‘Avatars and Kids Together’, No 3: Let’s Have Some Trials of the Future.

Hello, this is Kimie Hatakeyama.

This time, I visited mock trials held by students from Teikyo University, which imagined a case which might happen in the future, using a game which allows you to enjoy entering a virtual space in a more realistic way than before.

Let’s imagine that this kind of case has happened. Please think about it as if you were a judge.

In order to move freely in the game, a boy ‘K’ gave information about his body, such as his skeleton and a photo of himself, and then chose a favourite character of his to enjoy the adventure game. This game is popular with youngsters because your movements are linked very smoothly to the movements of the game character. However, one day the game company changed the rules of the game on its own, and it became impossible to play the game unless you used an avatar which looked exactly like you, created from your own photo. However, ‘K’ was shocked to see his avatar, which looked exactly like him, being beaten up, bullied or even killed in the battles, and he became ill. After this, can you imagine, he even began to think that he might suffer the same fate in the real world, and he stopped going to school and stopped going outside the house.

So, he sued the game management and production company which had changed the rules of the game without his permission.

Two trials were held.

[Trial 1]

 ‘K’ vs  Game Production Company

‘K’ argued that ‘this game, which hurts people’s hearts, is a defective product. The game production company is responsible for making this defective product. I am claiming 3 million Yen in compensation for damages.’

The game production company replied, ‘The game came with a manual. We just made the game as instructed by the game operating company. It’s not our fault that the game operating company decided on the wrong way to play the game. The bullying didn’t happen because the game was bad, it was just that the people playing it used it in the wrong way.’

The opinions clashed. After further discussion, the game production company attempted to come to an agreement with ‘K’.

‘We don’t think that the game was defective. However, it is true that you were hurt by the game we made, so we will help you find out who bullied you in the game. As an answer to your claim for money, we will ask you for your agreement to reduce the amount of your claim.’

[Trial 2]

‘K’ vs the Game Management Company

‘K’ said, ‘’It is an invasion of privacy to change the character to look like me without my permission. I want to claim 7.5 million Yen for being unable to leave my house because of the slander of me produced by the game, and 500,000 Yen for the invasion of my privacy.‘’

The game company said, ‘’We explained the rules properly to you before we changed the game. We also told you that the rules might change during the game. You clicked the button to agree to the rules before playing the game. Even after the rules changed, you continued to play our game, didn’t you? Doesn’t that mean you accepted the new rules? We also provided you with the details of our harassment countermeasure system.’

Just like in a real court of law, there was no conclusion this time.

So, who do you think was at fault? Was it ‘K’, who continued to use the game even though he didn’t like the change in the rules, or the production company which made the game as ordered, even though it was likely to cause problems? Or was it the management company which came up with the idea for the game and was running it?

The answer is not simple. In the future, there may be more cases where things which happen online will connect to the real world and cause significant damage.

We want to use our research to create a future where avatars can be used safely and securely, so that things like this don’t happen.