Theft: Taking a Virtual Object in RuneScape
| Author | Hein Wolswijk |
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1350/1740-5580-76.6.459 |
| Subject Matter | Supreme Court of the Netherlands, Criminal Division Hoge Raad Der Nederlanden, Strafkamer |
of the defence—there are no grammatical barriers to such an inter-
pretation. The DCC does not explicitly demand that the victim was the
one who actually performed the initial attack. And it should be kept in
mind what is at stake: a defendant who acted in an excessive response to
an attack on a highly valued interest (that, in principle, allows for self-
defence), a response which was embedded in strong emotions that
resulted from the attack. This is not dealing with a ground for justifica-
tion, but with a highly personal ground for exculpation. Some leeway
for the lower courts to take into account compelling emotional effects,
not to the detriment of the defendant, is in line with the very nature of
the defence.
Erik Gritter
Theft: Taking a Virtual Object in RuneScape
Judgment of 31 January 2012, Case No. 10/00101 J
Keywords Computer data and virtual objects; Property offences; Cyber-
crime; Teleological and functional interpretation; Goods ‘belonging to’ a
person
In this case the Dutch Supreme Court addressed the question whether a
virtual object is a good that can be stolen. The defendant, co-defendant
and victim in this case are all keen players of the worldwide online
computer game RuneScape. Classified as a ‘massive multiplayer online
role playing game’, it is played in a virtual world. Players use personal
accounts to create avatars, through which they fulfil quests, fight other
players and do other things to gain points and earn virtual items. Each
item has its own (virtual) value, expressed in ‘coins’, which players can
use to hone their skills. The more coins a player has, the ‘richer’ and
‘stronger’ he or she becomes. The items not only have a value in the
game, but also represent a value in ‘real’ money; items are offered for
sale on auction sites such as Ebay.
The defendant and the co-defendant in this case took the then
13-year-old victim to the home of the co-defendant where they
assaulted and threatened the victim with knives to coerce him to log into
his account for the RuneScape game and then ‘drop’ (virtual) objects in
the game environment. The defendant was then able to transfer a mask
and an amulet belonging to the victim to his own account. The defend-
ant and co-defendant were charged with the theft accompanied by
violence (robbery) of these virtual items. Theft is a punishable offence
by virtue of Article 310 of the Dutch Criminal Code (DCC): ‘Any
person who removes any goods belonging wholly or partially to any
other person with the intention of unlawful appropriation is guilty of
theft . . .’. The district court convicted the defendant of theft, preceded
and accompanied by violence and threats, and the Court of Appeal
Theft: Taking a Virtual Object in RuneScape
459
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