Virtual Crimes

The article deals with the problem of “virtual crime“. But, what is a “virtual crime“? Is it something different from a “crime”? Recently, a virtual crime refers to a virtual criminal act (e.g. virtual mugging, virtual sweatshop, virtual rape, and virtual theft) that takes place in a massively multiplayer online game (see Wikipedia; phrase “Virtual Crime”). The article focuses also on the phenomena of present days - “Second Life” (a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its residents). Second life is not used only for fun. Nowadays it could be a source of significant gains. So, it attracts attention also by cheaters who want to gain money by illegal actions. Are such acts different from the traditional crimes in the real world punishable by the criminal law? Do they need a special legislation