Virtual divorcee kills virtual husband
I will readily admit that many years ago I was very active in the online chat world. It was rather boring, yet engaging at the same time. I still remember my ICQ number 2868783. I didn’t get in too deep, but some of my online friends had very deep online relationships, almost virtual marriages.
Today I came across this story about this 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher, whose sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona.
The woman has been jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data. She used his identification and password to log onto the popular interactive game “Maple Story” to carry out the virtual murder.
She 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.
As in “Second Life” (which I cannot get into at all. Not just figuratively, the damn software keeps crashing on me!), players in “Maple Story” raise and manipulate avatars that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.
The 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.
The 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.
It’s not known if she was married in the real world.
In 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.”
In 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.
People! It’s time to step away from the keyboard and get outside and find a REAL life, never mind your second life!
