Go directly to Jail, don't pass go, Don't Collect 200M GP

So you have been hacked? What do you do? Well there are really three options. First, you can cry over the game, which is understandable, I mean you put so much time and effort into the game that it has become a job. Secondly, you can be a man and take it on the chin and start again. Finally, you can quit and never been seen again, until your next spring break.

Now, in 2008 in the Netherlands, a boy took it to the next level. He sued the hackers that stole his items. Although the hackers psychical forced the boy into hand over his items to them at knife point, it shows that many people aren’t going to let these sorts of thing happen in a virtual world. In this article, link here, you see that in 2007, a hacker was jailed for stealing 4,000 euros (Close to 8,000 Aussie Dollars) worth of Habbo furniture.

As you can see, some courts are taking virtual theft very seriously. Yet, the law remains the same. Anything taking from you on a computer game is not counted as a crime. Even though, they have stated that the law has to changed. Many countries court rooms would throw out such a case and Who wouldn’t? No one believes that a computer game item can be worth so much to one person. It’s not like we put in hundreds of hours each month to obtain it. Everything a person owns, online or in real life, should be treated the same. If you get hacked and get your items stolen, you want to get mad and find the person that did it, right? Those were your items and no one should steal from you.

Where I am going with is, should you think that stealing virtual items should be against the law? And why are there still countries that are still not allowing such punishment for virtual theft?

And before you judge whether or not this is serious. A lady in Melbourne had her necklace stole that her son made out of shells in school. Her insurance company paid her out $10,000 dollars because of the value she set on it. Overall it cost about $5 dollars to make in one arts and craft class.

I also understand that technically Jagex owns your account, but the agreement is that we are renting the account off them, which means we hold responsibility over the account.

Anything that's stolen from you, whether it's virtual or real, is theft, because you own that item (IMO). A game is pretty much like any other hobby. You put time into it to get the best out of it. Which means it's going to have some sort of value, sentimental or otherwise.

sure its theft. but i wouldnt care. ide just start over

edit: i would care...but i would still just start over

Very interesting topic.. it seems to beg a question:

As Jagex reserves the right to close our account at any time, with or without a reason, would it be considered theft in your eyes if Jagex decided they didn't like your account and deleted it? As legally they have done nothing against the ToS you agreed to, but ethically..

Would love to hear thoughts

Very interesting topic.. it seems to beg a question:

As Jagex reserves the right to close our account at any time, with or without a reason, would it be considered theft in your eyes if Jagex decided they didn't like your account and deleted it? As legally they have done nothing against the ToS you agreed to, but ethically..

Would love to hear thoughts

As they technically own my account, I wouldn't consider it theft. However, I would kick up a stink somewhere considering the time and money I've invested into this, if they did it for no reason.

Wow :o Harsh :s