Comments on: Finnish Police Probe Theft Of Virtual Furniture

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:39:49 +0000

Trey, Habbo Hotel is a game aimed at children as far as I know, so I assume it’s the parents that paid for the virtual furniture that took objection to their child being scammed.

By: Trey

Trey — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:10:52 +0000

So you’ve clicked a phishing link and had your virtual goodies stolen. Shut the computer off and go for a run at the gym, or call the cops?

What a sad, sad state of affairs.

By: Polina

Polina — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:14:53 +0000

I remember the exact moment when I knew on a basic, practical level, that we’re living in the Philip K. Dick world. Imagine the fun he would’ve had with this news story!

Yener – hear hear, you gosh-darn anarchist! ;D The same question has been asked, many times, about the “real” world – and has been just as misunderstood.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:03:26 +0000

They should design a ‘grand theft’ style add-on where anyone can go bounty hunting for the perps, man. Sniper shots from distant rooftops. Kick in doors and hunt down those crazy sofas.

By: Berber Anna

Berber Anna — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:27:48 +0000

Yener: Because of the artificial scarcity imposed by the programmers, who would like to make some money for all the work they do. If you only get a chair by paying a few pounds, then that’s a limited resource and something that represents value. Stealing that is equivalent to stealing said amount of money.

You could say that the moderators of the game could just give the victim another pixel chair, but that would lead to massive inflation of the in-game economics, as the thiefs would be reselling the chair as well (effectively, there’s now two chairs for the price of one, and if both are resold, the chair will be devalued).

These things may just be pixels, but they represent a value in real life money, so their theft is a real life crime.

By: roz

roz — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:18:45 +0000

wow, i had no idea the sims could call the coppers!

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:16:56 +0000

@Yener Because the property owners paid for their “furniture”.

By: Bruno Schmitt

Bruno Schmitt — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:03:08 +0000

@Yener

It is a crime because you still have to pay real and limited resources to have these virtual and endless resources.

By: Yener

Yener — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:36:57 +0000

Why is stealing a crime in a world where you have endless resources?

By: Siddif

Siddif — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:49:12 +0000

The wording may strike you as strange “stealing virtual property” though this is still hacking in it’s most basic form which of course is illigal so in not surprised they are investigating.