Historically speaking there has always been a debate on the periphery about who owns your MMORPG character. Players have argued that we invest both time and money into the virtual items, real estate, and levels we collect in any given game world. That time has a value on it and we often combine it with a monthly fee. We like the idea that “our character” is indeed “our character.” Game companies do not share our outlook on the issue. As far as they’re concerned a character is just data and it is their property on their servers. The monthly fee associated with it only pays for the right to access the resources of the game.
It is here that the argument has remained for quite some time. Nobody has truly challenged a game company in court about whether or not they can deny us access to our characters or if they can terminate our access to them without compensation. It is a reasonable argument that the monthly fee does not purchase anything but access. As a player you are not guaranteed any item or virtual goods for paying that monthly fee. You can simply log in and what you do with that ability is up to you. The issue of our time having value is simply pushed to the wayside.
Times are changing quickly and I think this argument needs to be revisited. MMORPGs have taken a step that may open them up to losing control over the virtual goods that players claim to own. Blizzard can argue that it only is selling you access with a subscription fee but how do developers intend to explain away selling you virtual goods directly? If you pay $25 for a Sparkle Pony you are exchanging money for goods. Spinning that as “access” to the good is far less cut and dry.
I’m certain many of you see this as a non-issue and couldn’t possibly imagine it changing. Don’t be too certain though as this very question may be tested in court quite soon. Should the case not be settled we’ll have an answer to whether or not an MMORPG provider can cut off access to something you purchased. For a traditional game like EverQuest II or World of Warcraft that may mean refunding you for any item transactions you made directly. If it goes even further we might find ourselves as the owners of our own digital destiny. What do you think? Do you feel like you own your character or not?
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
If you pay for shoes or an extra lane at the bowling alley, you don’t own those items. You’ve paid to enhance the base service. Paying $25 for a virtual pony is not a transfer of goods. It is the augmentation of a service. You are still renting data and paying for access privileges.
Actually the bowling alley example doesn’t fully work here. The rules to play require you to have shoes. You rent them temporarily. That is the agreement. If you buy your own shoes they cannot take them away from you when you are done bowling. Even if you’re not bowling you own your shoes.
“You rent them temporarily.”
Ferrel, that’s the point, you rent your characters temporarily. The EULAs are always specific about ownership and except for VWs like Second Life it’s not the player who owns them.
If you DO own your character you can sue someone for damaging it. There are a whole barrel of rights that accrue once something is recognised as property.
It’s inevitable that players will keep testing this issue in the courts. It’s also inevitable that the judges will keep saying No. This is because if the players win then the MMO becomes unmanageable in that jurisdiction. No one would operate a MMO in a country where you could be sued for nerfing paladins.
On the point of the EULA. Putting things into one doesn’t make it legal. In fact they get cited for “over reaching” more times than they’re upheld. Just a note.
I like your point about being able to sue for damages. That most certainly would be a problem. Well thought out!
I agree with Stabs, once you start going down the “my data is property” aspect, things get tricky. On a basic level, you simply can’t guarantee constant access to your “property”. Eventually a game may have to shut down; there was a lot of talk a few years about about what happens if a game can’t guarantee access and what if they are forced by court order to keep a game running? Ugh.
Even with the sales of items, I don’t think you can really say it’s a good. To use the bowling alley example, if the bowling alley had a special deal where you got free shoe rental every time you paid for a bowling game, would you “own” the shoes even if they had a one time fee of $25? I don’t think so, and I think that’s what’s happening here: a one-time charge to get access to something IF you pay for something else. No subscription = no access to your item.
Ultimately, owning the item is meaningless outside the context of the game. Could you expect access to a sparklepony even if you didn’t pay for your subscription? No. As for virtual worlds allowing you ownership of your items, that’s just the IP, not the implementation. One time someone from Linden Labs told me that if anyone ever wanted to have “access” to their items in SL, they’d just send them a printout of the data. We both chuckled at how useless that would be, even if it satisfies the letter of the agreement.
You can model and animate a copy of the Pegasus, and then you would own it under copyright. You can look at it all you want, and Blizzard won’t be able to take that one off of you.
“then you would own it under copyright”
No you wouldn’t. Copying someone else’s stuff doesn’t give you copyright. In fact it violates their copyright.
Technically Blizzard might be within their rights to cease and desist you if you made a model of a WoW sparkle pony (as opposed to a generic sparkle pony).
I would actually pay to watch the discussion on what constitutes a WoW sparkle pony vs a public domain sparkle pony!