Competing Lockean Claims to Virtual Property

By now, it is well-known that fights over virtual goods can have real-world consequences. In 2005, for example, one Chinese gamer killed another over a stolen dragon saber. Virtual world goods can also translate into real world profits — 2006 saw the first millionaire of the popular virtual world Second Life, Anshe Chung, who accumulated more than one million dollars in virtual world assets. As real as the effects of virtual products are, one wonders whether the property entitlements that might attach to them are secure. In particular, if the operator of a virtual world wanted to shut the world down, and by so doing destroy all of the products contained therein, would users have right to stop it?