Crime in virtual worlds is ever an emerging topic, and an interesting article in the UK List talked to some key players in persistent worlds, including EVE Online's Hilmar Pétursson and Linden Lab's Marcel Kay about the fine line they're now having to tread between policing user behavior and protecting its virtual society and economy. When a user breaks the rules -- counterfeiting items, buying black-market goods or gold -- it's a clear-cut case, but what if user crime is committed within the concept of the world's rules?

In the article, Pétursson told the List about how EVE handled that gray area:

Space piracy is an intrinsic part of Eve Online. But a recent coup and a series of high level assassinations by the Guiding Hand Social Club rocked the world of Eve, with literally billions of in game credits changing hands or being destroyed. Several users petitioned for CCP to effectively hit ‘reset’, but they stuck by their guns. "It was a simple decision but not necessarily an easy one as there were hundreds of people hurt by this action," says Pétursson. "By not doing anything, in this case, it opened people’s eyes to the fact they were really living in a virtual world where anything could happen and it’s left up to the citizens of that world to deal with the negatives and positives."

Interesting story -- crime and economic disruptions, along with the idea of financial power in the hands of a few, are concepts that are part of the real world, so it follows that they will happen in virtual spaces too, as they evolve. It begs the question -- are virtual worlds a game, where companies should preserve their userbase's fun factor at the expense of realism? Or do people want them to behave like a lifelike society?

[Via The List]