Elizabeth Shreve
September 20, 2015
Eng 111 4-5:15
Professor Roof
Paper 1
Prosecution in the Virtual World

Many online gamers will pay for virtual items with real money. Some people want laws in effect for the real world to protect their rights to their belongings. Theft in the virtual world occurs quite often. In an article titled, “Should Gamers be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing?” the author Alex Weiss calls out a young teenage boy who is being prosecuted for stealing in a video game. It seems to be a legal blunder that is very straight forward, but becomes a heated debate. It begins with the argument should we prosecute a gamer for stealing via the virtual world? Alex Weiss is correct in saying that prosecution for virtual theft is wrong in the scheme of things, because each player reacts differently to behaviors. Even though a person is a “raider” in a game, it doesn’t make them a criminal in the real world.

Weiss opens up his article with, “As a reformed online gaming thief, this ruling makes no sense to me. It places too much value on the time people spend playing video games. Video games are not work or investments for which people should be compensated; they are escapism.” (Alex Weiss) Some may say that time is money, but that may not be the case. The productivity in the game is what makes each individuals’ time valuable. Therefore compensation for piracy of an object that does not exist would place the value of the time spent to gain a merely hypothetical item. It could be seen as when does this need to end? It is a very well-known fact that there are people out there who live their lives as MMO’s (massive multiplayer online) gamers, playing games such as World of Warcraft, Eve, and Runescape. The extreme separation of life itself and recreation should not suck any real world elements into it, especially when it comes to the judicial system. They would fail to set a limit of time into games and choose to sever themselves over the real world. If this were to become legal, it would someday bring people to “sue” their co-worker for too much talking or some other non-existent crime. If some choose to spend their time unproductively, would they not expect to be compensated for such types of loses?

While some people see turning to the law for in-game crimes, they fail to realize that video games have their own ways of punishment, so the actual physical prosecution should not be necessary. Weiss observes how games like World of Warcraft will strictly punish their gamers for theft, scamming, and vulgar language. He says, “Violators can be banned and victims’ lost goods are refunded.” Weiss then goes on to point out how in
EVE will actually encourage players to have a behavior of piracy to give them a sense of pride. (729) There are many different games with different styles of engagement and how the game is to be played. To have a universal punishment for these crimes seems unfair and unfit. In spirit video gamers build their video games from the start of nothing, laying out the rules and all the abilities of the game. The chances of being able to steal in the virtual world without hacking is nearly impossible.

Physical prosecution for virtual theft may be providing justice for the theft committed yet providing injustice on a law abiding citizen. Video games make it very easy to steal in, so what will happen when a non-criminal citizen takes the opportunity to do so because it’s not necessarily legal? There is a great sense of curiosity and fantasy that is easily overlooked when someone accuses as in game theft. All depending on the game, there is usually a different direction each character types laid out on the table; pirates, philanthropist, vigilantes, and even barbarians. In our be-who-you-want-to-be- world it is nearly impossible to determine the type of character in the real world based on the one who is in the virtual world. Revisit the question of, do in game actions accurately reflect the players’ actual ethical beliefs? Lots of gamers enter the virtual world of gaming. as an everyday escape from a bad day or as a way to enlarge their creativity. So within these virtual worlds, people tend to not be who they actually are. I myself occasionally play video games. My favorite being Grand Theft Auto. Just in this title alone is the word
“theft”. The object of the game is to choose missions to go on and steal other objects; cars, money, car parts, and other valuable items. In this game each player is vulgar and crude.
There is foul-language, and even over dramatization of drugs. It seems as if when I am playing the game that I am playing with a bunch of other dangerous criminals, but what about myself? I have never stolen in my life, and such action has never crossed my mind, yet that is how I play in Grand Theft Auto. Taking a step back to think about it, I realized that I was not the only person filling the shoes of a character who is my polar opposite. The fact is that if every person who would choose to believe that every video game thief is a malicious criminal in real life would blatantly overlooks those who steal out of in-game spontaneity.

The only point I think Weiss fails to mention is that even though piracy within the game may be harmless, its effects on society may be greater than what we realize. Theft happens everywhere in the world, so in-game theft comes as no surprise as it can be observed as lightening the way our culture looks at piracy today. Some gamers take advantage of the low security virtual realms to practice piracy and start to build and fulfill harmful habits for in game needs. Weiss gives an example of this in “fun-filled piracy”:
In 2010 pirates destroyed a ship that another player had filled with six years’ worth of in- game subscription renewals. At the time, the six years’ worth of play was valued at more than $1,000 in real money through EVE’s rather complicated financial system. (728-729).
Though actual physical punishment is out of the question for this virtual crime committed in “space capitalist hell”, there must be some sort of consideration as to what is happening
(727). The concept is synonymous to desensitizing with violence. Even though desensitization is not technically legal, it all leads to one open door or direction and that is, down. As our culture is heavily influenced by different acts of piracy in video games, one can only know what that means for what is in store for the future of our world. There is a fine line between the judicial law and video game laws, so the punishments should remain separated. It’s a “What Happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, approach to the law and order within the virtual realm. Even though some games do allow piracy, you should think twice about committing the act for the sake of our future. Could these arguments just be hasty generalizations of a truly harmless phenomena or be the truth of what is hiding deep down inside of todays’ youth?