ONCE THE stuff of science-fiction movies, the crime of digital murder may be about to go on the books, with the arrest of a middle-aged piano teacher from southern Japan, who murdered her virtual husband.
According to the Japanese media, the 43-year-old woman hacked into the computer of the man she married in an online game and erased his carefully constructed digital character after their relationship curdled.
The messy divorce has sparked a debate among millions of online gamers about whether virtual offences should stay in cyberspace, or be punished in the real world.
Police arrested her this week following a complaint by the man, a 33-year-old office worker who lived in the northern city of Sapporo, 1,000km away. The two have apparently never met offline and the woman, reportedly a real-life divorcee, is not suspected of a violent crime, say the police.
She faces charges of using her digital partner's password and ID, which she acquired when they were a happily married virtual couple, and using it to illegally access his computer. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison or a fine of about €3,200.
"It sounds like a strange case but obviously it is illegal to hack into someone else's computer," said a spokesman for the Sapporo Police, who discussed the case on condition of anonymity. "That is why she has been arrested."
The spokesman said he was "surprised" by the attention the case was getting internationally. "For us it is simply a computer crime."
According to investigators, the woman flew into a rage when the relationship was abruptly terminated. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," she was quoted as saying.
The two met while accessing a hugely popular role-playing game called Maple Story, which encourages anonymous users to create online characters that navigate alternative worlds, fight monsters and engage in virtual relationships. Long-term commitments, marriage and digital sex are not uncommon among players. Originally from South Korea, Maple Story now boasts about 50 million subscribers, including 9 million in Japan.
A Dutch court sentenced two teenagers to 360 hours of community service this month for virtually beating up a classmate and stealing his digital goods.