virtual death, real crime?
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102401707.html

The line between virtual reality and its flesh-and-blood cousin blurred a little this week as a 43-year-old Tokyo woman was jailed for murdering her virtual ex-husband's avatar.

After she suddenly found herself divorced in "Maple Story," a popular 2-D side scrolling MMORPG, the unidentified woman used her ex-husband's ID and password to log into the game and kill him off. Call it Death by Deletion.

When the man discovered his beloved avatar was gone, he contacted authorities, which led to the woman's arrest. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning," the woman told investigators. "That made me so angry." The AP reports that the woman had no intention to carry out violence in reality.

The charges are "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data," which carries a sentence of up to five years in jail or a fine up to $5,000.

This is the first time I've ever heard of real-life authorities getting involved with virtual homicide. While the charges have nothing to do with the avatar's death, but rather the woman's illegal methods of bumping it off, it certainly illustrates how emotionally involving online MMORPGs can be.

MMORPG? :confused:

I think the internet is too much for some people to handle.

Wow.

Nerds.

Jim: MMORPG = Massive Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game (See EverQuest, Ultima Online, Age of Conan and the behemoth World of Warcraft)

So all she did was access his account and delete his character? He can have it restored on the server in extreme cases, from a back up. I will agree with the charges against her, for sure.

What is the world coming to?

If she had done this without being part of some game, none of you would have heard about it. Angry divorced spouses accessing the other's computer to wreak some kind of havoc is pretty normal. I don't really see what the big deal about this article is at all.

Jim,
I just printed your Ike button out and stepped on it. Nyah nyah.

:eek:

I've played World of Warcraft off and on. It is very addictive. Last time I actually got a character to level 55 (highest level is 70 I think) although it was at the expense of my relationship with my wife.

Playing a game for 2 hours a night doesn't jive with 3 kids and a dog. Plus, I'm learning guitar and working out every day now, no time for Warcraft (but I'm not ruling out returning at some point).

Gassy, I just crushed up a Beano tablet and rubbed it all over your avatar! So take that! :p

The authorities will be contacting you.

The authorities like Ike. :p

I just printed out this thread and burned it.

Fire GOOD!!!!

butt darts! :mad:

Dateline: Internetland

Breaking news! It appears that a sudden, new, never before seen exit ramp from the Infornation Superhighway has appeared out of thin air. Even more stunning is the fact that several Porsche's were seen driving on it as soon as it appeared! Despite the normal flow of traffic (quite heavy, what with it being a slow Friday afternoon in offices across the country), these few cars were seen driving at high speed along this brand new ramp.

Local authorities have dubbed it the "Segue Exit". Local politicians have dubbed it the "Exit to Nowhere".


Now, back to our more important Internetland news about some crazy chick who killed her husband with a battleaxe...

Mmm Battleaxe with +20 Jealous Rage.

Yea, I'm a nerd.

That old battleaxe b!ch!

Some people really need to get a life.

Now, back to posting in OT...