Is there such a thing as virtual rape?

As life moves online so does crime. Is there such a thing as virtual rape?

Definition: Rape is a form of assault where an individual forces another to have sexual intercourse against that person’s will.

Does this apply to avatars? Technically, avatars are codes, software programs controlled from a keyboard. They look like humanoids, but in fact they are still software programs. A person with the ability to create and manipulate coding can in fact “hack” into anther code (avatar) and take control of what that avatar does.

If a person does take control of anther’s avatar and directs the avatar to have sex with someone that they otherwise would not have sex with -- does that make it rape?

A thesis written by Wesley Cooper of the University of Alberta believes

“Although a virtual rape is not a rape, it can be a betrayal of the values that a virtual community builds itself around, and a humiliating insult to the player whose character is victimized.”

However in Julian Biddell's "A Rape in Cyberspace" she says

“Where before I'd found it hard to take virtual rape seriously, I

now was finding it difficult to remember how I could ever NOT have taken it seriously. “

The action was an assault and it did indeed force an individual’s avatar to have sexual intercourse against the live person’s will. Rape?

In most jurisdictions there can be no rape without penetration – which seems like an impossible concept in virtual worlds. Yet stalking and harassment definitely exists and laws now include internet stalking and harassment as a crime punishable by law.

As business and social interactions online increases, so does the need for mutually agreed upon law and or conventions covering property, copyright, contracts, crime (including sex crimes), tax, privacy, gambling and money laundering. Already US tax laws are being considered and drafted based on the dollars earned ‘in-world’ and taken out of the virtual world.

When a “crime” happens where is the jurisdiction?

If the victim is in the US but the attacker is in Australia, where is the case to be dealt with?

Can the owner of a game / virtual world dictate certain laws to apply to gamers?

What are the consequences of letting private companies make laws for millions of people?

Atari will lay off 20% of it's staff

When you hear an industry is making billons, it can be a bit of shock when you hear a major company will reduce its work force. However, that’s exactly what’s happening at Atari. Atari employees received some unfortunate news this week when the company announced that they would lay off 20% of their overall workforce, across a wide-range of positions. Administrative positions will be hit the hardest.

Following a lengthy financial restructuring program that included the sale of numerous internal studios and brands over the last eighteen months, and the resignation of CEO Bruno Bonnell, Atari Group's parent company, Infogrames Entertainment made the workforce lay off announcement this week.

Apparently, Atari is still having financial problems and because of them, the company's board of directors approved the reduction of employees. The plan was approved on April 10th and it will be completed by the end of July. Commenting on the recent move, Atari president and CEO David Pierce declared:

"We expect that today's reorganization will continue to reduce Atari's general and administrative cost. These actions, though difficult, are a significant first step in reorganizing Atari and demonstrate our commitment to restoring shareholder value."

With the announcement of the lay offs, some sources are wondering what this could mean for they’re "PlayStation Home " project. The potential home entertainment system project was revealed to UK trade magazine earlier this year and is said to be available this summer.

While this is unfortunate news for employees, it may end up being great news for consumers if Atari can hold onto customer loyalty. The Atari brand has been on a downward spiral for a long time. Dragon Ball Z games have made up the majority of their release schedules and only speculative upcoming projects have held customer interest.

Shakespeare In Video

A virtual rose by any other name is still a rose.

Since children typically spend hours battling trolls, aliens and a variety of other bad guys, a Canadian university is going to try introducing them to Shakespeare with a video game. "Speare" contains a link to a database about Shakespeare called Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare that was developed by the university as an educational resource.

While zapping enemy spaceships players will have to help recover stolen pages from Romeo and Juliet by memorizing lines from the famous play, learning facts about Shakespeare's life and creating synonyms and homonyms for parts of the missing text.

"The game is a way to capitalize on the time that kids spend on computers," said Professor Daniel Fischlin who headed the team at the University of Guelph in Ontario that developed the game called "Speare."

"I don't know of another medium that has seven-year-olds spouting Shakespeare," Fischlin added in response to charges the game might trivialize learning.

The Shakespearean game available online was tested on more than 100 grade six students and was launched to coincide with the anniversary of Shakespeare's death. With the introduction of the game, Daniel Fischlin plans to publish his findings in an academic journal.

The orignal purpose of the website was a site for Shakespearean lesson plans, video interviews and e-books of his plays. When professors realized the site's multimedia features were accessed mainly by young people, the idea for Speare was born.

A 12-year-old student, tested the game while it was being developed and said it taught her more about Shakespeare than books used by her older sister.

“Some of my grade 8 friends have just been learning from a book, and they say this is a more hands-on approach, and they learn more because it's fun," she said.

I went over to the site and it's very Final Fantasy like. It's slow but the graphics are nice and the game is simple and well done.

From the game:
The Prospearean Galaxy is named for a powerful and wise sorcerer whose knowledge comes from ancient storytelling. All resources are devoted to creating poetic codes, containing great wisdom to be used only for peaceful purposes. The power to speak is the power to do.

Peace reigned in the galaxy until a civil war broke out in the Verona System between planets Montagor and Capulon, who were entrusted with guarding Shakespeare’s ancient text Romeo and Juliet. Distracted by their squabbles, the Verona System is left open to invasion by the ever-encroaching drones of the power hungry Insidian Army.

The Verona galaxy was in charge of guarding the text of Romeo & Juliet. The player is Spear, in charge of retrieving the missing text.
"Speare"