Mira Burri-Nenova has just posted a working paper on SSRN: “User Created Content in Virtual Worlds and Cultural Diversity ”
User created content (UCC) has often been celebrated as a grassroots cultural revolution that as a genuine expression of creativity, localism and non-commercialism can arguably also cater for a sustainable culturally diverse environment. The present article puts these claims under scrutiny and in a more differentiated manner seeks to identify the value of UCC within digital game environments considering the constraints upon players and upon creative play that these impose. The article subsequently tests whether UCC in its dynamic sense of a creative and communicative process can be seen as a channel for the promotion of cultural diversity and if so, what the State should (and could) do about this.
It is a brilliant paper. Burri-Nenova manages to synthesize the current thinking on user-generated content and virtual worlds in wide variety of fields. She presents a wonderfully sophisticated analysis of the policy issues presented.