According to media reports, a court in the Netherlands has recently upheld the conviction of a boy who stole another boy's 'virtual goods'. These are items used in an online computer game, that have no tangible form. This raises the question of whether or not ‘virtual goods’ are
property. In the Australian context, I am
inclined to think that they are not. I think
that this highlights the limitations of our system of classification of
property.
An attempt to explain online gaming
Disclaimer: I am not a gamer myself, and therefore possibly
have a fairly simplistic view of what goes on…
The idea of virtual goods arises in online gaming. My
understanding is this. A person writes
some kind of program that allows many people to connect via the internet and
play a game online. The game involves a
quest of some sort, and as a result of winning one may acquire ‘prizes’ within
the context of the game. In the online
environment, these have a visual form and are used to advance in the game. It is possible also within the context of the
game to earn points that take the form of game money. This money can likewise be used to acquire
virtual goods, again in the context of the game.
The ‘money’ and ‘goods’ in this context have no existence
outside the context of the game and are created through the author’s code. So are they property?
