Virtual crime gets real-world conviction

News.com.au reports.

In the real world, he was beaten and threatened with a knife to give them up.

The Dutch Supreme Court upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular online fantasy game, RuneScape.

The charges related to an incident that occurred five years ago, Wizzley reports.

As he was a minor at the time, his name has not been released by the court, in the Netherlands.

The judge heard that two teenagers, including the accused, had intimidated a younger boy into handing over items inside RuneScape. Their victim had been beaten and threatened with a knife, in real life, until he logged into the game. He was forced to drop a mask and an amulet, which the avatar of one of his attackers then picked up.

Only a handful of such cases have been heard anywhere, and they have reached varying conclusions about the legal status of "virtual goods" - and whether stealing them is real-world theft, The Australian says.

The suspect's lawyer had argued that the amulet and mask "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value".

The suspect was ordered to perform 144 hours of community service.