Law Commons^™

Trespass To (Virtual) Chattels: Assessing Online Gamers’ Authority To Sell In-Game Assets Where Adhesive Contracts Prohibit Such Activity, Alfred Fritzsche

Alfred Fritzsche V

As online technology has advanced, so have computer games: today’s computer games use the Internet to create comprehensive, dynamic, and persistent virtual worlds. This Comment discusses massively multiplayer online role-playing games (“MMORPGs”), or virtual worlds in which players create virtual representations of themselves; buy, improve, sell, or otherwise enjoy virtual plots of land; construct virtual cottages, mansions, and department stores; create, sell, pawn, and trade virtual chattels; and amass substantial virtual clout for accomplishing outlandish acts or securing otherwise unavailable artifacts. More than eight million subscribers participate in the World of Warcraft, and MMORPG environment created by Blizzard Entertainment. Many …