Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

Re: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

CannonGod — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:15:53 -0000

Bobba

Re: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

Seraphimia — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:05:12 -0000

Existing property laws need to be updated to include virtual items when real currency has been used and companies running virtual worlds need to take more responsibility to safe guard their players when they're taking real money, other then this I'd like to see as little gov't interference as possible, as virtual worlds are a form of escapism from the real world, so more real world interference would simply defeat the purpose of gaming in these worlds to begin with.

Re: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

Kai — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:06:55 -0000

It seems though that different 'world' has different codes of conduct. When they convene it will certainly raise controversy. There's not and shouldn't have a definite answer as this is still the exploratory stage of this form of 'new media'. Unlike the IRC back in the days, real-life currencies are involved. With that considered, Habbo Hotel should maybe setup precautionary against the act of theft like the one described here.

Re: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

lumas — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:01:42 -0000

'To do the deed, the teen is accused of stealing the victimâ€™s account information to gain access to the â€œfurniture.â€'

This crime is another case of hacking and identity teft. It has nothing to do with activities within the virtual world itself.

Re: The Daily Poll: Should Virtual Worlds be Regulated?

koreman — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:07:33 -0000

This is no matter of any extra government regulation. At least in Holland that is. Somebody stole a password to gain unauthorized access into a user account. That is illegal in the Netherlands, called 'computervredebreuk'.

The teen will probably be prosecuted for unauthorized access and not for stealing 4000 Euro worth of virtual goods in a game world. He probably will be fined for his deeds. For more serious acts -like massive copyright infringement, industrial theft etc.- there are already more serious penalties.