Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice Advance Access originally published online on May 11, 2006
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 2006 1(7):481-491; doi:10.1093/jiplp/jpl069
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
Is it really just a game? Copyright and online role-playing games
*Associate Professor of Law, Department of Law, Macquarie University. The author thanks Catherine Bond for her extensive research assistance in the writing of this article. This article is based on a workshop delivered by the author in February 2006 for the Intellectual Property Academy, Singapore (http://www.ipacademy.com.sg/). This article is dedicated to NL, in appreciation of the friendship, support and encouragement.
Legal context. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are a craze that has swept the globe. Online gamers have been reported to spend 
22 hours per week online playing their favourite games while there have been reports of players spending up to 55 hours at a time playing. Not all gamers are hobby gamers, nor are they just teenagers having fun. A market has grown around MMORPGs and a lucrative online market has emerged outside the games for the sale of game characters and items. The value of this market has been estimated at US$880 million. At the heart of disputes concerning the sale of game characters and items is the question of copyright ownership. Game providers claim that the End User Licence Agreements (EULAs) give them intellectual property ownership and rights over any dealings with the game characters and items. Many gamers on the other hand are abhorrent at the assertion that they have no claim to characters and items that they have spent many hours developing.
Key points. The first issue that needs to be considered is whether copyright subsists at all in the game characters and items. The next question to be considered is who owns the copyright in in-game characters and items. To answer the question, one must look to the EULAs, but the EULAs do not provide all the answers because issues such as moral rights cannot be governed by EULAs. Further, the practice of farming by companies running digital sweatshops complicates the relationship between gamers and game providers.
Practical significance. There have been numerous disputes concerning the game characters and items between game developers, gamers, and farming companies. This article examines the key copyright issues at stake.