A US gamer has sued Linden Labs over a contract dispute in its online role-playing game (RPG), Second Life, in a first-of-a-kind lawsuit.

The suit was filed by Marc Bragg, a Pennsylvania attorney and apparently, avid Second Life player. The suit claims that Linden Labs deactivated Bragg’s account after he discovered a way to purchase virtual land cheaply though the game’s auction system. Specifically, Braggs was able to prevent other players from bidding on land by modifying the auction’s URL. Bragg claims he invested $32,000 in virtual land and is suing for financial restitution.

“This is probably the first dispute of its kind,” Bragg says in a statement posted online. “This suit challenges the legitimacy of a virtual intangible purchase of an asset.”

Bragg adds that the dispute could test the relevance to virtual worlds of existing laws. “Linden Lab is still obligated to honour real-world contract law and consumer law, even if their world doesn’t really exist,” he says.

Linden Lab, however, asserts that Bragg’s suit is unfounded. “We intend to contest this in the appropriate forum,” general counsel Ginsu Yoon told Wired News. “We believe the suit to be without merit.”

Source: NewScientist: Game company sued over virtual land squabble