# Property Rights

**Published by:** [A2](https://paragraph.com/@a2/)
**Published on:** 2022-05-07
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@a2/property-rights

## Content

Most successful video games today make their money by selling in-game items, such as 'skins', 'emotes' and other digital goods. But people who currently buy in-game items aren't actually buying the items - they're renting them. As soon as someone leaves to play a different game - or if a problematic game unilaterally decides to shut down or change the rules - the player loses access. People are so used to renting from web2's centralized services that the idea of actually owning things (digital objects that you can sell, trade, or carry around elsewhere) often strikes people as odd. But the digital world should follow the same logic as the physical world: when you buy something, you own it. Just as courts uphold these rights in the real world, codes should be enforced online. As it happens, true digital property rights were impossible until the advent of related innovations such as cryptography, blockchain technology, and NFT. In short, the metaverse has turned digital serfs into homesteaders.

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