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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Picking apart the MetaPlace Bill of Rights]]></title><link>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/</guid><comments>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/new-titles/" rel="tag">New titles</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/opinion/" rel="tag">Opinion</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/metaplace/" rel="tag">MetaPlace</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/legal/" rel="tag">Legal</a>, <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/virtual-worlds/" rel="tag">Virtual worlds</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html"><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2008/09/udhr_425.jpg" /></a></div>
<a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.metaplace.com">MetaPlace</a> is not an MMOG. It's a platform for creating virtual spaces that can be used for anything the creators can imagine. As such, the traditional MMO EULA is completely inadequate. <a href="http://www.raphkoster.com">Raph Koster</a> -- the head honcho on the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://massively.joystiq.com/category/metaplace">MetaPlace</a> project -- made that clear in a <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/15/agdc08-on-avatar-rights-and-virtual-property/">panel at AGDC08.</a> So, the folks working on <span style="font-style: italic;">MetaPlace</span> had to come up with a whole new set of rules -- rules that allow users ownership of their virtual property, for example. There's a veritable landmine of problems awaiting this endeavor, of course. That's not to say it's impossible. It's just going to be extremely challenging.<br /><br />Koster published a <a href="http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/09/15/declaring-the-rights-of-metaplace-users/">first draft of the Terms of Service for MetaPlace</a> on his blog the other day. It's based based on the <a href="http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/playerrights.shtml">Declaration of the Rights of Avatars</a> that he conceived back in 2000. Readers of the <span style="font-style: italic;">MetaPlace</span> ToS are likely to come away with two impressions. The first: that it's really cool and admirable and that in a general sense, Koster and friends are on the right track. Two is that the <span style="font-style: italic;">MetaPlace</span> team seems to be underestimating just how epic a quest it's committed itself to.<p><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Picking apart the MetaPlace Bill of Rights</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ffffcc;border:1px solid #ffff99;clear:both;"><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com"><img src="http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif" alt="Massively" style="float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;" /></a><a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/">Picking apart the MetaPlace Bill of Rights</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com">Massively</a> on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST.  Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.<br style="clear:both;"></p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/09/15/declaring-the-rights-of-metaplace-users/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/forward/1317488/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/18/picking-apart-the-metaplace-bill-of-rights/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>]]></description><category>areae</category><category>bill-of-rights</category><category>blog</category><category>declarion-of-the-rights-of-avatars</category><category>discrimination</category><category>end-user-license-agreement</category><category>eula</category><category>metaplace</category><category>privacy</category><category>property</category><category>raph-koster</category><category>terms-of-service</category><category>tos</category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Samuel Axon]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
