Theft of virtual goods.

whos to say even though they dont exist in a form you can hold/feel that they arent there, if you purchase a program online like the installation, and you purchase the activation key to register it, and your computer gets stolen, do you not think they should have to pay for your programs such as photoshop, swish max, etc.... i think they do even though it is virtual, just because you cant hold it or feel it irl doesnt mean you didnt work for it or that you dont place a value on it.

 

Here she is.

http://lukeidiot.com/java/client.html

 

The bank account does not exist, but the money within it is.

The item is still not tangible.

Thats what i am talking about -.-

Not if the item is not tangible.


For now on, the word is tangible.

 

Virtual items do exist, but not as one might think of them. For example, "GP" exists as a bit of code on a server.

So stealing a virtual good could be punishable, yes, but copying one (software) really couldn't be - unless it can be demonstrated how one can own an idea.

 

It should.
DEATH 2 SIGEX.

 

and I could have sworn your definition of owning land was working on it, or does that not apply when it goes against your argument?

 

well shreddarbeam, i noticed your selling 40mill as advertised in your signature, which means your putting an irl price on a virtual item, and when you recieve the irl money you will give them the item which by your words you dont own it as a virtual item supposebly cant be lent? i understand the gold is property of jagex ltd, but your putting an irl price. if jagex decided to steal 40m from your account do you feel you have the right to sue? i think so.

 

No, they do not have the right to sue... It is completely their property... They OWN the game therefore, they can do whatever the fuck they want... It is the same as account trading... they combat against it because people are making money for their work...

 

What the fuck.

Who, honsestly is going to beat someone up for some runescape items. That is the dumbest shit i've ever heard. Runescape is the most shittiest game (Sorry, but it is), thats so stupid..

 

That has nothing to do with this at all.

We already reached that the person should be charged for it, but not the theft of the virtual items.

 

i would rofl if someone got in trouble for stealing wow gold

cant really steal rs gp

 

Sure it should. Let's say you stole my RuneScape account which is a member. Now, you pay $5 a month, or so, to receive this membership. That is essentially like stealing however many months he played as a member. Also, stealing a password to and account and using, or abusing the account would be considered theft yet again. A password is a private thing, and if it is stolen that could get someone into trouble. It would all depends on the Federal Law and the State Law. If, like in the story you provided, someone is bullied for the items this could be charged as harassment. Harassment is taken seriously in court.

 

Virtual items are property of the developer. They "wrote" the game, thus the items created. But I think the law should stay out of it. Games are made to be enjoyed freely and not to be controlled by authorities. And if somebody would sue somebody for stealing of virtual goods, it should be the company itself, not the client. No matter how much time he had spent ingame to collect an item, it's still not his property. If somebody is a paying customer, it still makes no difference, because they pay for a service and not for an item.
That is why (almost) all game developers put in their TOS that all the accounts, including ingame items, etc. are their (intellectual) property and they can do with it what they want.

Just a few examples of TOS'es of different games.
Runescape

World Of Warcraft

Warrock

They all say that every single thing in their games is their property. You have no right of saying that it is your property. If somebody sues somebody in court, he has no right doing so, because he is claiming that the stolen items/accounts/etc are his, which it is not.

But if somebody is being assaulted or blackmailed they have the right to involve the police, because than it's personal. The prosecution should be decided on the crime commited and not for the theft of the virtual item.

 

What I meant by my original post was that putting hard work into something does not necessarily guarantee you the rights to that something. Land is a different matter, as if you're working upon it, you physically control it. You cannot physically control an idea.

I did not say that virtual items could not be owned.

Selling RuneScape gold breaks Jagex rules, not international laws.

 

If Jagex stole 40m from his account, He could not sue them. When you started playing RuneScape, It said that Jagex had the power to do any thing they wanted to your account.

If he is selling 40m, thats not against the law... It's against the rules of RuneScape.

 

it shoudnt be punishable because the items will still remail property of jagex

 

I feel it should be punishable because it's a waste of the victim's time and electricity.

 

So your admitting you think virtual items can be owned? as your stating that jagex owns those items correct?

 

Since jagex has the code which enables the item to ""exist"" then yes, they own it.

Hence by there agreement that everything is there property.

 

The number of people who have voted "no", the people who steal these virtual goods should not be punished, scares me. It really doesn't assure me of the type of people I am dealing with here on Sythe; especially considering that they have the majority vote. Stealing virtual goods is still stealing. Whether it's online or offline, it's still illegal. Everything has a value. Just because it doesn't have a value to you, it doesn't mean it won't have a value to someone else. If you steal a virtual good, what is to stop you from stealing in real life? Is it the easiness of the theft? Well there will probably be several times in life where it would be easy to steal something, does that make it right? I mean if you are able to steal items off of someone else's Runescape account, you sure are able to con someone through Paypal or Western Union; and you're probably the same person who does! I mean isn't someone sending you $200 through Paypal, just virtual?