Argument Essay Crime in Second Life

Have you ever played an online game? Have you even thought that the virtual world was connected with real world? Second Life is a virtual world and people can be any other person. They can go anywhere they want and make friends and even a boyfriend or girlfriend. However it is an online game, and avatars face cyber crime involving finances (Simon, 2008), human rights (Fell, 2007), and violence (Gourlay and Taher, 2007). We will be able to overcome these problems if police and cyber-experts work together to chase cyber-criminals, society makes rules which allow criminals to receive punishment as they would for real crime, and Second Life make every avatar write down real information.

First, it is an effective way for police and cyber experts to cooperate. DeBrota, a federal prosecutor in Indiana, insisted no cooperation between cyber experts and police may lead more serious crime (Bergstein, 2007). Crime is getting complicated and criminals are getting smart. If police are not familiar with computers, they cannot know how cyber criminals work. Police must be superior in computer knowledge to criminals; otherwise, the amount of crime will not decrease. Police need technological skills to solve crimes on Internet.

Second, it is very important to establish rules for cyber criminals. There happens many kinds of matters in Second Life, but currently avatars don’t have enough property rights in the US. Second Life gives avatars the opportunity to earn real money. The bill in the currency of Second Life is not real money like the dollar and the euro, but avatars can change money for the virtual world to real money. If an avatar has his property stolen by other avatars, the robber should have a sentence equal to that for a real matter because money in Second Life has value. Society should give pressure to cyber-criminals so that they try not to commit a crime.

Last, Second Life should force every avatar to write clearly their information, which is the most important way to decrease the incidents. People should need to sign up their name, sex, birth date, and E-mail address before joining Second Life. Some victims in Second Life have no choice but to cry and give up. One of the reasons that people and police cannot solve the matter is that some avatars don’t inform anyone if their real name, and address (Bergstein, 2007). It is very hard to chase a robber who shows people fake information. Second Life shouldn’t allow avatars that try to use untrue information.

Some people express the fact that Second Life is a place where everyone can join and contact others all over the world. However, it is true there are cyber bullying and cyber harassment in the virtual world. I think everyone may enjoy the world, but we need some effective rules and protection methods.

In conclusion, Second Life will be a safe and enjoyable world if police have enough guidelines to arrest cyber-criminals, society gives them punishment which is more similar to that in the real world, and every avatar informs their right information. Second Life is an online game, but there are real values and there exist children, adult, rich, poor, and criminal. People should overcome bad avatars and crimes.

Reference

Bergstein, B. (2007, November 3). Cops Learning How to Extend Beats Online. Business News, Associated Press Online. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Fell, N. (2007, May 11). Crime in the Virtual World. ABC Transcripts (Australia). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Gourlay, C., and Taher, A. (2007 August, 5). Virtual Jihad Hits Second Life Website. Sunday Times (London). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Ho, A. (2007, August 30). If You Rob Me, Should I not Have Recourse? The Straits Times (Singapore). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Newswire. (2007, July 17). Virtual Worlds, Real Cheaters. Techweb. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from Lexis Nexis datebase.

Simon, S. (2008, February 9). ‘Second Life’ Players Face Real Financial Losses, Interview with National Public Radio (NPR). Weekend Edition. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.