Things We Learned Today

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Scott Jennings| 7 Comments

Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby

The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.

So, today, we learned:

  • Deleting someone else’s character is a crime in Japan.
  • When pressed, the only North American online game the AP can think of is Second Life, despite both Maple Story and World of Warcraft having orders of magnitude more users.
  • You can get married in Maple Story.
  • But you probably shouldn’t.
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  • Wendelius

    Also that:

    “In virtual worlds, players often abandon their inhibitions, engaging in activity online that they would never do in the real world. For instance, sex with strangers is a common activity.”

    I should really have more sex when I play online. So many missed opportunities. *sad face*

    Glad the AP was there to teach us all those things though.

  • http://whaledawg.com Whaledawg


    # You can get married in Maple Story.
    # But you probably shouldn’t.

    Fixed it for you.

  • Bonedead

    Hahaha. Lullz.
    Wow, the media sure knows how to make me feel like a cool guy.
    I had more cyber sex as an AOL chatroom kiddie than I ever have playing MMOs (though if I were to work up the gayness to play SL, who knows)

  • xzzy

    The slate movie posted yesterday suggests that sex in SL is nothing more than looped animations performed in the vicinity of another character, showcasing someone’s failed attempt to keep the missionary position from looking like a seizure.

    AOL chatrooms were probably more stimulating. ;)

  • Neil

    I disagree, with point #2 Scott. Having lived in Japan for upwards of eight years now, I can tell you that for all intents and purposes, WOW might as well not exist. Maple Story and SL have Japanese user bases orders of magnitutde above WOW.

    I would also argue that even if we assume that the AP knowns nothing about Japanese MMO trends (a fair assumption) mentioning SL over WOW is due to the SL incident being somewhat similar to this incident.

    I will stop mentioning SL now, lest we bring you-know-who back to haunt us.

  • Jerid

    “Deleting someone else’s character is a crime in Japan.”

    Just out of curiosity, how many people think that it SHOULDN’T be a crime to do something like this reguardless of what country you’re in?

  • JuJutsu

    “Just out of curiosity, how many people think that it SHOULDN’T be a crime to do something like this reguardless of what country you’re in?”

    /raises hand

    It should be a tort not a crime.