Is anyone else interested in seeing whether the new Diablo 3 Auction House will give rise to future litigation? I can see problems regarding 'ownership' of virtual property and problems which may arise in cases of account theft and account banning.
For example: I farm a level 60 Witch Doctor - according to Blizzard's EULA I don't own the character - they do. They ban my character for doing something naughty. Fine. The problem that arises is that I have a net value of $100 worth if items on said character. While the EULA might strictly rule that I don't own those items, the reality of the situation is that they have an economic value that I was entitled to.
I'm not aware of any other games with a similar 'real money auction house' and I'm not aware of any court cases discussing this matter specifically. I can see many parallels and many differences to the case against Linden Labs back in 2005, where a second life player sued the owner of second life for banning his character. The case was settled out of court; the argument was that the player 'owned' the virtual property he had accumulated on his account, given representations made by Linden Labs (the company owning Second Life), despite the EULA saying otherwise.
Anyways, interested in everyone's opinions.
