Virtual Goods and Real Estate
I've been aware of the legal issues involved in virtual world platforms for quite some time. On the least "worldy" end of the spectrum, you have massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) like World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment, the company that developed and maintains World of Warcraft has taken many steps to curtail the active secondary market that re-sells in-game currency, items and so called "levelling services," all of which allow players to spend real-world dollars to speed up their advancement within the game itself.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have virtual world platforms like Linden Lab's offering, Second Life. Second Life was a media darling a few years ago, as media outlets caught on the fact that Linden Lab wasn't just running a game client, but was allowing users to monetize their creations, as well as speculate in virtual real estate. Reuters even went so far as to open a "branch" office within Second Life.
A recent article in the Washington Post has me thinking about virtual property again. How is it relevant to our practice at Sulaiman & Associates? More after the jump.
