Is Japan Catching up to America in Crazy?

[cdiver2]

BBC World Service


Woman in jail over virtual murder

The online game Maplestory has gained in popularity around the world
A woman has been arrested in Japan after she allegedly killed her virtual husband in a popular video game.

The 43-year-old was reportedly furious at finding herself suddenly divorced in the online game Maplestory.

Police say she illegally accessed log-in details of the man playing her husband, and killed off his character.

The woman, a piano teacher, is in jail in Sapporo waiting to learn if she faces charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data.

She was arrested on Wednesday and taken 620 miles (1,000 km) from her home in southern Miyazaki to Sapporo - where her "husband", a 33-year-old office worker lives.

If charged with the offences, and convicted, she faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

'So angry'

A Sapporo police official, according to the Associated Press news agency, said the woman had used the man's ID and password to log in to the game last May to carry out the virtual murder.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," she was quoted by the official as telling investigators.

Maplestory is a Korean-made game, which has grown in popularity around the world but has a strong fan base in the Far East.

The game centres on defeating monsters, but players can also engage in social activities and relationships - including marriages - through their digital characters, called avatars.

[RikRaeder]

As of last year they have passed some new "privacy laws" here which they are taking quite seriously. Ironically enough, when a REAL murderer was captured last year after stalking and murdering an English teacher from Great Britain, he somehow managed to escape from police custody (damn, have to lock the car when the suspect is in there) and is still at large. There hasn't exactly been a big manhunt over it either.
The police here are big-time feminine genitalia. Saw some African kid push a cop (5 years/US) then slap the cop (5 years + beating/US) after dumping his drugs in a nearby garbage can. The three cops managed to finally subdue him (with his consent) and said kid was out (no doubt with his drugs back in hand) standing around the same place two hours later. Without even a bruise to show for it.
I guess this kind of crime is the only one police here feel capable of solving. 43 year old woman? I think a Japanese SWAT team might be able to take her down.
;) love to all

[cdiver2]

As of last year they have passed some new "privacy laws" here which they are taking quite seriously. Ironically enough, when a REAL murderer was captured last year after stalking and murdering an English teacher from Great Britain, he somehow managed to escape from police custody (damn, have to lock the car when the suspect is in there) and is still at large. There hasn't exactly been a big manhunt over it either.
The police here are big-time feminine genitalia. Saw some African kid push a cop (5 years/US) then slap the cop (5 years + beating/US) after dumping his drugs in a nearby garbage can. The three cops managed to finally subdue him (with his consent) and said kid was out (no doubt with his drugs back in hand) standing around the same place two hours later. Without even a bruise to show for it.
I guess this kind of crime is the only one police here feel capable of solving. 43 year old woman? I think a Japanese SWAT team might be able to take her down.
;) love to all

I understand but what gets me is her reason for committing a crime...A GAME!.
Now if she hacked into the system for monetary gain/get information on a real life cheating spouse etc I could understand that, no less of a crime but the reason makes more sense.

[RikRaeder]

People, in general, are pretty tightly wound here.

[cdiver2]

People, in general, are pretty tightly wound here.

You have opend my eyes. I always thought the average person in Japan was extremely obedient to the laws, calm and it would take a lot to ruffle there feathers, not getting up tight about trivial stuff.

[kelpmermaid]

Not that I think her reaction was normal, but one potential explanation for her anger level would be the public humiliation of her "divorce." I can see that being a cultural button-pusher.

Rather than jail time, I hope the courts could find something constructive for her to do that would help her find a real life.

[cdiver2]

Not that I think her reaction was normal, but one potential explanation for her anger level would be the public humiliation of her "divorce." I can see that being a cultural button-pusher.

Rather than jail time, I hope the courts could find something constructive for her to do that would help her find a real life.

I had assumed when playing this game one used a screen name?

Yes I agree I don't think a fine/jail would be the way to go. Maybe seeing a shrink and a ban from the Internet, learn what is real and what is not.

[kelpmermaid]

I had assumed when playing this game one used a screen name?

Yes I agree I don't think a fine/jail would be the way to go. Maybe seeing a shrink and a ban from the Internet, learn what is real and what is not.

A screen name... rather like scuba board? ;)

I meant the public humiliation of her "e-persona" -- obviously, she was taking this false reality way too seriously. I hope she gets the help she needs.

[MartianBeerPig]

Well she did keep the 'murder' within the confines of the game which is where the 'divorce' took place.

[RikRaeder]

I should think that she was just a winker, dude had had outside contact with her hoping that she was a hotty, said dude was disappointed in her as she didn't meet his standard of hottitude so e-dumped her, she got PO'd and killed his character

[kelpmermaid]

I think I need a translation for "winker." Given the distance between them, I assumed they had not met in person, but who knows? Maybe he realized something was more than a little off with her. We have those little hairs on the back of our necks for a reason.

[RikRaeder]

winker should be spelled with an a, but scubaboard edited that to ******
Japan isn't so large, you know. Smaller than California so it's possible, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that they had exchanged emails, photos, whatever outside the game at the very least. Just my intuition

[Geoff_H]

I read about a real life murder in China a couple of years ago, when someone sold a virtual sword leant to him by another player.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Chinese gamer sentenced to life (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4072704.stm)

What many people fail to realise is how much time and effort people put into these online games - it's not uncommon to spend tens of hours a week playing these - for years. Top items or accounts can be sold for thousands of dollars - they are like supercars - status symbols unobtainable by the masses.

Deleting a player could be vandalism of tens of thousands of hours of someones work, which they have spent a bg chunk of their life building up, making friends and forging relationships.... I imagine it would be pretty devasting having this ripped from you.

[kelpmermaid]

winker should be spelled with an a, but scubaboard edited that to ******
Japan isn't so large, you know. Smaller than California so it's possible, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that they had exchanged emails, photos, whatever outside the game at the very least. Just my intuition

Thanks for the definition. I thought maybe you might mean "cougar," an older woman who pursues younger men. I live and learn...LOL!

I used to live there, so I get the geography.

I would think they'd have checked each other out before the "marriage," so he would have had an opportunity to what she looked like. You may be right, though. It could be a "Fatal Attraction" scenario as well. It bothered him enough to contact the police. I'm trying to imagine what our local police would do if I called them and told them someone had hacked my account on Scubaboard. The hacking itself might be criminal, but I'm sure they would have a good laugh after I left the station.

[RikRaeder]

Well, I guess it just goes to show; anything might happen when Avatars go Bad

[Red Sea Shadow]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/red-sea-shadow/257930-online-divorcee-jailed-after-killing-virtual-hubby.html

:)

[Jim Lapenta]

Catching up? Look up bukake. They passed us along time ago!

[Geoff_H]

Catching up? Look up bukake. They passed us along time ago!

I think you can still describe the good old USA as one of the more messed up places in the world when things like this happen:

Police: 29 rounds fired at trick-or-treaters - Crime & courts (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27482694/)

And yet still the people cling to their guns like a child clings to a comfort blanket.