Policy Implications of Massively Multiplayer Online Games for Hong Kong = 網絡遊戲與香港的相關政策意涵

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are generally recognized to be an emerging and lucrative creative industry, but few have noticed that the production and retailing of MMOG goods is almost as lucrative as the games themselves. MMOG worlds contain enormous amounts of real world economic value, yet are not under the jurisdiction of any governments or legal systems. These extraordinary circumstances could potentially give rise to social problems. In this study, I discuss three of the most serious of these problems: the prevalence of criminal-like activities such as scamming or market manipulation inside MMOG worlds, the operation of companies producing and trading in MMOG goods, and the ownership rights of MMOG goods. I identify the possible social impact of these problems and discuss the policy challenges that each of these problems could present for Hong Kong.

學界與商界都已察覺到網絡遊戲這新興工業的冒起,但仍甚少有人了解到網絡遊戲虛擬物品的生產與銷售，竟也是個不比網絡遊戲小的工業。網絡遊戲的虛擬世界實際上包含了非常巨大的經濟價值，但並未受現實世界的任何政府所管轄。這獨特的情況隱藏了不少危機，本文集中討論三種有可能出現的問題：網絡遊戲虛擬世界內的行騙與市場干預、網絡遊戲虛擬貨幣與物品生產的勞工問題，以及網絡遊戲虛擬財產的擁有權問題，繼而分析這三種問題對香港社會的潛在影響和政策意涵。