NEW YORK, NY, November 7, 2003 — On November 13-15, game designers and entrepreneurs, legal scholars and practitioners will meet in New York City to explore the phenomenon of massively multiplayer videogames and virtual worlds.  

Sponsored by the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School and the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, the “State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds” will address what happens when real-world law and virtual-world creativity collide.  Leading thinkers in their fields will discuss free speech, intellectual property and governance in videogames and in virtual worlds.  The conference will examine the complex legal, political and cultural issues confronting the millions of inhabitants of virtual societies and will address what these new communities teach us about governing our own communities.  

Recent estimates reveal that 100 million people will visit a “virtual world” this year.  But don't call them games.  People who frequent these graphically-rich online universes take them very seriously.  Thirty percent of subscribers to virtual worlds spend four-plus hours per day in them.  They are not just shooting space invaders or munching dots, participants in virtual worlds are creating full-fledged societies -- like Norrath with its 400,000 inhabitants (about the size of Atlanta) and an economy bigger than India or China -- who pay taxes, buy and sell goods, make laws and break them.  In increasing number, citizens are opting out of participating in their own communities and tuning in to life on-line.

What will the impact of “there” be on life here?

With the size of the videogame industry ballooning to one billion dollars and the Mario series of videogames making twice as much money as all five Star Wars films combined, will this become the new entertainment medium of the twenty-first century?  What will be the effect on television, movies and sports? How will virtual worlds change the future of fun?

What will be the effect on a new generation raised inside these worlds?  Are these new video “games” more violent and lawless or are they the new public spaces where young people will learn to become citizens?  How will virtual worlds change the future of democracy?

How will new social relations within these spaces transform the law?  What kinds of law and lawlessness will arise?  Terrorist groups use videogames to train their new recruits but so does the U.S. military.  Players buy and sell virtual goods for real money and they also steal them.  What will be the impact of virtual worlds on the future of law and crime?

Please join us for this pathbreaking conference to hear the leading experts discuss the future of videogames and virtual worlds.  Come hear:

• The creator of the first ever virtual world and the creator of one of the newest and most complex world based on the Star Wars movie series, debate the evolution of the industry
• The founders of two of the leading virtual worlds companies debuting new gamespaces
• Game designers and legal experts discuss creativity and ownership within virtual worlds and the role of intellectual property
• Lawyers reflect on the likely impact of virtual worlds on the future of law and law practice
• Discussion by computer scientists and policy experts about simulation and international security
• Sociologists and graphic designers talk about the future of play

Speakers include:

• Jack M. Balkin, free speech expert, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and First Amendment, Yale Law School
• Richard Bartle, creator of the first virtual world, MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
• Yochai Benkler, Internet and telecommunications law expert, professor, Yale Law School
• Natalie Bookchin, artist and professor, creator, MetaPet, AgoraXChange, CalArts
• Edward Castronova, economist of virtual worlds, professor, California State University
• Julian Dibbell, observer/author on digital culture, Contributing Editor, Wired Magazine and professor of “Law and Virtual Worlds,” Stanford Law School
• Michael Froomkin, Internet and technology law expert, Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law
• David Greenfield, psychologist, founder, Center for Internet Studies & Psychological Health Associates
• Will Harvey, founder, There Inc., creator, www.There.com 
• Dan Hunter, writer on law and virtual worlds, professor, The Wharton School, Univ. of Pennsylvania
• Raph Koster, designer, Chief Creative Officer, Sony Online Entertainment, creator, Star Wars Galaxies
• Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO, Linden Lab, creator, Second Life
• Douglas Rushkoff, author/visionary
• Clay Shirky, author on the social and economic effects of the Internet, teacher NYU Interactive Telecom
• Michael Zyda, computer scientist, Director, MOVES Institute, and creator, America’s Army

For more information or to register, please visit http://old.nyls.edu/games.  Press inquiries, please contact Jim Hellegaard, communications director, New York Law School, at 212.431.2191 or jhellegaard@nyls.edu

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