Accused of theft for stealing fake items... (RPG, character, Action)

[Rita Mordio]

No joke here. Two kids get sentenced to community service for stealing virtual goods from another kid.

Oh. My. God.

[GameHog9]

Holy $$$$. The dutch are crazy.

[aperfectbass]

coerced... into transferring

The writing here is ambiguous.
From Websters dictionary:
'Coerce - 2. compel or constrain to any action'

However unlikely, they could have went over to his house, mob style, a lead pipe in hand, and said 'you want to give use that amulet and mask'

Ever hear of people programing macros to amass in game currency or items and then sell? Talk about a quick buck.

[Ticklerkid]

Originally Posted by Kuharai

No joke here. Two kids get sentenced to community service for stealing virtual goods from another kid.

Oh. My. God.

Not enough information but apparently VR worlds create some RL mayhem. I just posted a news item in another thread --http://www.city-data.com/forum/5824218-post67.html

[Full-Blooded American]

They should do their communtiy service in virtual hours. Or, do their service in the virtual community, like make them walk around in Second Life and tell everybody what clowns they are or something.

[Ticklerkid]

Originally Posted by Full-Blooded American

They should do their communtiy service in virtual hours. Or, do their service in the virtual community, like make them walk around in Second Life and tell everybody what clowns they are or something.

Funny! Or send them to Maple! egads.

It is possible however that RL coercion was used. Bullying in school amounting to this prank of VR stealing. Bullying can create all kinds of mayhem. Possible the journalist doesn't know anything about VR worlds and just wrote a lameass report about something that did involve physical harm to a child.

[Tricky D]

I couldn't read the article, but if it was referring to the 2 kids who beat up their victim IRL so he would give them a virtual artefact it still is theft.
I mean, if I clean your bank account (whether it is a real bank account or a bank account in a virtual game) by hacking into your computer it still is theft right?

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by Tricky D

I couldn't read the article, but if it was referring to the 2 kids who beat up their victim IRL so he would give them a virtual artefact it still is theft.

I would say thats assault, not theft.

Originally Posted by Tricky D

I mean, if I clean your bank account (whether it is a real bank account

Yes.

Originally Posted by Tricky D

or a bank account in a virtual game)

No.

One is theft of something physical and represented by real world law; the other is subject to the laws of the game. If its something in the real world, the real world handles it. If its in a game, the creators of the game who manage it, should handle it.

[musicwriter]

not in today's justice system. Did anyone read of the divrced lady in japan who killed the virtual version of her Husband?

[Ticklerkid]

Originally Posted by musicwriter

not in today's justice system. Did anyone read of the divrced lady in japan who killed the virtual version of her Husband?

Is there another story about a real divorcee? The one I read was this one which says in the second line of the story...

The woman, who has been jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password

If she gotten into his online bank account and screwed it up, people would not have missed that second line of the AP story!

The social network and 'second life' aspect was just a selling point for the AP story; OMG!! Virtual divorce and Virtual murder. OMG!! (etc LOL)

Maple Story is a game where your online character can actually die. You go about killing monsters before they kill you.

So she didn't actually murder his character, so to speak. She cheated. She broke into a password secured online account for another individual and she deleted it. So the way the AP story is framed by some, is a bit disingenuous. But people pick the parts they want from the story ...because it's fun.

But seriously, I do want to know what happened to the gal. Fifteen minutes of fame (or infamy) and then five years in a Japanese prison is soooo not the end of the story.