Japanese Woman Kills Online Husband
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Maple, Story, Virtual, Divorce
Taking revenge out on an online partner - whether it’s a teammate or a virtual spouse - could mean trouble in the real world.
Friday the Associated Press reported that a Japanese woman hacked into her online "husband’s" Maple Story account and killed the avatar. While the report said that she had no intent to cause the other player physical harm in the real world, she now faces a prison term up to 5 years or a fine up to $5,000 for "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data," or in other words, hacking.
Apparently, her reasoning for killing off the virtual husband was because she suddenly found herself divorced without any reasons given, without any prior warning. The woman originally obtained the 33-year-old office worker’s login information while the virtual couple was still happily married. Thus, out of anger, she took her revenge. The man called the police once he logged in and discovered that his Maple Story alter ego was murdered. Although the woman has not been formally charged, she was arrested at her home in southern Miyazaki and taken 620 miles across Japan to Sapporo, the city where the male player resides.
Physical crimes based on online gaming are nothing new. Back in August, USA Today reported that a North Carolina woman was charged with plotting an actual, physical abduction of a "boyfriend" she met through Second Life. Although the man broke off the virtual relationship after meeting her in person, the 33-year-old woman drove to his apartment in Delaware armed with a stun gun, duct tape, handcuffs, and waited. She chickened out and ran off when he came home, however he called 911 and had her arrested.
In January, Pink Tentacle reported that a 16-year-old boy playing the MMORPG Mabinogi hacked into the game’s host (NEXON) and stole $325,000 (USD) worth of virtual money. The hacker used illegal software to obtain the ID and password of a former NEXON employee. Once he gained access to the game’s backend, he thus registered a new ID and password and began stealing the virtual money. His original intent was to acquire a rare dress worn by the game’s princess. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested the high school student with basically the same charge as the Maple Story hacker.
It’s really no surprise that incidents such as the ones listed above occur. MMORPG’s are especially engaging because players create their characters from scratch and - through their actions - watch them develop and grow. These games are so emotionally engrossing that either children die from neglect, the players themselves take their emotions out of other human players, or don’t even bother to take care of themselves at all.
To make things worse, now many MMORPGs offer virtual marriages; obviously, there are repercussions from such a feature. Marriage seems to be the commonplace in most MMORPGS such as Lineage 2, Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, and many others. Divorce systems are even in place to dissolve those in-game relationships. However, gamers need to keep in mind of who’s on the other end of that avatar before making those virtual “I Do’s.”
Developed by South Korean company Wizet, Maple Story is a free-to-play MMORPG featuring 2D avatars and a "Cash Shop" system where players buy items using real currency. Although the game reaches multiple countries including Korea, China, Brazil and even Thailand, over three million fan currently play in the North American / Asian / European area alone; the game currently has fifty million players worldwide.
-
Previous News Article
Namco Bandai Takes Over... -
Next News Article
A Fighter Jet for Google Founders
Can't call it hacking if he originally gave her the password willingly.
Shouldn't this have been news on Friday, as opposed to Monday?
lol the other 47 million players come from Kenya and Nigeria ...and South Africa!!!! ^_^ we breed like rabbits
^ i personally find that offensive and would like the term 'breed like rats' to be used
I find it impressive how people can become so attached to a gaming enviroment. The developers must really have done something right. Although that may not be a good thing in some regards.
I LOL'D.
wow.. record time tom's, only a week late...
good thing i don't get my daily dose of news from toms, would suck if there's a nuclear attack or mega internet virus turning monitors into killing machines or something....
I think Miyazaki is at least 1,000 miles from Sapporo.
Hard to say really. Google earth can't find sapporo.
What happens to the virtual children of the couple if she is sent to jail in real life???
Serves him right for giving away the password and for refusing to pay alimony
Suppose they'll have to be given up for adoption or at least put in administrative care of sorts? Else they'll starve ....
Hard to say really. Google earth can't find sapporo.
Really? Sapporo is the 5th biggest city in Japan with 2 million people and the the capital of Hokkaidō (prefecture/island). It hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics.
I agree with waffles, its not really hacking if somebody gives you the password. This sounds like a civil case to me, not a criminal one.
@ gm0n3y : Unauthorized access is still an offense. If I'd hand a hired electrician a key to some place where he has to do stuff, its still a crime if he steals something. Same should apply here imo.
@ pei-chen : Really? Only things I know about japan are the cars. Excellent ones, but so overpriced nobody can afford anything other than a rubbish aygo. Anyway. My mom was 10 when the said olympics took place. I'd really know nothing about that.
Anyway yes. My google earth couldn't find it. Perhaps a newer version can, or a japanese version if one exists. Or perhaps I could find it using the blocks that are used instead of the letters I know. But I can neither input them nor read them.
@ gm0n3y : Unauthorized access is still an offense. If I'd hand a hired electrician a key to some place where he has to do stuff, its still a crime if he steals something. Same should apply here imo.
If she was given the password to the computer by the husband it will be hard to say unauthorized... Also really calling the cops after your maple story character was deleted...
That Japanese guy should kill himself to restore the pathetic honor he had before. His ancestors would be ashamed of him if they actually could see what he has become.
Also getting married on a game just screams a loser and begs for the failure of the "marriage."
Also pei-chen who cares, the Olympics are a joke. I mean really they took place in a country with a horrible human rights record. Why not have it in Afghanistan, or Iraq when Saddam was in charge.
China needs to learn to ACT like a first-world country. Anyway, having any game take over your life is pathetic. I mean I'm the computer almost all day long when I'm in one of my college courses. Will I still be playing this much after I get a job in Networking? hell no.
Some people need a wake up call, hopefully this act of stupidity will be that to both the ex-husband and wife.
@ kami3k : Your ignorance is impressive. And I can't say that is a good thing!
Japan and china aren't the same place.
And your attitute reminds me of the teens I have to deal with at work. Just because you don't care for gaming, or for olympics or whatever else you can't be arsed about doesn't make it a joke or pathetic. On the contrary really. I find people like you, who have nothing to care for, no purpose, pathetic.
I don't care for sports myself, but I still respect people that do. And I believe people that don't play games are in a sinking boat. They'll end up being the grumpy old folks that snare at you for buying the 'wrong kind of milk' in the supermarked. I'm not saying that gaming half your life away is good, but it's definetly better to be a gamer and care for the games you play, than being a grumpy fart that has no purpose in life but to make others feel miserable.
Just my two euro-cents.
Oh and giving her the password isn't the same as permitting her derestricted access.
I like how the idiot above me failed to notice I was talking about the Olympics.
Guess you couldn't read this part " It hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics." It doesn't change the fact that the Olympics took place this year in a country with one of the worst human rights records. The Olympics are suppose to be about bringing people to together. Last I checked throwing people in jail for speaking their mind isn't bringing people together.
Also very nice in taking everything I said to mean I care about nothing. Yea I don't care about gaming at all, I dont have whole collection of video games or anything else.
It doesn't help to act like you know wtf you are talking about. It helps to KNOW wtf you are talking about. Something you obviously don't.
I'm actually not going to argue with you about what I know or not. I'm right. I KNOW that. There's no point trying to replace your ignorance with knowledge. It will fail.
Anyhow, I'll give you a tip: Don't talk about stuff you know nothing about.