Ludium II

The Indiana University Ludium II Conference promises to be interesting, as folks will be participating on behalf of one of the four regions described below in an event designed as a 19th century political convention.


Thalo: A society of hunters and woodsmen that value individual freedoms over all other things. They feel most at home arguing for policy that involves issues of individual rights, freedoms, or powers.

Sysland: A sturdy and industrious people, Syslanders are concerned most with the hard issues of science and design. They prefer talking about policy involving technology, engineering, and design.

Aroland: The merchants of Aroland have a motto, “Barges float on money, not water.” True to their motto, Arolanders will find it easier to float policy that concerns itself with business, industry, markets, profits, or the economy.

Palvi: Ever practical, the citizens of don’t want to hear about the wonders of tomorrow, they want to make the best out of what they have today. Palvi citizens want to hear statements that can be implemented immediately, involve no controversy, or are obviously feasible.

The sponsoring organization, the Synthetic Worlds initiative, is also building Arden, a virtual Shakespearean world.

A Ludium blurs the lines between work and play by embedding an academic conference within the context of a live-action game. The objective is to stoke intellectual enthusiasm (and hence productivity) using known game techniques. Snippet from SWI

Litigation, Virtual Style

Roger Parloff has a new article on recent real world litigation arising from disputes within virtual worlds. He summarizes the recent ruling concerning SL property from the U.S. District Court of Philadelphia in which Judge Robreno wrote: “While the property and the world where it is found are ‘virtual, the dispute is real.” The plaintiff was an attorney expelled by Linden Lab for violating the SL Terms of Use. He also summarizes the ruling on the World of Warcraft suit in which a gamer sued a company engaged in employing gamers based in third world countries, which he claimed devalued the in-world currency and the gaming experience.

There are several SL efforts underway to establish in-world dispute resolution mechanisms for issues among residents. However, both of these cases involved the real world value of virtual assets, and the policies and practices of the owners of the virtual worlds.

Other perspectives on legal issues emerging from virtual worlds are available on the Terra Nova blogs and Communities 2.0. Related public policy issues will be addressed at the Ludium II conference at Indiana University in June.