Exploiting online video games illegal, a tort, or allowable under the law?
<p>Recently a news story came out about "Manfred", a hacker who makes a living exploiting bugs in online video games to make in-game currency (or items) which he then sells to other gamers. Here is a description:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A hacker says he turned finding and exploiting flaws in popular MMO
  video games into a lucrative, full-time job. Manfred's character is
  standing still in the virtual world of the 2014 sci-fi online
  multiplayer game WildStar Online. Manfred, the real life person behind
  the character, is typing commands into a debugger. In a few seconds of
  what seems to be an extremely easy hack, Manfred's virtual currency
  skyrockets up to more than 18,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 18
  quintillion. I'm watching this hack in a demo video recorded by
  Manfred as I stand next to him in a Las Vegas bar on Thursday.
  Manfred, who asked me not to reveal his real name, says he has been
  hacking several video games for 20 years, making a real-life living by
  using hacks like the one I just witnessed. His modus operandi has
  changed slightly from game to game, but, in essence, it consisted of
  tricking games into giving him items or currency he doesn't have a
  right to have. He would then sell those items and currency to other
  players (for real money) or wholesales them to online gray markets,
  such as the Internet Game Exchange, that then would sell those goods
  to individual players. At the current exchange rate, Manfred estimates
  he has $397 trillion worth of WildStar gold. This is obviously an
  outlandish number, but, essentially, his income was only limited by
  the real-life market for the in-game currency. When I spoke to Manfred
  ahead of his talk at the Def Con hacking conference, he said he wanted
  to go in, give his demo, and go out "as a ghost," never to be seen or
  heard from again. He said he wanted to be "invisible," just like he's
  been for the past two decades. He said he's found more than 100
  publicly unknown vulnerabilities in more than 20 online video games,
  making hacking and trading virtual goods into his full time job.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Note that the article describes him as a "hacker", but this is not really accurate terminology because he is not writing code. He is finding what security specialists call "exploits" in other people's code.</p>

<p>What is the legal status of doing this? Is it tort or is it criminal?</p>

<p>I know that people who have exploited, for example, slot machines have been found innocent or had charges dropped. For example, i<a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/10/cheating-video-poker/" rel="noreferrer">n the notorious case of John Kane, who exploited a buggy video poker system</a>, he was punitively arrested, perp walked, and then indicted by the FBI on Computer Fraud charges. Eventually he refused to plea bargain with them, and they dropped their bogus case, allowing him to finally walk free after a couple of years of persecution by the full force of the US government. Nobody ever apologized for destroying his house with their "search warrant".</p>

<p>Is the situation of Manfred more or less the same legally, or is there a difference?</p>

<p>If there is a law which outlaws the behavior and potentially an addition to the state’s penal code defining the punitive measures to be taken when one violates the law, then it could subject one to criminal charges.</p>

<p>Similarly, if the actions taken in this case satisfy the elements of an existing crime, for example, depending on the gamer’s actions and intent, fraud, then this could also be a path to treat this as a criminal manner. </p>

<p>Notwithstanding either of those two possibilities, if someone suffers an injury as a result of the gamer’s actions and is able to properly put forth a cause of action, a civil case may ensue. </p>

<p>From the facts given, one might anticipate a criminal case potentially involving fraud, wire fraud, maybe some other sort of financial crime. Civilly, perhaps one could anticipate breach of contract based on non-compliance with the TOS from the game company and/or a similar claim from those who were doing business with him while not knowing what he was doing. </p>

criminal-law hacking gambling tort computer-misuse-act