What happens online stays online? Virtual punishment in the real world

Abstract

As the boundaries between the real and the virtual worlds become even more blurred in the age of social networking and online fantasy games it is timely to revisit the question of whether virtual (online) activities should have consequences in the real (offline) world. Is virtual harm ‘real’ such that real punishment should follow, or is it more appropriate that it be punished virtually instead? However, the more fundamental question this discussion poses is whether the virtual/real binary is an excuse for state surveillance of our minds with the objective of punishing us, not for what we have done, but for what we are fantasising about.

Keywords:

• fantasy
• punishment
• regulation
• surveillance
• virtual worlds

Notes

 1.  http://www.japanprobe.com/2008/10/24/woman-in-jail-after-killing-her-online-husband/ (accessed 6 September 2010).

 2. One comment on the website reporting this incident noted that: ‘… you can't restore deleted characters in MapleStory. The staff will not do it. It may not even be possible, as there was a hacking incident in the game where guilds were deleted and Nexon was unable to restore the deleted guilds …  I know this because I have played this game.' Retrieved from http://www.japanprobe.com/2008/10/24/woman-in-jail-after-killing-her-online-husband/ (accessed 6 September 2010).

 3. Ibid.

 4. Ibid.

 5. Ibid.

 6. Ibid.

 7. Second Life Community Standards. Retrieved from http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

 8. Ibid.

 9. Ibid.

10. ‘Dutch arrest “online furniture thief”'. Retrieved from http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/14/dutch-arrest-online.html

11. Ibid.