Virtual Property and Personhood
2008; Routledge; Volume: 24; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0882-3383
Autores Tópico(s)Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
ResumoAbstract As virtual worlds have increased in popularity, they have generated a great deal of interest in the legal community. A number of legal commentators have discussed property in the context of virtual worlds. This article specifically discusses the application of Margaret Jane Radin's personhood theory to virtual world property. While application of Radin's personhood theory is far from perfect, it provides useful insight into broader questions of individuals as persons. I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, virtual worlds have grown both in number and in population. The emergence of virtual worlds has spawned a great deal of interest and publicity, in both popular and specialized media. News articles about the millions of players participating in virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can be seen on a regular basis on both general and technology-related news sites. (1) Specialists in a variety of academic disciplines have turned their attention to virtual worlds. The legal academic community has been no exception to this. Within legal academic discussions, a substantial portion of the commentary has related to the issue of property rights in things that 'exist' only within virtual worlds. In this article, I seek to add to that discussion by examining the potential application of a particular normative theory--Margaret Jane Radin's personhood theory--to virtual world property. Part II provides a brief overview of virtual worlds and the early legal commentary addressing the property rights issue. Part III provides a description of Radin's personhood theory of property. Part IV first asks whether virtual world property can be classified as personal under Radin's theory and secondly, examines the potential effects of so classifying virtual world property. Finally, Part V concludes and tries to relate this inquiry to the bigger picture. II. PROPERTY RIGHTS IN VIRTUAL WORLD OBJECTS A. Terminology As a preliminary matter, several comments about the terminology I will use may be helpful, particularly where this terminology may differ somewhat from that used elsewhere. I think it is more precise to use the term 'virtual world property' in discussions dealing solely with virtual worlds and to use 'virtual property' in discussions that are broader than just virtual worlds. In this classification, 'virtual world property' is a subclass of 'virtual property,' a broader class that may include additional types of virtual property besides virtual world property. In making this distinction, I am not trying to assert that virtual world property is distinguishable from other types of virtual property, but rather to define properly the limited scope I am addressing and thus avoid overreaching in my arguments without justification. I also typically distinguish between 'object' and 'property' along the traditional property theory view that property is an intangible set of rights with respect to some thing. I use 'property' to refer to the set of rights and 'object' to refer to that thing to which the rights apply. Thus, I might say 'property rights in virtual world objects' instead of saying 'virtual world property' to make it clear I am referring to the rights aspect and not the object aspect. Making this distinction can be particularly useful in this area because we may have questions about both. Within typical situations involving personal property, we do not have much definitional difficulty understanding both what the thing or object is and what the rights are. Both are at issue in discussions of virtual property. What combination of code constitutes a 'virtual object' and what set of rights are included in the concept of 'virtual property' are both distinct, if interrelated, issues that need to be addressed. Additionally, the virtual/virtual world distinction applies to objects as well. Thus, virtual world objects are a subclass of virtual objects. …
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