Bill of Rights

The issue of anonymity in online gaming is complex, primarily due to the fact that we are not yet able to define what contributions our virtual identities make to our lives. Our virtual manifestations, avatars, could simply virtual forms of property, used almost exclusively for entertainment value. Yet, as we saw in the Avatar section, avatars have become much more than virtual puppets. They have become virtual projections of ourselves. Avatars provide virtual manifestations of our idealized selves. Anonymity becomes necessary as we make this transition from puppet avatars to personalized avatars. When one enters an online gaming community, such as World of Warcraft, using the latter form of avatar, one usually intends to escape the judgmental physical world. Anonymity allows the user to temporarily shun the physical world’s prejudices and stereotypes in favor of an open community, in which almost every accepts that what one sees isn’t always the best indicator of what one gets. But if one defines an avatar as merely an entertaining puppet, anonymity falls by the wayside. One does not need to protect the identity of a user who merely wishes to use the avatar as a means of playing virtual dress-up.

In order to protect the “virtual human” avatar, one must first define the fundamental rights of the avatar. On August 27, 2000, Raph Koster published the Avatar Bill of Rights on his blog, declaring the “self-evident” rights of online gamers. He argues that our current Bill of Rights is much too outdated to be applied to the virtual realm of online gaming. Therefore, Koster seeks to update the current Bill of Rights to apply to Avatars.

Koster’s Bill of Rights, although flawed, points out the necessity for change as society increasingly begins to participate in virtual societies. In essence, Koster’s Bill of Rights defines avatars as virtual projections of individual human beings rather than man-made puppets(or property), used exclusively for personal entertainment. Avatars are pixelated, online versions of ourselves. By accepting that avatars are human enough to deserve rights, one effectively accepts that an avatar is a virtual manifestation complementing a human personality. Although one may choose to reveal certain details about oneself as an avatar through the avatar’s actions, rarely does one reveal every detail and every secret about oneself to one’s community, even in the real world. Anonymity on the internet is a way of protecting one’s right to personal information. For avatars, the person behind the avatar is the equivalent of the soul behind the person. By exposing the identity of the person behind the avatar, demystifies the avatar and irreversibly changes how the community sees the avatar. We see anonymity as a fundamental right protecting the possession of personal information, secrets, and a unique personality. In essence, in the online community, anonymity is what makes avatars humans.

Thus, outlined below, is our version of the Avatar’s Bill of Rights, including a clause about anonymity.

The Constitution of Avatar Communities

We the Avatars of an online community, in Order to form a more perfect playing arena, establish Justice, insure virtual Tranquility, provide for common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our virtual Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

Articles:

  1.  All Avatars are created equally and yield the same powers, responsibilities, and abilities.
  2. Avatar communities are created for the good of mankind and, therefore, Avatars should be treated as virtual projections of human beings rather than “soulless puppets.”
  3. Although administrators are the true authorities in virtual communities, the community at large has the right and responsibility to keep those administrators in check, insuring that online communities do not foster virtual tyranny.
  4. Freedom is the ability to do anything so long as that activity does not harm or negatively impact any other member of the community. Rules and codes of conduct in virtual communities may only restrict infringement of the avatars inherent right to freedom, as defined above.
  5. Rules and codes of conduct should reflect the desires of the community and those who maintain the software.
  6. Avatars may only be punished if they violate the code of conduct. Violation of this right is itself a violation of avatar rights and all violators should be duly and fairly punished.
  7. All punishments should be fair and equal to the crime committed, except in the case when the violation of the code of conduct threatens the hardware or software of the online community. All avatars are innocent until proven guilty.
  8. So long as the expression of one’s opinions does not harm the community at large, avatars may relay their opinions freely. Freedom of speech, as defined in the U.S. Bill of Rights, is extended to all virtual media, including chats, online posts, and spoken word. Those who abuse this freedom, using virtual speech to harm others, will be held accountable for their actions.
  9. To insure the rights of avatars, enforcement officials may be granted special powers, which they may only use for the protection of the community. Abuse of these powers for personal gain will result in some form of punishment and the revocation of all special enforcement powers.
  10. Users have the right to know the avatar identity of all administrators, all of their actions, and all of their special powers.
  11. Those virtual communities that do not enforce the code of conduct or lack a code of conduct are outside the realm of this bill of rights.
  12. The virtual equivalent of property, data is protected much the same as property is in the U.S. Bill of Rights. No one should be denied data nor property unless one is found guilty of violation of the code of conduct.
  13. Avatars have the right to privacy, protecting their personal information, private spaces, and data. Eavesdropping and searches and seizure are in violation of this principle.
  14. With the right to property, comes the right to personal property. In the virtual realm, personal property is the equivalent to personal data. The right to personal data protects an avatar’s creator’s identity from snooping, phishing, hacking, and other forms of unlawful acquisition of protected data. Therefore, the creator has a right to anonymity in the virtual realm.
  15. Freedom of assembly is protected, so long as the activity does not threaten the integrity of the community, nor the performance of the virtual space.
  16. Although we have listed a considerable number of rights here, the rights of the avatar are not limited to this enumerated list.  Avatars have the right to other rights.