Woman jailed for killing virtual husband
Categories: In the news, Weird but true
Even pretend marriages can go horribly wrong -- a Japanese woman engaged in an online game "killed" her virtual husband following their virtual divorce, and how she's been arrested on the suspicion of hacking.The game, called "Maple Story," lets players create avatars that represent themselves. Then, they role-play relationships, engage in social activities and (get this one) fight against monsters -- hey, just your average day in the virtual 'burbs, right?
According to Japanese police, the 43-year-old woman illegally accessed her "ex-husband's" computer, using his ID and password to log into the game and commit the make-believe murder sometime back in May.
Investigators quoted the woman as saying, "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. It made me so angry."
OK, let me get this straight -- she was pretend-divorced, and so she pretend-killed the guy, and now she's in real jail? And she faces a fine of up to $5,000? All because of a video game?
Dude, why didn't she just go to pretend-small claims court? I just don't get it. "Dungeons and Dragons" mystified me as a teenager, because some kids seemed to take it so very seriously. Now we're living in entirely virtual worlds, and committing virtual crimes of passion.
Lest you think this is some kind of strange Japanese thing, how about the woman in Delaware, who was charged in August with plotting the abduction of a "boyfriend" she met through another online virtual world, "Second Life?"
What's next? I shudder to even think.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jenn 11-06-2008 @ 10:19AM
It's not like she's charged with murder or something. She's in jail because she hacked his account, and destroyed something that he spent a good bit of time and money creating.
If someone broke into your house and destroyed something that you had spent a lot of time and resources on, would you be incredulous that they then went to jail?
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c_rousseau05 11-07-2008 @ 2:38AM
ROFL! @ pretend small claims court. I love that haha!
Yeah, gamer people can sometimes be scary. I think they get so focused and into their little virtual world that they forget that there is a reality in front of them too. I know, i'm a gamer, and yeah i've spent hours locked into my favorite mmo but i'm not a nut like that girl lol. I went from spending four to five hours a day playing to spending like one or two hours a day since I had my daughter. I play at night when everyone goes to bed, my daughter is too important to me to let a stupid game get in the way, plus she's way more fun!
I seriously think you have to have some kind of mental/emotional issue to get THAT into something that is not real, seriously. It is scary that so many people are doing these crazy things because of their obsession with games. I don't really understand how someone can get that into it, it's just beyond crazy to me and I really don't get it. What kind of mentality does a person have to have to get this involved? People have divorced in real life over games, neglected and even killed their children because they were so involved and have done horrible things just because of their obsession with these virtual worlds. It's really sad.
All I know is that boy better be glad she wasn't his real life girlfriend/wife........oh man.
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