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Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde
So, does that mean he could legally be made responsible for all the deaths caused by the game?
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Hehe, I just skimmed my criminal law textbook for an analogous case. I can only speak for the USA, but yes. Murder usually requires "intent" which usually means that they actually intended for death to result from their actions. One step below that is "recklessness", which means they knew the risks but did it anyway. That's normally manslaughter, and applies to things like drunk driving. Strictly speaking, Kayaba was merely reckless, assuming he's not lying about the escape route. His plan could theoretically end up with no one dying, so it wasn't his "intent" to kill them.
However, there's a category called "unintentional murder" where recklessness is enough for murder, when the culprit "manifests extreme indifference to the value of human life". So yeah, he's guilty of murder for all of them. Or would be, in the USA. No idea about Japanese law.