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    Online game theft earns real-world conviction

    Associated Press – Tue, Jan 31, 2012

    THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The amulet and mask were a 13-year-old boy's virtual possessions in an online fantasy game. In the real world, he was beaten and threatened with a knife to give them up.

    The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular online fantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to perform 144 hours of community service.

    Only a handful of such cases have been heard in the world, and they have reached varying conclusions about the legal status of "virtual goods" — and whether stealing them is real-world theft.

    The suspect's lawyer had argued the amulet and mask "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value."

    But the Netherlands' highest court said the virtual objects had an intrinsic value to the 13-year-old gamer because of "the time and energy he invested" in winning them while playing the game.

    The court did not release the offender's name, only his year of birth — 1992. It said he and another youth beat and kicked the boy and threatened him with a knife until he logged into RuneScape and dropped the objects in 2007.

    One of the thieves, who was also playing the game, was then able to pick up the items, making them his virtual property. Both were convicted by a lower court in 2009, but only one of them had appealed to the Supreme Court.

     

    27 comments

    • Mark F
      Mark F  •  3 mths ago
      There's no such thing as "bullying" and the sooner we get that straight the better. Assault is a crime that there's already a name for. Treat "bullies" as the criminals they are and sentence them to community service and/or time in a juvenile detention center. Kids know right from wrong and it's time to make sure they learn the lesson--you abuse another person, you go to jail. Just like the real world.
      • Herbert
        Herbert 3 mths ago
        And later in life the bullies become managers, politicians and CEO's of large corporations. A nice finish for people that take advantage of others.
      • Oven
        Oven 3 mths ago
        Not all bullying is physical, but I do agree that physical bullying should be considered assault.
      • A X
        A X 3 mths ago
        Amen! We already have too many finely nuanced and overlapping laws. There's assault and then there's assault where you "hate" the person assaulted, making it a "hate crime." #$%$ It's all assault. The ony problem with it all is that the penalties are too light.
    • JJMurray
      JJMurray  •  3 mths ago
      So they beat and kick this kid and threaten his life with a knife and they get convicted of stealing virtual items. How about convicting them of assault and threatening the kids life? Maybe then they would have gotten something more than some community service!
      What a bassakwards court!
    • M C
      M C  •  3 mths ago
      Forget about theft, what about aggrivated assault? That seems more serious to me.
    • The Boss
      The Boss  •  Nevada, Iowa  •  3 mths ago
      Don't tell Sheldon Cooper this, he just might have Penny beat the kid up.
    • Coyote
      Coyote  •  Las Vegas, Nevada  •  3 mths ago
      He held the kid at knife point, then his lawyer argued what they were stealing at knife point has no real value.....I don't care if it was his collection of scabs, it was stolen at knife point....anyone arguing against this conviction is basically allowing for such things to happen. What was stolen was silly, but how they stole is was very very wrong.
    • Enz
      Enz  •  Sunnyvale, California  •  3 mths ago
      If they didn't have intrinsic value, then WHY did you steal them?
    • Jeff Rapier
      Jeff Rapier  •  Troutdale, Oregon  •  3 mths ago
      So, the lawyer argues that the items were intangible and immaterial, yet they were still real enough to his client for him to want to steal them. That just throws that lawyer's argument out the window.
    • Jay
      Jay  •  3 mths ago
      screw theft, there are a slew of other crimes that could of been prosecuted here
    • Win or Lose with Honor
      Win or Lose with Honor  •  Livonia, Michigan  •  3 mths ago
      Face it people. This is what our world is heading toward. When the immoral control and dictate to the moral, the fallout is inevitable. Freedom does not mean being able to do whatever you want. Yes this was theft. Yes this was an assault. The offenders should have been charged and found guilty on both counts. If we as a people do nothing, then we are part of the problem.
    • Barry
      Barry  •  3 mths ago
      the punishments for theft is usually greater than for assault.
      • Stanley
        Stanley 3 mths ago
        I thought these two types of conviction were equal time in most of the U.S.
      • Win or Lose with Honor
        Win or Lose with Honor 3 mths ago
        If that is true, isn't it a shame!
    • Glimno
      Glimno  •  Stillwater, Oklahoma  •  3 mths ago
      kids must of really sucked at the game if they had to resort to assault and robbery to aquire their items. I
    • Crazy Grady
      Crazy Grady  •  3 mths ago
      lol runescape
    • Chanterelle
      Chanterelle  •  Bellevue, Washington  •  3 mths ago
      Whats alarming here is not the value of what was stolen but the violence of the assault and theft. For that the boys needs to pay a high price. They should be convicted for assault and armed robbery.
    • christopher
      christopher  •  3 mths ago
      Had no economic value?? Well the boy was beat up for nothin, which is even worse.
    • Bill
      Bill  •  3 mths ago
      First off, if he was born in 1992, he is not a "youth", he is an adult, even if he doesn't act like it. Secondly, he committed battery on a minor and assaulted with a knife? 144 days community service? Something not right about this story.
      • Lizard King
        Lizard King 3 mths ago
        The Yahoo editor is sleeping on the job
      • Johnny
        Johnny 3 mths ago
        At the time of the assault he would have been 15.
      • Bill
        Bill 3 mths ago
        I noticed that after I posted, that the case was from years ago.
    • Chris
      Chris  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  3 mths ago
      Isn't playing Runescape a cruel enough sentence?
    • Bruce
      Bruce  •  St Louis, Missouri  •  3 mths ago
      What a waste of the supreme court's time. Unbelieveable what an attorney will defend. It should have been straight assult charges and jail time!
    • True
      True  •  Brunswick, Maine  •  3 mths ago
      its not theft---however it is assult---the court got it wrong
      • D
        D 3 mths ago
        Assault and extortion. But you are right, theft, no.
      • Kevin U
        Kevin U 3 mths ago
        I'm not sure how you don't see it as theft, the kids forced him to give them the virtual objects. If someone forces you to give up your wallet, it's theft. While most people wouldn't put a value on the in-game "items", the fact of the matter is that they do have value, and while it's usually against the Terms of Service for most games, people can and do trade items/services/characters for real money, and therefore when something like this gets "stolen", it is theft, plain and simple. Some might argue that because the in-game stuff is only worth value to some people that it doesn't really have value in the real world, but I don't value most paintings, or art for that matter. I know I'm not the only one that puts little to no value on most art, does that mean that art should have no value, because there are some people who don't appreciate it and put a value on it?

        How would you feel if someone took all your virtual money from your bank? Certainly you worked for that money, but it's not real as it's only represented by 1's and 0's, so I guess it wouldn't be theft if someone cleaned out your checking or savings accounts.
      • Stanley
        Stanley 3 mths ago
        It's actually all three: assault, extortion, and theft. If these "youths" have done this even once before, the charges (in the U.S.) would have been elevated to racketeering.
    • Chris Betcher
      Chris Betcher  •  Salt Lake City, Utah  •  3 mths ago
      OK, I am not sure I completely understand this......at first it sounded like total garbage but as I came to the end of the article I am not sure. So, are they saying that the "bully" boy actually face-to-face kicked and threatened this kid or are they speaking of virtual beating and threats in the game world. Obviously if it was virtual within the game that would be ridiculous for this to be a crime since it is part of the game itself so to speak but if physically in the face-to-face world then I agree with the courts.
      • bissinette
        bissinette 3 mths ago
        face to face- made him go home, log in and drop stuff in the game
      • Michael N
        Michael N 3 mths ago
        come on, did you really think that the courts were going to even hear a case involving a virtual theft inside a virtual world where that activity is part of the experience.
      • Scott
        Scott 3 mths ago
        Guess you didn't read the article....or didn't understand. They did hear it and the Supreme court upheld the conviction.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  3 mths ago
      I love it, they give these kids community service for jacking the virtual items...but, apparently, let the beating slide. This is the kind of idiocy you generally only come across in the US...I guess it must be spreading.
     Post a comment
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