RSSOnline gamer arrested for 'virtual murder' in Japan
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published October 24, 2008, 6:48 PM
She isn't accused of homicide, exactly, but a woman in Japan could spend five years in jail on charges related to "murdering" her virtual husband in revenge for a virtual divorce.
Police in Japan suspect that a 43-year-old woman grew enraged after her online husband "divorced" her in the interactive Maple Story game -- so much so that she virtually eliminated him.
The woman, Mayumi Tomari, has been arrested by the police on suspicion of illegally using the man's logon and password to steal his ID in the game and delete his character, according to an account in the Daily Yomiuri Online.
As of Friday, Tomari hadn't been formally charged. But she could face a hefty fine or up to five years in prison if charged and convicted on allegations of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data.
Maple Story is an online role-playing game (it claims to be the first) in which online characters engage in relationships -- and apparently end them -- while also battling virtual enemies.
No indication has emerged yet that the 33-year-old purported victim of the alleged crime plans a civil suit around any sort of damages -- something that might be theoretically possible in some countries, at least, if the victim had invested in his online character in the way that some Second Lifers do, for instance.
Although the impact of the alleged ID theft seems to be confined to the virtual world, there have been other instances where game interactions have actually sparked real world crimes.
As one example, a blogger on TechnologyExpert.com has pointed to the arrest of 33-year-old Kimberly Jernigan of North Carolina of charges of trying to kidnap a boyfriend she'd met on Second Life, after he'd ended their real world romance and sexual affair.
Then, there was the killing in Russia of a 33-year-old member of the Platanium clan of an MMORPG guild by a 22-year-old member of the rivalrous Coo-clocks clan. When the two virtual gang members confronted each other in the physical city of Ufa, Russia, the 33-year-old got badly beaten. He died on the way to the hospital.
wow last paragraph.. see, "internet thugs" can be dangerous afterall?!
LMFAO
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*Cracks Knuckles*
I didn't get that impression at all. Internet thugs don't exist.
They *don't* exist.
Capiche?
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Didn't they make a movie about this (Minority Report)?
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what this world has come to...
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No different than logging in to an E-mail account and deleting it.
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Thats about as ridiculous as some of the stupid laws we have in America... (or I should say Florida, Texas, California laws).
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Online gamer arrested for 'virtual murder' in Japan
HOLY BULLs*** HEADLINE, BATMAN!!!
Wow, it's is a complete fabrication. A flat-out lie. Right there, the headline.
Obviously she wasn't arrested for "virtual murder". She hasn't even been charged. At most, she's been accused of "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data."
That's amazing, Jaq.
...and to top it off, you compare what amounts to computer fraud with actual instances of physical violence.
You aren't, by chance, part of the "Think of the Children"/"Video Games are Bad, mmmkay" brigades, are you?
What an absolute load of crap. One can only hope that she's one of the other 12 people in the world who visit this site so she can sue.
....arrested for virtual murder...what is this, "Make up a story day"?
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I don't know, it pretty much is the effect of murdering. Didn't you ever watch TRON? lol
In any case he did use quotation marks.
Although when I first read the story I thought of something more like she talked him into committing suicide in real life.
Vague headlines are vague.
"Woman deletes husbands account online in Japan, could face prison time". Does seem like a better one to me.
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there has been a lot of that going on lately with Betanews. They must not be getting enough advertisement revenue, so the new policy is to write more creative headlines to attract clicks.
There was another article from last week about ipod-like voting machines. Just looking for any reason to lure in readers I suppose...
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Sadly, nowadays, creative headlines apparently means: OMG! Liez!!
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Actually in fairness...that headline is the same one foxnews.com and cnn.com have been showing it.
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Ah.. So Jaq is just following other idiots.
Well.. Those who can't lead by example...
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not unusual, since a divorce is now legal if a spouse is having an online affair with a virtual "other".
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Will they send her to a virtual prison?
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This is the Living End. Now I've heard it all. My kids play that. This is TOO funny. When they get up (it's early here), I've gotta tell 'em this. They'll "kill" themselves laughing.
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She is not being arrested for killing her virtual husband, but for illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, but it's the virtual killing that lead her to her crime.
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these people need to get a life. really!
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