Description
Book SynopsisPresents an essential first step in understanding how new digital worlds will change the future of our universe. This book considers questions such as: What rules should govern virtual communities? Should the law step in to protect property rights when virtual items are destroyed or stolen?
Trade ReviewThe State of Play is an extremely comprehensive look into digital worlds and how those worlds are evolving cultures, changing lives, reshaping the way we think and communicate. If you want to understand where modern culture is headed and learn more about incredibly fascinating experiences taking place in virtual worlds, pick up and read this book now. -- Richard Garriott,a.k.a. Lord British, Creator of Ultima Online and Executive Producer, NCsoft
These essays, by the best thinkers in their fields, will be read, debated, taught, and cited in court cases as we struggle to figure out how to live in a world which is part digital and part social, part real and part imaginary. -- Henry Jenkins,author of onvergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
This is a spectacular collection of essays on the present and future of virtual worlds. It's a perfect introduction for those who have yet to experience them, and more important, a thoughtful companion for those who do. -- Jonathan Zittrain,Oxford University
Is useful and interesting for students of surveillance. * Surveillance & Society *
With diverse essays from game designers, social scientists and legal scholars, The State of Play is a provocative consideration of virtual jurisprudence. * Paste Magazine *
Table of ContentsPart I: Introduction1. Introduction 2. Virtual Worlds: A PrimerPart II: Game Gods and Game Players3. Virtual Worldliness 4. Declaring the Rights of Players5. The Right to Play 6. Law and Liberty in Virtual Worlds Part III: Property and Creativity in Virtual Worlds7. Virtual Crime 8. Owned! Intellectual Property in the Age of eBayers, Gold Farmers, and Other Enemies of the Virtual State9. Virtual Power Politics 10. Escaping the Gilded Cage: User-Created Content and Building the Metaverse11. There Is No Spoon Part IV: Privacy and Identity in Virtual Worlds12. Who Killed Miss Norway? 13. Who's in Charge of Who I Am? Identity and Law Online14. Privacy and Data Collection in Virtual Worlds Part V: Virtual Worlds and Real-World Power15. Virtual Worlds, Real Rules: Using Virtual Worlds to Test Legal Rules16. The New Visual Literacy: How the Screen A?ects the Law17. Democracy-The Video Game: Virtual Worlds and the Future of Collective ActionAbout the Contributors Acknowledgments Case List Index
