With studios and publishers flinging infringement notices around about fan-based role-playing environments online, it’s worth looking at the situation from another perspective. After all, why not just create new, original theme properties rather than basing role-play environments on popular books, movies and television shows? Why do so when official gaming environments already … [Read more...] about Original content versus fan content
intellectual property
Brands under the hammer in Second Life
The Second Life blogosphere is igniting with the news that the listing guidelines for Second Life's marketplace, xStreetSL, have been tightened up. Essentially, it's now prohibited to sell any virtual goods that resemble a real-world brand. That's no shock and probably reasonable. The contention is over the ban on avatars that resemble actual celebrities. It's a pretty silly … [Read more...] about Brands under the hammer in Second Life
Virtual world IP: not a steal
Virtual environments and the public Internet sport a bewildering array of economies, from purely fantasy economies to real money trading between users. Fundamentally, many of these are currency-based economies which we all understand - you purchase something you value and give something of value in exchange. That is, you buy something you want with some manner of … [Read more...] about Virtual world IP: not a steal