UO Second Age

Digital images can be intellectual property or copyrightable material.

Intellectual property and copyrightable material, or licence to use copyrightable material, is outside of the game property.

The general rule is that exchange of outside of game property for in-game gold is bannable and vice versa.

Digital images can be used as signatures for the forums.

The forum is outsiide of the game.

If I pay someone to make a digital image for a forum signature with in-gold game, am I in breach of the rules regarding the exchange of outside of game property for in-game gold?

Or is this an exception to the general rule?

If this is an exception to the general rule, are there other circumstances which are exceptions to the general rule?

wut

I personally dont see the difference. Time is money, whether i trade you cash IRL or time invested, its the same thing to me. The difference is some people make more IRL than ingame, and vice versa.

My time IRL is worth more than my ingame time, whereas someone in school might be unemployed. Its an even trade; i spend my time working while he spends his time playing, and we meet on even terms so i benefit from his investment, and hes rewarded for his labor.

In the end, the general concensus is that cash for gold is not allowed. However one could easily say "ill trade u an xbox for a forum sig", then turn and sale the xbox for cash after the trade.

Time, in the end, is still money.

I bought my signature from conan for in game gold. may he rest in pieces

The phrase "Digital images can be intellectual property or copyrightable material." answers your own question.

The word 'CAN' is the keyword there. No one is going to copyright anything that is created here for a sig. And in fact you cannot copyright or trademark something that you are not going to actually sell or have some type of monetary gain. You have to have a monetary reason for a copyright or it is not valid. Since non of these sigs are being sold for REAL gold or money they cannot be considered a copyrightable or trademarkable material...

Robbbb wrote:The phrase "Digital images can be intellectual property or copyrightable material." answers your own question.

The word 'CAN' is the keyword there. No one is going to copyright anything that is created here for a sig. And in fact you cannot copyright or trademark something that you are not going to actually sell or have some type of monetary gain. You have to have a monetary reason for a copyright or it is not valid. Since non of these sigs are being sold for REAL gold or money they cannot be considered a copyrightable or trademarkable material...

The moment you create something, whether tangible (a book) or perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device (a forum sig) it falls under copyright protection and is protected under US law.

www.copyright.gov/help/faq

Copyright requires that the originating party cares to enforce such restrictions...ie. if I don't care who uses my intellectual property than it isn't copyrighted.

Malaikat wrote:Copyright requires that the originating party cares to enforce such restrictions...

For some kind of remedy, yes, but that doesn't derogate from the fact it is still property.

Let it be known, paying someone with gold for a forum sig is a bannable offence!

Mens Rea wrote:

Malaikat wrote:Copyright requires that the originating party cares to enforce such restrictions...

For some kind of remedy, yes, but that doesn't derogate from the fact it is still property.

You managed to use the obscure word, derogate, in its proper context although the sentence it's in has no bearing on the context of the broader discussion. Impressive. Incoherent yet still grammatically correct.

If you really want to get technical about it...rules obviously allow for the transfer of "in game" items for in game gold. The forum (presumably) exists on the same server, or at the very least, under the same administration as the game. So, any "property" upon the forum should be considered as "in game" property.

In-game and forums are separate.

Mens Rea wrote:In-game and forums are separate.

Oh yeah? Is that why trades arranged on forum are secured? Also, you don't think you can get your in game accounts banned for forum asshattery?

If you use the trade forum to scam then your forum account gets banned - not your in-game account.

I've only ever seen someone be banned from the game for trying to sell in-game items for irl property on the forum.

I really rammed a stick up your behind didn't I? You're going buck wild lol!

Whenever I see a "Mens Rea - Attorney at Law" thread, I envision you being like this guy:
Mens learnt some laws and made a forum post (youtube)

In game gold for forum signatures is nothing new. Search the forum - If there was a problem with all the guys that have done this prior to now, it would have been addressed by the admins.

Something tells me that if someone posted a thread asking for USD for a forum sig, that would be a problem. If you feel the rules need clarification, PM an admin.

A "look what I can do!" thread is only mildly amusing. I think you're just jealous - all there is is some crummy text at the bottom of your posts.

You're going to get banned for trading irl property for gold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will not get banned for buying a forum signature and paying with ingame gold.

I personally asked Derrick awhile back about selling the hugh photoshop images of certain areas of UO. He told me that it was fine to sell services like this and the customer can pay with in game gold. I did this for a series of people before it just became too time consuming to do.

Buying services with in game gold = not bannable
Buying In game gold/items with RL cash = bannable