Are You Ready to Live in a Virtual World 09/29/2007 04:17:30 pm by Dan Krohn

	As if managing a life in on planet earth were not challenging enough, people, businesses and other entities are increasingly maintaining a second existence in one or more virtual worlds. Virtual worlds are popping up everywhere. Some virtual worlds are quite private where entry is by invitation only, and some are available to pretty much anyone with Internet access. The virtual worlds operate under multiple sets of rules, and the rules are in flux. Where people interact, laws develop; and tracking the development of law in the virtual world space is quite something. For those new to the concept, most of the time when one sees the phrase "virtual world" the term is being applied to an MMG (mega multiplayer game). The monster dominating until quite recently is World of Warcraft with more than 8 million players. However, Linden Labs' Second Life has roughly as many players - but it is a very different thing. The first MMGs were basically battle scenarios, where players either alone or in teams fought other players or computer created monsters. As victories mount up a player typically acquires either additional weapons and armor or some virtual medium of exchange which can be used to buy them. Second Life differs in that it is an effort to create another world where the players largely invent life as they play. It did not take people long to figure out that if they possessed extra goods they could be sold for real dollars (or some other currency - remember the Internet knows no borders). And where there is money, there is devious behavior. So today there are roaming bands of thugs in some games killing off any player they find so as to take that player's goods and sell them. Is this legal? What laws apply? What if the rules of the game allow such behavior? Marketers never lag far behind if there is a place where millions congregate, so it ought not be a surprise that companies are creating corporate presences in some of the popular MMGs. Articles are being published guiding companies on their entry into virtual marketing. And what of these companies' employees? Some companies are issuing dress codes for their employees' avatars. (So much for fantasy.) In some games, the virtual creatures (generally called "avatars") representing the various players are capable of having virtual sex. What are the rules of consent? What ought happen to a virtual rapist? Reportedly at least one court has entered a divorce decree where the couple agreed to divide up their characters in their favorite game. Will there soon be custody disputes over virtual family members? Are avatars and their virtual possessions really property? Does the answer live buried in the fine print terms on the relevant Internet site, or is the answer in traditional law? What if the company operating a given game finds it has become unprofitable? Can the company simply turn the servers off, instantly erasing the virtual property and efforts of the players? Stay tuned and get ready to play in more worlds than you ever dreamt of in accordance with laws yet to be determined.

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Blood Lust 09/11/2007 07:57:44 pm by Dan Krohn

	The recent injury to professional football player Kevin Everett forces any compassionate person to ponder humanity’s love of violent entertainment. A recent Sports Illustrated issue addressed the issue of the “Big Hit” in football but offered no answers. That article cited fan desire to see big hits as one of the inspirations for its increase. Any honest appraisal of professional sports in the U. S. must acknowledge an increase in violence. And this trend exists simply and purely because the fans like it. It sells, so it happens. The players in almost every sport are pressured to take strength drugs, steroids and others, to become or remain competitive in their chosen profession. If you are going to be hit by some monster of a man on steroids, what are your choices? Simple: get clobbered and quite possibly permanently injured or take the same drugs to give yourself a greater chance of physical survival. If we thought the gladiators were bad, we ought to look at our own trend. We are not matching the gladiators yet - fighting to the death; but we are moving that direction - sometimes with that result. Or for another example, look at ice hockey games. Rather than appreciate the speed and grace of the players, the greatest crowd excitement comes with the player fights. Look at professional wrestling, admittedly hardly a sport in the classical sense; but an entertainment form with tremendous pressure to take strength enhancing drugs - which bring with them their own physical and mental damage. Could they have been a factor in the recent Benoit murder-suicide? Don’t worry, no change is in the offing for what might be America’s leading cable programming. Consider auto racing, America’s most popular sport, where at least a fair chunk of fan interest is in watching the crashes which inevitably arise with so many chunks steel in close proximity moving independently at high speed. Lastly consider the exponentially growing popularity of those no gloves darn near no rules fights in cages where men simply try to beat each other into unconsciousness or put each other into such extreme pain and fear of broken limbs as to require submission. Sure there is athleticism there, but any honest appraisal must admit the fans flock to these cage matches for the sheer pleasure of watching violent battle and blood. Where there is a market, there will be a product. People like watching violence. It is even approved of in our movie rating system which considers the viewing of a female breast substantially more likely to corrupt youth than the ripping off of someone’s leg. So movies over the last few decades have competed to excel expectations with increasingly disgusting graphic violence. Now there are those who argue that the entertainment industry should not make killing nice by leaving out the blood. But does anyone really believe that such noble thinking trumps the desire for box office receipts? Alas, we humans like to think of ourselves as enlightened, spiritual creatures. We like to believe that we are a noble species “little lower than the angels”. Yeah, right. Violent entertainment exists because we humans like to watch people get hurt - plain and simple. Enlightenment is not our species’ rightful claim quite yet. And it’s not getting any closer.

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iPods and Security 09/05/2007 11:12:36 am by Dan Krohn

	Though most of us do not think of it, iPods and other MP3 players are small, handy storage devices. It does not take a great deal of genius for a data thief with access to a computer or network to move large amounts confidential data onto such a device. Just a friendly alert.

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