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Virtual world government weighs bailing out virtual bank to avert virtual economic meltdown

by acanuck 7/3/2009 - 5:35 pm   |

I don't actually know how the folks who manage Eve Online plan to deal with this, except that they've booted the virtual fraudster out of the game.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/07/03/science-online-bank-heist.html

The scary part is that he successfully traded the "interstellar kredits" he stole for real-life money. Only $5,000 or so -- but still! If what you stole doesn't really exist, can you be accused of committing a crime in the real world? Especially when the virtual world permits and even encourages illegal activities? Suppose you libel a fellow player in an interactive game. Does he or she have recourse in a real-world court?

As George Costanza famously said, "Worlds collide!"

I wouldn't say it does not exist, afterall, someone deposited their funds into Eve Online from a real bank account.

by John Morris (not verified) 7/4/2009 - 2:48 pm

Actually, I think you just pay a fee to enter the game; once inside you have to "earn" whatever credits you accumulate. You can rob or cheat your fellow players to do so, but it's all supposed to take place within the game. So the credits in theory have no real-world value.

This guy embezzled from the virtual bank he helped run, then stepped out of the game to offer them for sale in the real world -- to people too lazy to play the game by the rules. Presumably, he then transferred them to the purchasers within the game. Totally unethical but -- to answer my own question -- probably not an issue any prosecutor would try to pursue.

by acanuck 7/5/2009 - 1:27 am (re: John Morris)

I'd love to answer your question, but then I'd be a lawyer giving advice on the Internet, and that would somehow be part of the bad intermingling of reality and netland that your story reminds us to avoid.

by Articleman 7/6/2009 - 11:31 am (re: acanuck)

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