OK. The line’s starting to blur.

The headline in Ananova reads: “Teen Arrested for Virtual Theft”, and goes on to briefly describe the virtual world of Habbo Hotel, and a 17-year old who stole furniture valued at 2,500 pounds from members of the community.

Call it “Grand Theft Furniture.”

The furniture was originally purchased for game credits, but the credits are first paid for in cash, so it’s real theft. But the benefit to the thief is merely to spruce up their virtual hotel room and have a little more stroke in the virtual community.

I get it, but I don’t get it. Know what I mean?

I understand that peer esteem can be a powerful motivator, and might cause people to steal.

But for a virtual world to have this same influence, such that the kid in question would be motivated to build fake Habbo web sites and pfish identity information to then invade community members’ accounts and steal furniture is a bit tough to understand.

Maybe because the money is only pseudo-real, “coins” in the nomenclature of the game (that, in real money, cost about $.20 apiece), it doesn’t seem real. So then, it’s more of a prank than a theft.

But when you can’t outfit your hotel room the way you dream of because you don’t have enough real money to buy the game coins to in turn buy the furniture, you KNOW you’re commiting a crime.

So fine, it’s crime and should be prosecuted. My real conundrum, is how anyone can get so caught up in a virtual world to the point that they resort to real crime, make that FELONY crime, with nothing more than a “virtual” reward.

I think I may need to take a pill or something.

Here’s the article.

KidWithMatches is the personal blog of Pete Eberbach, VP Director of Online Marketing & Technology with St. John + Partners.