I ran a roundtable session at IMGDC last weekend on the subject of "Government Interference: How Much Can you Take?". The way it worked, I presented a number of scenarios in turn, ramping up each one of them to see when (if ever) the situation would become so intolerable that it would stop the attendees from ever wanting to develop an MMORPG.
Some things were irritating, but not so irritating that they'd cause the assembled developers and designers to give up. For example, government requirements for tracking every single transaction to prevent fraud fell into this category: it adds a huge overhead, but it's something people can just about live with.
There were two proposals, however, which hit the abandon ship button for everyone. Both of these are ones I've seen advocated a number of times, included here on TerraNova.
The first issue was player power. If a real-world government decreed that players had to be elected to the live team, and that the recommendations of these players had by law to be implemented, then that was a step too far. Developers simply could not operate MMORPGs under those circumstances.
The second issue was object ownership. If players were given real-life ownership of their characters or their characters' in-world inventory, then developers would draw the line. They'd be so hamstrung by such a law that they wouldn't be able to create MMORPGs if it applied.
Interestingly, many of the people at the roundtable (who, because of the nature of the conference, tended to have an indie viewpoint) were completely unaware that there was even the possibility of either of these two situations becoming a reality. This contrasts with the views of the players, academics and lawyers who have promoted the enactment of such laws, but who seem oblivious to the effects they would have on designers and developers.
Are we heading for trouble, here?
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