A little while back I wrote an article entitled Just Killin': Avatar Murder, which was about the possible escalation of treating virtual crimes as though they were real crimes. The gist was, if we start treating the simulated acts of pedophilia as a crime despite the fact that no real life pedophilia had occurred, then we will have lost any justification that protects other simulated crimes from regulation or scrutiny. The most obvious virtual pastime at risk is killing including war games, action adventure games, etc. But the next crime I predicted that would follow was simulated rape.
Well here we go: Belgian police patrols Second Life to prevent rape.
