Netherlands Teen Sentenced for Stealing Virtual Goods

[Rardac]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/152673/article.html?tk=nl_dnxnws

:eek:

People need to get a grip!!

[Ragan]

How ironic that you created this topic. I just read this story about a virtual divorce/murder before coming here.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D940B1Q00&show_article=1&catnum=-1 :blink:

[Drakhon]

It's not ironic, just coincidental.

[Dharnyle]

I think these people need to head on over to this site.

http://www.netaddiction.com/

Help is only a click away.

[LeMieux]

Actually that screams to me as a round about way of punishing the kid for threatening another kid's life. Without witnesses or any substantial evidence the 16 year old would probably have gotten away with it. So they decided the only way they were going to be able to prosecute him is as a theft case.

[Hrothvar]

Actually, both of the above links have merit in my opinion... the problem with most people spending their time in virtual realities is the distinct lack of consequences for their actions - for example, in Warhammer there's no real penalty for death in a scenario other than having to wait to respawn so people don't suffer enough of a setback to alter their tactics in the future to avoid the situation (case in point being one or two people constantly charging the opposing flag in Black Fire Basin and just feeding the enemy points).

The sim type games like Maple Story are even worse because they tend to draw more obsessive players who spend even more time in the online world, often preferring it to their lackluster existence in the real world (root of most net addictions, in my opinion). So, when a person takes action in the real world (by bullying someone into transfering items or hacking into a person's account to exact revenge by deleting their character) there should be consequences. It's unfortunate that in the first case they couldn't charge the teen for his alleged acts of violence and threats and instead had to settle for virtual theft, but it is important that certain lessons be imparted that actions have consequence.

[Jesin]

In this case, I agree with Hroth. It is an act of violence and thievery. As such, it should be treated as a crime and a penalty should be paid. Hacking someone's account to delete toons, steal items, etc is a crime and should be treated as such. It is much the same as identity theft etc. Stopping a small crime now might deter same person from going further in the future.


Though I guess in this case they DID go beyond a small simple crime into assault, etc...