virtual robbery?

Gandalf Parker · #1 August 19th, 2005, 10:36 AM

http://www.newscientist.com/article....ine-news_rss20

A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots" to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash.

This gets 3 I-told-you-so's from me.

1) Ive said that "virtual" means almost as good as. And Virtual Reality pretty much ensures that anything which exists in reality, you can pretty much bet will exist in virtual reality.

2) Ive also said that comments like "no big deal" or "they cant really do anything about it" or "they cant catch me" should always be said with a "yet" tacked onto the end of it.

3) AND Ive always said that if we dont police ourselves then you can bet that the real world will eventually step in and do it for us.

Gandalf Parker

El_Phil · #2 August 19th, 2005, 11:05 AM

If he hadn't sold it for hard cash I suspect nothing would have happened. As it is this could be tricky and set a fairly interesting precedent. If your computer crashes and so you lose several hours worth of progress, could you sue Microsoft for loss of earnings?

Combat Wombat · #3 August 20th, 2005, 09:27 PM

His crime was selling in game items for real money which is a violation of the EULA for Lineage II. Using the bots might also be a violation but I am not sure.

Kamog · #4 August 23rd, 2005, 03:49 AM

These people who monitor online games must be really good. It must be difficult to spot the bots and track the guy down who's using them.

PvK · #5 August 28th, 2005, 07:15 PM

Without getting into the specifics of Lineage II, in a game where players can rob each other, and deploy bots, as part of the game, and also are allowed to sell virtual items, this is a feature and not a crime, except in the game world. In theory, then, it seems like what may be the most unreasonable thing would be a game company trying to prevent certain activities by non-game means. If they don't want this sort of behavior, the natural and perhaps most appropriate way to accomplish that would be to design or implememnt the game differently.

PvK

Atrocities · #6 August 28th, 2005, 07:55 PM

OMG! Can you see the tort litigation cases now?

Jack Simth · #7 August 28th, 2005, 08:10 PM

There might be some jurisdiction issues....

Atrocities · #8 August 29th, 2005, 12:30 AM

If they can do it in Japan, how long do you think it will take a leech trial lawyer from the US to try it? Hell if they can sue fast food for making people fat through food addiction, then why not Sony for making addictive video games? Hell why not Microsoft for inventing an operating system that is as flawed as a cigerrette in that it kills your data every chance it gets? Your data being part of you, a vital part in most cases, lost because of a windows error or virus that MS could have prevented had they invested more time on safety than on fluff?

I can see the day now when players of EverQuest are suing each other over truma cased by the death of their ulter on line ego's at the hands of the defendant. OMFG that would just be the beginning as Quake players start suing each other over who claimed the flag first and the legality of spawn point camping.

Whe will it end? When each game comes with a hundred page legal document that you must sign before buying the game exsolving (sp) the game creators, publishers, and players of lawsuites resulting from game play?

I wouldn't be surprise to get suied one day from some disgruntled ex-PBW player who's empire I had conqured during a game back in 2001. The lawsuite will read "Caused the Platiniff irrepitable interpersonal relationship problems as a direct result of having defeated his mighty empire through the use of tactical sun destroying weapons. An empire that the plantiff spent a year culitvating and building. We seek damages in the sum of $100,000.00 for lost time invested in this PBW game, and for personal and emotional damages as a result of having to surrender to the defended."

It will happen!

Mephisto · #9 September 2nd, 2005, 04:24 PM

Don't be so modest! 100k$. Pah! Add some zeros!

Jack Simth · #10 September 2nd, 2005, 09:48 PM

By jurisdiction issues, I meant more along the lines of:

Someone in Great Britian logs in to the magical land of Xandu, and has his character beat up and rob the character of another player (who is based in Sweden), on a server based in Japan. Where do you hold the trial? Which country's laws apply? The Japanese case is a bit more straightforward - someone in Japan is accused, the game is hosted in Japan, the game maker is based in Japan, and the "victim" is also operating out of Japan; it's reasonable to have the courts of Japan settle it - but the Xandu situation above?