Woman jailed after virtual ex slay
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Oct 24th 2008 at 1:45PM }
The victim, a 33-year-old Japanese man, initiated a virtual divorce between his avatar and the woman's avatar, which allegedly so angered the accused that she used the man's identification and password -- obtained while they were "happily married" -- to log into his MapleStory account and carry out his avatar's execution. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the woman was quoted as telling investigators. She has yet to be formally charged, but could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
[Thanks, Edwin]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Myth @ Oct 24th 2008 1:48PM
Every article I've read on this tries to tell a story about how she "killed his character". No one says what she actually did.
Did she just have him killed in a fight? Or did she delete his character? This a massive difference between the two, and I can't tell which one happened.
Morisato @ Oct 24th 2008 2:00PM
I think the point is identity theft, not the actual killing of the character.
BananaBoat @ Oct 25th 2008 4:01AM
Which is what they fail to mention. Unfortunately for him, he GAVE HER the password, and the log-in. Knowing Nexon (and I do, very well, played many of their past games such as Nexus, Shattered Galaxy, Baram, etc) they will probably ban his account for character sharing. I can't imagine that the charges could stick, considering that he knowingly and willingly gave her the password so that she could log in (which she did).
I know a few people that have gotten married in game, and then IRL to the same person (met through the game). I know many more that are married in a game, and have crazy delusions that somehow they will actually end up married IRL, when the other party is clearly uninterested. Hell, most of the people I know met through the Nexon game Nexus (a game they have since sold to another company). The company provides a way to marry a character, with certain benefits (instant teleportation to wherever the wife/husband is at the time, etc) and harsh penalties for divorce (losing character stats). It's no wonder that delusional people would eventually take it too far and do something insane like deleting someones character.
Again though, I think it would set a dangerous precedent (in Japan) if any charges actually stick here. If you give someone your login information, and then they log in, there is no way it should be considered a crime. Now if she had stolen the information, it would be a different story, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
The moral of the story is that you should never share your character information with anyone. Even though Nexon goes to great pains to teach players this (On Nexus, there was a monthly quiz about password/ID security, as well as a few other things) there are still plenty of people that share characters, and that pay the consequences for doing so.
Superstar90 @ Oct 24th 2008 1:49PM
WHAT THE SHIT!
Courtney @ Oct 24th 2008 1:50PM
This story makes my head hurt.
Fanboy @ Oct 24th 2008 1:54PM
Yea seriously, what the fuck did I just read?
Misfit Toy @ Oct 24th 2008 3:05PM
lol...I'm with you.
wiinterfang @ Oct 25th 2008 12:55PM
What the balls?
offday @ Oct 24th 2008 1:50PM
I'm glad they don't have virtual weddings in WoW.
JerJerBinks @ Oct 24th 2008 2:24PM
That is the best part of Fable 2. If at any point I decide that I don't like my wife anymore, I can just turn off the safety and slay the bitch. Honestly, I think the Albion is Nirvana.
turnabout_gamer @ Oct 24th 2008 3:25PM
"I'm glad they don't have virtual weddings in WoW."
you'd be surprised what people do in WoW.
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Oct 24th 2008 10:56PM
What happens in Azeroth stays in Azeroth.
Venom Muyo @ Oct 24th 2008 1:52PM
So flippin retarded!
xFenixKnightx @ Oct 24th 2008 1:52PM
So, what exactly happened? Why is she going to jail? For stealing passwords? Videogame murder?
*scratches head
Bao @ Oct 24th 2008 2:19PM
@Fenix
More like "giving." How else would she have obtained his password and username? Happens all the time when you are happily married in-game or in some cases they give them out just because they're friends and you can ask your buddy to "grind" for you.
Either way this article does hurt my head. How does one murder an avatar?!?!
StrangeBum @ Oct 24th 2008 2:35PM
I believe that the reason they gave for arresting her was 'hacking' into his account and deleting his avatar...the fact that he gave her his information makes it seem like an unwarranted arrest, but whatever.
Mr Khan @ Oct 24th 2008 1:53PM
"-- to log into his MapleStory account and carry out his avatar's execution."
Any MapleStory players about who could clarify this? Deletion of character process, etc? I saw this on my homepage and it also led to the idea that she killed him in-game
StrangeBum @ Oct 24th 2008 2:33PM
She logged into his account and deleted his character.
Levi @ Oct 24th 2008 1:55PM
...what?
Shignami @ Oct 24th 2008 2:46PM
My thoughts exactly.
Brodo @ Oct 24th 2008 1:57PM
So wait... am I reading this right? A lady may face 5 years in jail for killing a digital character? People get out of jail for REAL murder in that amount of time, this cant be right
Duke @ Oct 24th 2008 4:43PM
No, you are not reading it right. "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data" is what they said she did. Its akin to a hacking charge and has nothing to do with the "murder".
[playwhutyalike {C.E.P}] @ Oct 24th 2008 1:59PM
Dear Mother Nature,
We are failing as a human race. Please kill us all.
XOXO,
play
Maic @ Oct 24th 2008 2:03PM
pretty please?
NoHitHair @ Oct 24th 2008 4:44PM
Can we start over?
Grant @ Oct 24th 2008 5:12PM
someone hit the reset button on the NES of life please?
aj @ Oct 24th 2008 7:43PM
Take out the cartridge that is the universe, and give it a good blowing.
DangerMouse @ Oct 24th 2008 2:02PM
I think she got arrested for breaking into another's computer and deleting their data, thus "killing" them. Or maybe i'm just as confused as everyone else.
shivr @ Oct 24th 2008 2:04PM
Shes going to jail for computer haxxing, not for 'murdering' a silly MS character lol.
Yourself @ Oct 24th 2008 2:09PM
Lol, she "executed" the character. The distinction between the meaning of that IRL and ICL could make for some funny legal proceedings.
Dirty @ Oct 24th 2008 2:19PM
Moral of the story. Dont date older women, they are all deadly cougars who are bat shit crazy.
WAP @ Oct 24th 2008 3:16PM
Which makes the younger ones sane? Logic....circuit....failing....
Dirty @ Oct 24th 2008 3:19PM
Stupidity.... hotness....
iFester @ Oct 24th 2008 2:21PM
If anything, the guy should be charged by the game company by breaching Terms of Service by giving the woman his account name and password.
I've said it before, the world is slowly turning into the film Idiocracy.
The future is dumb indeed.
Nevers @ Oct 24th 2008 2:28PM
IMHO, I think prosecuting the woman who was given the information by the man is gonna be a little hard. He gave her the account info so he essentially gave her the right to "pull the plug" ... implied consent basically. And since he doesn't own the avatar (just the account as with all MMO's) I don't even think it would be like propertay damage unless the game company wanted to litigate...
As this is a foreign country to me, I'm just speculating.
But I say prosecute the stupid... crazy people can't help but be crazy but stupidity is a choice.
Roxinos @ Oct 24th 2008 2:34PM
If I give you my bank account information and you use it to access my account and steal all of my money, I still have a case of theft against you.
Also, I don't see what prosecuting the stupid has to do with this. The woman was angry after her husband divorced her without a word of warning, and she's not the type to do something in real life, so she went into the virtual world and hit him there.
Nevers @ Oct 24th 2008 4:28PM
I see your point; but your avatar in these games, unlike the money in your bank, is NOT your property. Those are owned by the gaming company that you pay your money to. Hence, selling of your avatar on say EBAY is punishable thru the gaming company... usually a BAN-Hammer. So technically she destroyed MapleStory's intellectual property. His property includes the computer he plays it on and the disk he bought... the character stats, gear, abilities and information is/was never technically his.
He was beyond stupid if he gave out his account info to someone he'd never met in RL... and yeah I know it's my opinion but I can be tolerant of the stupid at my job cuz I HAVE TO BE... but I won't put up with being subjected to their ways if I'm not being paid for it.
If only stupid people didn't come out good looking... I'd love to have somehow bred them out of our gene pool.
Roxinos @ Oct 24th 2008 2:34PM
Ah, everyone loves sensationalistic journalism. Making your headlines look as appealing as possible, regardless of their relevance to the story, to sell papes.
ice~ @ Oct 24th 2008 2:33PM
the best things in life are free...LIKE MAPLE STORY!!!
Anthony33 @ Oct 24th 2008 2:37PM
Damn Japan takes their videogames seriously...
deaftly @ Oct 24th 2008 2:42PM
Bitch should have a just stayed in the kitchen like shes supposed to.
xFenixKnightx @ Oct 24th 2008 3:12PM
Motherfucking right! Hey woman, wheres mah beer?!!!
*burps
*scratches balls
*farts
&rew @ Oct 24th 2008 3:40PM
Oh yea- uh, I mean, chauvenistic/sarcastic pigs.
damien @ Oct 24th 2008 2:45PM
I wonder when we will have to deal with first virtual serial killer.
Daringone @ Oct 24th 2008 2:47PM
I think everyone's overlooking the fact that this chick needs some serious mental help. The first thing I thought when reading this was "Psycho!"
Bass Turd @ Oct 24th 2008 3:09PM
/facepalm
WAP @ Oct 24th 2008 3:16PM
"The internet. It's serious business." In 5...
Amirisme @ Oct 24th 2008 3:22PM
hell have no fury like a avatar scorn....
Ridgecity @ Oct 24th 2008 3:56PM
Come back from work, expecting hot dinner, and you get no wife, no kids and your pokemon are gone.
Author X @ Oct 24th 2008 4:23PM
Wow. I love you...
...well, this time I'm not sure who's to blame. I mean, the internet in general is a usual choice, or Maple Story specifically or Japan, or the Japanese legal system or just the human race.
Let's face it, this story just makes me happy to be alive. Thank you, Joystiq, for letting me in on this beautiful tale of complete and utter failure on multiple levels.