Online Killin!
phongone
1,652 Posts
Woman in Japan apparently "killed" her online's husband's avatar...and is charged with a crime. What fools would you commit a virtual murder on SS?b,121b,121a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20081023-0840-as-japan-avatarmurder.html" target="_blank"1http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20081023-0840-as-japan-avatarmurder.html/a1b,121b,121TOKYO ??? A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday. b,121The woman, who is 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 said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. b,121b,121 ???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. b,121The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said. b,121b,121She 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. b,121b,121Players 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. b,121b,121The 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. b,121b,121The 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. b,121b,121The police official said he did not know if she was married in the real world. b,121b,121In 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,??? another virtual interactive world. b,121b,121In 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. b,121b,121Virtual games are popular in Japan, and ???Second Life??? has drawn a fair number of Japanese participants. They rank third by nationality among users, after Americans and Brazilians.
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