Criminal Conviction For Stealing Virtual Currency Of Online Games

With the advent of the Internet information age,computers and Internet are rapidly popularized,and people can solve all life needs on the Internet without leaving home.With the development of science and technology,property types take on various forms.Online game is a new industry that develops gradually with the arrival of information age.Virtual property of online game is a new type of property derived from online game industry.With the continuous expansion of the network virtual environment and the establishment of more and more close trading relationship with the real world,the disputes over virtual property of online games are increasing.But correspondingly,the legal protection of virtual property in online games has been in an uncertain state,leading to the judicial practice in dealing with such disputes can not be relied on,the victim's virtual property rights are difficult to be effectively protected.Therefore,this paper intends to explore the criminal law of theft of virtual currency of online games through the analysis of the legal attributes of virtual currency of online games.The specific research contents of this paper are divided into three chapters:The first chapter analyses the current legislation and judicial status of virtual currency in online games in China.Firstly,our country's legislation on virtual currency of online games is mainly embodied in the regulations of administrativedepartments,civil laws and criminal legislation,but the regulations of administrative departments do not have the general mandatory nature of law.The existing civil laws have too general provisions on virtual property of online games,while criminal legislation negates the property attribute of virtual property of online games.This kind of legislation determines the judicial status quo.Practice has shown great divergence on the application of law in dealing with such cases.Finally,the author puts forward two puzzles about the law applicable to the theft of virtual currency in online games: one is whether virtual currency in online games should belong to the property protected by criminal law;the other is how to identify the theft of virtual currency in online games in criminal law.In the second chapter,the legal attributes of virtual currency in online games are discussed in detail.Firstly,through the comparative analysis of virtual currency of online games and virtual property of online games,virtual currency of online games and other virtual currencies,this paper defines the concept of virtual currency of online games,and divides virtual currency of online games into data-based virtual currency,convertible virtual currency and Payment-based virtual currency according to the different ways of obtaining virtual currency of online games.After reviewing the current theory of legal attributes of virtual money in online games,the author believes that the legal attributes of virtual money in online games should be defined as electromagnetized valuable vouchers with dual attributes of real right and creditor's rights.From the perspective of criminal law,virtual money in online games has the characteristics of economic value,possession,management possibility and transaction dominance,which should be included.Property category protected by criminal law.The third chapter is mainly about the thinking path analysis of the criminal law identification of theft of virtual currency in online games.Firstly,through the analysis of the current judicial application of this kind of crime in China,the author thinks that the contract disputes protected by civil law or the computer crimes protected by criminal law are not enough to regulate this kind of crime.Therefore,the author puts forward the viewpoint of this article.In order to be recognized as theft.Secondly,from the dual attributes of data attributes and property attributes of virtual money inonline games,it is considered that theft of virtual money in online games is not only in line with the objective behavior of illegal acquisition of data in computer information systems,but also in line with the objective behavior of theft.It belongs to the imaginative joint offence of two charges,and should be punished as a felony to be determined as theft.This way of identification will necessarily lead to a practical problem: the amount of virtual currency in online games.Through the analysis of the current judicial practice on the value of virtual property of online games,this paper holds that the value of virtual currency of online games should be determined by the real amount of loss of the victim.