The recent growth of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft has given rise to many economic as well as legal questions. Especially the assignment of (intellectual) property rights to the licensee as well as to players is an important issue legal discussion has to address. In MMORPGs players experience the provided virtual realities through an avatar. This character can be customized under certain restrictions prior to the game, e.g., in terms of appearance, race, gender etc., as well as during the game, e.g., by equipment with armors or weapons. These virtual objects as well as the game currency have to be gathered by killing monsters or trading with other players. Despite converse Terms of Service, players and newly founded enterprises sell their avatars and virtual items for real money. Hence, Real Money Trading (RMT) has become an important topic (not only) in German law debates. It has to be clarified whether customization of those avatars and items means that they also become the players’ (intellectual) property. In this article the authors consider an interdisciplinary approach. They examine the applicability of German Law and highlight the legal problems that will arise. In addition, RMT creates some economic problems as well, e.g., with respect to issues concerning the parties involved. The authors develop a pricing model which assigns different property rights to the players and the licensee according to the players’ preferences to solve the arising legal as well as economic problems.    «

The recent growth of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft has given rise to many economic as well as legal questions. Especially the assignment of (intellectual) property rights to the licensee as well as to players is an important issue legal discussion has to address. In MMORPGs players experience the provided virtual realities through an avatar. This character can be customized under certain restrictions prior to the game, e.g., in terms of appeara...    »