This article explores how online multiplayer digital games are used as a venue for the negotiation of intellectual property rights. Recent disputes between players and creators are contributing to both a shift in contemporary notions about the nature and limits of copyright and a growing relationship between virtual leisure and real-world economics. A brief overview of the debate as it has been portrayed in both academic literature and the popular press will provide the context for this analysis. The focus then shifts to the ways in which existing laws and understandings about intellectual property are transforming to accommodate the unique characteristics of online multiplayer games. The contentious issue of labor within online gaming is discussed through a consideration of shifting social conceptualizations of play and the confounding of leisure and labor. The underlying use value-exchange-value relationship is also explored within the theoretical framework of a political economic perspective.
Bacon-Smith, C. (1992) Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press .
2.
Bettig, R. V. (1996) Copyrighting Culture: The Political Economy of Intellectual Property. Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
3.
‘Blacksnow Sues Mythic for Online Property Rights’ (2002) Kanga. Nu: MUD Development Thread . 6 February-2 March, URL (consulted January 2004): http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2002Q1/msg00362.php
4.
Boyle, J. (1996) Shamans, Software, and Spleens. Law and the Construction of the Information Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
5.
Boyle, J. (2002) ‘Fencing Off Ideas: Enclosure and the Disappearance of the Public Domain’ , Daedalus (spring): 13-25 .
6.
Boyle, J. (2004) ‘A Manifesto on WIPO and the Future of Intellectual Property’ , Duke Law & Technology Review9-9 , 8 September, URL (consulted October 2004): http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/PDF/2004DLTR0009.pdf
7.
Calvert, J. (2003) ‘Second Lifers Get Intellectual Property Rights’ , GameSpot, 14 November, URL (consulted March 2004): http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/secondlife/news_6083556.html
8.
Castells, M. (2001) Internet Galaxy. Oxford: Oxford University Press .
9.
Castronova, E. (2002) ‘Virtual Worlds: A First-hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier’, CESIfo Working Paper No. 618, URL (consulted December 2003): http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=294828
10.
Castronova, E. (2003) ‘The Right to Play’ , paper presented at the State of Play Conference, New York Law School, 13-14 November, URL (consulted January 2004): http://www.nyls.edu/docs/castronova.pdf
11.
Consalvo M. (2003) ‘Cyber-slaying Media Fans: Code, Digital Poaching and Corporate Control of the Internet’ , Journal of Communication Inquiry27(1): 67-86 .
12.
Dibbell, J. (2003) ‘The Unreal Estate Boom’ , Wired11(1), URL (consulted January 2004): http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/gaming.html
13.
Entertainment Software Association (ESA) (2004) ‘Americans Playing More Games, Watching Less Movies and Television’, press release, 12 May, URL (consulted October 2004): http://www.theesa.com/5_12_2004.html
14.
Grimes, S. M. and L. R. Shade (2005) ‘Neopian Economics of Play: Children’s Cyberpets and Online Communities as Immersive Advertising in Neopets.com’ , International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics1(2): 181-198 .
15.
Hamelink, C. (1995) World Communication: Disempowerment and Self-Empowerment. London: Zed Books .
16.
Huizinga, J. (1938/1950) Homo Ludens. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
17.
Jenkins, H. (1992) Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge .
18.
Jhally, S. (1987) The Codes of Advertising: Fetishism and the Political Economy of Meaning in the Consumer Society. London: Routledge .
19.
Jones, S. (2003) ‘Let the Games Begin: Gaming Technology and Entertainment Among College Students’, Report, Pew Internet & American Life Project , 6 July, URL (consulted June 2004): http://www.pewInternet.org/pdfs/PIP_College_Gaming_Reporta.pdf
20.
King, B. (2002) ‘Online Games Go Multicultural’ , Wired, 30 January, URL (January 2004): http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,50000,00.html
21.
Kline, S. , N. Dyer-Witheford and G. de Peuter (2003) Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture and Marketing. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press .
22.
Lastowka, F. G. and D. Hunter (2004) ‘The Laws of the Virtual Worlds’ , California Law Review92(1): 3-73 .
23.
Leupold, T. (2005) ‘Spot On: Virtual Economies Break Out of Cyberspace’ , Gamespot News, 6 May. URL (consulted May 2005): http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/06/news_6123701.html
24.
McRobbie, A. (2002) ‘From Holloway to Hollywood: Happiness at Work in the New Cultural Economy?’, in P. Du Gay and M. Pryke (eds) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, pp. 97-114. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
25.
Miller, D. C. (2003) ‘Determining Ownership in Virtual Worlds: Copyright and License Agreements’ , Review of Litigation22(2): 435-435 .
26.
Mosco, V. (1996) The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal. London: Sage .
27.
Nielsen / Netratings (2004) ‘Online Games Claim Stickiest Web Sites’, press release, 16 June, URL (consulted September 2004): http://direct.www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_040616.pdf
28.
Nutt, D. and D. Railton (2003) ‘The Sims: Real Life as Genre’ , Information, Communication & Society6(4): 577-592 .
29.
Postigo, J. (2003) ‘From Pong to Planet Quake: Post-industrial Transitions from Leisure to Work’ , Information, Communication & Society6(4): 593-607 .
30.
Radway, J. (1984) Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press .
31.
Rehak, B. (2003) ‘Mapping the Bit Girl: Lara Croft and New Media Fandom’ , Information, Communication & Society6(4): 477-496 .
32.
Smythe, D. W. (1981) Dependency Road: Communications, Capitalism, Consciousness and Canada. Norwood, NJ: Ablex .
33.
Stephens, M. (2002) ‘Sales of In-game Assets: An Illustration of the Continuing Failure of Intellectual Property Law to Protect Digital-content Creators’ , Texas Law Review80(6): 1513-1515 .
34.
‘Support’ (2004) Ultima Online, Entertainment Arts (EA) , URL (consulted October 2004): http://support.uo.com/advancedcharacter.html
35.
Taylor, T. L. (2002) ‘Whose Game Is This Anyway? Negotiating Corporate Ownership in a Virtual World’ , in F. Mäyrä (ed.) Proceedings of Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference, URL (consulted May 2003): http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/%7Ettaylor/papers/Taylor-CGDC.pdf
36.
Terranova, T. (2000) ‘Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy’ , Social Text18(2): 33-58 .
37.
Thompson, C. (2004) ‘Game Theories’ , Walrus1(5): 38-47 .
38.
Vaidhyanathan, S. (2001) Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity. New York: New York University Press .
39.
Willis, S. (2001) ‘Unwrapping Use Value’, in M. G. Durham and D. M. Kellner (eds) Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works, pp. 334-350. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing .
40.
‘World of Warcraft® Terms of Use Agreement’ (2003-2006) Blizzard Entertainment Inc . URL (consulted September 2006): http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html
