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US police fail MMO crime victim

Man with hat plays FFXI for four years. Man with hat gets 75 million Gil's worth of items nicked by mate. Gil is worth $3,800, man says. Calls police. Police won't help because they think money from games isn't worth money in real life. Oh noes, says lawyer. Big heap terrible.

"What happened here is somebody stole almost $4,000 and got away cold," said Joshua Fairfield, an associate professor of law at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. "This is just a matter of zeros. The first time IBM loses $10 million, we're going to see some police action."

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Final Fantasy XI

PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PC

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Patrick Garratt

Founder & Publisher (Former)

Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.

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