Presentation transcript - part 1 - Metaverse Republic Marc 1.

Transcript recorded at:
Bay City Legal Building Ballroom on March 1, 2009 at 11 am PST in the Bay City Imaginario SIM.
Portions of the Q&A section has been re-sequenced for clarity.
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PRESENTATION GIVEN BY METAVERSE REPUBLIC ON THE TOPIC OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN VIRTUAL WORLDS.

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[11:04] Ashcroft Burnham wonders how long it will be before the whole sim crashes...

[Gavin] SIM never crashed, but the transcript recorder crashed at the end of the Q&A section, the elevator scripts crashed midway and Aschcroft crashed 1/3 into his presentation. :-)


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--------- INTRODUCTION -------------

[11:06] Gavin Hird: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Bay City Legal Building and this presentation!
[11:06] Gavin Hird: Before we start, let me give you some practical information:
[11:07] Gavin Hird: We will conduct the presentation in chat.
[11:07] Gavin Hird: We will use a meeting recorder for the transcript of the presentation.
[11:07] Gavin Hird: If you want to make a comment or ask a question, you will be asked by the recorder for permission to record you the first time you speak.
[11:07] Gavin Hird: If you don't want to be recorded, just decline and keep speaking. You will not be in the transcript.
[11:07] Gavin Hird: For everyone to see better, use your cams and zoom in on the board please.
[11:07] Gavin Hird: Any questions so far?
[11:07] Gavin Hird: I will then start the recorder and we can get going.
[11:07] Temporal Gadgets Meeting Recorder 25-1.0: Recording started!
[11:08] Gavin Hird: Then I will give the podium to Aschcroft Burnham in Metaverse Republic.
[11:08] Gavin Hird: Welcome!
[11:08] Gavin Hird: We are very excited to have you here today and learn about the work you have done on governance in virtual worlds.


--------- PRESENTATION BY METAVERSE REPUBLIC ----------------

[11:08] Ashcroft Burnham: Thank you, Gavin :-)
[11:08] Temporal Gadgets Meeting Recorder 25-1.0: Ashcroft Burnham has given permission to be recorded
[11:09] Ashcroft Burnham: Welcome to the presentation, and thank you all for coming along.
[11:09] Ashcroft Burnham: I know that there was a presentation a week or two ago about Bay City's specific governance systems, and I've read the notecards about that (which seem very interesting - it'd be good if Gavin could recap at the end if we have time), but to-day, I'll be talking about a project on which I've been working for some time:

Slide 1 here

[11:09] Ashcroft Burnham: The Metaverse Republic.
[11:10] Ashcroft Burnham: As you'll see from the slide (if it's rezzed for you yet, that is), I'll split the presentation into three topics:
[11:10] Ashcroft Burnham: 1. The reasons for governance
[11:10] Ashcroft Burnham: 2. What the Metaverse Republic is.
[11:11] Ashcroft Burnham: And 3. how it will work.
[11:11] Ashcroft Burnham: I'll take questions at the end.

Slide 2 here

[11:11] Ashcroft Burnham: First of all, though, the reasons to have a system of local governance in generalised virtual worlds such as SecondLife and its opensource clines.
[11:12] Ashcroft Burnham: Perhaps the most significant reason is the regulation of micro-commerce.
[11:12] Ashcroft Burnham: In the physical space, if one goes and buys something that turns out to be defective, one has a legal remedy against the seller in most cases.
[11:12] Ashcroft Burnham: The same, in theory, holds for services purchased in virtual worlds...
[11:13] Ashcroft Burnham: ...but, practically, obtaining redress for what are, in normal currency terms, tiny amounts, is impossible: the cost of international litigation often dwarfs by hundreds or even thousands of orders of magnigute the sum in dispute.
[11:14] Ashcroft Burnham: And although there are technological systems that can reduce the incidents of the simpler cases of problems (objects taking money and not giving their goods, etc.), more complicated problems (such as disputes about bespoke items) require human intelligence to solve.
[11:15] Ashcroft Burnham: That can't sensibly be provided by the provider of a virtual world, since the cost of doing so would be enormous, and it might well in any event be unpopular with users.
[11:16] BlueGin Yifu: Would you tell me if the Metaverse Republic is mainland or a private estate?
[11:16] Temporal Gadgets Meeting Recorder 25-1.0: BlueGin Yifu has given permission to be recorded
[11:17] Ashcroft Burnham: The lack of an effective means of resolving disputes about commerce in virtual worlds the value of the individual transactions of which are very small limits the amount of commerce that can effectively be undertaken in virtual worlds.
[11:17] Ashcroft Burnham: Blue - I'll take questions at the end, since later parts of the presentation may well answer questions raised during earlier parts.
[11:17] BlueGin Yifu: ok. sorry
[11:17] Ashcroft Burnham: The more that people can trust that the terms of their agreements will be enforced, the more that people will make agreements.
[11:18] Ashcroft Burnham: Another difficulty, incidentally, with dispute resolution being provided by the virtual world provider is that the OpenSim system breaks that model: one can't have centralised enforcement with a distributed virtual world.
[11:18] Ashcroft Burnham: The Metaverse Republic will use a distributed model, the workings of which I'll come onto later in the presentation.
[11:19] Ashcroft Burnham: Another good reason to have local governance internal to a virtual world is that it can provide an effective system ffor groups and communities to come together and share resources without fearing that others will make off with those resources.
[11:19] Ashcroft Burnham: Ohh, the board is impatient, I see!
[11:20] Ashcroft Burnham: If a group gets together and wants to do something on a parcel of land with certain shared objects, etc....
[11:21] Ashcroft Burnham: ...then there is always a risk that the people hwo actually own the objects(in other words - have the server permissions to remove, change or delete them) will do so otherwise than in accordance with the community's rules.
[11:21] Ashcroft Burnham: Or, worse, will do so for their own personal gain.
[11:21] Ashcroft Burnham: So, communities either need to revolve around trusted people...
[11:22] Ashcroft Burnham: ...or be somewhat fragmented in terms of their resources.
[11:22] Ashcroft Burnham: It's difficult to persuade people to put a great deal of time and effor tinto something if there aren't rules, which are strictly and effectively enforced, that guaruntee that the thing into which time and effort has been put will still be there in a few months't ime.
[11:23] Ashcroft Burnham: So, again, the lack of a system of governance holds back valuable activity that would otherwise be possible.
[11:23] Ashcroft Burnham: In the Metaverse Republic FAQ, which I'll hand around later, ther are some practical examples of where a governance system such as the Metaverse Republic are of use.

Aschcrofts crash

[11:25] Ashcroft Burnham is Offline
[11:26] Gwyneth Llewelyn: uh-oh.... did we lose poor Ash?
[11:26] Gavin Hird: did Aschcroft crash?
[11:26] Gavin Hird: oops
[11:26] BlueGin Yifu: I guess he crashed.
[11:26] Aeleen Tomsen: yes ash crashed
[11:26] Marianne McCann: Musta
[11:26] Gavin Hird: lets hope he is back again in a sec
[11:27] Gwyneth Llewelyn is in Yahoo with Ash, he'll be back
[11:28] Gavin Hird: He should be back in one minute I am told
[11:29] Blondin Linden: No worries, we'll wait :-)
[11:29] Temporal Gadgets Meeting Recorder 25-1.0: Blondin Linden has given permission to be recorded
[11:30] Gavin Hird: he has encounetered the situation where he will not be let back till some minutes have gone
[11:30] Ashcroft Burnham is Online
[11:30] BlueGin Yifu: there he is
[11:30] Pygar Bu: Welcome back!

Aschcroft is back