Virtual robbery

Phil sent me an interesting piece of news today. It explains how people dubbed 'cyber-criminals' are attacking players of online role-playing games with gangs of 'bots'. 'Bots' are computer programs created to simulate human actions in online games. These programs can play much better than the humans and are impossible to defeat. They are being used to attack players and steal their possesions including magical items, weapons and other items. If you're not familiar with online games these days then you might wonder "What's the point?". Recently some online games have created virtual assets which may be purchased for real money. These assets can be sold in online auctions. The criminals who cheat in the game and steal assets are then able to make money from their virtual plunder.

This article points out how much these virtual assets are really worth. An island in a virtual game called Project Entropia was sold for the equivalent of $26K. The new owner will use the island to make money by selling lots and harvesting resources. He thinks of his new purchase as an investment.

It's interesting to think about online assets in virtual worlds. Currently, the real value of the virtual currency in any cyber-world is governed by the company which creates the game. The company is responsible for limiting the risk of loss by its players but turns to the judicial system when computer hackers take advantage of weaknesses in the system to steal virtual assets. I think it's crazy to believe that court-systems have to govern the behavior of online characters in virtual worlds. However, without this intervention the virtual assets of the players could be worth nothing. For more investigation of virtual worlds and their relation to real life visit the TerraNova site.