Thursday, October 23, 2008
Virtual Reality Goes Too Far
Okay, I saw this story on the Internet and thought it was pretty funny. Apparently people are taking their virtual reality games a bit too seriously.
TOKYO – A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.
The woman, who has been 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 City 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.
As in "Second Life" in the U.S., 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." 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.
Honestly, can you imagine taking a fake divorce that hard? I mean, when my Ken doll left my Barbie she didn't call G.I. Joe to do a hit on him. Also, why would you give anyone access to your login information? He probably deserved to get virtually killed for being really stupid.
Hmm, maybe instead of "Second Life", they should call it "Get a Life"?
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2 comments:
I can't believe she actually got arrested for 'killing' an avatar! I guess there aren't enough real murders in Japan to investigate?
This is all just too scary and sad.
I agree Maura! Lighten up! I'm sure many "likenesses" have been killed "virtually." I wish they had a Paris Hilton avatar I could take a swing at.
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