State of Play III: Program

Conference - Workshops - Panels - Architecture Contest

 

OCTOBER, 6TH

7:00 - 10:00PM

"Workshop Dinner" and Reporting from the Front Panel

Reporting from the Front asks leading virtual world reporters about the challenges, especially the legal challenges of reporting from the new frontier. Is virtual world journalism even a field? Do off-line privileges apply to the on-line world? Can a source be both anonymous and virtual? Is there a cyber-prison for reporters who refuse to disclose their confidential sources? What impact has the “new games journalism” movement had on virtual world reporting?

Panel:
James Au, New World Notes
Julian Dibbell, Wired
Cam Stracher, New York Law School (Co-Moderator)
Daniel Terdiman, CNET
Clive Thompson, New York Times Magazine
Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman Center of Internet and Society (Co-Moderator)
Mark Wallace, Freelance Journalist

Friday, OCTOBER, 7TH

8:00 - 9:30AM

Breakfast and Stock Markets in Virtual Worlds Panel

This special session will look at the financial speculation and experimentation going on in virtual worlds. From player-created in-world stock exchanges to public companies engaging in virtual real estate speculation, virtual worlds are home to a raft of new financial schemes and opportunities. This panel examines the rise of virtual securities. Can an exchange flourish without enforcement?

Panel:
Caroline Bradley, University of Miami - Law
Ted Castronova, Indiana Unviersity
Michael Einhorn, Consor
Kjartan Pierre Emilsson, CCP Game Design
Faith Kahn, New York Law School (Moderator)
Philip Rosedale, Linden Lab

10AM - 3:00PM

Design Workshops - By Invitation

 

6:00PM - 10:00PM

State of Play Dinner Panel

Crucial to understanding the future of cyberspace is the chance to hear from the builders of the metaverse. At the State of Play dinner each year, virtual worlds journalist Julian Dibbell interviews leading game designers about the technology and its likely evolution


Panel:
Cory Ondrejka, Second Life
Julian Dibbell, Wired (Moderator)
Kjartan Pierre Emilsson, CCP Game Designer
Jessica Mulligan, Consultant / Executive Producer Nevrax

 

10:00PM - ?

Mini-Machinima Film Festival

Hosted by Paul Marino

And

Dance, Dance Revolution Extravaganza

 

 

Saturday, October 8th

8:00 - 9:45AM

State of the Industry Breakfast

The annual State of the Industry breakfast asks virtual world company executives to talk about the year’s developments in the industry and what they view as the most challenging and urgent legal problems for virtual worlds on the horizon.

Panel:
Jim Rosini, Kenyon & Kenyon (Moderator)
Scott Foe, Nokia
William Leverett, NCSoft
Steve Salyer, IGE
Michael Wilson, There.com

 

10:00 - 11:30AM

Law in Virtual Worlds

After two State of Play conferences where we first identified the rise of “virtual world law,” it has finally happened. A triumverate of legal cases with direct and far-reaching implications for the design of and creativity within virtual worlds happened this year. This panel of virtual world law experts looks at Grokster, Brand X and the Marvel Comics litigation from the perspective of massively multiplayer on-line games and their future. This session addresses not only what will be the effect on virtual worlds as we know them now but how these cases are likely to impact the way the metaverse evolves.

Panel:
Ann Bartow, University of South Carolina - Law
Greg Boyd, Kenyon & Kenyon
Susan Crawford, Cardozo Law School
Terry Fisher, Harvard, Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Moderator)
Greg Lastowka, Rutgers School of Law
Charlie Nesson, Harvard, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
John Palfrey, Harvard, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Andy Zaffron, Sony Online Entertainment

11:30 - 1:45PM

The Great Debate

Is thinking about virtual worlds as distinct legal realms a misguided form of utopianism? Or do we need a transnational approach to make sense of the distinctive legal problems that cyberspace seems to produce? If the net is a separate legal sphere, where should its laws come from? What form of governance should it have? Will rules established and enforced within virtual worlds be entitled to deference from local governments and when? To what kinds of virtual worlds or cyberspaces should which rules about jurisdiction apply? Does anything about the medium of virtual worlds change the debate or what have we learned in the last decade?

Panel:
Richard Bartle, Creator of MUD
Michael Froomkin, University of Miami - Law
Dan Hunter, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (Moderator)
David Johnson, New York Law School
David Post, New York Law School
Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Harvard University - School of Public Policy
Joel R. Reidenberg, Fordham University - Law
Tim Wu, University of Virginia - Law

 

2:00 - 3:30PM

Architecture in Virtual Worlds

Groups and institutions can cohere around specific geographies as community once again comes to be defined by the social and technical construction of space. But our familiar understanding of the relationship between architectural design and social regulation is dramatically altered in the virtual world. The distinction between private and public may make less sense, not only because all space is privately “owned” but also because virtual architecture is neither completely physical nor completely representational. In this panel, architects, lawyers and game designers talk about the future of public space in the virtual world.

Panel:
Ann Beamish, University of Texas - School of Architecture
Nathan Glazer, Harvard - Sociology and Education
Yehuda Kalay, University of California - Berkely, School of Architecture
Jonathan Zittrain, Oxford Internet Institute
Martin Zogran, Harvard Design School - Dept. of Urban Planning & Design

Also... Architecture Contest

 Judges: The Architecture Panel with
Helen Stuckey, Ed Valauskas and Carl Goodman

 

4:00 - 5:30PM

Building the Global Metaverse

This panel examines the law and borders of virtual worlds from a comparative and global perspective. Are there distinct cultural approaches to virtual worlds? What is the view from the U.S.. Europe and Asia? What do virtual worlds show us about the social and cultural diffusion of technology? Can the metaverse be global or will it always reflect the divisions of geography and law? Should we aspire to building a metaverse and creating on-line global citizenship? Is there such a thing as netizenship?

Panel:

Robbie Cooper, Alter Ego
Aaron Delwiche, Trinity University (Moderator)
Josh Fouts & Douglas Thomas, USC - Center on Public Diplomacy
Alan Meades, Canterbury Christ Church University, Computing Officer
David Smith, Croquet
Tracy Spaight, Creator, Real People/Virtual Worlds

Also..... Second Life Community Convention (SLCC)

October 8 - 9, 2005


Come join the early pioneers of the Metaverse (3D World Wide Web) at the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC): the first major offline gathering of Second Life (SL) users and residents. Through a mixture of demos, conversation and formal presentations, SLCC will explore the state and future of the Second Life platform. Whether you consider yourself an SL resident, casual user, or are interested generally in the fast growing possibilities of virtual worlds, you’ll find the SLCC to be an invaluable learning and networking event.

SLCC will be co-located with the State of Play conference on law and virtual worlds at the New York Law School.

SLCC Registration --- SLCC Agenda

For questions about the conference please contact:

Ms. Catherine Bracy
cbracy@cyber.law.harvard.edu
Program Coordinator of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School