Virtual Theft, Real-World Punishment
Fri Nov 16, 2007 12:46PM EST
See Comments (41)
This would never happen in New York; the police are otherwise occupied. But in Holland, where obviously there's less real-world policing to do, a Dutch teenager, age 17, was arrested in real life for stealing virtual furniture in a virtual world.
The scene of the crime was a web site called Habbo Hotel, a world-building space that's much like Second Life, only it's designed for teenagers. Habbo has a worldwide audience of 82,000,000 registered users between the ages of 12 and 18 and 400,000,000 page views a month.
You can join the site for free, but to do anything of any substance with the other Habbos you need to spend real money. You buy Habbo credits that buy virtual stuff like furniture. Even Target and Rite Aid sell Habbo prepaid cards.
According to The Guardian this was not a solo couch heist. The stolen virtual goods are valued at over $5,800. While the method is not entirely clear yet, it seems that the teen (a group of other boys are being questioned about the incident as well) managed to trick Habbo-ers into giving up their passwords by creating fake Habbo web sites and having kids register there. The stolen passwords were used to infiltrate their Habbo Hotels and swipe the goods. Where did the stolen goods surface? Inside the boy's own Habbo Hotel, of course.
The analysts say that by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a "'second life,' but not necessarily in Second Life." And there's lots of cash being spent to buy virtual cash to spend in virtual lives. So far, the notion of theft of property in the virtual world remains largely untested.
What do you think? If you steal in the virtual world, doesn't it make sense to be tried in the virtual world as well? Should Habbo simply have given back the furniture to the rightful owners and banned the boy from the site? Should the real-world police be working virtual beats?
For more coverage read the BBC report or see Ars Technica for a look at other virtual world thefts.
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7 Posted by usm_temp on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:29PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm grateful to be too poor to spend money in two realities. But since real world money was used to buy this "stuff" that the kid stole, I think there needs to be real world consequences so he wont do it again. A firm slap on the wrist does not a reformed criminal make.
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8 Posted by stv3361 on Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:13AM EST Report Abuse
I agree, this is all fake, why real things get mix in the virtual things. Even enterprices are doing this!!!!!!!! This only means a great percent of people don't hold a functional brain in their heads.
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9 Posted by denholmes49 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:41PM EDT Report Abuse
People spend real money on fake things all the time e.g. stuffed animals, santa clause,easter bunny ect. So what's the difference?
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10 Posted by jarich83 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:28PM EDT Report Abuse
The title of the post is a bit misleading... Calling it "virtual theft" leads the reader to believe the crime occurred in a virtual world, but that is clearly not the case. He committed a real-world crime to steal something virtual... He didn't use his virtual self to steal something! He didn't walk his little character into someone else's hotel and steal their furniture, he scammed real people in the real world to get to the virtual goods... The crime isn't that he stole the virtual furniture. That is simply how he got caught for the actual crime...
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11 Posted by plaga_nerezza on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:14PM EDT Report Abuse
This is dangerous ground for MMO RPG's to be trending into when you can associate real world value to virtual items. They have opened pandora's box by charging for virtual items. As a former SWG customer I remember wide spread outrage over game changing enhancements that rendered virtual items that had a real world cash value associated with them through E-bay and other trade sites. Under this scenerio users could file a multi million dollar class action law suit against SOE and its parent company Sony for knowingly and intentionally devaluing users accounts. Once governments recqonize online virtual items have value the courts have little recourse but to do the same in civil cases. This opens a door to a wide range of suits. Myspace entries, facebook pages and the likes now have a legal avenue to sue over changes to its interface or billing methodologies in which you could justify a loss in virtual value. I don't like this, even as someone who fealt ripped off by SOE. Tying the courts up with this sort of nonsense. The solution is obvious. If you can prove theft the virtual item outta simply be restored to its rightful owner by the company. The failure to do so by the game company isn't criminal at that stage.
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12 Posted by nubianprincess098 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse
i think that the police should stay out of it and that boys should be banned from the site. it wasn't a real theft it was on the computer in a game. be real it would be wrong for them to go to jail over something so stupid
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13 Posted by pfarnold on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:08PM EDT Report Abuse
habbo is cool you just dont know how fun it is
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14 Posted by faerie_dust95 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I USED to get into all this 'virtual world' stuff, but then i started wasting my $. DUMB IVE LEARNED
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15 Posted by scbadea on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:07PM EDT Report Abuse
I think these people should get a life and try real world interaction for a change
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16 Posted by crigler01 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:31PM EDT Report Abuse
why would you have a " second life ", isn't the first one hard enough???
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17 Posted by abundantlynn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:44PM EDT Report Abuse
If virtual lifers had a REAL life, we wouldn't need to ask the question! I agree with magpagbst.....have these people got money to BURN?? Why not give it to a REAL worthy cause rather than wasting it on something virtual?
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18 Posted by smlets on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:30PM EDT Report Abuse
How does a company sell non-existent furniture? How stupid are people to buy electrons in the form of furniture image? I excuse this boy for TAKING the money and not using his to buy illussions. The police didn't have to waste their time on this crap. The "money" was used on the site, and the value of the goods can be returned either in vouchers or the "victims" desired furniture or virtual teeth to bite the "criminal boy".
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19 Posted by tzpopovic on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:26PM EDT Report Abuse
The virtual asset business is a multi-billion dollar per-year industry. Virtual assets hold real world value. These companies actually use theft as a standard business practice, because there is absolutely no consequence for it. There needs to be a separate entity entirely to enforce criminal activity in relation to virtual property -or- to shutdown the corporations that are profiting from them. --- Get with the times.
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20 Posted by makaylaharris18 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:04PM EDT Report Abuse
that will teach kids to steal if they play. they will think it is ok and be in jail by the time they are 12, 13,or14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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21 Posted by beyondclarity on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Jarich83 is totally right on. The crime was committed in the real world by tricking other suers to give up their information. That is the real crime here. Stealing something in the game or murdering something within the game by no means used in the real world would nto be a crime jut something that the people running the game could choose to deal with however they chose. Unfortunately, that simply wasn't the case here.
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22 Posted by chiefofbeats on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:23PM EDT Report Abuse
I think this is absolutely ridiculous. The total concept for using real $$$ to buy a fake reality is so mundane it's laughable. I visited "Half Life" on the web, because a very popular CSI TV show was hyping it up so bad, I had to see what the big deal was. After visiting the site and finding out I had to spend real greenbacks for a false reality, I immediately removed the software off of my PC. If you want to spend money - give to a charity, feed the homeless. Almost anything would be better than spending on these stupid sites. Do a reasonable crime - do the time. Do a false reality crime - do the false reality time. End of Story.
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23 Posted by c_j_kramer on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse
Hello, Interesting article and topic. I'd be very interested in which "analysts" predict 80 percent of active online users will have a "second life" -- could you cite reference? Thanks!
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24 Posted by steve19410 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:43PM EDT Report Abuse
To mimi.megrs, I think that is a very immature thing to say... calling people "retarded", or "terrible people"?!? just because they choose to spend they're money differently than you do. Let me give you an example of other things people spend BILLIONS of dollars on that have the same or less value than this... Cigarettes, Alcohol, pretty much any hobby... these things give you an "entertainment" value, ans sometimes that costs money. Thats exactly what this is for many people... a hobby. Some people choose to spend tons of money on coin collecting, or stamp collecting, or model building/painting... guess what, they spend all this time by themselves, I guess you want to tell them to get a real life huh? The only reason coins and stamps have real-life monetary value is because there is a demand for them. The same rule applies for made up online in-game items... there is a real demand for it, and that is what makes it worth money. People are not losers or "terrible people" for spending time and money in an online world, it takes the stress out of the real world, it fills in some time after dinner and before bed instead of being a couch potato and watching TV, it can even be a living for some people who sell items in-game. Its a hobby, that is just as valid as any other hobby people have... What you state as the "norm", that these people are retarded and dont have real lives or they waste money that should be spent helping others... Sure, there are people who spend too much time playing or wasting money, but 99% of the people who play these games do have a real life and kids and family, and they choose to play games instead of other things. there is always going to be a small subset of people who take things to the extreme (ie. Gambling away all your life savings, binge drinking, wasting all your money in an online game) but dont categorize all the normal people who play into those categories please. As far as taking this in to the real world to be dealt with I totally agree. People do spend real money on these items as their entertainment, and the kid didnt just steal in the online world, he conned people into giving him their game information and stoll the items by hacking into their accounts. It is along the same lines as someone stealing your credit card info and buying $5800 worth of stuff on it... you gonna call the cops if that happens? I bet you do.
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25 Posted by zerochoice0 on Sat Jan 5, 2008 2:31PM EST Report Abuse
Games are the new form of social interaction because online games allow you to do things you can't do in real life like kill someone that you hate that you would otherwise use real life violence, or "date" someone online because they are too cowardly in real life to ask someone out. Things like this are not even worth mentioning because it is a group of people incapable of understanding this that want make as little distinction between real life and the online life so that they can enforce their little comprehension of the world so they don't have to adapt. Also I fear the day they make PKING(player killing) illegal due to allmost half of all people play online games to PK and if they do even games like Second Life will suffer a ludicrous loss of users.
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6 Posted by darimm on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:36PM EDT Report Abuse
You people are missing the point. The crime wasn't committed in the game, it was committed using phising type tactics and balant theft. They should be tried in the real world for their behavior. By saying that the theft was virtual and no real crime was committed is just plian ignorant.