Online multiplayer games: A virtual space for intellectual property debates? - AND - Terms of service, terms of play in children's online gaming

The first essay explores how online, multiplayer games are used as a space for the negotiation of intellectual property rights. Focus is placed on the ways in which existing laws and understandings about intellectual property are transforming to accommodate the unique characteristics of online games. Labour issues and the underlying use-value-exchange-value relationship are explored within the framework of a political economic perspective. The second essay provides a content analysis of Terms of Service contracts contained within some of the most frequented children's online games. Emphasis is placed on the exchange of information and culture that occurs between children and corporate entities, in order to identify the nature of these interactions, and the legal and economic implications of children's participation in this exchange. The findings are discussed within the broader context of research ethics, intellectual property, and children's potential rights as producers of digital content.