• To resolve disputes and conflicts occured in cyberspace by the methods such as online negotiaion, mediation, or arbitration.Abbreviation of Online Dispute Resolution.
• To resolve disputes and conflicts occured in the real world using online communication methods such as e-mails, chat, or TV conferences。
• To prevent these disputes and conflicts online.
• The main advantages of ODR are: to reduce cost and time for resolution; to correspond to complex cross border disputes.
The trouble in online game sites and social networking sites are increasing in proportion to their popularities. These troubles, however, can not be solved easily with the existing laws and in addition, orders within the virtual world are not yet settled that these troubles have potential of getting serious.
They mainly divided into two categories. One is the troubles which are limited to the virtual world and damages and loss do not expand to the real world. And the other is the one which can extend to affect the real life of online game players.
• Troubles limited to the Virtual World
Online players are spending significant amount of time and emotion in the online game sites and their avatars. The researches on cyberculture demonstrated that these players can be emotionally involved in their avatars that sometimes the line between the real world and virtual world blurs.
There are two kinds of troubles among avatars. One is the troubles limited to the virtual world. When an instrument is stolen by an avatar at a game site, the other avatar may not be able to pursue the game. It is crucial to follow the norms and rules of an administrative site. In Second Life, for example, an avatar who commit crimes are expelled to a cornfield and confined.
• Troubles Extending into the Physical World
Even players are committed into their avatars, they can also reason themselves that the avatars are different from their true self. Because they have multiple identites in the cyberspace, thus they can act extreme ways and make troubles bigger and bigger. These who do not bully anyone else in the real world, for example, try to bully in the virtual world using their avatars. A 13 years old girl committed suicide after she was turned down by a male avatar in a social networking site. This boy did not exist in real, but he was an avatar of a neighbor who knew her. This is an example which leaves a negative influence upon the real life. Also in Second Life, Linden Exchange can be converted into actual dollars and they are attracting the internet crimes such as scams and frauds.
• ODR Application:
The first reason why these cyberspace troubles can not be applied smoothly to litigation is the jurisdictional issues because online sites attracts players from the world. For the starter, they need to follow the law of a country or a state in which the online companies are registered. When the monetary issue is very small amount, however,it is not reasonable to pay the cost of travel and the fee for a lawyer. Secondly, the already overloaded courts can be problematic by having extra cases from the cyberspace. Since the norms and legal foundation of the virtual world are not yet settled that conflicts of intangible avatars can create issues associated with the procedure and evidentiary.
But leaving these conflicts unsolved, ill people will overrun the virtual world which has been created upon the basis of trust among people. ODR can be very helpful to shape the norms and standards of conduct in the cyberspace. It is cost and time efficient. It is strictly confidential and keeps privacy of real people who exist behind avatars. In addition, ODR need to be chosen by both parties involved in a conflict that jurisdictional, procedural, and evidential issues can be determined in ways of parties. ODR is recommended to be adopted for troubles of the virtual world.