On Virtual Travel

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 Posted in Information Technology, Video Games, Virtual Worlds | 2 Comments »

Why would a denizen of a virtual world want to cross over into another virtual world, especially if she couldn't bring her special powers, skills, or goods into that other world?  This was the question asked in a comment the ...

Laws for the Virtual Universe

Saturday, March 21st, 2009 Posted in Information Technology, Legal Explorations, Video Games, Virtual Worlds | 3 Comments »

What if virtual worlds, no matter their purposes, narratives, unique details, and other variations, could be linked?  What if they had borders between them, keeping the right stuff in its place, but in other ways being permeable? I am in the ...

The Value of Liberal Arts in a Recession

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 Posted in Civil Liberties, Humanities | 3 Comments »

The New York Times recently published an article, "In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth," by Patricia Cohen.  I was told about this article by McMaster University English and Cultural Studies Professor, Dr. Sarah Brophy. NYT Article at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/books/25human.html There ...

Fair Play and Griefing in Second Life

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 Posted in Intellectual Property, Video Games, Virtual Worlds | No Comments »

Terra Nova has an interesting piece on the issue of fair play in virtual worlds. I think the question is whether "griefing" could be considered infringement to fair play, which implies that fair play exists as a principle, and ...

EULAs aren’t all bad

Monday, January 7th, 2008 Posted in Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Virtual Worlds | No Comments »

End-User License Agreements aren't all bad. They are necessary for interration - that incorporation-like thing for virtual worlds that Castronova talks about - in order to set out and delimit the game space. It is when they violate ...