The cyber age is upon us, ladies and germs... Kelly and I were enjoying a cigarette on our tiny back porch when she suddenly looked at me and said, "Ese did you hear about the woman in Japan who was arrested for manslaughter after she killed her husband's avatar?"
The word avatar didn't register for at least thirty seconds; because, I just took a drag off my cigarette and shrugged. As sick as it sounds, people kill people every day and hearing about one more murder - one as far away as Japan, at that - didn't seem like something that should make me sit up straight in my deck chair.
Of course the mechanics of my brain - much like that of a finely tuned data processor - worked the statement over and over and over again in my mind; until sometime later I sat up straight and replied, "Wait a minute, did you say avatar?"
The story is: a 43 year old woman became so enraged when her virtual husband in the game Maple Story virtually divorced her with no warning that she logged into his account and deleted his avatar.
Apparently the man in question felt so "threatened" that he filed charges against the woman - not for manslaughter - but, for suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data.
Upon reading the few articles I was able to find on this case, I was struck immediately by the idea that this is absolutely a case of "ppl tking ze innerwebs WAI 2 srsly."
Three things strike me about this bizarre story:
- The woman took the Maple Story marriage so seriously that she was upset when she was "virtually divorced."
- The man gave the woman access to his Maple Story password and then was surprised when, after jilting her, he found his avatar deleted. How stupid is that? The first rule of the Internet is "don't share your password."
- The police, granted in Japan where online activities are taken way more seriously than anywhere else in the world, took his complaint seriously enough to find a way to arrest her for an actual crime.
The woman hasn't been formally charged with any crime yet and has publicly stated that she had planned no real life retribution for the virtual divorce; but, it will be interesting to watch what happens with this case as it's bound to set a new precedent for goings on in the virtual world.
You hear all the time these days about avatars getting married; or, people cheating on their spouses with their online avatar flame; or, even people meeting in Second Life or another virtual space, then developing a real life romance from their interaction in the virtual world... But, virtual murder? This is a first, that's for sure.
While I do agree that there need to be more concrete guidelines for online behavior, ones which have consequences which impact the real life so as to emphasize that you cannot act like a jackass online with no penalty; I think that arresting someone for "virtual murder" is... well... slightly ridiculous.
Online relationships can fill a void where your real life relationships are lacking, that's for sure. What do you lose though when a virtual representation of yourself - an avatar - is deleted? Some money, maybe, if you've invested in buying property or virtual assets like clothing; some time that it would take to build a new avatar or contact customer service to have your account reinstated. Really though, is it realistic to jail someone for being vindictive and deleting an avatar, especially after the deleted person in question shared their password? Hardly.
The important thing to remember about all of this is the word VIRTUAL. It's not real, not until you meet someone in meatspace; and, to treat those relationships as anything other than part of an elaborate role play is scary in the "you're somewhat delusional" way. Both parties need a healthy dose of a real life reality check.