike, people will employ them for countless real-world purposes, including commerce, education, medicine, law enforcement, and military training. Inevitably, real-world law will regulate them. But should virtual worlds be fully integrated into our real-world legal system or should they be treated as separate jurisdictions with their own forms of dispute resolution? What rules should govern virtual communities? Should the law step in to protect property rights when virtual items are destroyed or stolen?These questions, and many more, are considered in The State of Play, where legal experts, game designers, and policymakers explore the boundaries of free speech, intellectual property, and creativity in virtual worlds. The essays explore both the emergence of law in multiplayer online games and how we can use virtual worlds to study real-world social interactions and test real-world laws.Contributors include: Jack M. Balkin, Richard A. Bartle, Yochai Benkler, Caroline Bradley, Edward Castronova, Susan P. Crawford, Julian Dibbell, A. Michael Froomkin, James Grimmelmann, David R. Johnson, Dan Hunter, Raph Koster, F. Gregory Lastowka, Beth Simone Noveck, Cory Ondrejka, Tracy Spaight, and Tal Zarsky.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- PART I: Introduction -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Virtual Worlds -- PART II: Game Gods and Game Players -- 3. Virtual Worldliness -- 4. Declaring the Rights of Players -- 5. The Right to Play -- 6. Law and Liberty in Virtual Worlds -- PART III: Property and Creativity in Virtual Worlds -- 7. Virtual Crime -- 8. Owned! -- 9. Virtual Power Politics -- 10. Escaping the Gilded Cage -- 11. There Is No Spoon -- PART IV: Privacy and Identity in Virtual Worlds -- 12. Who Killed Miss Norway? -- 13. Who’s In Charge of Who I Am? -- 14. Privacy and Data Collection in Virtual Worlds -- PART V: Virtual Worlds and Real-World Power -- 15. Virtual Worlds, Real Rules -- 16. The New Visual Literacy -- 17. Democracy—The Video Game -- About the Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Case List -- Index