Foreverpurple

Here’s a snippet of the whole article. All I can say is WTF???? Stealing virtual shit is just ridiculous but he seriously beat this kid to get the stuff!!! The 16 year old needs some counseling or to be in Juvie.

Edwin Feldmann, IDG News Service/Haarlem Bureau
Thursday, October 23, 2008 06:50 AM PDT


The decision came in the case of a 16-year-old boy charged with beating another teenager in the victim’s room and stealing virtual property. On Sept. 6 last year the defendant forced the 13-year-old victim to log in to RuneScape and hand over the money and virtual goods he possessed in the virtual world, according to the charges.

The victim resisted and ended up in a fight with the suspect and a friend who was also in the room. The defendant was charged with kicking the victim’s head and body and trying to strangle him. The victim claims he was threatened with a knife and said he would have been killed if he didn’t obey.

After the fight the defendant took the victim’s virtual money and goods, moved it to his account, then logged out, according to the charges. The lawsuit only dealt with the theft of the goods – a virtual amulet and a virtual mask in RuneScape – but it’s the first time a judge in the Netherlands has ruled that the theft of virtual property is illegal and should be treated like stealing real-world objects.