More On Dispute Resolution In Second Life

Continuing the series on DR in Second Life…

The people behind Second Life, Linden Lab, have announced today that from hereon in a dispute resolution known as “binding non-appearance-based arbitration” is available for disputes of less than $10,000.00 between Linden Lab and the Residents in Second Life.

They describe it as “… a legally binding procedure administered by a private organization. This means that the arbitrator’s opinion on liability and damages may be entered as a final, binding judgment in a court of law. The arbitrator will conduct the arbitration by telephone, online, or based on written submissions, and the Resident and Linden Lab will not make any in-person appearance at the arbitration hearing”

That does not, of course, help with the 2,000 reports of some sort of problem between residents that Linden Lab recieves every day.

On that Linden Lab says;

“… Linden Lab received a grand total of 43 Abuse Reports during my first week of work in 2003. Jumping forward to the end of 2006, the number is closer to 2,000 per day.

On a purely clerical level, this kind of volume is not readily sustainable; to give each report five minutes of investigation and attention would add up to more than 160 hours day.

It could be done of course, but the bigger issue lies in the content of the Reports; the vast majority are either: problems Linden Lab cannot resolve (we can’t force anyone to see eye to eye with anyone else), situations Linden Lab should not resolve (neighborly property line disputes or transactional issues), and reports that aren’t Abuse Reports at all – they don’t have anything to do with the Community Standards and belong in other communications channels”

                       

Geoff Sharp

Geoff Sharp is a Commercial Mediator from Wellington, New Zealand. Geoff works in the Asia Pacific region, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Pacific Islands. He is a mediator resolving business problems. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and mediates complex and hotly debated litigation covering… MORE >