Court upholds conviction of youth for virtual theft

Published on Wednesday 1 February 2012 00:00

The Dutch Supreme Court yesterday upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy’s possessions in the online fantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to do 144 hours of community service.

The suspect’s lawyer had argued the amulet and mask “were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value”. But the Netherlands’ highest court said the virtual objects had an intrinsic value to the 13-year-old gamer because of “the time and energy he invested” in winning them.

The court did not release the offender’s name, only his year of birth – 1992. It said he and another youth beat and kicked the boy and threatened him with a knife until he logged into RuneScape and dropped the objects in 2007.

One of the thieves was then able to pick up the items in the game, making them his virtual property. Both were convicted by a lower court in 2009, but only one appealed to the Supreme Court.

The legal status of “virtual goods” is still subject to debate, with many countries refusing to see their forced removal as theft.