Law, Video Games, Virtual Realities


Book Description

This edited volume explores the intersection between the coded realm of the video game and the equally codified space of law through an insightful collection of critical readings. Law is the ultimate multiplayer role-playing game. Involving a process of world-creation, law presents and codifies the parameters of licit and permitted behaviour, requiring individuals to engage their roles as a legal subject – the player-avatar of law – in order to be recognised, perform legal actions, activate rights or fulfil legal duties. Although traditional forms of law (copyright, property, privacy, freedom of expression) externally regulate the permissible content, form, dissemination, rights and behaviours of game designers, publishers, and players, this collection examines how players simulate, relate, and engage with environments and experiences shaped by legality in the realm of video game space. Featuring critical readings of video games as a means of understanding law and justice, this book contributes to the developing field of cultural legal studies, but will also be of interest to other legal theorists, socio-legal scholars, and games theorists.




Law and Humanities


Book Description

This edited collection provides the first accessible introduction to Law and Humanities. Each chapter explores the nature, development and possible further trajectory of a disciplinary ‘law and’ field. Each chapter is written by an expert in the respective field and addresses how the two disciplines of law and the other respective field operate. This edited work, therefore, fulfils a real and pressing need to provide an accessible, introductory but critical guide to law and humanities as a whole by exploring how each disciplinary ‘law and’ field has developed, contributes to further scrutinizing the content and role of law, and how it can contribute and be enriched by being understood within the law and humanities tradition as a whole.




Research Handbook on the Law of Virtual and Augmented Reality


Book Description

Virtual and augmented reality raise significant questions for law and policy. When should virtual world activities or augmented reality images count as protected First Amendment ‘speech’, and when are they instead a nuisance or trespass? When does copying them infringe intellectual property laws? When should a person (or computer) face legal consequences for allegedly harmful virtual acts? The Research Handbook on the Law of Virtual and Augmented Reality addresses these questions and others, drawing upon free speech doctrine, criminal law, issues of data protection and privacy, legal rights for increasingly intelligent avatars, and issues of jurisdiction within virtual and augmented reality worlds.




Video Game Law


Book Description

Video Game Law is aimed at game developers and industry professionals who want to better understand the industry or are in need of expert legal guidance. Given the rise in international competition, the increasing complexity of video game features, and the explosive growth of the industry in general, game developers can quickly find themselves in serious trouble, becoming vulnerable to copyright infringement claims, piracy, and even security breaches. Not every video game company has the financial resources to retain in-house counsel–which Video Game Law seeks to address by discussing many of the common pitfalls, legal questions, and scenarios facing the industry. S. Gregory Boyd, Brian Pyne, and Sean F. Kane, the most prominent, sought after, and respected video game attorneys in the country, break down the laws and legal concepts that every game developer and industry professional needs to know in order to better protect their game and grow their company. KEY FEATURES: • Provides a solid understanding of intellectual property (IP) concepts and laws, including copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other protections that apply to video games and how each can be employed to protect a company’s unique and valuable IP • Explores cutting edge legal issues that affect the gaming industry, including gambling, virtual currency, privacy laws, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, tax incentives, and relevant piracy laws • Provides an overview of legal and privacy vocabulary and concepts needed to navigate and succeed in an industry that is constantly growing and evolving • Provides illustrative examples and legal concepts from the video game industry in every chapter




Augmented Reality Law, Privacy, and Ethics


Book Description

Augmented Reality (AR) is the blending of digital information in a real-world environment. A common example can be seen during any televised football game, in which information about the game is digitally overlaid on the field as the players move and position themselves. Another application is Google Glass, which enables users to see AR graphics and information about their location and surroundings on the lenses of their "digital eyewear", changing in real-time as they move about. Augmented Reality Law, Privacy, and Ethics is the first book to examine the social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding AR technology. Digital eyewear products have very recently thrust this rapidly-expanding field into the mainstream, but the technology is so much more than those devices. Industry analysts have dubbed AR the "eighth mass medium" of communications. Science fiction movies have shown us the promise of this technology for decades, and now our capabilities are finally catching up to that vision. Augmented Reality will influence society as fundamentally as the Internet itself has done, and such a powerful medium cannot help but radically affect the laws and norms that govern society. No author is as uniquely qualified to provide a big-picture forecast and guidebook for these developments as Brian Wassom. A practicing attorney, he has been writing on AR law since 2007 and has established himself as the world's foremost thought leader on the intersection of law, ethics, privacy, and AR. Augmented Reality professionals around the world follow his Augmented Legality® blog. This book collects and expands upon the best ideas expressed in that blog, and sets them in the context of a big-picture forecast of how AR is shaping all aspects of society. - Augmented reality thought-leader Brian Wassom provides you with insight into how AR is changing our world socially, ethically, and legally. - Includes current examples, case studies, and legal cases from the frontiers of AR technology. - Learn how AR is changing our world in the areas of civil rights, privacy, litigation, courtroom procedure, addition, pornography, criminal activity, patent, copyright, and free speech. - An invaluable reference guide to the impacts of this cutting-edge technology for anyone who is developing apps for it, using it, or affected by it in daily life.




Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism (ICBLT 2022)


Book Description

This is an open access book. The 3rd International Conference on Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism (ICBLT) will be an annual event hosted by Universitas Warmadewa, Denpasar, Bali. “Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism” has been chosen at the main theme for the conference, with a focus on the latest research and trends, as well as future outlook of the field of Call for paper fields to be included in ICBLT 2022 are Local Wisdom (Customary Law); Law on Business, Business Competition, and Prohibition of Monopoly; Law on Land and Environment; Law on Investment; Law on Criminal Act of Corruption and Asset Recovery Law on Licenses and Labor; Law on Tourism; Law on Transportation; Law on Immigration Intellectual Property Rights; and Law on Resolution of Tourism Investment and Business Disputes.This international seminar aims to facilitate scholars, researchers, practitioners, and students to share their thoughts on the latest trends on Business Law and Local Wisdom in Tourism whilst building network in an engaging environment. The participants of this conference will have a chance to enrich knowledge and discuss common challenges and offer creative solutions. By this, we hope to enhance and contribute knowledge for a better civilized community.




Video Game Law


Book Description

Video Game Law, 2nd Edition addresses the overlapping and emerging issues relating to IP, freedom of speech, employment, defamation, privacy, licensing and torts as they arise within the context of the video games industry, offering unique legal analysis and guidance unavailable elsewhere."--Pub. desc.




Virtual Realities


Book Description

Virtual Realities presents a ground-breaking application of phenomenology as a critical method to explore the impact of immersive media. Specific case studies examine 360-degree documentary productions about trauma, virtual military simulations, VR exposure therapy for anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder, and the emerging debate about regulating violent content in immersive media gaming. By addressing these texts primarily as experiences, Virtual Realities deploys an analytic and critical methodology that is sensitive to the bodily and cognitive impact of immersive media, especially via the body of an appropriately attentive researcher-critic. Virtual Realities provokes a rethinking of many of the taken-for-granted ideas and assumptions circulating in the field of immersive media. These include concepts of empathy, embodiment, the affective impact of textual and immersive properties on the users’ experience, as well as the “gee-whizz” mentality often associated with approaches to the medium. The case studies provide fresh engagement with immersive media such as cinematic VR at a time when dominant attitudes about the technology display an evangelical fascination with VR and other mixed realities as inexorably beneficial. Virtual Realities makes a compelling case for VR-phenomenology to be employed as a methodology by humanities scholars and also in cross-disciplinary applications of immersive media in fields such as psychology, human-computer interaction studies and the health sciences.




Research, Innovation, and Industry Impacts of the Metaverse


Book Description

Imagine a world where the digital and physical worlds intertwine seamlessly - this is the metaverse. This complex digital environment has the potential to revolutionize our lives in a multitude of ways. Yet the lack of standardized frameworks and guidelines creates a fragmented ecosystem with varying levels of security, privacy, and usability that can hinder the integration of the metaverse into our daily lives in cohesive, safe, and beneficial ways. Research, Innovation, and Industry Impacts of the Metaverse offers a comprehensive solution to the challenges posed by the metaverse. It serves as a roadmap for researchers, academics, and practitioners by providing a structured framework for exploring the metaverse. It covers foundational technologies, academic research, real-world applications, and challenges, offering insights into defining the metaverse, its technologies, and future potential. The book equips readers with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the complexities of the metaverse and contribute to its responsible development. Showcasing the latest research contributions, this book initiates academic discourse and innovation. It fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, ensuring a holistic understanding of the metaverse's impact on society, education, commerce, and more, while empowering readers to harness the metaverse's full potential.