Virtual Land Deal Goes Sour

Wired

In what might be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, a Pennsylvania lawyer is suing the publisher of the rapidly growing online world Second Life, alleging the company unfairly confiscated tens of thousands of dollars worth of his virtual land and other property.

The attorney, Marc Bragg of West Chester, Pennsylvania, says game developer Linden Lab unilaterally shut down his Second Life account, cutting off his access to a substantial portfolio of real estate and currency in the virtual world. He's demanding $8,000 in restitution. [...]

Bragg v. Linden Research, a civil complaint filed May 1 in West Chester's local district court, charges that Linden Lab "breached an auction contract by allowing the land to auction, accepting online payment, and then suspending plaintiff's account." [...]

"There will be substantial interest in the outcome of this suit from business, legal, academic and virtual-world resident interests," wrote freelance journalist and Second Life blogger Tony Walsh. "I think that this is part of the reason that Bragg filed suit. He might be the first person in history to sue over a virtual land deal gone sour."

But some established members of the Second Life community feel Bragg couldn't have much of a case.

One resident deeply involved in the Second Life real estate business says she's been following the debate over the case in the virtual world's online forums and thinks Bragg doesn't have "a leg to stand on."

"I don't know if he was trying to scam or if it was an honest mistake, but anyone who has ever been in-world here knows that you don't buy a sim for that amount of money," says Alice McKeon, a partner in dAlliez Estates, which owns 27 sims in Second Life. "I made a remark to somebody that if Linden Labs is selling sims (that cheaply), I'll buy a hundred."

For his part, Bragg argues that since the auctions were completed, they are final. "If I take a sim and price it at 1 or 10 when I want 100,000, and it sells, (Linden's) answer is tough luck, you sold it and it's your fault." Bragg said he wouldn't have invested if he'd known he could lose everything.

To those who follow the political, legal and economic issues of virtual worlds, lawsuits over virtual land have seemed inevitable for some time. [...]