Woman arrested for deleting ex's game data

[quietfanatic]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20837

Hell hath no fury

By Nick Farrell: Friday 21 January 2005, 08:05

A WOMAN who was miffed that her boyfriend had left her, used his online user name and password to access an Internet game and delete his game data.

When the long term player of the online game Lineage found he had lost all his virtual weapons and clothes in the online raid he went to the police to have her arrested.

According to the Mainichi Daily News, the woman, in her thirties, and the man, in his twenties, met each other through the game in autumn 2003, and started a relationship. They did actually meet each other, but they soon broke up.

Japanese police say the woman told them she had done it out of revenge for being spurned. They didn't charge her with theft but used a hacking law which forbids illegal access to computers.

I don't know if this is old news, by I find it mildly amusing. That would really piss me off, but I would get over it. What would you do if a friend did something like this?

Here is another curious, random thing I found on the university orientation week timetable.

Gay or Lesbian?
Gay or Lesbian? Meet other queer students in Room 1001, Level 1, East Wing, Quadrangle Building (map reference E15) today and Thursday
...
Meet your Guild representatives
Meet your Guild representatives and find out what your Guild does for you from 3-4pm today in Room 1001, Level 1, East Wing, Quadrangle Building (next to the Guild - map reference E17). More information here. (repeated on Thursday)

hmm Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Bradylama]

What would you do if a friend did something like this?

Assuming this were a friend, I would demand he or she pay the amount of subscription payments I would've made in order to acquire the character and items I had worked for. If not, then I would involve the police.

Friend or no, they've essentially wasted my money for whatever reason.

 

[The Vault Dweller]

They must looks like such dorks to many people...though I understand the frustration. Besides he would have reached level 99 and said "Meh, this is boring" then picked up another MMORPG or just made a new character.

Why couldnt she have just gone medieval on his genitals like a Romanian woman?

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Bradylama]

Because she roleplayed it too many times to get it right.

 

[Jebus]

Why couldnt she have just gone medieval on his genitals like a Romanian woman?

People who play MMORPGs don't have genitalia.

 

[The_Pastmaster]

For real DA

 

[Lukus]

That would really piss me off, but I would get over it.

Of course I would eventually 'get over it' if something like that happened to me. However, my guess is that you've never been really addicted to an MMORPG, which I have been once.

Assuming this were a friend, I would demand he or she pay the amount of subscription payments I would've made in order to acquire the character and items I had worked for

The main thing I would require compensation for would not be the actual subscription fees, but rather the time and effort I had invested - which would come to a vastly larger amount of money if you were to count the hours I had invested to be worth as much as if I had been working, which IMO would be the fair thing to do.

One could argue that 'it's only a game, and the items lost aren't even real'. I don't see the difference, really. Consider also that often in MMORPGs, there are people willing to purchase game items for RL money.

If it could not be solved without involving the police, I would probably *not* report it, but rather get my revenge some other way.

 

[Ashmo]

Actually it was a crime. Deleting someone's online game data isn't any different from shredding a storywriter's manuscript or destroying an artist's work.
I don't want to compare art or literature to game data here, but all of them represent the product of great effort, time and, thus, money. Therefore their irreversible destruction is a criminal act.