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Online game theft earns real-world conviction!

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited February 2012 in Ten Forward
Wow talk about putting the hammer down, but really who seen this coming? With all the online game play, and people hacking into others accounts, it about time someone was mabe an example of. :D

http://billingsgazette.com/news/world/online-game-theft-earns-real-world-conviction/article_7d655cfe-55c2-58d9-bfa9-9c30ce99394e.html
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I would imagine the conviction was more on the real world assault and battery than the actual "intrinsic" value of the items. Odd that the article seemed to think otherwise
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    It is pretty crazy...

    I mean, I guess RS doesn't really endorse it, and it is played by younger kids, but to think if they applied those rules to EVE Online... where mutliple thousands of dollars are stollen in online hiests etc every year..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I haven't played RS for ages....and I do mean ages......

    Finally got a email a week ago saying that someone was trying to sell me account........samething with WoW....haven't played em forever......didn't really care if they closed either.........

    Kinda makes you wonder tho......
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    its been about 10 years since i last touched on runescape, before the nostalgia of the simpler days kicks in, why would anyone beat someone else up over a silly little ingame virtual item? the accounts belong to Jagex much like the accounts here belong to Cryptic. we essentially rent out an account, we have no control over it other then its outward value, the ingame items belong to that company as well, based on that conclusion alone, there is no basis for the "value" of the ingame items that the judge mentioned.

    as an above poster mentioned, its probably about the GBH charge more then anything else.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I suppose the article thinks otherwise because it was a theft conviction. Not a battery conviction. Imagine.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    so to all the offenders who want to beat me up and try to steal my maco gear, try it and i kill you.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I would imagine the conviction was more on the real world assault and battery than the actual "intrinsic" value of the items. Odd that the article seemed to think otherwise

    Saw a bit about this on another site with some quotes from a lawyer in the Netherlands. If the items had no intrinsic value, there were still at least two crimes he could be charged with directly from the assault - he would have been convicted of those anyway.

    But because the items were ruled to have value, that means there was also a robbery which he was convicted of, and that the violent crimes were committed in the process of committing that robbery which could elevate them to higher offenses.

    I don't know Netherlands law, but it may also open the possibility of the victim also seeking restitution for the value of the items lost - if the court declared the items to have no value, no robbery would have taken place and there was legally nothing to seek reimbursement for.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Runescape haha that game turns some people stupid!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I'm fine with that verdict. Whenever something is valuable to you and someone takes it from you, it's fine to be treated as theft. I mean, gold is just a shiny rock. People have gone to war over it for centuries. They couldn't do anything with it besides stare at (before modern electronics in the last 50 years or so).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    They did more than stare at it. Gold doesn't tarnish, so it was used to "store" value (i.e. money). Silver and most other precious metals will tarnish, and when you remove the tarnish you're removing some of the metal, so over time you have less money even if you don't spend any. There's precious few materials in the world that can do that while still being common enough to use as money and also rare enough to hold off inflation.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    momiji wrote: »
    It is pretty crazy...

    I mean, I guess RS doesn't really endorse it, and it is played by younger kids, but to think if they applied those rules to EVE Online... where mutliple thousands of dollars are stollen in online hiests etc every year..

    Yes, but in EVE the game is made to allow players to do it. They are not hacking or beating people up to get it, EVE is designed that way. EVE online also has a player that holds the world record for the biggest theft of ingame money in any game. I think it said it happened in 07, was a while ago when I read it though, like a few years ago. The guy opened up a bank for players to keep their money safe. He keeps the bank running for months, tons of people use it and invest in it. The one day he just takes all the money that was in the bank, close the bank, and flies off with everyones money.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Yeah, this really isn't about online-on-online theft, it was about the coercion and violence. The value of the items remains debatable - the suspect's lawyer should've rethought that defense, if his own client thought it valuable enough to commit a real world crime to obtain it.

    But let's not pretend it's more than that, shall we? A few too many people don't read the article thoroughly enough, or at all, and jump on that bandwagon, and before long we'll have people in STFs shouting they called 911 cause someone ninjaed some TRIBBLE.

    Random QI Fact: If you put all the gold in the world that was ever mined into a single cube, it would be about 55 feet from side-to-side.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I think the butt whooping and the knife to the throat in the real world was the actual crime.

    Somehow if this was about Bob donning his +7 Highwayman's Mask and yelling at another player "PUT THE J BOOTS IN THE BAG," the Judge would have died laughing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Two things i can not stand.

    People who are intolerant of other cultures and the dutch.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Hey! :mad: 10char
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    hevach wrote: »
    They did more than stare at it. Gold doesn't tarnish, so it was used to "store" value (i.e. money). Silver and most other precious metals will tarnish, and when you remove the tarnish you're removing some of the metal, so over time you have less money even if you don't spend any. There's precious few materials in the world that can do that while still being common enough to use as money and also rare enough to hold off inflation.

    You're saying it has value because people valued it though, which is exactly my point. I don't care what the type of currency it is, I'm saying currency itself tends to be useless unless it's accepted as valuable. What's a $100 bill? It's just a piece of paper with ink on it.

    This is why I invest in bullets for when the zombies attack.... :eek:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Yes, but in EVE the game is made to allow players to do it. They are not hacking or beating people up to get it, EVE is designed that way. EVE online also has a player that holds the world record for the biggest theft of ingame money in any game

    eve is a bad example in this case. eve encourages and 'allows' such things as extortion and theft. The theft a person can probably get away with it under most circumstances, as it is in-game property. However many countries have laws against extortion in any form. when it comes down to it, they're walking a fine line with that. whether it is in a mall, your house, your job, or within a game, etc.. extortion is extortion. chances are, if you were to go through the trouble of making an issue of it, you would win. so far nobody has cared enough to do so. think of it this way... what would happen to you if you walked into a mcdonalds and tried to extort somebody out of their big mac? technically its no more legal to do that in mcdonalds than it is in eve. regardless of what the tos claims.

    the point being, convictions for doing things you shouldn't are always a possibility. online or off. in this case it was likely the stuff out of game that got him convicted, but nevertheless its not wise to tempt fate.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Wow. That's messed up. The criminal in this case is "lucky" he was a minor when he committed the theft (not to mention the assault and battery) or he'd probably be in jail not picking up litter by the highway (or whatever community service there is).

    It's kind of like if a mugger took you at knife-point to an ATM and made you withdraw $300 and give it to him (only it was "virtual" property instead of cash).

    You have to wonder at the kid's home life/parenting that he would do such a thing...over a game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    why weren't they charged with asault? even if the theft onvicton gets appealed, there's still the assault charge
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    /facepalm

    It's a game... Why oh why would anyone so young be so silly to get that stain on their record for a few polygons...?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    anazonda wrote: »
    /facepalm

    It's a game... Why oh why would anyone so young be so silly to get that stain on their record for a few polygons...?

    you answered your own question lol
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    When I read about people like that, i loose a little more faith in humanity. :(

    Proud long-time RS subscriber btw!!! :p
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Electronic world is about to get very crazy, by about 2020 we will be peaking Cyber crime levels.

    Give it time people will get jail for hacking any type of account whatsoever. The very idea of it, no matter what software or service it is will get instant sentence when proved guilty.

    The extent of the hack will have it's own punishment added on top. With games it will not be much.

    Cloud will require individuals to be protected more by law so we will see a very visible cyber Police force by about 2025. It won't be 911 or 999, it will be 987 for international Cyber Cops emergency style.

    There are more thugs learning hacking as the courses come to more Universities. People with intelligence but born in the gutter who get the opportunity to learn hacking. That story is increasing rapidly especially in Eastern countries where they are developing fast and their religion is a replacement for ethics far too often.

    MMO gamers will eventually suffer, no amount of security will stop what is coming it's just going to get crazy. Our current operating systems and internet is not secure enough to stop the people who will be using the next generation of technology.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    "Don't do anything stupid. Now, hand over your pattern of electrons!"
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I say "Send them to Rura Penthe" OR "NARFTLE THE GARTHOK!"

    Virtual Crime (Theft) = Virtual Life Sentence (Rura Penthe).

    The Real community service for the aggrivated assault, but place the offenders name and information onto all MMO black list and every character gets sent to a life in a vacation plaza within..a penal colony. :D:mad:
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