When MMO Drama Causes Real Life Violence (Page 2 of 3)

In November of 2007, The Earth Times carried a story from Vietnam where apparently a 13 year old boy had murdered an 81 year old woman in order to steal money to pay for his online gaming subscription. The boy, Dan, strangled Mai Thi Mau with a piece of rope in Nam Dinh province and stole 100,000 dong - which is less than $10. The report went on to tell of another incident the previous year in which a 15 year old boy Trinh Dinh Thanh was arrested for threatening a local businessman and trying to extort $300. Trinh said he would splash sulphuric acid on the man’s daughter if he refused to pay up. When caught he explained that he needed the money to play online games.

In October of 2004 a number of sources, including the BBC, reported that a 41 year old Chinese man named Qiu Chengwei had stabbed 26 year old Zhu Caoyuan to death because he sold his virtual sword. They were playing the game Legend of Mir 3 and Qiu loaned his sword to Zhu who promptly sold it for 7,200 Yuan (over $1,000). This case sparked controversy about online property because Qui actually reported the theft to the police but was told there was nothing they could do. He then decided to settle the matter himself and in June 2005 he was given a suspended death sentence for his crime. He will spend at least the next 15 years in prison.

In October 2008 a 43 year old Japanese woman had an online marriage to a man in the MMO Maple Story. They never met in real life and the game encourages social interaction like this, but when the man divorced her without warning she became very angry and carried out a virtual murder. She hacked into his account and deleted his character. She was picked up by police and now faces up to five years in prison or more likely a fine of up to $4,000.

Back in November of 2007, a Dutch teen was arrested for stealing furniture in Habbo Hotel. He did it by conning account details from other people and then accessing their rooms and moving their furniture into his own room. He was estimated to have stolen around $4,000 worth of virtual goods.