Two Gamers Going To Jail For Stealing Virtual Items

[Demon_Skeith]

Stealing is bad. Stealing items in online games is also bad, and usually there's not much that can be done to combat it—so it's super good news that two Chinese internet thieves have been sentenced to prison terms.

According to a report released today, in early April, two men, surnamed Wang and Cai, were each sentenced to two years in prison as well as various monetary fines for the crime of cybertheft.
The duo, both from China's Sichuan province, are supposedly both avid gamers with a penchant for the Nexon-made multiplayer beat'em up called Dungeon Fighter Online. Both men were jobless and spent their time playing DNF. They eventually figured out that they could make money by selling in-game equipment for real cash.

It's not exactly clear how it happened, but in March 2013 the duo came into contact with a certain Mr. Ma. They sussed out Ma's information and his login information for DNF. The duo cleaned Ma's virtual accounts, making off with about $6405!

Within a month, the duo were apprehended by the police. A year later, they're now facing jail time. No word on whether Ma will be gaining any restitution but hey, the thought of the guys who took his stuff will be in jail should be good enough.

source

should be longer than 2 years.

 

[froggyboy604]

I agree it should be longer than 2 years since it must of taken the victim many months or years to grind and collect $6405 worth of game items by playing the game many hours per day.

 

[Lolman112]

I don't agree. Stealing is bad, YES... But somehow, I don't really count stealing virtual in-game items as stealing. I don't know why... If it was online banking or scamming, yes. But game items? Nah, that has been around for so long.

 

[Lleyn]

You guys should look up the conditions of people in Chinese prisons. 2 years is more than enough, if not too much for a crime that involved no violence.

 

[Lukey]

In my opinion, they should of just payed the money back. I mean, I know it's money and the items are worth something but... it's just a game, ya' know?

 

[Lienx]

I don't agree. Stealing is bad, YES... But somehow, I don't really count stealing virtual in-game items as stealing. I don't know why... If it was online banking or scamming, yes. But game items? Nah, that has been around for so long.

Then obviously you haven't played an MMO and grinded 60 hours a week into a single game + monthly subscription fees + paying for expansion packs and then grinding more and more hours into constant dungeons and raids and other crap for days, months, years at a time in order to get certain 'legendary' items. Virtual or not, its a crime and should be taken care of accordingly.

 

[Lolman112]

Then obviously you haven't played an MMO and grinded 60 hours a week into a single game + monthly subscription fees + paying for expansion packs and then grinding more and more hours into constant dungeons and raids and other crap for days, months, years at a time in order to get certain 'legendary' items. Virtual or not, its a crime and should be taken care of accordingly.

I only did with Runescape back in the day. This is one of the reasons why I don't play MMO's though, all the grinding is saved on some server somewhere online. MMO grinding takes even a longer time than offline grinding games. 


As punishment, I would give them a fine and they should have to pay the money back. Prison? Nah...

 

[froggyboy604]

I think forcing the robbers to pay back the money, play the game long enough to get or buy the virtual item back for the victim, do community service for many years, and banning them from owning a computer, smartphone, tablet, and laptop, and using the internet for many more years would be a better punishment.

 

[abcdefghijun]

I don't agree. Stealing is bad, YES... But somehow, I don't really count stealing virtual in-game items as stealing. I don't know why... If it was online banking or scamming, yes. But game items? Nah, that has been around for so long.

Stealing is stealing, pretty much. If a person worked hard for that, then it's just as wrong as a person who worked hard to afford a car. Granted it's not the same gravity, but it's the same offense and should be treated as such.