News Does virtual crime need real justice?

From the Beeb:

Wizards, warriors and witches are nothing new in the online gaming world, but have they been joined by real life criminals stealing virtual goods worth hard cash? South Korea's police are already on the case.
It might seem strange to talk about real crimes being committed in computer games that revolve around slaughter.

But for people who invest hours of every day in the character they control in multi-player games such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, Star Wars: Galaxies and others these virtual crimes are just as painful to deal with as the real world version.

Players in some online games have had their virtual homes invaded by gangs who kick them out of the house and steal all their virtual goods.

Others have been conned out of powerful magic items that, in some cases, took months of work to obtain.

Full story here

Oh dear.... First, the PK'ing sprees. Then the 'legitimate' selling of virtual goods on eBay and the like, and now this.

It really is sad TBH. The only reason that this happens in the first place is that the virtual 'thieves' know that they have a market to sell to. If people didn't buy these things - for real cash for Gods sake - there wouldn't be a problem.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for roleplaying games in any form (Singelton, MMRPG, paper & dice) but this sort of behaviour is just plain silly.

Just my 2 copper pieces worth, fellow adventurers....