Norrath: New Forms, Old Institutions

Abstract

In a knowledge-based economy, where intellectual property and creative innovation are key sources of value and wealth, social interactive environments such as EverQuest destabilise notions of property and ownership. They force us to redefine what content is, who produces it, who owns it, and who controls access to it. EverQuest is not only a publication, it is an ongoing service as well. Players are not only consumers or end-users but producers and co-creators as well. As online applications like EverQuest become more widespread the instabilities and uncertainties that arise from the creation of these hybrid publication/service applications become more apparent. Institutional and legal practices that hold for a publication may not be appropriate for a service. This paper explores some of the issues raised by games such as EverQuest around intellectual property, contracts, rights and obligations, governance and labour.