There are some very strange people out there. Besides Mike and I, I mean. Very strange people.
One of my co-workers sent me the text of this story yesterday, and I just had to dig up the link to make sure it was real: Online Divorcee Jailed After Killing Virtual Hubby. This is from the New York Times, folks, so you just know it's real.
If you choose not to follow the link, the Readers' Digest version of the story is this: A 43-year-old Japanese woman’s online avatar was divorced without warning by her digital husband in an interactive virtual game called “Maple Story.” This made the woman so angry that she hacked into her “husband’s” computer using the identification and password she got while their characters were happily (if virtually) married, logged into the game, and murdered her online husband's digital character. The man complained to police when he discovered that he had been digitally murdered. The woman has since been arrested on charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data; there is no indication that she planned any “real-world” murder.
I can just see this in the next version of the famous board game Clue (Cluedo, if you live in Europe): Miss Scarlet digitally murders Mr Boddy in the Chat Room with the Zeroes and Ones. No more of these messy murders with lead pipes and candlesticks.
How weird have things gotten when we now have to worry about virtual murder? What kind of life did this lady have? I (like fellow bloggers Canary and Andrea) have enough trouble with my real life to worry about inventing more problems through Second Life or Maple Story or some other game. The Times article points out that “virtual lives have had consequences in the real world,” citing the case of a Delaware woman who was arrested a few months ago on charges of plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through Second Life.
Life is tough. Virtual life appears to be a bitch, too.
Just put down the mouse, step away from the keyboard, and nobody will get hurt.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
I'd say that life is stranger than fiction but it this case life is fiction(sort of).
ReplyDeleteI guess the safest thing to say is..."no comment."
I'm not one for computer games or any form of online games but I must admit that Second Life has had me curious for awhile. Its just that my real life is using up all my time and I haven't been able to sit down and create a second one. I took a brief look at it once but couldn't even figure out how to start playing it.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you suppose their virtual wedding night was like? They should've at least stayed together for the virtual kids. Maybe she just didn't want to split up all their virtual assets and have to pay all that virtual money to virtual lawyers.
ReplyDeleteThey're virtual vultures, you know.
The computer screen is become the new 'boob tube'. Oops! That reminds me. Back to my research project.
ReplyDeleteJohn - I work for the government..."no comment" is ALWAYS the best response.
ReplyDeleteAmanda - I've never had the time for these online games. Agnes and I went through a phase once where we did PC-games (mine was "Black Mirror," hers was "Syberia), but that didn't last long when we realized what a waste of time it was.
Gilahi - I virtually agree with you.
Mike - whatever Rima has gotten you into, I'm not sure I want to be around when it finally bears fruit...
I love it!
ReplyDeleteYou inspired me, the world has gone weird and that's a fact.
My only response to these folks would be "GET A LIFE!" Sometimes I think I'm spending too much time on the computer, but it's nothing compared to people like this.
ReplyDeleteWaxing philosophic--what a statement this is about the wealth we have in the world today. People can actually spend hours each day in leisure, not working for a living or even talking to real people, and still survive.
All I can say is, "Life imitates Art", or in this case "Life imitates technology"?
ReplyDeleteToo funny. I read this article and blogged about it too.
ReplyDeleteIt virtually cracked me the hell up.
I mean, it's virtually hard pressed to find a virtually pscycho woman that would kill off her virtual husband.
Can you say, "Look for her REAL husband in the attic in a very REAL vat of acid?" Yikes.
That is definitely weird...
ReplyDelete