We have come across this interesting phenomenon as part of our work, which includes studying the effect of technologies such as insecure wireless networking, mobile phones, iPods and the internet, and their links to crime.
Virtual worlds such as Second Life (a 3-D world where users can socialise and connect using voice and text chat) or the large multi-player games such as World of Warcraft have become very popular, with recent figures (www.mmogchart.com) suggesting there are currently 16,000,000 subscribed users. More than 62 per cent of these users are subscribed to World of Warcraft.
In his work “Securing Virtual Worlds Against Real Attack”, Igor Muttick, of McAfee, suggests that worldwide revenue from online gaming should approach $3.3 billion in 2009.
These games may appear innocent, but there is emerging evidence to suggest that they are the source of a range of crimes.
The obvious technical flaw in the games, which might lead to crime, is that they are vulnerable to hackers. Most of their early adopters or players have extensive technical skills in both game playing and the computer programs, or coding, behind the games. We now see a generation of virtual world hackers who are committing real crime in virtual worlds.
Examples of this type of crime range from the trivial to the highly troublesome. In virtual worlds, where a player is represented by an avatar (alternative self) of their choice, we see “virtual rape”, “virtual mugging” and “virtual theft”.
Individuals have lost all their game money, their own “selves” and their identities to clever hackers who have accessed the large game servers and hacked in to kill, rob, maim or destroy other players. Far-fetched, maybe trivial, but true (and a crime!).
There is also the possibility of real crime in virtual worlds. As reported by security software company Symantec, many virtual worlds and games allow players to conduct real-money transactions in virtual worlds.
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