Virtual worlds, real crimes

Where there is life, there is crime, it seems – even in the lives of avatars and game characters in the virtual worlds of online games. Called MMORPGs, for massively multiplayer online role-playing games, these games' players can be robbed just as we real-world folk can be. What happens is, players' game characters are robbed of their virtual property and money, which is then sold for real money "that can be used to buy new weapons, magic spells or other trappings to advance within the game," Reuters reports. "Using software designed to infiltrate a computer system, hackers steal account information for users of MMO games and then sell off virtual gold, weapons and other items for real money." Reuters adds that Microsoft warned game developers of this problem so they can build in more protections. For more on this, see "Virtual real estate mogul" and "Games' shadow economy."