Virtual crime
Encyclopedia
Virtual crime or in-game crime refers to a virtual criminal act
that takes place in a massively multiplayer online game
(MMOG), usually an MMORPG
. The huge time and effort invested into such games can lead online "crime" to spill over into real world crime, and even blur the distinctions between the two. Some countries have introduced special police investigation units to cover such "virtual crimes". South Korea
is one such country and looked into 22,000 cases in the first six months of 2003.
To rectify this, the modern interpretation of the term "virtual" must be amended such that it carries the traditional implication; "that is such in essence or effect, though not recognised as such in name or according to strict definition." In this sense, it "would include those crimes that somehow evoke and approach the effect and essence of real crime, but are not considered crimes."
to the user.
Stemming from their value in the virtual economy, these items, and the characters themselves, have gained monetary value in the real world. eBay
, along with specialist trading sites, have allowed players to sell their wares. This has attracted fraud
ulent sales as well as theft
. Many game developers, such as Blizzard Entertainment
(responsible for World of Warcraft
) oppose and even prohibit the practice. Some argue that to allow in-game items to have monetary values makes these games, essentially, gambling
venues.
In most games, players do not own, materially or intellectually, any part of the game world, and merely pay to use it. Because this "virtual property" is actually owned by the game developer, a developer who opposed real commerce of in-game currencies would have the right to destroy virtual goods as soon as they were listed on eBay
or otherwise offered for real trade.
, where the number of computer game players is massive, some have reported the emergence of gangs and mafia, where powerful players steal and demand that beginners give them virtual money for their "protection".
In China
, Qiu Chengwei was sentenced to life in prison after stabbing and killing fellow The Legend of Mir 3
gamer Zhu Caoyuan. In the game Qiu had lent Zhu a powerful sword (a "dragon sabre"), which Zhu then went on to sell on eBay for 7,200 Yuan (about £473 or $870). With no Chinese laws covering the online dispute, there was nothing the police could do.
In the game The Sims Online
a 17-year old boy going by the in-game name "Evangeline", was discovered to have built a cyber-brothel
, where customers would pay sim-money for minutes of cybersex
. This led to the cancellation of his accounts but no legal action, mainly because he was above the age of consent
.
The term "virtual mugging" was coined when some players of Lineage II
used bots
to defeat other player's characters and take their items. The Japan
ese Kagawa Prefectural
Police arrested a Chinese foreign exchange student on 16 August 2005 following the reports of virtual mugging and the online sale of the stolen items.
The virtual economies of many MMOs and the exchange of virtual items and currency for real money has triggered the birth of the game sweatshop
, in which workers in the developing world, typically China
(although there has been reports of this type of activity in Eastern Europe
an countries), earn real-world wages for long days spent monotonously performing in-game tasks. Most instances typically involve farming of resources or currency
, which has given rise to the epithet Chinese Adena Farmer, because of its first reported widespread use in Lineage II
. More egregious cases involve using exploits such as in duping
money or items, such as a large-scale incident in Star Wars Galaxies
. Both practices can place great stress on the creators' artificial economy, requiring robust design, and often repeated updates, to preserve reasonable work/reward ratios and game balance. There have also been reports of collusion (or vertical integration, depending on the source) among farmers and online currency exchanges. In 2002, a company called Blacksnow Interactive, a game currency exchange, admitted to using workers in a "virtual sweatshop" in Tijuana
, Mexico
to farm money and items from Ultima Online
and Dark Age of Camelot
. When Mythic Entertainment
cracked down on the practice, Blacksnow attempted to sue the game company.
It was reported on 14 November 2007 that a Dutch teenager had been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in 3D social-networking website Habbo Hotel
. The teenagers involved were accused of creating fake Habbo websites in order to lure users into entering their account details, which would then be used to steal virtual furniture bought with real money totalling €4000.
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
that takes place in a massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
(MMOG), usually an MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
. The huge time and effort invested into such games can lead online "crime" to spill over into real world crime, and even blur the distinctions between the two. Some countries have introduced special police investigation units to cover such "virtual crimes". South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
is one such country and looked into 22,000 cases in the first six months of 2003.
Meaning
Several interpretations of the term "virtual crime" exist. Some legal scholars opt for a definition based on a report on what was the first prominent case, a "rape in cyberspace." One such scholar defined virtual crime as needing to have all the qualities of a real crime, and so was not a new subset of crime at all. Conversely, it has also been said that the connection between virtual crimes and real crimes are "tenuous at best: It is the link between a brutal rape and a fictional story of a brutal rape. Surely the difference is more striking than any similarity."To rectify this, the modern interpretation of the term "virtual" must be amended such that it carries the traditional implication; "that is such in essence or effect, though not recognised as such in name or according to strict definition." In this sense, it "would include those crimes that somehow evoke and approach the effect and essence of real crime, but are not considered crimes."
Virtual economies
Over time, players build their characters and collect in-game items. Some such items may have been obtained through months of gameplay, involving various tasks and a substantial level of effort. According to standard conceptions of economic value, the goods and services of virtual economies do have a demonstrable value. Since players of these games are willing to substitute real economic resources of time and money (monthly fees) in exchange for these resources, by definition they have demonstrated utilityUtility
In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....
to the user.
Stemming from their value in the virtual economy, these items, and the characters themselves, have gained monetary value in the real world. eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, along with specialist trading sites, have allowed players to sell their wares. This has attracted fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
ulent sales as well as theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
. Many game developers, such as Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
(responsible for World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
) oppose and even prohibit the practice. Some argue that to allow in-game items to have monetary values makes these games, essentially, gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
venues.
In most games, players do not own, materially or intellectually, any part of the game world, and merely pay to use it. Because this "virtual property" is actually owned by the game developer, a developer who opposed real commerce of in-game currencies would have the right to destroy virtual goods as soon as they were listed on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
or otherwise offered for real trade.
Known cases
In South KoreaSouth Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, where the number of computer game players is massive, some have reported the emergence of gangs and mafia, where powerful players steal and demand that beginners give them virtual money for their "protection".
In China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Qiu Chengwei was sentenced to life in prison after stabbing and killing fellow The Legend of Mir 3
The Legend of Mir 3
The Legend of Mir 3 is a sprite based isometric 3-D massively multiplayer online role-playing game, developed by Wemade Entertainment. It is a sequel to the hugely popular game The Legend of Mir 2....
gamer Zhu Caoyuan. In the game Qiu had lent Zhu a powerful sword (a "dragon sabre"), which Zhu then went on to sell on eBay for 7,200 Yuan (about £473 or $870). With no Chinese laws covering the online dispute, there was nothing the police could do.
In the game The Sims Online
The Sims Online
The Sims Online was a massively multiplayer online variation on Maxis's highly popular computer game The Sims. It was published by Electronic Arts and released on December 17, 2002 for Microsoft Windows. In March 2007, EA announced that the product would be re-branded as EA-Land and major...
a 17-year old boy going by the in-game name "Evangeline", was discovered to have built a cyber-brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
, where customers would pay sim-money for minutes of cybersex
Cybersex
Cybersex, also called computer sex, Internet sex, netsex, mudsex, TinySex and, colloquially, cybering, is a virtual sex encounter in which two or more persons connected remotely via computer network send each other sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience...
. This led to the cancellation of his accounts but no legal action, mainly because he was above the age of consent
Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
.
The term "virtual mugging" was coined when some players of Lineage II
Lineage II
Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows. It is a prequel to Lineage, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007...
used bots
Bots
Bots may refer to:* BOTS!!, a massively multiplayer online game distributed by Acclaim Games* Bots , open source EDI translator * Bots , a Dutch language folk rock group* British overseas territories...
to defeat other player's characters and take their items. The Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Kagawa Prefectural
Kagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Shikoku island. The capital is Takamatsu.- History :Kagawa was formerly known as Sanuki Province.For a brief period between August 1876 and December 1888, Kagawa was made a part of Ehime Prefecture.-Battle of Yashima:...
Police arrested a Chinese foreign exchange student on 16 August 2005 following the reports of virtual mugging and the online sale of the stolen items.
The virtual economies of many MMOs and the exchange of virtual items and currency for real money has triggered the birth of the game sweatshop
Game sweatshop
A game sweatshop is a business concerned with making and selling accounts and in-game currency on MMORPGs for real-world money. The term can also refer to a building containing computers installed with MMORPGs , which generate money for the business...
, in which workers in the developing world, typically China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(although there has been reports of this type of activity in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an countries), earn real-world wages for long days spent monotonously performing in-game tasks. Most instances typically involve farming of resources or currency
Gold farming
Gold farming is playing a massively multiplayer online game to acquire in-game currency which is then sold to other players. People in China and in other developing nations have held full-time employment as gold farmers....
, which has given rise to the epithet Chinese Adena Farmer, because of its first reported widespread use in Lineage II
Lineage II
Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows. It is a prequel to Lineage, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007...
. More egregious cases involve using exploits such as in duping
Duping
Duping refers to the practice of exploiting a bug in a video game to illegitimately create duplicates of unique items or currency in a persistent online game, such as an MMOG. Duping can vastly destabilize a virtual economy or even the gameplay itself, depending on the item duplicated and the rate...
money or items, such as a large-scale incident in Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars Galaxies is a Star Wars themed MMORPG for Microsoft Windows developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts.-History:...
. Both practices can place great stress on the creators' artificial economy, requiring robust design, and often repeated updates, to preserve reasonable work/reward ratios and game balance. There have also been reports of collusion (or vertical integration, depending on the source) among farmers and online currency exchanges. In 2002, a company called Blacksnow Interactive, a game currency exchange, admitted to using workers in a "virtual sweatshop" in Tijuana
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to farm money and items from Ultima Online
Ultima Online
Ultima Online is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game , released on September 24, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today...
and Dark Age of Camelot
Dark Age of Camelot
Dark Age of Camelot is a 3D medieval fantasy MMORPG, released on October 10 2001 in North America and in Europe shortly after through it's partner GOA. It is still running today recently celebrating its 10th anniversary....
. When Mythic Entertainment
Mythic Entertainment
BioWare Mythic is a computer game developer in Fairfax, Virginia which is most widely recognized for developing the 2001 massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot...
cracked down on the practice, Blacksnow attempted to sue the game company.
It was reported on 14 November 2007 that a Dutch teenager had been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in 3D social-networking website Habbo Hotel
Habbo Hotel
Habbo is a social networking site aimed at teenagers. The website is owned and operated by Sulake Corporation. The service began in 2000 and has expanded to include 11 online communities , with users in over 150 countries. As of August 2011, over 230 million avatars have been registered...
. The teenagers involved were accused of creating fake Habbo websites in order to lure users into entering their account details, which would then be used to steal virtual furniture bought with real money totalling €4000.
External links
- "Is There Such a Thing as 'Virtual Crime'?" at California Criminal LawCalifornia criminal lawCalifornia Criminal Law generally follows the law of the United States. However, there are both substantive and procedural differences between how the United States Federal Government and California prosecute alleged violations of criminal law...
Review - "People are earning real dollars selling imaginary items in online games – and rewriting the law in the process"
- "'Voleur' means "thief", Part 1", at the "Alphaville Herald"