Tag Archives: Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchet visits Second Life, understands derivative works as fan activity

The latest speculative fiction author to pay a visit to the metaverse was none other than Terry Pratchett, who dropped in to Second Life to talk about his new novel, Nation. [via NewWorldNotes; image from linked Your2ndPlace transcript]

Your2ndPlace has a transcript of the question-and-answer session, in which Pratchett revealed that, although he is aware that copyright laws forbid them, he sees metaverse recreations of characters and items from his work as legitimate fan activity, and doubts there is much the law can do about stopping it happening:

Dedric Mauiac: What are you views on people in second life creating people, places, and things from your books and either giving or selling them to other players?

TerryPratchett Morpork: It would be interesting to see what the law could do about Second Life! Regrettably for you, copyright and trademarks exist everywhere, but in reality I see this sort of thing as fan activity.