Virtual Property In Network Games Should Be The Objects Of Crime Of Theft

The number of cases on virtual properties theft in computer games is increasing significantly companying with the dramatic booming of network based computer games, e.g., taking virtual weapons unlawfully in virtual world. It is a brand new and unexplored field in our national legislation, however, as a fundamental legislation, criminal law has to response this kind of questions clearly and accurately. The essential argument of this issue is that whether virtual properties should be the objects of crime of theft, namely, whether virtual properties are lawful properties and are therefore protected by law.This thesis integrates three components: preface, body and conclusions.The preface presents the critical reasons why this research should be conducted.The body includes three chapters as follows:Chapter one titled as "a survey on computer games and virtual properties". The first section of this chapter reviews the history of computer games; furthermore, we introduce the formation procedure of virtual properties in virtual world. The second part of this chapter discusses the definition and characteristics of properties, and extends the discussion to virtual properties.Chapter two is featured with "the current status of virtual property protections". First of all, we list the related legislations on this issue in Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, respectively. We present the analysis of the current status in terms of virtual property protections in China.The title of chapter three is "virtual properties in criminal relationships". We argue in the first section that virtual properties could be the objectives of theft. We further propose a scheme to identify the value of virtual properties based on necessary hours on products, which can be decided by a committee includes network game services providers and game players. Finally, section three discusses the confirmation of virtual property theft, our argument based essentially on "unlawful possession", this offers accurate principals for the confirmation.The conclusion part summarizes the whole thesis, and points out the future work.