Virtual Regulations

If I had been asked how serious of an issue virtual regulations were I would have said that most of our existing laws could probably adequately deal with any legal issues that would arise. I would have been wrong. After reading User-Generated Content and Virtual Worlds by Greg Lastowka I can comprehend now the vast array of unique difficulties presented by user generated content. It seems to me now that we need more user/producer protections to protect content. This is particularly true as virtual content has now begun to generate real vale and that in turn has very real life effects. In the case mentioned by Lastowka, Bragg vs. Linden Labs it seems that neither side was entirely correct. Mr. Bragg had certainly violated the terms of service by essentially hacking the server and gaining unfair access to virtual land at the expense of both Linden Labs and other users who were not able to have that access. Linden Labs however provides a unique service and with regard to subscribing members, is making a profit off of the users. Their contract is designed to their extreme advantage and users have no option but to accept the terms of service or go elsewhere. The issue here is that there are not many other products out there that offer the type of user freedom that linden labs offers. The terms of service leave no room for negotiation. It would be completely impractical to negotiate terms of service with each individual member, but there must be a way to make terms of service more fair to both parties and protect both companies and consumers as they navigate the legalities of virtual content.

IOLE Class Has Come to an End

So this is the last day of the spring semester at Akron University which means that my IOLE class on Second Life has come to an end. We gave our final presentations last Thursday May 1st. Thanks to everyone who attended. I thought the final presentations went really well, each group had a really different take on the question of what defines reality. I was very happy with the build Sam did for our group. It looked fantastic. Things got a little confusing at the end when we were trying to pull it all together and all posting to Face Book on different threads, but it all worked out in the end and at least we had a back up plan. So all in all it was a really nice presentation. I wish that we had been allowed a little more time for each group to present. The groups were large and I think we all had the idea that we were each supposed to present a portion of our groups work. At the end John mentioned that he would have liked to see us be more creative and step out of the box more. I wish that had been more clear in the beginning because after I understood better what he was looking for I had a ton of ideas. There is so much you can do in SL that goes beyond just a traditional presentation, but that was the format of most of the class so I guess I just thought that was the expectation. We were somewhat limited as far as time goes so maybe a more traditional presentation was most practical anyway, but if I took the class again I would probably try to experiment more.

In out last class meeting we discussed ways to improve the class going forward. I agree with the idea that the class should really be two sessions a week with essentially a lab component to focus on the practical aspects of using second life. I think that bringing in more speakers would be a great idea and going on site visits as a group would help to build a sense of community within the group. Additionally, it would have been nice if there had a more equal number of Akron and DIT students in the class. Hopefully that is something that will happen in the future. I am going to try to keep up a presence in SL. Its a fun and enjoyable experience and I hope that continuing to interact with groups on there will help me make connections with individuals that I can learn from. It was a very good class and I would definitely encourage others to take it in the future.