Rogue Keeper on 24/10/2008 at 15:17
Quote:
Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby(
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_fe_st/as_japan_avatar_murder)
TOKYO – A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.
The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.
She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.
Players in "Maple Story" raise and manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.
The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.
The woman was arrested Wednesday and was taken across the country, traveling 620 miles from her home in southern Miyazaki to be detained in Sappporo, where the man lives, the official said.
The police official said he did not know if she was married in the real world.
In recent years, virtual lives have had consequences in the real world. In August, a woman was charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through "Second Life," another virtual interactive world.
In Tokyo, police arrested a 16-year-old boy on charges of swindling virtual currency worth $360,000 in an interactive role playing game by manipulating another player's portfolio using a stolen ID and password.
Virtual games are popular in Japan, and "Second Life" has drawn a fair number of Japanese participants. They rank third by nationality among users, after Americans and Brazilians.
:rolleyes:
Japanese
:joke: :joke: :joke:
Thief13x on 24/10/2008 at 16:16
Haha I wanted to post this myself last night
Is it just me or are the people who actually play this game just a little creepy?
Gingerbread Man on 24/10/2008 at 17:58
One day we will implement a rule that requires thread starters to at least append a paragraph or two of their own thoughts / interpretations / ideas about the news article they've just cut-and-pasted to the forums.
On that day we will writhe and caper in the streets, full of the joy and stimulation brought by discussion and debate, freed from the tyranny of flesh-and-blood RSS bots.
Indeed, ":rolleyes: Japanese :joke: :joke: :joke:" is a pithy comment on a reasonably interesting (or at the very least novel) news snippet. Or wait. No, that's not what I meant to say. I think I meant to say "Put some fucking effort into it or don't bother" or something.
Gorgonseye on 24/10/2008 at 20:53
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
One day we will implement a rule that requires thread starters to at least append a paragraph or two of their own thoughts / interpretations / ideas about the news article they've just cut-and-pasted to the forums.
On that day we will writhe and caper in the streets, full of the joy and stimulation brought by discussion and debate, freed from the tyranny of flesh-and-blood RSS bots...
Or, we'd just have a lot less posters.
Serious part of post:
This news has been going on around nearly all the MMO forums I check out,
and, I don't know, this seems a bit crazy that it had actually gotten to federal law. I mean, we've had hacking, but this really seems to suggest that companies need to lock down more on their security, or -something-. Because this sort of thing just makes gaming look more dangerous. (Evidence being those "Good ol" folks who think video games are still addictive or whatever) I mean, five years in
jailfor deleted data, that could probably be recreated by the company if push came to shove?
Hilarious as it may be in concept, it has a somewhat disturbing message underneath it.R Soul on 24/10/2008 at 23:34
There has to be a prison sentence for hacking, regardless of what damage is done from there, because once someone can do that, what's to stop them taking things further?
But (having just re-read the article!) I think the deciding factor in this case should be how she got the login details. The article is rather vague on that. It implies she had his knowledge and consent, and if that's the case then as far as I understand it, there's been no hacking. It's sad and untrustworthy, but it doesn't sound illegal.
Being blacklisted from social networking sites seems like a more appropriate punishment, and by the way she seems so obsessed by that sort of thing, it would probably be a blessing in disguise.
mopgoblin on 25/10/2008 at 08:50
Quote Posted by R Soul
But (having just re-read the article!) I think the deciding factor in this case should be how she got the login details. The article is rather vague on that. It implies she had his knowledge and consent, and if that's the case then as far as I understand it, there's been no hacking. It's sad and untrustworthy, but it doesn't sound illegal.
It might be a somewhat less severe crime if the login information was obtained with his consent, but that doesn't imply that he gave consent for his (virtual) stuff to be destroyed. In the real world, I could give you a key to my house, which would probably suggest that entering my house wouldn't automatically constitute breaking and entering or burglary, but that wouldn't mean you get to take or destroy my furniture while you're in there. Furthermore, if you did use the key to enter my house with the motivation of breaking or stealing stuff, you clearly wouldn't be acting in good faith and the fact that I gave you a key isn't so relevant - a reasonable person would expect that they were going beyond what I had intended.
Gryzemuis on 25/10/2008 at 13:07
Last week, in the Netherlands, a judge convicted 2 kids in an MMO crime. Two kids bullied a 3rd kid, and forced him to send stuff from his Runescape account to their account. The 3rd kid complained, it came to a court case, and the 2 little bullies got convicted.
And rightly so. Stuff in virtual worlds might not be worth anything in the real world. And I certainly hope it stays that way. (I think Second Life is for true retards). But everything in virtual worlds does take time and effort to acquire. That time has real value. And although I do not wish anyone would do a translation "time -> real world money", I do think people should be punished in the real world when they go too far in the virtual world. Or maybe when they use out-of-game mechanics to steal inside the game.
"Maple Story is a 2D side-scrolling MMO". Weird. Weird that people create such a game, and weird that people play such a game. If you're gonna spend a zillion hours in a virtual world, you would at least have up-to-date graphics, I'd assume.
Blizzard (the developer of World of Warcraft), has introduced hand-held authentication devices, with one-time passwords. Hacking accounts got such a problem that Blizzard introduced this service. It is obvious people see value in their online characters and belongings.
TTK12G3 on 25/10/2008 at 13:26
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
One day we will implement a rule that requires thread starters to at least append a paragraph or two of their own thoughts / interpretations / ideas about the news article they've just cut-and-pasted to the forums.
On that day we will writhe and caper in the streets, full of the joy and stimulation brought by discussion and debate, freed from the tyranny of flesh-and-blood RSS bots.
Indeed, ":rolleyes: Japanese :joke: :joke: :joke:" is a pithy comment on a reasonably interesting (or at the very least novel) news snippet. Or wait. No, that's not what I meant to say. I think I meant to say "Put some fucking effort into it or don't bother" or something.
Oh, those would be some very empty forums.
Koki on 25/10/2008 at 21:15
Runescape? Maple Story?
Serious fucking business! I fear what Hello Kitty Online will bring us.
