Linden Lab has made changes to their terms of service for Second Life, giving Second Lifers a number of options to settle disputes with the company, including a form of binding arbitration that takes place inside of the Second Life world.

SECOND LIFE, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Linden Lab changed Second Life’s terms of service on Tuesday, allowing residents to settle minor disputes with the company via binding arbitration by a variety of means, including legal proceedings inside Second Life itself.

In a post on the official Linden Blog, Robin Linden introduced “binding, non-appearance-based arbitration” as a new way for the company’s customers to settle claims totaling less than US$10,000. Under the policy, arbitrators can accept petitions “by telephone, online, or based on written submissions, and the Resident and Linden Lab will not make any in-person appearance at the arbitration hearing.”

Under the previous terms of service, residents were obligated to travel to San Francisco to submit to arbitration.

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