Submitted by Smoke Wijaya on Wed, 17/09/2008 - 16:22
Posted in
The virtual worlds platform Metaplace announced that their Terms of Service (ToS) will incorporate Rights of users, based on Raph Koster's article “Declaring the Rights of Players” (2000), in which he explored a “bill of rights” for virtual space users.
For all we know this is a first; that a 'gamegod' grants its users in advance basic rights stated within the default Terms of Service. I quote from the pretext:
“Unless the fabric of the virtual space is threatened and so long as world creators and users are not in violation of the EULA or relevant national or local law, we will endeavor to provide our world creators and users with the following rights. Metaplace also encourages that world creators and users meet certain responsibilities as set forth below. ”
The ToS states rights and responsibilities for both world creators and users. To use Raph Koster's own summary (read the detailed version here):
Rights of creator:
Freedom of expression
Ownership, including earning money & running their own world
Privacy
Develop their own TOS
Rights of users:
Freedom of speech & assembly, privacy
Rule of “law” and due process
Ownership of their IP
Responsibilities of Creators and Users:
Don't break the law
This is undoubtedly a positive and constructive step towards further perception and acknowledging of rights of players/users of the virtual realm, but the dichotomy between creators who can “run their own world” and “develop their own ToS” and some of the users rights, as rule of law and IP ownership, does raise questions as to how the user-part of the rights will be upheld.
It will be interesting to see how this initial show of will towards creating user rights will develop and shape when it is put into practice and context.
An important note here is that the question of governance is not really touched upon. As one of our members said; the important question here is how rights should come into existence. And SLDM is of the belief that rights as well as the governance on top of them, should be grounded in the, do I dare to say, 'collective' will of the citizens, articulated through direct democratic governance structures. That said, this bold step of Metaplace is a very welcome change in between the corporate ToS's around cyberspace that are of the default dictatorial "for any reason or no reason without liability to you"-variety.
very interesting, this
very interesting, this metaplace, both from a user rights point of view as from a technological point of view (very open ,standardized architecture)...
I registered on their newsletter, since you can't join it at this time... I hope they will reach a significant number of users to make these user rights a "thing" for other virtual worlds. I also hope this will work out... if the media jump on the "freedoms" one has there, and decide once more to only highlight possible negative issues (we all know some people just can't handle this kind of freedom and will start abusing it), there might be an end to the freedom soon due to stupid legislative issues....
received this
received this update:
Hello all, September flew by in a rush, and with it came many changes for Metaplace. The first one (and probably the most exciting) is that we have now moved into Closed Beta testing! That's right, we have inched another step closer to opening the gates to the public and unveiling the fun to everyone. We will be opening up beta applications again to those who missed applying the first time, so keep an eye on Metaplace.com in the near future for your opportunity to join our testing. Here are some of the new changes and features that you could help us test: Build Tools: Our new tools have been coming along very well, and we are now in the process of testing out a new layout. Here are just a few of the things you can do with our build tools right within your browser: * Paint a map with tiles imported from the web or on your machine using a customizable brush. * Create objects to place into your world using art from a Yahoo! image search or your computer. * Create your own walls with our integrated wall creation tool. * Browse the Marketplace and import neat objects, scenery, and behaviors into your world. * Create your own plugins and publish them to the Marketplace for others to use. * Rotate objects and customize the art for their angles. * Advanced features like camera settings, script editing, debugging. * Create gates that link your world to other places (think, zones) within your world. * Resize your world to a larger or smaller map. * Change the background to any image you'd like, using tile, center, or full scale. * Click a button to instantly invite everyone on Metaplace to come visit your world! Keep in mind, anyone can come and visit your world while you're building it! You're editing your world in real time and unless you set the world to private, the community can take a peek while you're “under construction”. Metaplace is a social experience! Tutorials: One of our latest features that we're working on is a tutorial system that will be interactive right within our tools. This will allow new users to be walked through the process of creating their own world, and will open up world creation to an even larger audience! We'll be helping new users learn to do simple things like paint their floor with wood or carpet and place furniture within their space. One of the neatest parts of this tutorial system is how it is driven from a spreadsheet, and that anyone can make their own tutorial to share with others. A feature we're looking forward to having is a repository for all community-created tutorials – giving everyone the chance to contribute to a growing community and help their neighbors. We are excited to see what everyone makes. Performance: This last month we have put performance as a high priority. We have made several optimizations including a new higher performance asset server with a capability of streaming images to more people at once. We have improved the loading time into our worlds and also have made major increases in client frames per second. We're also capable of supporting even larger worlds now without any hit to performance. All these upgrades are necessary to prepare us for a larger crowd building worlds and exploring Metaplace. ~*~ Terms of Service: For those who may have missed it, our President Raph Koster debuted our Terms of Service to the public at the Austin Game Developers Conference this month. Our Terms of Service will be based on Raph's article from 2000 titled “Declaring the Rights of Players”. This is particularly exciting because it means that world creators will have the rights to freedom of expression, privacy, develop their own ToS and ownership of their world including any money they earn from it. It also means that users will own all of their own Intellectual Property, have freedom of speech, rule of “law” and due process as long as they do not break the law. We think these Terms of Service are important and necessary because we want Metaplace to foster a sense of entrepreneurship that is unique to the entertainment industry. We're excited to offer these unique rights to all Metaplace users. You can read more including text from our Terms of Service on our forums here. Standalone Tools: We have just released two more Windows standalone tools for everyone to practice creating art for their future Metaplace Worlds. The Metaparticle tool allows you to make particle effects for your world, and the Animation Strip Builder will create an animation strip out of the images you make with the particle tool. Visit our blog for the links to download and more information. Mac coming soon! Community Spotlight: We posted last week with a new Community Spotlight, this time featuring a folk music RPG called Virek Online. This world is one of our best looking worlds so far, created with a combination of art he found on our Marketplace and objects he imported from Google 3D Warehouse. Read the interview with world creator Fredriksson to learn more about this world! Keep an eye on our website for more information! We'll have lots more to share with everyone soon. The Metaplace Team www.metaplace.com
Post new comment