[Air-l] Shades of "A Rape in Cyberspace"

[Bonnie Nardi]

I have been studying World of Warcraft for eighteen months, and it is  
not possible to "make off with the virtual belongings" of a character  
in-game. There are no "lawless regions" of the game.  It is possible to  
hack people's accounts and steal their stuff (which is quickly be  
transformed into unrecognizable generic items), but not to be accosted  
in-game as this article says, referring to the perils of "lone  
travelers."

This kind of journalistic story telling seems to perenially recycle the  
theme of cybercrime without being informed about the social settings in  
which it is allegedly taking place. Talk about fantasy -- the  
assertions about World of Warcraft are just that.

--

Bonnie

On Jun 2, 2007, at 2:02 PM, Holly Kruse wrote:

> ...but with national law enforcement involved:
>
> "Does Virtual Reality Need a Sheriff? Reach of Law Enforcement Is  
> Tested
> When Online Fantasy Games Turn Sordid", in today's Washington Post.
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/ 
> AR2007060102
> 671.html
>
> Holly
>
> -- 
> Holly Kruse
> Faculty of Communication
> The University of Tulsa
> 600 S. College Ave.
> Tulsa, OK 74104
> 918-631-3845
> holly-kruse at utulsa.edu or holly.kruse at gmail.com
> http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~holly-kruse
>
>
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Bonnie A. Nardi
Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3440
(949) 824-6534
www.artifex.org/~bonnie/