Virtual Economies

Dutch Virtual Theft Case Involved Real-world Violence

October 22, 2008

The Associated Press reports that two Dutch teens have been convicted of stealing virtual game items from a third boy. All three played Runescape, a popular online RPG. At issue is ownership of two virtual items, an amulet and a mask.

While the ruling was the subject of some mirth in the U.S. gaming press, Antal Princen, a Dutch reader of GamePolitics, wrote in to say that there was much more to the story. The AP simply mentions that the victim was coerced, but Antal says there was some nasty real-world violence involved:

[The media reports] omitted a few important details: The duo not only stole the virtual goods, but actually beat the other kid up and threatened him with a knife. They extorted an amulet and mask. In Runescape they're worth a lot of money and in real life people buy them for real money, which is one of the reasons the judge said it was theft.

 

The boys were convicted for "violent theft". They lured the victim to their house, caught him in a chokehold and kicked and hit him. They used a kitchen knife to threaten the victim. Both thieves showed no regret and didn't acknowledge they did something wrong, which is never good if you find yourself in a Dutch court... The lawyers will appeal.

Indeed, Antal directed us to Dutch website Parool.nl, where we were able to translate the story sufficiently to confirm Antal's account. That being the case, the issue of whether one can steal virtual goods seems to take a back seat to the sheer thuggery of the would-be amulet robbers.

GP: Dank u wel to Antal Princen for the report!

Warhammer Online's Gold-Seller Hate Makes No Sense, Writer Argues

October 3, 2008

I've been playing Warhammer Online since it launched about two weeks ago and I'm thoroughly enjoying life as a squig herder. Might jump over to The Order on another server though. That Dwarf engineer looks like fun, too.

Right now my greenskin is a bit short on in-game cash to buy gear, but it looks like I'll have to make do. That's because WO developer Mythic is aggressively targeting gold sellers. In fact, Mythic co-founder Mark Jacobs recently wrote, “I HATE GOLD SELLERS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING.”

Decaf, Mark...

Over at Gigaom, Wagner James Au argues that Mythic's approach doesn't make much sense:

When launching a big-budget online game, it doesn’t strike me as a very good idea to risk alienating nearly a quarter of your user base right out the gate. That, however, is likely to be the consequence of an extreme anti-gold selling policy at Mythic Entertainment...

 

In a study by Nick Yee, a PARC research scientist... 22 percent of players surveyed reported purchasing game gold, with those ages 35 and over most likely to do so... let’s face it: If you have kids and a mortgage, you only have so many hours a week left over to play games.

 

So if Mythic succeeds in driving away gold sellers, it seems inevitable that it will succeed in hurting Warhammer Online’s retention, too. For surely players who like to buy their way out of difficult quests but no longer can are likely to get frustrated and leave for another game.

GP: I've fessed up in the past to buying WoW gold, which led to the most hate mail I've ever gotten. In my case, though, it's pretty much what Nick Yee found in his research. Kids + mortgage + job = less time to play.

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/20/08 at 07:18pm
Shadow D. Darkman: @PHX: Yo.
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:14pm
PHX Corp: hey shadow
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:13pm
Shadow D. Darkman: Hmm...
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:06pm
d.vel.oper: @sql: Ah. How's the performance? Looking for a quantifiable sum, btw.
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:03pm
sqlrob: when it hits the server. The server doesn't know anything happened
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:03pm
sqlrob: @d: The endpoint doesn't see the change. It's compressed (and other optimizations) between client and hardware, then normal
Posted 11/20/08 at 07:01pm
d.vel.oper: @sql: I'm assuming we're talking about more here than just endpoint compression?
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:59pm
sqlrob: ..., needs the proper network backend hardware for most features, but not all
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:59pm
PHX Corp: WTF, Obama Citezinsip questioned again http://foolocracy.com/2008/11/supreme-court-to-review-obamas-citizenship/
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:58pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I also don't want to spam. It's a WAN accelerator, runs under Windows and accelerates network traffic
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:56pm
d.vel.oper: @sqlrob: What product(s) do you actually work on, if you're not all NDAized, that is.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:56pm
PHX Corp: If things go well the Republicans may have to go libertaian if all else fails
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I was also part of an acquisition, I originally did VPN work
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
d.vel.oper: Just let them have their guns and their wives/sisters.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:55pm
d.vel.oper: Sure, it's infuriating, but not threatening. They're obviously no longer the majority.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
d.vel.oper: @PHX: These are the same guys that believe fossils were a practical joke played by god.
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
sqlrob: @d.vel.oper: I don't work on that part of the product. I work on network acceleration
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:54pm
PHX Corp: I compared all comentaters on that site(about Humanevents.com) to Drug addicts and alcholics, not on his blog, here
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:52pm
d.vel.oper: @sqlrob: You like that job? Or just so old you're not an idealist any more?
Posted 11/20/08 at 06:51pm
PHX Corp: some of his commentators declaring tht the goverment has every right to regulate Video games (In thier opinion they are not free Speech)
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