Real Life Consequences of Virtual Life

A Japanese woman murdered her husband, but it was all on-line. It was in a virtual game world and it was her virtual husband, who had suddenly divorced her. She is now charged with crime and may face a real life prison sentence and real life fines. This is not because of the murder as such, but because she allegedly accessed log-in details illegally of the man playing her husband, then killing his on-line character. I find it very interesting that what you do on-line, even in a wholly virtual game world, may echo in real life like this.

I have never heard of a similar case anywhere else in the world. My guess is that the outcome would be about the same in Sweden and other countries. As often in the world of computers, though, Japan is first.