[Mike]

Originally Posted by Plain Old Jane

I could care less that the US mint backs up my cash with gold, the fact that other people place value on these slips of paper does count and does go through my mind.

In the game, this sword was won through dedication and time, time wasted twere it stolen. It had value to the man that earned it, and no doubt others playing the game.

It has value only in that world. The game world. It has absolutely no value outside of that world. Hence, it is only punnishable in that world...

Both money and alleged swords exist on servers under the same format as ones and zeros. (granted thats a broad term but it is essentially true) The sword held value for the fucker who stole it and the man who earned it. Money in the physical sense only has value to those who use it and take it in return for goods and services. those ones and zeros on a computer that signify the 30 some dollars in my bank account (tuitions a fucking bitch) hold value because I believe they do, nonetheless they have value.

It doesn't matter how they're represented or how they're kept track of in a computer, real life money actually has value because we have international organizations (the IMF and the World Bank most noteably) that recognize different currencies for the purpose of exchanges. You cannot trade your WoW money.

While playing the devils advocate, I can see why this sort of thing can happen, but the point is not whether the sword held any value federally, its if it held value to those involved, and that could have been prevented with proper legislation, not nessesarily from the federal govt.

The value of American dollars, and most currencies, does not have anything to do with sentimental value or another factor ... $10 is $10 if I earned it through work or whether I found it on the ground. The value of this sword seems to be a culmination of time spent in the game, work in the game, its in game use, and some other factors. Money/Objects in videogames aren't the same thing. Now, you could probably sue the person who steals from you in a game, and if you have a particularly isolated court, you could win... most courts would throw the case away because it is a waste of time and money, but if you have a small-town court, you could probably win the suit.

This is true, nontheless, is it right to continue to have no rules concerning ownership and punishment for virtual criminal behavior. As this would cause stuff like this to happen again.

It is right to not have any real world laws regarding things that are in a make-believe world. It's sort of absurd ... and the possibility for exploitation is limitless. For instance, why limit this to online play? Let's say that you've spent countless hours in some videogame earning some sort of goal ... you've built your character up and obtained dozens of trinkets and weapons, and what not, that have a value to you. You're fighting the end-boss of the game and he kills you and you have to start back at level 0? Now while that is not generally how games are setup, you know what I mean. Couldn't we then sue the game developer for taking away something that we worked hard for? I got a ton of guns in GTA, and then Tenpenny shot the hell out of me in the last level and I lost all of my guns ... Should Rockstar be arrested, they wrote the code?

US laws cannot legislate in game environments... only a Terms of Service by the company. THe game company should force a service agreement that you cannot steal from other people in the game ... If they've allowed it to happen and its under their service agreement, nobody has done anything wrong. IF it is against their rules, then those players must be punished and not allowed to play.