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Woman Jailed for Virtual Murder

Rob Crossley's picture

By Rob Crossley

October 24, 2008

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A Japanese woman has been arrested for reportedly killing her character’s virtual husband after learning that he had suddenly divorced her.

Police reports explain that after booting up the 2D MMORPG Maplestory, the 43-year-old was shocked and angered at finding her virtual husband had divorced her. With no virtual plates to smash against the wall, the woman instead elected to log-in as the husband and completely delete his account. It is this illegal log-in that the police have reportedly based their arrest and suspicion on.

Today the woman is in jail in the northern city of Japan, Sapporo, though she has not been charged yet. If a charge is put forward she will face up to five years of imprisonment.

The woman in question was a piano teacher. The deceased is a 33-year-old office worker.

Brendon's picture
On October 27th Brendon said:

The article is a bit confusing. There's no deceased. That could have gone in quotes or been elaborated on. The "deceased" character was owned by a man in Sapporo.

Flux530's picture
On October 25th Flux530 said:

Wow, the Japanese really don't f' around when it comes to their MMORPGs.

John Petersen's picture
On October 24th John Petersen said:

110 days in the county and 4 years probation... You need to leave other peoples stuff alone.

NickgamertagO1's picture
On October 24th NickgamertagO1 said:

Maybe the real concern with this isn't the fact that his avatar was deleted, but the WAY it was deleted? What she did is essentially identity theft. Could you break into someone's bank account but not get into trouble because you didn't actual steal anything? She logged into his account without his consent and modified an electronic record that only he should have access to. I don't think its because she basically erased his save, but the way she did it is where the problem lies.

As far as the headline? The other link has a similar one. Isn't the point of a headline to grab your attention? I don't think they necessarily over did it. Just me though.

StefanKing's picture
On October 24th StefanKing said:

5 years for hacking an account? Held in jail with out charge!? I think thats a little extream to say the least. Head line is a little much though...

Huw Jass's picture
On October 24th Huw Jass said:

I found the article on the below website to be more informative:
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7688091.stm

LoboBrancoTimido's picture
On October 24th LoboBrancoTimido said:

WTF? It should be "Woman arrested for hacking game account".
Hope Edge doesn't go the Tom's Hardware way.