The law in my ‘Second Life’…

I’m not sure if many of you are aware, but there is this online 3d community known as Second life (www.secondlife.com) where users create a resident known as an ‘Avatar’ which lives much like a human but in the Second life world. There are 1,049,831 residents who inhabit the world. Avatars can explore the world, have fun and even purchase property. A number of legal issues arise through the use of the ‘game’. These include issues in corporate contracts, assault and government law among others. There are a set of community standards which allows the Second Life Police to give reprimands for conduct such as intolerance, harassment, assault, indecency and disturbing the peace. As well as this there is a market for purchasing land with Linden Currency which can be bought with US dollars and exchanged to US dollars. As well as this, intellectual property rights of avatars are also recognised both in the virtual and real world.

I have read a number of articles where users have supplemented there real income through setting up businesses on Second Life. The idea of this virtual world is quite hard to comprehend and the Linden Lab (the creators) have really put a lot of thought into the legal framework of Second life. Maybe we will start seeing some cases come up in real life courts to deal with disputes on Second Life. I was unable to find the sites jurisdiction. So if anyone knows or has any other comments, let me know.