The French government has proposed a new law regarding gambling. The idea is that sports have "betting rights" that they can sell. Unless they sell or otherwise release those rights, you can't bet on that sport.
Does this have potential implications for virtual worlds?
Very few sports are built around the concept of gambling. Horse racing is perhaps the most noteworthy, as it exists primarily to offer gamblers events upon which to gamble. As a consequence, horse racing is geared primarily around gambling, not around spectating.
The vast majority of sports are not geared around gambling. Nevertheless, people gamble on them anyway. This leads to situations in which players do something sporting, such as conceding a putt in golf, that costs gamblers money. Or, alternatively, that wins gamblers money they might not have won otherwise.
The French government have put forward a law, which has just been approved in principle by the European Commission, that allows sports to protect their integrity. It gives the governing bodies of each sport "betting rights". If they hold onto these rights, no-one can place a bet on any competitions related to the sport. If they release these rights, then they will gain money (a cut of the gambling revenue), but will have to monitor every aspect of play more closely in order to ensure that events are not rigged. That's how I think it works, anyway...
This appeal to the "integrity" of sports is interesting. Why stop at sports? Why stop at gambling?
Suppose that virtual worlds had "commodification rights". If they held onto these rights, no-one could buy or sell their virtual goods except within the context of the virtual world (so buying for in-world gold is fine, but for out-of-world gold is not fine). If they released them, then people could trade in these goods and the operators would get a share of the revenue so generated; in return, they would be required to ensure that the goods were fit to be traded (meaning compensation for nerfs?).
This sounds a lot like Ted Castranova's interration concept implemented using a different mechanism.
What do you think? Would it work? I don't mean would any government do it right now, I mean would it work?
Richard
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