Employment law issues

Virtual world enthusiasts from businesses to individuals love virtual worlds for their immersive quality. In virtual worlds, you tend to feel like you’re ‘with’ others in a ‘place’ rather than communicating over a network with a tool. That’s what’s magical about them and why they will, over time, largely eliminate the challenges of physical distance. That said, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that real life laws do not apply to virtual worlds. We would never question whether working over the telephone counts as work. The same applies to virtual worlds technology.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling that the Electric Sheep Company’s Second Life greeters for its CSI:NY promotion are “employees” rather than independent contractors.


Full interview regarding the ruling with an employment lawyer Dave Elchoness on Virtually Blind