Virtual Crimes and Punishments
With the emergence of virtual environments there has come the emergence of virtual crimes, which can vary from identity theft through computer interfaces to harassment through email. Likewise, the punishment options for these crimes can vary substantially. In addition, the authorities that punish the "criminals" is not the same across virtual communities.
Contents
Definitions
To simplify virtual crimes, a virtual crime can be said to be any "action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state" in a Virtual Environment. However, because of the diversity of virtual environments there is much subjectivity around what qualifies as a virtual crime. Moreover, there has been a large discourse around universal or national virtual crimes. See Policy Vacuums for further readings on this discourse.
A virtual punishment is any penalty inflicted for a virtual crime. The punishment, however, is not limited to the virtual world. A crime in the virtual world can have penalties in the real world.
Dealing with Crime
McGruff the Crime Dog is a cartoon dog that was created for the National Crime Prevention Council to help people protect their digital assets and real-world identities by educating them about cyberspace. The website include games, videos, and advice on how to deal with virtual crime. It creates a interactive experience for all ages and educates the public about the harms of the Internet.
Debatable Virtual Crimes
- Cheating
- Cyberbullying
- Cyberstalking
- Griefing
- Online Cheating
- Virtual Child Pornography
- Virtual Rape
Forms of Punishments for Virtual Crimes
Punishment for virtual crimes have three possible realms, the virtual world in which the crime was committed, digital spaces outside the virtual world, and the physical world.
Punishment in the virtual world
The within-world punishment for committed virtual crimes can be carried out by the players or administrators of said world.
A common choice for player driven punishment is choosing to ostracize the virtual criminal. An example is from the MMORPG World of Warcraft. When a player is branded a ninja (a player who takes an game object without the rest of the groups consent), the affected group spread the branded player's name. The branded character is often not invited or denied access to other group activities. The rejection to group activity is a major hindrance to the branded player because a majority of World of Warcraft game content is group based.
Administrative action against virtual crimes, such as griefing, is often suspension of the user's character. Exploitation of the game's content is met with a reversal of the user's progress before exploitation began (a rollback) and even account closure.
Punishment in exterior digital spaces
Virtual crime punishment can reach other virtual spaces if the crime is severe enough. The punishment for sever crimes usually results in an account closure. Blizzard created a scale detailing in administrative action to repeated virtual world offenders[1]. Account closure is an extreme choice because the deletion of virtual data is the most ethically involved action to be taken by virtual world's administration. Such was the case with toading as the result of virtual rape in LambdaMOO[2]. The deletion of data (entropy of information) is considered the ultimate evil by Luciano Floridi[3].
Cases of Real World Punishment for Virtual Crimes
- In 2008, two teenagers in the Netherlands were given 160 and 200 community service hours for virtually assaulting and stealing material goods in the popular virtual environment, Runescape. [1]
- A first in the country, a man in Great Britain was arrested for hacking into several Runescape accounts and stealing characters and virtual materials. [2]
- In February 2005, a Chinese man selling online game accounts was sentenced to a year in prison and a 5,000 yuan fine for embezzlement of an account he sold to a customer. [3] The use of real currency in exchange for virtual materials have since been banned in China.
Scholars in Virtual Crimes and Punishments
- Mia Consalvo specifically for Online Cheating
- Julian Dibbell specifically for Virtual Rape
See also
References
- ↑ https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/account-penalties
- ↑ See Virtual Rape
- ↑ Floridi, Luciano, ed. The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print. pg 17
