UK Rules That Stealing In-Game Currency Is A Real Crime

UK law has ruled that stealing in-game currency in RuneScape is a criminal offence.

Cybertheft can come in all shapes and sizes, whether it's identity, money being stolen or, in the case of the popular PC RPG RuneScape, in-game currency being pinched by an unsavoury player.

As reported by IGN, a court in the United Kingdom has ruled that stealing in-game currency from other players is legally classified as a criminal offence.

Andrew Lakeman, a former developer at Jagex, the team responsible for RuneScape, was charged with allegedly stealing around 705 billion gold from 68 RuneScape players. The offences began around 2018.

While being charged with stealing virtual currency from a video game, in the world of RuneScape, 705 billion gold is worth an estimated $750,000 (roughly £542,000). So just over half a million pounds in UK currency is not to be shrugged off.

Andrew Lakeman allegedly sold the RuneScape currency and exchanged it for Bitcoin. It’s reported that Lakeman had no direct access to players who fell victim to his crimes and instead, allegedly accessed accounts by “hacking and/or using credentials of members of the account recovery team.”

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RuneScape, Jagex

Here’s an Explanation of the RuneScape Court Ruling:

“The two reasons which the Judge gave in his ruling do not, with respect, bear analysis," a judge's ruling document read.

“The first was that 'one gold piece is like any other, and their supply is infinite.' This does not, however, distinguish them from many other forms of rivalrous property.

“One paper clip from a given manufacturer is like any other, and the manufacture and supply of them is infinite, in the sense that it is not capped at any finite number. Yet each paper clip constitutes property. The same is equally true of gold pieces.”

The ruling explanation continued: “[RuneScape's gold is] properly described as something which can be stolen as a matter of normal use of language. They do not fall within any of the established exceptions.

“They are not 'pure knowledge' functionally; they exist as identifiable assets distinct from the code which gives rise to them and outside the minds of people. There is no good policy reason for accepting them from the category of property which can be stolen.”

While the defence claimed that the stolen currency wasn't real, which is probably why it’s referred by the court as “infinite”, with the RuneScape currency having “monetary value” that could be traded both in and outside of the game, it sounds like that is a factor as to why it was ruled as a criminal offence to have stolen it.

This court ruling could have broader implications going forward on a global scale. I think most of us have either been a victim of some sort of video game content theft or know someone who has. This ruling could impact franchises outside of RuneScape. Only time will tell.