The Metaverse Republic

Vulcano is a very special sim on Second Life. Vulcano is the living example of the fact that the tragedy of the commons, given certain conditions, can be beaten. David Orban, who likes to call himself the “instigator” of the community rather than the creator, started Vulcano with the only rule of “be free”. Members […]

Or how the Metaverse Republic can co-exist peacefully with national law and virtual world terms of service whilst being fully independent from both
One of the commonest misconceptions of the Metaverse Republic project is that there is a conflict between, on the one hand, an independent system of law within a virtual world such as […]

Hello everybody We have been silent, but working steadily on our Constitution. We’re now examining the best way to implement a voting system in our Constitution, and the Technical Team will start working on it really soon, which is really exciting news.
But there are indeed some news: the Metaverse Republic will be presented at […]

Why did we choose to make the Metaverse Republic a common law system?
There are two kinds of legal systems in the world: common law systems, and civil law systems. In common law systems (which originated in the UK; common law countries include the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other parts of […]

For those of you who were not able to be at Metanomics07 session of last night, here’s the link to SLCN coverage of the event: http://www.slcn.tv/metanomics-anti-social-contracts. The speech was very interesting, as well as the questions from the audience (especially Professor Bloomfield’s follow-up questions, and Benjamin Duranske’s question about identity portability).
Professor Farfield also wrote a […]

Will a virtual world legal system be incompatible with the elements of fantasy that are important to many users of virtual worlds?
Virtual worlds such as Second Life are used for many purposes, from simple socialising to technological experimentation, and from artistic creativity to serious commerce. One of the pervasive features of a […]

Is it really necessary to use a legal system to deal with problems in a virtual world; is it not simpler and easier simply to take mass action and, for example, boycott a dishonest trader or person who misuses land?
Although people have on occasions in the past had some success from direct action, rather than […]

Today starts Metanomics 2007, a series of event run by Metaversed (among the first to publish a story about the Metaverse Republic) in collaboration with Cornell University, Johnson School of Management. Professor Robert Bloomfield (aka Beyers Sellers on Second Life) and Nick Wilson will be introducing the series today, at 11 AM SLT/PST, with a […]

After publishing the Executive Summary, and the FAQ of the Metaverse Republic project, we are now publishing the final version of the Founding Charter. There is also a printable PDF version. This final version will remain unchanged unless the Constitutional Team agrees unanimously to modify its terms, and it will be the base on which […]

Why the Metaverse Republic won’t be built in a day, and why that’s a good thing
Given that the Metaverse Republic, or, more accurately, the group of people working to found the Metaverse Republic, has been around now for some months already, and given that we are still some way away from having a system ready […]