Underground Gambling

Myth or reality?

Linden Lab and the creators have always seen their world as an escape from the real world, a sort of, country of its own. Offering the same things your society offers you in the real world such as business, entertainment, social interaction, shopping, sex, gambling, and many more. However, with time and because of weak suppression upon Linden Lab’s side to prevent governance from the real world to oppose laws upon SL activity, this utopian thought of a separate world from our own has slowly diminished.

Gambling in casinos and other establishments, such as private clubs and places with play slots was a huge thing in SL until July 25, 2007. An online anti gambling law went into effect in the US banning gambling online. As an effect Linden Lab changed their policy when it comes to gambling stating: it is against SL’s policy to wager in games that rely on chance or random number generation to determine a winner, or to rely on the outcome of real-life organized sporting events; and provide a payout in Linden Dollars (L$) or any real-world currency or thing of value.[1] This changed the face of gambling within SL shutting down many casinos and gambling establishments. For those games still allowed to be played rules were changed or revised. Revenue in currency exchange, land sales, and advertising was lost as a result. To narrow down the amount estimated, Linden Lab and its users lost several millions of dollars.

This brings up the issue of what is considered a game of skill versus a game of chance? If games of skill still exist what makes them any different from games of chance? Generally speaking games of skill that can be waged on are defined as games in which the player/players have:

·         A learned or developed ability

·         A known strategy or tactic

·         Physical coordination or strength

·         Technical expertise within a game

·         Knowledge of the means of accomplishing a task[2]

Games one can bet on that require one or more of these traits to participate in, are games such as pool, darts, and certain card games like gin or rummy. Certain games can be classified as requiring both skill and chance. A good example would be Zyngo in SL. However, what defines them as legal is usually the amount of skill versus chance. In these instances, according to the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), the amount of skill required to play the game must outweigh the amount of chance involved. There are plenty of games that require skill in SL, puzzle games or War Zone – Chernobyl Code, are just two suggestions. In these games there are no wages or bets being placed though. This brings me to the point where I wonder how games such as Zyngo, Peek-a-Nudge (one armed bandit machines), and other similar games are still allowed to exist? And if they exist what is stopping poker games to still exist? So I set out to investigate if there were still any places poker was currently being played like in an underground gambling ring or similar.

After checking various websites, forums, and through investigative reporting in world I was quite unsuccessful in actually gaining an experience when it comes to underground gambling. No one was willing to lead me anywhere that specifically engaged me in the underground gambling world, even after offering them a small amount of L$ in compensation for information. The few individuals I spoke with about underground gambling definitely said it existed, one even gave the name of a destination to go to, but once I was there I realized it was a dead-end. All individuals I spoke with wished to remain anonymous as well. So the question is not if these underground gambling operations actually exist. The question is how to get into them?

Being a fairly new user of SL probably hurt my chances slightly, considering I had not yet made a very good network with individuals that could potentially further help me with my investigation. Perhaps the fact that I was an investigative reporter on the record while speaking with individuals made them conceal information from me, very speculative but maybe. So for the mean time I will have to settle with the information I got while further investigating the world of underground gambling and SL. While I pleasure my gambling needs with existing so called legitimate “games of skill” Zyngo, Skill Deal, and Hokus Pokus and gain experience in world, perhaps in time I will be led to where the real action is happening, the underground gambling.

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[1] Linden Lab® Official:Policy Regarding Wagering in Second Life, http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Policy_Regarding_Wagering_in_Second_Life

[2] Games Of Chance vs. Games Of Skill,

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/games-of-chance-vs-games-of-skill.html

Extra Blog: WIO (World Internet Organization)

There has been a lot of talk about governance in Virtual Worlds during the term. Whether or not there should be a governing body that dictates what goes on, on the internet, or not? With real-world commodification becoming more evident in virtual worlds the means for governance is obviously starting to enter real-life court. Issues such as these are typically stated in the TOS or EULA’s of games on where (which state or country) to handle them. A lot of games are based out of California and many users are directed to handle virtual world disputes in that state, but if a game is based out of Sweden should I have to travel all the way across the world to handle a dispute? And If I don’t want to deal with travelling, should I really just give up my rights and let it go? This is a huge injustice that gives more power to the developers and creators of these games. The following is my theory for a solution.

It is not foreign to us that issues have existed between governance that crosses geographical borders. War crimes, economical crimes, personal crimes etc. have all previously been committed overriding country borders. That is why organizations like the EU, UN, or NATO have come into existence. Not only have such crimes existed, but also, media crimes such as pirating films or p2p sharing of music. The organization Interpol exists for certain issues that pertain to these types of crimes. My point is clear here, issues of legality have previously been handled when it comes to crimes that go beyond geographical boundaries. Also issues that arise when there is no one particular means for governing these. A coalition or an organization is formed in order to handle such problems. Thus, an organization should be formed to govern the internet.

An organization like this would definitely have some issues considering everything we have examined throughout this course; particularly arguments in readings by authors Lastowka, Castronova, and Post/Johnson. The issue of virtual justice, governance, and jurisdiction are major issues. The answer is to form an organization that allows the freedom of the internet to remain fair, whilst handling issues that for example are too hard for either party involved addressing through courts in their particular area. This organization will also dictate what is legal or not. For example all things that currently exist: child pornography, fraud, theft etc. will obviously remain illegal while certain issues such as intellectual property will be handled by the organization. When governance of virtual worlds comes into mind this organization can see over the TOS’s and EULA’s to perfect any issues that can become iffy. The key here is to create a sort of mediator of all the things that can arise as an issue online or in virtual worlds, this way confusion would be eliminated. One may argue also, it is not even clear what should or should not be governed in real life. That is exactly what an organization such as this one will do.

An organization such as this would cause much controversy to arise about the freedom of the internet. With an imperfect world though there will always be imperfect answers or solutions. All we can do is to try and limit the amount of problems that currently exist or that will arise in the future. The internet is so broad no one person can know all of its capabilities, which is both a good and bad thing. All one can hope for is to allow us humans our freedom and to protect us against those trying to limit that freedom; which would be the main goal of an organization like this.

Re-Write: Socialization in MMOG's

T.L. Taylor’s chapter out of the book Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture we were assigned to read this week is about socialization within MMOG’s. Taylor educates us on various different levels of socialization in different games. MMOG’s such as Everquest or LOTRO uses socialization in forming for example guilds to help each other successfully and quickly progress in game play. Taylor means that these social interactions and relationships are very important in MMOG’s. In the game Second Life the social aspects of the game are what drive it and make it what it is. An even better example of a game which requires the use of socialization in order to run is probably LambdaMOO. A completely text based MMOG where the social aspect of the game, is the game. Without the social aspect and the ability to interact with other avatars/users in games like Second Life, LambdaMOO, Everquest, and LOTRO it is safe to say the games would not reach their current popularity. Also the games would become much more difficult considering you would have to play all on your own.  

Taylor goes on to add though, that the social aspects of these games are not just important for in game purposes but also for the players outside the game. “One of the most notable things about games like EQ are the ways they are deeply social. While much of what we hear about gaming in the popular press evokes images of alienation and isolation, it is often grave misunderstanding of (or sometimes a willful bias against) the nature of these games” (30). What Taylor is saying is the relationships players gain in these various MMOG’s are very important to many of them and continue to be important to them in real life not just in-game. Where society has judged “gamers” of being outcasts and “socially inadequate” in real world social settings, these games end up being very important to the users in developing and maintaining a normal social life.

When it comes to my level of experience in game social interactions, specifically in LOTRO, they are slim. Considering the low level I am at though it would make more sense to comment further as I move along and gain higher levels. On the other hand the game Habbo Hotel, in which I have spent a lot of time and gained a lot of experience in, the social aspect, is what drives this game. This is a real life MMOG and just like in real life the use of social interactions is huge. You can order stuff at a restaurant, buy stuff from other users, have a party in your room, or just sit at a café and socialize. These are all things that in real life require social interactions, just like in-game. Just as Taylor describes, socialization in games are very important to the users, I one hundred percent agree from personal experiences. Without the social aspect of these games and relationships that are formed from the games, they would not exist. There are plenty of other games out there that many people enjoy that are not MMOG’s, but are not nearly as popular as some above mentioned MMOG’s. This clearly states the point that socialization in MMOG’s is very important for their existence and for their users.

Re-Write: Virtual World Collective Action

When protesting in the real world everyone assembles physically, discusses a plan, and then carries out their protest. This protest is usually in the form of gathering a massive crowd equipped with slogans, signs, and chants to protest their means. In Bridget Blodgett’s article, she discusses virtual protesting. Blodgett explains that through Hacktivism and CMC (Computer Mediated Communication) virtual protests are able to form.

Hacktivism is the way in which protesters use the internet to carry out their protests. These different types of protests can vary as Blodgett explains, “Hacktivism encompasses many different types of activities within its boundaries, from the emailing of politicians to denial of service attacks” (3.3.1).

CMC is the way in which these social movements form by use of the internet and/or other technologies. Social movements use for example the internet to gather people together, this is CMC. Or through other technologies or mobile devices such as telephone CMC, portable gaming device CMC, or IPads etcetera.

Blodgett uses her theoretical framework “Virtual World Collective Action” to set up some guidelines for the way social movements and protests work in virtual worlds. There are four key foundations to Blodgett’s model, they are:

1.      “Degree of virtualization: degree of virtualization is a simple percentage of the amount of organization and participation that was achieved offline or virtually.

2.      Legality: legality is a measurement of how legal the actions of the protests were both in planning a protest and holding it.

3.      Cultural homogeneity: this is a measure of how similar individuals within the protest are to each other in regards to their cultural views and identity.

4.      Limitations on Participation: Limitations on participation is a measure of if and how individuals are prevented from participating in the protest” (3.4).

A good example of a virtual protest is one that happened in the game Habbo Hotel back in 2006. This protest was called the "Pool’s Closed" protest. A group of users protested the occurrence of racism in-game, claiming the game moderators were in particular blocking black avatars. This sparked a group of users to protest by blocking the entrance to a pool in game preventing the other users from entering. Habbo Hotel at the time did not allow their users the ability for their avatars to walk through the body of another in-game avatar. Thus, other users were blocked from entering the pool. One thing unique about the protesters is that they were all black avatars with giant afro’s, dressed in suites.

The fact that this protest happened mostly online made the degree of virtualization slim. Members were mobilized online and the protest itself was carried out online. One thing interesting about the protest is that the use of CMC was very helpful in this one. Members were not only summoned through Habbo Hotel but also through various forum websites and other Habbo related sites. This was a very effective way of using CMC. In terms of legality within this protest the only thing that can possibly be deemed illegal would be the violations of the EULA or TOS. Since there is no governing body of the internet, as Blodgett explains, actual real-world governance is almost out of the question. In terms of Habbo Hotel governance the protests were judged against violating the TOS and several bans were administered. The cultural homogeneity in this protest was rather good. Habbo Hotel has its origins out of Finland; therefore the use for cultural homogeneity was broad, bringing together various cultures and people of different citizenships to protest. Also spreading the word of using one similar looking avatar amongst them all showed that CMC was a good help in mobilizing the cultural homogeneity in this protest. When it comes to limitations on participation, the only fact that would limit someone from participating would be they either do not have a computer or way to use the internet, or they didn’t have access to the game. Which in either case the need to participate is pointless considering one would most probably not know of the protest. Blodgett’s model is a good framework for virtual protests and can be effectively used to examine many other virtual protests much like the examples in her article And the Ringleaders Were Banned: An Examination of Protest in Virtual Worlds.

War in Ultima Online

Gold farming rivalry arises after unknown leak of game breaking code

Breaking news - A war between two gold farmer coalitions in the game Ultima Online recently broke out. Gold farmer groups EasyUO and Blacksnow, led by Rich Thurman and Lee Caldwell, recently were reported to in game GM’s. Certain operations for both coalitions were banned as an affect. The information leading to the bans origin is currently unknown, leading suspicion to arise, not only between the two groups, but also within their own entities.

            Thurman a Texas resident, whose operation completely yielded, was accused by leader Lee of having leaked information crucial to the bans. Somebody had contacted the GM’s of the game UO and accounts for Lee’s coalition were banned, as well as all the accounts for Thurman. Thurman, whom for months has been making a profit out of his home by the use of in game bots and macroing to farm for in game gold, has been making quite a profit. By selling in game gold Thurman has approximately been making $4000 weekly. That projects his yearly income to $208,000 dollars yearly which is a very large income within gold farming. Thurman used several computers with separate accounts as well as having one main account. He also had multiple people working in his coalition EasyUO, the amount of members still undisclosed.

            Lee’s information is a bit more concealed. He works out of California and he is definitely one of the top gold farmer’s in the world. Lee is the one who instigated this war, after assumptions that Thurman given him misleading information. Lee and Blacksnow are the sole contributors to hostile actions towards EasyUO thus far in the war and without any retaliation.

            The whole conflict started with the fact that an in game code was shared from an independent Swiss gold farmer known as Cheffe. He possesses an in game code that enabled easier access to farming gold. This code, exevents, was shared with Thurman and his coalition. Cheffe and EasyUO were the only ones to possess this code which obviously lured Lee’s interest into attaining it. After futile attempts to create cooperation with Thurman and attain exevents, Lee rested on coexisting in the market peacefully. So when the two coalitions were recently reported to the GM’s of UO suspicion arose immediately. Lee’s accusations arose from the supposed indication that one of EasyUO’s, member’s accounts was still active and running. This account was also using exevents contrary to what Thurman had promised Lee about Cheffe suspending use of the code. Lee drew the conclusion that the information regarding exevents and EasyUO was false thus declaring war on EasyUO and Thurman.

            The issue is far from being resolved as Lee and Blacksnow continue to sabotage any attempt from Thurman to restart his coalition. As investigation continues to find the culprits of these events, whether it be Cheffe whom shared the information without Blacksnow or EasyUO’s knowledge, or whether a mole exists within either coalitions, the future resolution of this conflict remains remote.

Re-write: Virtual Worlds Turning Real World

Cory Ondrejka mentions Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash and the “Metaverse.” The Metaverse is basically an online world where the virtual world is just like the real world, but much better. There are many factors that have to fall into place for this Metaverse to exist. It craves an economy with currency and real world interactions such as selling and purchasing, as well as buying services such as entertainment and business services. To interact in world, you must have a computer well enough to support the use of the world online. And the inside the Metaverse user generated content must be as free as possible to create and interact with.

 What is difficult in enabling the Metaverse to exist, is that all of the factors that make the real world continue to grow and function, would more or less have to exist in a virtual world (Metaverse). One current virtual world that introduces many of these factors is Second Life (SL).

SL is a virtual world or game, where you are allowed to create items using in world tools and materials provided each player, and with very much freedom. The virtual world has its own currency, you are able to interact with other users freely, you can have businesses, buy things, and so much more.

When experiencing second life and creating objects in the virtual world you start to understand the simplicity of the world. Objects and content is easy to create and is fast. This ability can be very useful for example; I created a square with tall walls and a door, basically like a one room house with no roof. The tools in the game made this very simple with specifications for length, height, and depth. It took merely 20 minutes for a first time user. There were no specific modifications to this object just plain and simple with the original color that is on the object by default. In real life something like my object would take a lot more man power, time, and effort. My experience was very simple but to actually create something of value or more advanced in-game there are more steps and more effort involved.

The tools in SL are unique than in other games. Ondrejka says, “Unlike other worlds that have attempted to allow user created content, SL users create using built in tools. These tools enable creation collaboratively in real-time instead of using separate programs” (162). In the past in games such as Ultima Online or The Sims had separate programs which allowed user creation. Once user generated content was created they you could not interact with it in the same way you can on SL i.e. sell it or buy it. Ondrejka says that SL is currently the closest thing to Stephenson’s Metaverse because of the freedom within the games content and the ability in the game to act like you would in real life. There is an economy, socializing, businesses, shops; there is even sex in the game, it is the closest thing to real life but in the virtual world.

SL allows the user generated content to progress freely in world and this helps the world grow and evolve, just like in the real world. There may not be any Metaverse in the world currently but over time with the progression of virtual worlds like SL, the thought of a Metaverse becomes more of a realistic idea. Such a world would allow for changes of our real world today that would be unprecedented. The possibility to run national corporations cheaply and easily through a virtual world would excessively excel. It would allow ideas for products and small companies to emerge that previously never could emerge in the real world because of issues such as money, property or time. The possibilities in a world such as the Metaverse would be endless and enormous. It is not a question, if virtual worlds and user generated content within them will have an effect on our everyday lives; it is a question of when?

Virtual Worlds in a Global View

Regulation of virtual worlds has been a very controversial subject in later years. With the increasing importance of virtual worlds in everyday life it is becoming much harder to separate our real-life from our virtual lives. When there is so much time, money, effort, and commercialism involved in virtual worlds today, the need for regulation and protection of our rights is in much higher demand. Much effort has been put into the regulation of these virtual worlds and particularly many virtual worlds that started in the United States. Many EULA’s nowadays deal with the fact that disputes may arise from users in the games, and have specific instructions on how to deal with a dispute. Typically disputes are handled in the state of which the game originated. But do all these dispute policies work merely for Americans? What happens if a dispute must be handled with a game from a foreign country? Or the laws of a foreign country apply to disputes arising from a foreign game?

            Many games originate in the United States and in the United States there are currently laws to help regulate what goes on in these games and in virtual worlds. As many games start becoming a part of our everyday lives the need for regulation in them becomes increasingly important. Jack Balkin says, “ In the future, virtual worlds platforms will be adopted for commerce, for education, for professional, military, and vocational training, for medical consultation and psychotherapy, and even for social and economic experimentation to test how social norms develop” (2044) This is a very true statement that corporations like IBM have already proved, for example in the game Second Life, where they conduct business meetings already. If disputes arise with IBM in the virtual world, they can be handled through a United States courtroom. What if a dispute happens in a virtual world from another country for example Minecraft of Sweden? In their EULA the authors keep it simple having only one rule and mentioning that your personal information is covered by the Personuppgiftslagen of Sweden. If you do not speak Swedish it is hard to know exactly what the outlines of this law mean to you. Therefore you just click yes, you agree, and do not think twice about it. One reason Minecraft’s EULA is so simple is the fact that the game itself is very simple and allows the users to have a lot of freedom. But also deputes regarding games in Sweden rarely occur, it is not common in Sweden that people enter into a lawsuit to take care of conflicts and as for personal information in Sweden people are very open about theirs, for example your social security number consists mostly of your birth date.

            Balkin describes that many of the issues with virtual worlds today involve your First Amendment rights and are handled under the laws of the United States First Amendment.  Now, not all cases involve your First Amendment rights, Balkin states that, “important aspects of the freedom to design and the freedom to play are concerned with freedom from state regulation of game spaces” (2052) This means that each dispute in a game that cannot be taken to court against your First Amendment rights or other federal rights, have to be settled within your statutory laws on game regulation. Given proof that it is already problematic to deal with disputes within the United States, one can only imagine how hard it would be to start handling a dispute in or with a foreign country. If we take Minecraft for example, the first step is to try and resolve the issue with the creators/administrators of the game (which in most cases works but takes time). If not satisfied with that the next action would be to contact the Swedish law authorities or your local American embassy to see what rights you have in the country you are seeking to take legal action in. These first two steps alone are very time consuming and difficult, especially if you do not want to use a lawyer whom you must pay thousands-plus dollars to. Obviously this all sounds very discouraging and in most cases people just cut their losses.

It is not always futile to handle disputes with international game creators/administrators though. As an American citizen your intellectual property within a game can be protected by the United States law and even abroad. In most games from foreign countries the EULA’s do not prevent you from seeking protection for your intellectual property within the game, therefore you are free to do so within the confinements of the United States law. These are points on how you can protect your intellectual property within a game/virtual world that applies both in the U.S. and abroad (unless otherwise prevented by the EULA of the game):

·         In the U.S., patents may be available to any person who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof." Patent protection must be sought by application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

·         Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. Registration with the USPTO is not required, but does provide certain advantages.

·         Copyrights protect original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other works, both published and unpublished. In the United States, the U.S. Copyright Office handles copyright registration that, although not required for protection, does confer advantages.

http://www.stopfakes.gov/sf_how.asp#q2

Obviously the downside of this entire thing still is that it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to pursue action. One other thing to also take into account is that the laws of a foreign country may not always be as forgiving as the laws of the United States, when it comes to taking legal action in those countries. An example of this would be a U.S. Marine who was convicted of spying for the CIA. The marine was sentenced to death in Iranian courts for using video games to manipulate public opinion about U.S. military in Iran, Iraq, and around the world. Great advice to attain from that is to use caution when handling disputes abroad.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/global-conflict-on-computer-games.html

            As virtual worlds continue to grow and affect real-life, real-life will also affect these virtual worlds. The freedom virtual worlds have provided us with through time might start to diminish as they slowly turn into more of a reality. It is inevitable that games and virtual worlds will be regulated more strictly in the future by laws all around the world. As there are global organizations that regulate interactions between different countries within commerce, currency, and crime there may soon be an organization to regulate virtual international interactions. Balkin puts it perfectly when he says, “Precisely because virtual worlds are fast becoming important parts of people’s lives, and because they are likely to be used for more and more purposes in the future, legal regulation of virtual worlds is inevitable” (2045). This quote puts it best and as “real-world commodification” continues to increase, intellectual property continues to become more real for every individual, as will the consequences of our actions in virtual worlds. For every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.