I’ll be the first to admit that the title of this post is verbose and decidedly “un-sexy,” but it’s certainly more accurate than what is found on most of the Internet. According to an AP story posted on Yahoo! News, a 43-year-old Japanese woman was arrested for accessing a man’s computer and killing his Maple Story character. The woman claims that she killed the man’s character because her virtual marriage suddenly ended when the man decided to divorce her, which “made [her] so angry.”
While technically correct, the AP’s headline “Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby” seems to suggest that the woman was jailed for murdering an in-game avatar. This, however, is not the case. The woman was jailed for the very real crime of illegally accessing the man’s computer and manipulating electronic data. In order to commit the “murder”, the woman fraudulently used the man’s identification and password to access his Maple Story account and kill his character.
If convicted, the woman faces prison for up to five years and a fine up to $5,000.
Does the punishment fit the crime? If she is sentenced to the maximum, not likely. However, the Japanese criminal courts work very differently from those in the US and I suspect it is highly probable that she will not serve any jail time. Instead, the Japanese legal system is most concerned with restoring “harmony” in society and, in my opinion, the woman will only be required to apologize and somehow make up for the death of the man’s avatar.
