UK Court Rules MMO Gold is “Property” in $700,000 Theft Case Against Former Developer

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Using the official exchange rate for “Bonds”—in-game items that can be legally bought with real money and traded for gold—Jagex estimates the value of the stolen currency at approximately £543,123 (roughly $729,359).

The existence of the Bond system proved crucial to the prosecution’s case. It provided a clear financial benchmark for the gold’s value, allowing the court to acknowledge a legitimate market for the resource. This link persists despite Jagex’s strict prohibition on “real-world trading” (RWT) outside of its official channels.

“At the time of the alleged offenses, a gray-market purchase cost roughly £2.70 for the same amount of gold that a £6 Bond would provide through official Jagex channels,” the court noted. In a nod to the game’s mechanics, the judgment also mentioned that the amount of gold generated by a single bond could take a dedicated player up to 15 hours of intense “grinding” to earn.

The charges against the ex-employee include the conversion of stolen gold into Bitcoin—classified as “proceeds of crime”—illegal possession of cryptocurrency, and the subsequent laundering of those assets into fiat currency.

A pivotal question in the proceedings was whether virtual gold could be legally classified as property. If it weren’t, the defendant’s actions might not technically constitute theft. Defense attorneys initially successfully argued that OSRS gold was mere “information” or “knowledge”—items that exist only in one’s mind and cannot be stolen under the Theft Act of 1968.

That earlier ruling suggested that because the supply of virtual gold is theoretically infinite and one gold piece is identical to another, it lacked the “rivalrous” quality required for property status. In legal terms, “rivalrous” means that if one person consumes or holds a resource, it prevents another from doing so.

However, the Court of Appeal dismantled this logic. The judges noted that the infinite potential supply of an item does not prevent specific instances of that item from being property. They compared OSRS gold to paperclips: while a manufacturer can produce an infinite amount, each individual paperclip remains someone’s property.

The court further clarified that the ability of new players to generate their own wealth does not negate the property rights of existing players. The ruling emphasized that the Theft Act should be interpreted broadly, concluding that “gold pieces may clearly be the subject of dishonest dealing which deprives the player of the benefits they confer.”

Drawing comparisons to Bitcoin, the court determined that OSRS gold meets the Law Commission’s criteria for property. Because the gold pieces exist within a software framework and are protected by passwords and security pins to ensure exclusivity, they are inherently rivalrous. If Player A spends a gold piece, it is gone; if they trade it to Player B, it is no longer available to Player A.

Ultimately, the court ruled: “Gold pieces within the Old School Runescape game are property which can be the subject of the offense of theft.”

This landmark decision allows the appeal to proceed and sets a fascinating legal precedent. It formally recognizes the value of virtual assets in a digital-first economy, signaling that “invisible” fortunes are entitled to the same legal protections as physical wealth.

Related: An illegal MMO gold seller’s $500,000 profit recently sparked a major tax investigation.