p>Rivals brutally beat teenager for the amulet and mask he wore in a medieval fantasy game
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p>Dutch Supreme Court upheld the theft conviction
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p>Court said the virtual objects had a value to the 13-year-old gamer because of 'the time and effort he put into' in winning the game.
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p>By Jill Reilly Updated: 11:45 BST, 2 February 2012
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p>A Dutch teenager was brutally assaulted and threatened with a knife following a row about virtual possessions in the wildly popular online fantasy game RuneScape?.
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p>The 13-year-old boy was attacked because he 'picked up' an amulet as well as a mask while playing, something two other teenagers wanted as well.
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p>They kicked him and brandished a knife, while forcing him to log onto RuneScape? and surrender the objects.
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p>Intimidation: The teen was beaten up and threatened with a knife during a row about virtual objects in an incredibly popular online fantasy game known as RuneScape?
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p>This allowed one to take the items, while the other one was playing the game.
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p>RUNESCAPE.COM FACTS
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p>RuneScape? was created in 2001, currently has around 10 million active players, who are believed to be regular players.
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p>It is situated in the medieval world of Gielinor which consists mainly of grassy rolling hills and vast areas of woodland.
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p>The game is a Guinness World Records for world's most popular and well-known free role playing game.
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p>In 2009 a man hacked into accounts on computers and stole virtual characters and their possessions from RuneScape? and was issued a police caution.
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p>A few months before one RuneScape? account was sold on eBay for a price of PS46,000.
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p>The attack took place in 2007 and the attackers were found guilty in 2009. However one of the attackers appealed to Dutch Supreme Court. https://extrememining.net/ </p>
p>Yesterday however the Netherlands Supreme Court of the Netherlands affirmed the theft conviction.
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p>The lawyer for the suspect had argued that the amulet and mask 'were not tangible or tangible and, unlike, for instance, electricity, were of no economic value.'
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p>But the Court declared that the virtual objects were of intrinsic value for the 13-year-old gamer because of 'the time and effort he put into' in winning them while playing the game.
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p>The names of the defendants were not disclosed because they were minors. The defendant who appealed was sentenced 144 hours of community service.
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p>This isn't the only time that virtual life has been applied to real life scenarios.
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p>The Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the virtual objects were of intrinsic value for the player who was 13 years old due to the time and effort he invested in winning them'. It also upheld the conviction for theft.
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p>In 2009, a person who hacked into accounts on computers and stole virtual characters and their possessions from RuneScape? was issued a police caution.
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p>The Dutch Supreme Court sentenced him to 100 hours of community service.
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p>In September of last year a man of middle age in Devon went to the home of a schoolboy, and slayed him after his online character was killed during a game of Call Of Duty.
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p>Mark Bradford, 46, was furious that he was shot in the war simulation by the 13 year old and then lost it when the youngster manipulated him over his online death.
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p>A father with no job of three Bradford was escorted out of his bed in Plymouth, Devon and confronted the boy in the house of his friend, putting his hands around the neck of the schoolboy.
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p>They had been playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops online against one another and were talking via microphones.
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p>The mother of the teenager, horrified, pulled Bradford from her son. Bradford was left with scratches and reddening on his neck.
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p>A 20-year old boy from Alabama shot three officers in 2005. He claimed that his actions were caused through hours of playing the game Grand Theft Auto, where players shoot police officers and take their cars.
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p>Devin Moore, his arrestee, told police that life is a videogame and that everyone must pass away at some point in time.
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