therein lies the heart of some of the debate though...you aren't renting, you are paying for access to content, then if that content is denied to you due to the malicious action of a third party, who is entitled to damages and who is responsible for compensation of those damages. It just spins round and round.

Then there is the whole debate over what is created by the company versus what is created by the player. You name your avatar. You select how it looks--both by choosing racial features and equipment. Certain aspects of that avatars appearance and how it interacts with it's surroundings are not entirely dictated by the company, but more so by the player.

There is a LOT of gray area, and a lot of wiggle room. There is case precedent for considering EULA's null and void due to the fact you are not made aware of that EULA until AFTER purchasing the software and opening, voiding your right to return it--details that in some jurisdictions are legally required to be established before any financial transactions are made, or any financial agreement for future payments can be signed.

Virtual Property rights are simply in limbo, and until something more definitive is on the books, companies should air more on the side of protecting the player's interests on such matters....but that isn't the case most of the time. What is so annoying about this is that one of their own services allows you to hide most all your info, or publish only certain portions of it--even allws you to restrict whether it is openly published to all, or just registered users. Just how far will they go with it?

What is ruffling the feathers so much isn't necessarily the issue of WHAT is being displayed. There is also issue with the tactic they are using--on one of their community sites, they are forcing you to display character specific information (regardless what it is) to participate, while on another one of their community sites they allow you to opt out of displaying it with no penalty to participation. Regardless of whether you feel they have the rights to display the info, why do they let you opt out on one hand, then force you on the other?