Cyber Murder

[epilepticme]

Woman arrested for killing virtual reality husband

• Story Highlights
• Japanese woman killed online husband's digital persona after online divorce
• Woman held on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer, data manipulation
• Murderer, victim met in 'Maple Story,' popular Japanese online environment
• Woman could face a real-time prison term of five years or fine up to $5,000

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.
The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.
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.
Players in "Maple Story" raise and manipulate digital images called "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 Sapporo, where the man lives, the official said.
The police official said he did not know 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," another virtual interactive world.
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.
Virtual games are popular in Japan, and "Second Life" has drawn a fair number of Japanese participants. They rank third by nationality among users, after Americans and Brazilians.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

epilepticme Reviewed by epilepticme on 10-24-2008. Cyber Murder Woman arrested for killing virtual reality husband Story Highlights Japanese woman killed online husband's digital persona after online divorce Woman held on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer, data manipulation Murderer, victim met in 'Maple Story,' popular Japanese online environment Woman could face a real-time prison term of five years or fine up to $5,000 Rating: 5

[stinkyattic]

Haha! I heard about this on the radio this morning and was wondering how long it would take to show up at canncom! SO FREAKING WEIRD!!!

[zihowie]

That is so funny but mad beat

[dragonrider]

I heard the guy's avatar had divorced the woman's avatar because the virtual sex was awful.

If she is found guilty, does she have to do the time and pay the fine in the real world? Or can her avatar serve virtual time and pay virtual fines? Perhaps it could just turn into a new virtual game with her avatar having to bust out of Maple Story Prison and slay a few Maple Story Monsters in order to raise the maple bucks to pay for her freedom. Then maybe his avatar could be resurrected somehow and they could meet and forgive eachother. Awwwwww. It's a happy ending.

[flyingimam]

I heard the guy's avatar had divorced the woman's avatar because the virtual sex was awful.

thats why i rather waste my leisure time online with some uber pr0|\| instead of these weird games... things are gettin way out of hand in the cyber world!!

the virtual sex i get never fails to satisfy me, in fact it sometimes strucks the deepest chords in my brains and makes me regret it, but from the other side of the scale! makes the actual sex look dull & boring hahaha

Ehem, yeah lets just go on, i just felt the temptation to write this to point out the total waste of some of these MMO games...