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Davis Wilcox
English 101
Professor Alicia Bolton
October 22, 2014
Are Online Justice Systems Not Enough?
The author, Alex Weiss of, Should Gamers Be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing? argues to prove
a point that real life court should not get involved with a game that does not have a system where a
scammer in the game can be punished, where games like World of Warcraft have refundable and
bannable actions in it. The essay discusses about a Dutch teenager who was playing a Massive
Multiplayer Online game (MMO) and had something stolen from him by another player. The actions was
taken to court and the defendants attorney ruled that the stolen items had no economic value because
they were not real. The court ruled against and claimed that the time and effort the teenager put in to
the items gave them value. Weiss then refers to other games and how players do the same thing but
real life court is not used in the situations. Weisss video game experiences allows him to connect to this
topic and argue valid points, but he also struggles to have knowledge on small things. Although I agree
with Weisss statements that real life court should not get involved with online video games, and
spending time on a game does not give its items economic value, I have to disagree with his statement:
Runescape permits negative behavior in the game.
Many Massive Online Multiplayer games have features in them that if a player is disruptive to
the community they will be punished accordingly to what they did, but why involve real life court to a
situation the game can handle on its own? As Weiss being a reformed gaming thief, this ruling makes
no sense *him+ which makes sense, because usually thieves steal things that have value, but Weiss
being a gamer, knows that games are not real and the items in them (727). What most people fail to
realize, if someone gets scammed in a game, it is entirely their fault for letting it happen and not being

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aware of the situation. The Dutch minor who got scammed is a perfect example of this. Assuming he got
scammed in Runescape by trading another player, because Weiss does not say how exactly, the process
for getting an item scammed is quite difficult for the scammer, and easy to notice by the victim.
Runescapes bartering system allows interaction between players to trade goods with each other, mainly
selling an item for gold or buying an item, in a trading menu. The trade menu works by player putting up
items and then accepting the trade in the first screen and then confirming it a second time to be sure in
another screen. The catch is, if a player removes an item, a red flashing hazard line appears on both
screens to alert players an item has been removed. Seems real easy to scam someone, right? No.
Therefore, if someone gets scammed in Runescape it is really hard to, and the player who scammed can
be reported and action will take place and court should not get involved over something that can be
handled in the game.
Another point I agree with is that spending time on a game does not create value for the items.
As Weiss says: The court, however, disagreed, ruling that the time the 13-year-old victim spent in the
game trying to earn the objects gave them value (727). It is hard to put value on something that is
played to escape reality and not used as a place to make investments and where people can be
compensated. Weiss then compares another game to Runescape called EVE Online and how people
spend months on end making these space ships and then they can be completely destroyed. One player
spending six years on a project in game and then it got destroyed by another player, costing around
$1,000 in subscriptions to the game. So, essentially, comparing two games where one allows people to
destroy something someone put real life money and years of hard work to build, and a game where a
player spent time to earn a shield and an amulet, EVE outweighs the worst case scenario and makes the
Dutch minor seem to blow things out of proportion. Having played Runescape for many years, I can say
that the time the minor spent getting a shield and an amulet does not even come close to how long it
takes people in EVE to build something. Weiss also mentions there are pirates in EVE who are basically

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people who go around and destroy peoples hard work. For example, Weiss was in a guild, or online
clan, and gained peoples trust in order to scam and steal all of their resources for personal gain. Yet
there is still no court ruling for an EVE player who scammed someone they put real life money into.
Although I agree with the majority of Weisss statements, I have to disagree on the fact that
Runescape permits negative behavior in the game. Weiss says, The developers of Runescape, however,
didnt explicitly state that the thief couldnt do what he did, nor did they refund the victim (729).
Although Weiss is right about the developers do not refund players lost items, there is a report system
where a players name can be entered for whom someone wants to report, and as stated earlier, action
will take place. Having years of experience playing Runescape, I can say that the laws are very strict and
that the developers do ban players if they act in such negative ways. Item scamming is one of the
biggest issues and a report player option for item scamming has been there for many years, and Weiss
says the incident happened last week. It seems Weiss does not have much experience on the game, but I
feel that he failed to meet his point in comparing Runescapes player policies to World of Warcrafts and
how players are dealt with.
Weiss has strong supporting opinions for why he disagrees with the court getting involved with
an online game, but he lacks to support the idea Runescape players can basically get away with
scamming. Only issues of bigger problems should be resolved by going to court, not a video game where
there is a justice system to penalize misconduct. Also, items obtained in a game should not create
economic value for it, because the items are not real. If something as simple as a player can be handled
in game by the game developers, it seems like a waste of time for the minor to take it to court and try to
get something out of it.

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Works Cited
Weiss, Alex. Should Gamers Be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing? The Norton Field Guide to Writing with
Readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. Ed. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine
Weinberg. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 2013. 727-729. Print.