Augmented Reality, Virtual Insanity

There is an old curse that goes like this: “May you live in interesting times.” It doesn’t get any more interesting than two recent strange news stories about digital worlds sparking irrational behavior in the real world. These two items illustrate the weird problems we could be encountering on a regular basis as bleed-through increases across the border of the real and virtual worlds.

The first story is about two kids in the Netherlands that robbed a 13 year old boy at knife point, forcing him to log in to RuneScape, an online game, and transfer an amulet, a mask, and his game credits to their account. Also of note is the fact that the judge overseeing the case declared that virtual goods are real, and can be stolen.

Next up is the bizarre tale of a Japanese woman who was arrested for “killing” her virtual husband from the interactive game “Maple Story”. She faces 5 years in prison, or a fine of $5,000 for hacking into her virtual husband’s account and disabling his character.