Should stealing virtual goods be illegal?

[Zethorum]

Do you think stealing virtual goods should be illegal? I'm not one to say wether or not it should be, but I do believe scammers/hackers are only hurting themselves. In the end, do you really want to look back on your life and see scamming kids for your own profit? Any normal person, with at least a glimmer of compassion, wouldn't.

I personally think that stealing virtual goods should not be illegal. But stealing the time and effort a person put into getting those items, should be. I've wasted 7 years, and over 5000 hours of my life creating a runescape account with pretty much all 99's. To think someone could just steal that from me and get away worry free, worries me.

Us humans only have a very limited amount of time on this earth. And time, wether it's wasted playing video games, or spent volunteering, is still time.

 

[paypalwiz]

Stealing is stealing. Taking something that does not belong to you. Being virtual or physical it does not matter. I'm a big believer in karma.

 

[Emperor Nero]

The thing is that virtual goods have no intrinsic value (Value contained within the item itself.) and we just assign it value because of personal value and we see an opening to make money. The items have personal value but have no value beyond that, besides what we have assigned to it. Personally, stealing is stealing but stealing virtual goods in a sense of value isn't punishable in my opinion.

Just wanted to LOL Karama. Like the universe has some kind of built in points system that decides what happens to you in your life.

 

[Kratom]

Virtual goods only have a value you decide it to have, it can not be regulated legally.

 

[Buissness]

Of Course not, police have better things to do.

 

[Herman Li]

Of Course not, police have better things to do.

Terribly poor reason. Yes, of course it should be illegal. It shouldn't matter the form of what is being 'stolen'. It is wrong and looked down upon by all societal groups.

 

[Prominent]

Stealing is stealing.
It should be illegal.

 

[Stormstruck]

Ofcourse this should be illegal - ebooks/movies/music is created to sell not be given away for free. or are you just talking about runescape *sigh*

OP seems to be contradicting or is 'should not be illegal' a typo?
It is stealing, it may be a lot easier to do and get away with, but it's stealing and should be illegal.

If you spent a couple of years writing a book and someone typed it out and leaked it for a free download and you didn't make a single sale would you feel injustice? The problem is it takes business and success away from the makers of the virtual goods

 

[Delta Squad]

if it can be written in a contract/law, then sure.

 

[Emperor Nero]

Ofcourse this should be illegal - ebooks/movies/music is created to sell not be given away for free. or are you just talking about runescape *sigh*

OP seems to be contradicting or is 'should not be illegal' a typo?
It is stealing, it may be a lot easier to do and get away with, but it's stealing and should be illegal.

If you spent a couple of years writing a book and someone typed it out and leaked it for a free download and you didn't make a single sale would you feel injustice? The problem is it takes business and success away from the makers of the virtual goods

Ebooks, movies, and music aren't virtual items. They're intellectual property.

 

[ForeverFresh]

The age of computers and the internet has came and now information is very insecure. If you found $20 on the ground and noone was around you would probably pick it up.

 

[mike1]

if its in contract yes

 

[SmperFidelis]

I believe it should. However, it is extremely hard to track the virtual good, thus making it not legal now. I think it should be illegal, but it would be pretty hard to get the scammer brought to justice in real life.

 

[Drugs]

This thread is stupid, ofcourse it should be illegal

 

[Lillie_Services]

I believe it should be and nobody will say that it should not, since most of us already got scammed at least once.

Therefore, if trading this virtual good is against the company's terms, there's nothing we can really do.

Getting the government and having law suit for this would simply be a waste and imagine the number of time/lawyers/judge that it would take. However, stealing in real life is illegal, then why should it be legal on the internet..?

 

[symphony888]

It's still under the category stealing. But I don't think it should carry a heavy-punishment if you were to steal virtual goods.

 

[skybluesam1]

Yes ofcourse it should be illegal what is different to me stealing a shop compared to someones shop here on sythe. There isn`t a difference . Plus think of all the hardwork someone has put into that account just so it could get scammed.

 

[Mr Immortality]

Stealing should be illegal, but it's going to be hard to stop all the scammers and thieves.. especially behind a computer.

 

[[S]eki]

It already is illegal, isn't it?

 

[Zethorum]

It already is illegal, isn't it?

As far as Runescape stuff, technically no. Because the items "Don't Exist" and "Belong To Jagex, Not You".

But if you're willing to spend money (usually a lot more than your account/gold is even worth) you can eventually track down the scammer and bring him to a court or formal dispute.